Alexandria Bellefleur

Lambda Literary award winner and national bestselling author Alexandria Bellefleur returns with a steamy Sapphic rom-com about a quiet bookseller and a romance novel cover model who agree to a modern-day marriage-of-convenience... Tansy Adams' greatest love is her family's bookstore, passed down from her late father. But when it comes to actual romance... Tansy can't get past the first chapter. Tired of her stepfamily's questions about her love life, Tansy invents Gemma, a fake girlfriend inspired by the stunning cover model on a bestselling book. They'll never actually meet, so what's the harm in a little fib? Yet when real-life Gemma crosses Tansy's path, her white lie nearly implodes. Gemma van Dalen is a wild child, the outcast of her wealthy family, and now the latest heir to Van Dalen Publishing. But the title comes with one tiny condition: she must be married in order to inherit. When Gemma discovers a beautiful stranger has been pretending to date her for months, she decides to take the charade one step further--and announces their engagement. Gemma needs a wife to meet the terms of her grandfather's will and Tansy needs money to save her struggling bookstore. A marriage could be mutually beneficial, if they can fool everyone into thinking it's a love match. Unexpected sparks fly as Tansy and Gemma play the role of affectionate fiancées, and suddenly the line between convenient arrangement and real feelings begins to blur. But the scheming Van Dalen family won't give up the company without a fight, and Gemma and Tansy's newfound happiness might get caught in the fallout...

The Fiancee Farce

clau☁️

First of all, I really liked this book. I had a lot of fun reading it and I do recommend it to anyone who wants a cute quick read about sapphic girls falling in love.

That said, I did have some issues with the pacing.
I loved both main characters and I actually liked them together. But everything happened too fast. At the beginning neither of them wants a relationship, and just a few weeks later they become girlfriends and have no issue with it. It just felt like there was no build up. Like things just kept happening and I was skipping important details of the story. The main characters meet, date, get together, fall in love, and get married in less than three months. It just felt rushed, I guess. As I said, I actually liked the relationship but I wish we could’ve seen the two girls building it. I would’ve liked to see their internal process realizing they care for each other and the personal growth they go through to be together. But we had none of that. I felt it was more tell than show.

On another note, as some other people have said, the side characters are not developed enough. Gemma could’ve done with just two roommates: Teddy and Lucy, and the story would’ve been exactly the same. 
Then the families…
We have a step-cousin that should’ve been at least a bit important to the story but we never get to know anything about her, a step-sister that is just horrible all the time for no reason, and a step-mother that is very annoying but suddenly has a change of heart at the end and decides to start caring. I feel that’s a very big part of the story to skip over it like that.
On Gemma’s side I think we have a more developed family. I get the back story and I liked that it was kind of messy. I also liked Brooks a lot and his little story. I just would’ve liked to be able to understand the grandfather better because I finished the book and I still don’t know the kind of relationship he had with his granddaughter and why he left her the company. And the dad was just there, at one point I thought he wasn’t even the father and we were going to find out it was actually Brooks.

All in all, I know I’ve had a few critiques but I really did enjoy reading the book. And the bisexual representation was literally perfect. Mostly having two bisexual characters getting into a relationship together, because I had never read that before and it made me very happy.

"Lo que Tansy se merezca o no no te corresponde a ti decidirlo. Es su decisión, que tú decidas por el a es un insulto a su inteligencia".

Este librito me hizo emocionarme mucho 😭
Es la primera vez que leo este trope y me gustó bastante. Me gustó muchísimo la personalidad de ambas protagonistas; sentí que se complementaban muy bien, ambas con un humor (a mi parecer) muy disfrutable. La relación se me hizo muy natural, como se fue dando todo. Gemma se notaba que le importaba mucho Tansy desde el minuto uno, haciéndola sentir cómoda y validando todo lo que sentía, y Tansy igual con ella. Ambas eran muy preciosas, las amo 😭. Me gustaron mucho los personajes secundarios también, especialmente el tío Brooks. Siento que el libro solo se merece 4 estrellas por el capítulo 24, por tremenda escena delante de todos ellos JSJSJS. Me encantó y tengo que decir que no me esperaba lo que pasó con tal, sinceramente no lo veía venir. Me hizo agarrar mucho odio a esos personajes, la verdad, pero fue algo que también disfruté. También tengo que decir que, aunque estaba disfrutando mucho la lectura, se me hizo muy largo y con unas cuantas escenas que no aportaron nada pero es todo a mi parecer. En fin, el libro es hermoso, muy disfrutable y con protas que te encariñas muy fácil. Me encanta, muy recomendado. ♡

Kierce

This book was too too good!! I loved Gemma and Tansy so much. They're so charming and swoon worthy. 

