Literature professor Ashleigh Darmody never imagined her life would turn into a classic trope, but that’s exactly what happens when her sister Claire calls with a bizarre request–quickly find a fake husband. Backstory is a powerful thing, and Ashleigh’s has plenty of shadows, but is her past so shady that it requires an elaborate scheme to ensure Claire’s prospective father-in-law, renowned TV evangelist Ken Abrams, will give her his blessing to marry his son? 

Already divorced from a man who turned out to be other than he claimed, Ashleigh now has to pretend to be blissfully married to a stranger for the next five days. But when the lines of fiction and reality blur with each tick of the clock, could a temporary deal turn into something for keeps?

I’m okay with suspending belief for one or two things — like being asked to believe that a sane adult would ask another sane adult to fake a marriage instead of admitting to being divorced. Okay, I’ll run with that. But the fake couple doesn’t even know each other and their attempt to appear married is juvenile at best. Most of the story was spent in the heroine’s head, which made me wonder why the hero fell for her (I don’t think she said much to him throughout the book). There were also a lot of issues (homosexuality, divorce, prejudice, shame) that popped up but didn’t get a lot of attention. I would have preferred if the author had focused on one thing, then shown the romance instead of reading the heroine’s thoughts about everything. As is, it’s pretty superficial and I never connected with any of the characters.

I’d give it 2.5 stars out of 5.