This book fell a little flat for me. It felt like tropes were thrown in just to check boxes. I would not call this storyline as marriage of convenience as it was just casually tossed in.

Never have two characters deluded themselves more. West is a bad friend and lies to himself! A bit of an odd take on this particular story arc but couldn’t help but route for West in particular. No accounting for taste maybe?!

The Faking Game by Olivia Hayle is a charming, fast-paced romance that delivers all the feel-good vibes readers crave. With witty banter, sizzling chemistry, and the always-entertaining fake dating trope, this story pulls you in from the first chapter. Hayle does a great job crafting relatable characters—especially the sharp and independent heroine who finds herself entangled with a confident, unexpectedly sweet billionaire. Their dynamic is electric, and the evolution of their relationship feels natural and deeply satisfying.

What sets this book apart is its balance of humor and heart. While the setup is delightfully tropey, Hayle’s writing brings fresh energy to the genre, avoiding clichés and delivering genuinely funny, touching moments. The emotional payoff is well-earned, and the side characters add warmth without stealing the spotlight. The Faking Game is a perfect read for fans of modern rom coms who want a light, swoon-worthy escape with just enough depth to keep you hooked until the very last page.

Pretty good book. Though I couldn’t read the last chapter as it archived before it as I didn’t pay attention to the archivedddd date! But no worries, I loved it!

R E V I E W

The Faking Game by Olivia Hayle

☆☆☆☆.5

Advanced Reader Copy graciously provided by Netgalley

This was my first Olivia Hayle book, but it certainly won't be my last. I am new to the Billionaire romance genre, something which I can see this author specialises, but I cannot wait to delve back into The Billionaire Games series as soon as Hayle pens the next book.

When heiress and model Nora Montclair finds herself the recipient of an unwanted admirer, she embraces her tried and true genial fascade and hides away her terror. But as the intensity of her stalker increases, so too does her fear, and when a welcome escape arrives in the form of a fashion-design competition across the sea, Nora takes full advantage.

Whilst Nora hopes that her admirer wouldn't follow her all the way to New York, her brother isn't willing to take any chances and gets his best friend, fellow billionaire and US resident West Callaway, to take point on her security. The only problem? Nora and West have been at odds for years, and worse, West is one of the only people that sees through Nora's people-pleasing mask to the very heart of her.

In need of some help himself, Nora and West embark on a fake dating scheme with two purposes. The first; to show Nora's stalker that she is not alone and has powerful allies, and perhaps even coax him into revealing himself. The second; to take the pressure off West to find a wife before his thirtieth birthday when the home he loves will be taken away if he isn't married. But as the two spend more time together, the reason behind their mutual animosity quickly becomes clear, and what starts off as a game of pretend becomes anything but. But with all these games afoot, who will come out the victor?

This was an addictive read with an underlying mystery in addition to my favourite fake-dating trope. I loved how West was Nora's biggest champion, constantly pushing her to be herself and fight back against those who wished to contain her. The development of their relationship was heady, as West helped Nora navigate her virginity until it was all but a forgone conclusion that the pair would end up together. I deducted half a star for the heavy handed use of praise which at times seemed a little much but otherwise, a brilliant read.

I loveeeee a good fake dating book, and I loved this one! I am here for this MMC. This book was well written and easy to read, however some of the pacing was a bit off.

A slow burn for the ages. Fake dating and brother’s best friend all in one, and it made my heart skip a beat and the butterflies flutter like crazy.

The female main character is a popular model who’s craving something more. Her people pleasing tendencies made her feel real and relatable, and led to some seriously heartwarming moments with West, the male lead.

The plot kept me hooked and the characters were so easy to love. The chemistry between the two mains was the perfect mix of sweet and spicy. They brought out the best in each other in a way that felt genuine and swoony.

The Faking Game was a quick, satisfying read that totally hit the spot if you're in the mood for a fun billionaire romance.

This book didn’t really work for me. I found it hard to believe that Nora, at age 24, could be that naive about dating etc. It’s one thing if she hasn’t dated much at her age but she really didn’t seem to know anything. I also found the dating lessons that she was doing with West to be confusing. Sometimes it was obviously one of the lessons and other times when the line blurred it was confusing. I liked the characters but I didn’t like the way the storyline was designed. I am open to reading more from this author and another one of her books might be a better fit for me.