And then the side characters. Y'know who... God I wish I could murder them. 

Keira 💫

This book was too too good!! I loved Gemma and Tansy so much. They're so charming and swoon worthy. 

And then the side characters. Y'know who... God I wish I could murder them. 

❝ She was a total fucking goner. Whatever magic Tansy was made of, Gemma wanted to drown in it, revel in the honeyed heat burning her up from the inside out. It was better than the finest bourbon she’d ever had the pleasure of sipping. ❞

❓ #QOTD What was the best sapphic novel you read this year (I need recs!!)? ❓

🦇 After losing her parents and a traumatic romantic experience as a teen, Tansy Adams focuses all her time and energy on her late father's bookstore. To dodge questions about her love life, Tansy invents Gemma, a fake girlfriend inspired by the stunning cover model on a best-selling romance book. She never expected that real-life Gemma would step into her life, play along, and announce they were engaged, imploding that white lie into a full-on farce. Gemma van Dalen, the outcast of her wealthy family, needs a spouse to inherit Van Dalen Publishing; her grandmother's legacy. In exchange for Tansy's hand in marriage, Gemma offers to save Tansy's beloved bookstore before it's sold off. Can their marriage of convenience work, or will Gemma's scheming family get between them?

❝ "As for feeling like you’ve failed, well, failure is an inescapable part of life. But failing doesn’t make you a failure. And I’m sorry your father made you feel like the two were synonymous. You are more than your achievements, Gemma. You are brilliant, and ambitious, and you are good, do you hear me? And what you do or do not achieve in this life has no bearing on your value.” ❞

💜 Oh. My. Goddess. That's right: goddess, because that's exactly what these two cunning, sassy women are. Alexandria Bellefleur has taken the generally predictable "marriage of convenience" trope and turned it into an emotional, powerful story about finding the love you don't realize you deserve. Both Tansy and Gemma are full of so much pain, their family trees full of broken branches (and in Gemma's case, poisonous barbs. For them to find love and family in one another so unexpectedly (for them, at least, because, come on, that's what we're here for), so flawlessly...it's not only swoon-worthy and sweet, but a relief. It's the insane, instant, undeniable chemistry between Tansy and Gemma that empowers their every interaction from the start, but unlike other marriage-of-convenience stories, smut doesn't drive their relationship. What starts off as a business relationship blossoms from a friendship to a true partnership. Gemma is sweet and giving as she navigates her first real relationship, while Tansy comes out of her shell to defend Gemma when no one else has. These goddesses support one another, even when the relationship is only a farce, until it all becomes real. The character development between them both is a flawless example of how empowering love--and having someone by your side--can really be.

🦇 As much as I loved every interaction between Gemma and Tansy, it's difficult to love everything that happens outside of their sweet sapphic bubble. The toxic men--namely Tucker, Gemma's cousin, who manipulated teenage Tansy and shared underage nudes of her--seem unrealistically cruel. Tansy's step-mother goes from a social ladder-climbing step-Bridzilla to suddenly sympathetic. None of the secondary characters have real layers, making them no more than pawns to the story's plot progression. Because of that, none of the conflicts or twists are surprising. The boardroom scene/resolution seemed beyond unrealistic, regardless of how sweet the gesture was. You may need to expand your suspension of disbelief and focus on the sapphic sweetness for this one.

🦇 Recommended for fans of Stars Collide, Cleat Cute, and Love at First Set. This heartwarming sapphic romance is full of feels; a stunning addition to any shelf.

