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As a professional cleaner, Abi Mariano never thought her apartment would have any sort of infestation, but because of a building-wide outbreak, she now needs somewhere to stay for a week. As a part-time student with two jobs, she doesn’t have many options. Then the solution presents itself: the owner of the penthouse she cleans is out of town for the week. She normally wouldn’t consider it, but he’s literally never around (she hasn’t even met him). It goes great…until one morning she finds two strangers in the kitchen. They’re the parents of the penthouse owner and they seem to think they’ve heard all about Abi—not as their son’s maid, but as his girlfriend.

Declan Powell has always put his career first, working his way up to become an executive at his company, but he still has his sights set on the next level. When his parents mention that they met his girlfriend, “Abby,” he all but chokes on his escargot. As wonderful as it sounds that she was just darling, he doesn’t actually have a girlfriend—he made her up to get everyone off his back. When Dex finds out who Abi really is, he makes her a proposition: pretend to date him, and he’ll provide everything she needs during their little arrangement. What harm would it do? It’s purely business, no pleasure…right?

This was my first Lynn Painter book, and it was so much fun! Was it realistic? No way. Gritty? Absolutely not? A magicless fairytale-esque love story? Absolutely!

This is one of those books you read after a hard week of everything going wrong, when you need a happily ever after and you don’t want the stress and high blood pressure of a high-stakes journey to get there. It has the “Everafter” vibes — it COULD happen, but never would, but wouldn’t it be amazing if it did? It’s that kind of swoony romance.

This was such a fascinating steamy-not-spicy book because there’s so much sensuality in the looks and kisses that I anticipated highly descriptive bedroom scenes. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t a play-by-play description. Definitely open door, but in a Katherine Center way instead of an Ali Hazelwood way.

I’ll definitely read another Lynn Painter book in the future. If you enjoy Sarah Adams, I think you’ll enjoy this author.

Rated R for language, drinking, and steamy descriptions.

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For more steamy-but-spicy romance novels, check out:

When in Rome by Sarah Adams
The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center