As such slow burn was not really may thing but reading this book made me realize the true essence of slow burn. The way Nora and West relationship grow as the chapters pass. And the character was explored like Nora. A solid a+!

I've read a few of this authors books and I have to say this one is my favorite. Olivia hayle did the fake dating trope so well. I read this book within 2 days because all I wanted to do was read this book. I could not put it down!

My only complaint was that it felt like the chapters would end abruptly or in ways that felt somewhat incomplete to me personally.

Rating is 4,25 stars

I was obsessed with this book!! I love a fake dating trope, but I love it even more where there is a teaching angle attached to it like we see with West and Nora. I truly love the way that the characters were written to not only complement each other, but also to bring out the best in the other as well. Good amount of spice as well

I’m not normally one to read billionaire romance books, but I was presently surprised by how engaged I was overall with The Faking Game. Olivia Hayle does a great job of keeping the reader engaged with Nora and West’s story and intrigued for future books on West’s friend group.

That being said, I would still give this book a 3-3.5 rating because of how repetitive the writing felt most of the time, and this book unfortunately did not convince me to read or like the billionaire romance trope. I would recommend this book for people who do like that trope and like it when the man falls first and falls hard.

Thank you to NetGalley for sharing this early copy with me for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

First off thank you NetGalley for providing me with this arc!

3 ⭐️

The Faking Game was… fine. Pretty mid overall. The story had promise, but the execution was a bit messy.

The chapter changes were super abrupt, which made it easy to lose track of what was going on. I kept having to backtrack just to figure out where I was in the story. It definitely needed another round of editing—some parts felt rushed or underdeveloped, which took away from the reading experience.

Not a terrible book, but not one that’ll stick with me either. Just okay.

4.5⭐️

The FMC Nora is a well-known model that does campaigns for her families company, but aspires to be a fashion designer. In an attempt to win a fashion contest she moves to New York and hopes to start fresh as well as to escape her stalker. But to no avail since he followed her to NY, therefore her brother insists his best friend West keep an eye on her. To increase Nora’s safety, West has her move into his estate- the one he’ll lose if he doesn’t get married before turning 30.

I really enjoyed this book since it was a fast read and had a good pace overall.
Since Nora is a chronic people-pleaser and has a lot of insecurities West makes it his mission to teach her to put herself and her needs first (by literally banging it into her).
I liked their banter and the healthy relationship they both build together as well as the way West always made sure that Nora felt safe and comfortable.
The only thing that I disliked was the way the stalker situation got resolved. It felt very rushed and anti-climatic which wasn’t what I was expecting since it was a major part of the plot and I thought it would end differently.

Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful! I just loved The Faking Game by Olivia Hayle. The storyline could have turned punchy and contrite, but it was emotional and quite endearing. The love these two characters have for each other is so real but they fight it because of some dumb rule made by the boys when they were younger and dumb. Because of this rule wasted years for both MCs that instead of love, they fought with each other, almost cruelly so. Just to keep the other at arms length. But not any more. Thanks to a stalker, they are pushed together and forced to fake date. At first, it was torture for both, but over time there walls started to crumble. And boy was it fun to watch the change in each character. I LOVED the minor characters in this book. They were hilarious and perfectly imperfect. Supportive and just there through the fallout. The Faking game is a great romance with a pain in the butt mystery, throughout. This is an angst, slow burn romance, with some spice. It will make you laugh, cry, and want to pull your hair out. It’s impossible not to love both of the MCs.

I received a eARC of #TheFakingGame from #NetGalley in lieu of my honest review of the book.

Ahhh I adored this book! West & Nora were absolutely precious together. I can already tell this series is going to be everything.

Nora is the little sister of West’s best friend, so they’ve known each other forever. When she moves to New York to kick off her fashion design career, she ends up with West and his team as her security detail, thanks to a stalker situation that started back when she was living in France. No one’s sure if the stalker followed her to the U.S., but when flowers show up at her new studio, West steps in. His solution? Move her into his estate and fake date her to scare the creep off. Cue the tension, the sweetness, and West offering to give Nora a little “guidance” on relationships… and more.

This was my first Olivia book and I am so hooked. Can’t wait to dive into the rest of the series and get completely swept away!