⚠️ Content Warnings: Past Sexual Exploitation, Threatening Interactions, Toxic Men, Spice 🌶️

Jazelle H

🦇 The Fiancée Farce Book Review 🦇

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

❝ She was a total fucking goner. Whatever magic Tansy was made of, Gemma wanted to drown in it, revel in the honeyed heat burning her up from the inside out. It was better than the finest bourbon she’d ever had the pleasure of sipping. ❞

❓ #QOTD What was the best sapphic novel you read this year (I need recs!!)? ❓
 
🦇 After losing her parents and a traumatic romantic experience as a teen, Tansy Adams focuses all her time and energy on her late father's bookstore. To dodge questions about her love life, Tansy invents Gemma, a fake girlfriend inspired by the stunning cover model on a best-selling romance book. She never expected that real-life Gemma would step into her life, play along, and announce they were engaged, imploding that white lie into a full-on farce. Gemma van Dalen, the outcast of her wealthy family, needs a spouse to inherit Van Dalen Publishing; her grandmother's legacy. In exchange for Tansy's hand in marriage, Gemma offers to save Tansy's beloved bookstore before it's sold off. Can their marriage of convenience work, or will Gemma's scheming family get between them?

❝ "As for feeling like you’ve failed, well, failure is an inescapable part of life. But failing doesn’t make you a failure. And I’m sorry your father made you feel like the two were synonymous. You are more than your achievements, Gemma. You are brilliant, and ambitious, and you are good, do you hear me? And what you do or do not achieve in this life has no bearing on your value.” ❞

💜 Oh. My. Goddess. That's right: goddess, because that's exactly what these two cunning, sassy women are. Alexandria Bellefleur has taken the generally predictable "marriage of convenience" trope and turned it into an emotional, powerful story about finding the love you don't realize you deserve. Both Tansy and Gemma are full of so much pain, their family trees full of broken branches (and in Gemma's case, poisonous barbs. For them to find love and family in one another so unexpectedly (for them, at least, because, come on, that's what we're here for), so flawlessly...it's not only swoon-worthy and sweet, but a relief. It's the insane, instant, undeniable chemistry between Tansy and Gemma that empowers their every interaction from the start, but unlike other marriage-of-convenience stories, smut doesn't drive their relationship. What starts off as a business relationship blossoms from a friendship to a true partnership. Gemma is sweet and giving as she navigates her first real relationship, while Tansy comes out of her shell to defend Gemma when no one else has. These goddesses support one another, even when the relationship is only a farce, until it all becomes real. The character development between them both is a flawless example of how empowering love--and having someone by your side--can really be.

🦇 As much as I loved every interaction between Gemma and Tansy, it's difficult to love everything that happens outside of their sweet sapphic bubble. The toxic men--namely Tucker, Gemma's cousin, who manipulated teenage Tansy and shared underage nudes of her--seem unrealistically cruel. Tansy's step-mother goes from a social ladder-climbing step-Bridzilla to suddenly sympathetic. None of the secondary characters have real layers, making them no more than pawns to the story's plot progression. Because of that, none of the conflicts or twists are surprising. The boardroom scene/resolution seemed beyond unrealistic, regardless of how sweet the gesture was. You may need to expand your suspension of disbelief and focus on the sapphic sweetness for this one.

🦇 Recommended for fans of Stars Collide, Cleat Cute, and Love at First Set. This heartwarming sapphic romance is full of feels; a stunning addition to any shelf.

✨ The Vibes ✨
🩷 Fake Dating
🩷 Marriage of Convenience
🩷 Bi MCs (Bi4Bi)
🩷 Sapphic Romance
🩷 Mental Health Rep
🩷 Opposites Attract

⚠️ Content Warnings: Past Sexual Exploitation, Threatening Interactions, Toxic Men, Spice 🌶️

Although the romance is predictable, it’s sooo desirable 

Layla Yaneth

I actually kinda hated this lol
Also the author fully uses Taylor Swift lyrics as lines??

I knew this was going to be great and it did not disappoint! Fake dating is not a favorite of mine but I loved how it was handled in particular. Their chemistry was off the charts.

The Fiancee Farce

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