Goodreads synopsis
A handsome stranger. A simple proposition. What could possibly go wrong?
Wren Mallory is no stranger to failure. Reeling from the humiliation of a very public breakup, she has fled LA for the comfort of her East Coast hometown of Archer Cove. Here, she happily passes her days as the barista in her family’s bakery and spends her nights writing her screenplay. She is slowly mastering the art of the latte and enjoying the quiet life.
Hollywood bad boy Jax Cosgrove has to fix his image if he’s going to be considered for the role of a lifetime. When a good deed leads to a misunderstanding, he presents Wren with an opportunity: pretend to be his girlfriend for a while, and he’ll help her to sell her screenplay.
It seems like a harmless prank, and one that could finally make her dreams come true. But Wren quickly learns that a fake romance with Jax threatens everything in her real life she’s trying to protect: her quiet existence, her beloved bakery… and her heart.
Goodreads rating: 3.42/5
My rating: 4/5
Review
The first in the Archer Cove series, I read The Coffee Girl months after I read the second one, A Sweet Possibility.
A sweet romance with one of my favourite tropes going for it, it was a bundle of smiles.
Stories in the first person narrative that I like reading are autobiographies (which this tends to be as well) of real people but it had enough in it that I did not even know when I reached the last page.
Like the one I had already read, even this one had a lot going for it apart from the romance part of it. The bond of family and love surviving the obstacle time throws at us. Importance of friendship and importance of good food! 😀
Back to Wren and Jax. Or rather let’s move on to them as I have yet to talk about these two.
Wren does not think much of herself and considers herself a failure. I think it is too much but then again, we have all met people who think that way when they, indeed are awesome. Not too over the top, I guess. But she is one cocooned i the love of her family. A love she is sure of when other people have been betraying her.
A chance meeting with Jax (and I hate the fact that at no point do I know what is running in Jax’s mind) and she is embroiled in a make believe relationship (that is not a spoiler). The chemistry is strong enough for others to believe the lie. While they date for the world to see, these two become sort of the best of buddies and do not even realise when they fall in love for real. I wonder why are there only just a few romances where people know when they fall in love?
All that sounds like a smooth ride, does it not? But no. Without there being a conflict, the story would be nothing. The conflict, as far as I see, is more internal.
The world at large has seen their love and are happy with it. The world wants them to be together. It is their own insecurities that they must conquer to get their happily ever after.
I am smiling as I write this but I might as well be reading this one again in the future.
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