Nora’s world just got a whole lot more complicated. Forced out of her apartment by a stalker, she ends up safe, but stuck, with West Calloway, her brother’s rich, arrogant best friend who never liked her back. When West suggests they fake date to keep the paparazzi and danger at bay, Nora agrees on one condition: he helps her learn how to date for real. What starts as a convenient arrangement turns into secret late-night lessons, stolen kisses, and moments that feel far too real to be practice. West’s cold facade is melting fast, and Nora’s not sure if she can keep pretending when every look and touch says otherwise.

Fun, quick read with lots of spice and entertainment.

The dedication was beautiful, and I connected with it so much; I think that’s really what drew me into this.

I resonated with Nora so much; reading this made me feel so seen as a people pleaser myself. I liked Nora a lot; I connected with her a little too much, in a depressing sort of way. She reminds me of a younger version of myself when I didn’t realize how much of a people pleaser I had been, and it just made me want to hug her because I understood her predicament more than I’d like.

I love overprotective men, but there’s such a thing as being too overprotective, and that’s exactly what our MMC, West, was, unfortunately. Like… please just let the girl LIVE; you don’t have to be up her ass all of the time, dude. It felt more controlling than protective at times, which I had STRONG opinions about (that I’m better off not saying). It was giving narcissistic. He was so hot but such an ick at the same time… how is that possible?! I want to both have his babies and run him over with my nonexistent car.

The tension was so steamy I was genuinely swooning SO HARD, literally kicking my feet and squealing like a middle schooler whose crush just sent them a snap. West loves Nora unconditionally; it makes my heart burst. Sure, he could be a bit much at times, and it pissed me off, but in the long run you get to see how much he loves and appreciates her, and that makes up for his shortcomings.

The stalker storyline was unnecessary and off putting, wayyy over dramatic. I wish it wasn’t a thing at all.

Overall, this read had its blips, but I did enjoy it more than I thought I would!

3.1 ★

𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙂𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙍𝘾!

I’m obsessed! The story was soo good!! I love the tropes in this book so much and I can’t wait to read the next book in the serie!

5 ⭐️
Tropes: fake dating, brothers best friend, dual POV, forced proximity, coaching romance, praise k!nk, dating lessons, protecting MMC, billionaire romance

OBSESSED! 😍 This has now taken one of my top spots for favorite reads of the year 🤩 I loved everything about it! Not going to lie when I saw the page count for this I was like that’s a bit much….BUT I ate it up and ended up being so thankful it was as long as it was!

Wes is one of Nora’s brother’s best friends, she nursed a school girl crush on him but that was extinguished when she realized he only saw her as that and nothing more - and went as far as to vocalize to another friend that he would never date someone like her. Little did she know he was lying….

“The sight makes my teeth grind together. Should be like a sister. But she’s not. I’ve never been able to see her that way.”

Nora finds herself with a stalker and for her safety she is forced to stay at Wes’s estate. As much as she can’t stand Wes she agrees to live there and accept his help. They come to an agreement that is mutually benefiting while also hopefully luring out her stalker.
1. Nora will get to practice: dating, flirting, and most importantly learn how to set boundaries
2. Wes will get his mother to stop throwing women at him to marry: to comply with his grandfathers will

“I've been afraid of ruining her, but here she is, ruining me. Lesson by lesson and day by day.”

Wes and Nora have undeniable chemistry and I couldn’t get enough of them. Nora’s character development was absolutely amazing and I loved how Wes was genuinely supportive and helped her find her own voice.

"I will always welcome your fire, Nora.
Burn me with it when I deserve it.

He was patient and understanding when she struggled with things but he also pushed her to overcome things that scared her. He was a true gentleman the entire time (ok he was most of the time 😈) and I SWOONED!

“She's Rafe's little sister. She's mine to protect and mine to teach how to date, but she's not mine in any other sense. She's definitely not mine to taste.” 👅

He really did try not to be selfish with her but his efforts were useless and he didn’t stand a chance - we was helpless when it came to her.

This was my first book by Olivia Hayle and I’m so happy to see she has a ton of other books already out, which I will be adding to my TBR 🤩 HIGHLY recommend this book! Can’t wait for the second book in the series 😍

Thank you to NetGalley and Olivia Hayle for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.