What an utter delight! I admit this is my first rom com by Bellefleur, but now I want more. The marriage of convenience is one of my favorite tropes when it's done well, and here it works. Tansy, a reserved bookstore owner, has let her family believe that she's dating Gemma as an excuse to get out of family functions and avoid seeing the awful Tucker, who hurt her in the past. Gemma has been blindsided by news that her grandfather has left the family publishing company, not to any of his three sons, but to her--with the stipulation (naturally) that she be married. Make Gemma cousins with the awful Tucker, who now has a stake in bringing up the painful parts of both Gemma and Tansy's past, and you have the ideal villain to spoil what is otherwise a charming and blissfully engaging tale of two tender-hearted souls learning to trust one another with their secrets and then their hearts. With high emotion, fun dialogue, and secondary characters that Bellefleur obviously is in love with (maybe moreso than I was, but whatever), as well as a setting in chic Seattle, and you have a romance that can't help but sweep you away. I loved it.

Alexandria Bellefleur’s The Fiancée Farce is another of her sweet, sparkly contemporary romances – this time, about a fake engagement that ends up turning all too real. The tropes may be familiar, but the warmhearted treatment of them won’t be. It definitely coasts on charm and is low-stakes, but sometimes charm is all you need.

The last thing Tansy Adams wants to do is be the center of attention, preferring to hang out quietly at her bookstore. But everyone around her is getting married, and her family keeps trying to fix her up; their attempts get worse when a cousin starts dating her ex. Tansy comes up with a solution for this: a fake fiancée named Gemma, inspired by a pretty heroine from the cover of multiple romance novels she’s sold. She doesn’t expect the real Gemma to pop up at the reception of her friend’s wedding – and to promptly announce that they’re engaged.

Gemma van Dalen’s drunken pronouncement has a reason behind it – in order to inherit the publishing company she models for, she has to be married. She and Tansy concoct a deal – Tansy will pose as Gemma’s fiancée until the deal is signed, Tansy will get extra money to keep her bookstore afloat. Of course, they won’t fall in love for real… will they?

You’re a romance reader – you know the answer to that one. The Fiancée Farce doesn’t produce a whole lot of plot tension; much of the story is based around Gemma and Tansy getting to know each other versus anything plotty. And Bellefleur’s reliance on italics remains a prominent part of her writing style. But the end result is something incredibly charming.

I specifically loved Gemma and her total ballsiness. She just doesn’t care about what people think of her – that is, until meeting Tansy turns her world upside down. Also wonderful is Tansy coming out of her shell and trying to live life on her own terms.

There is a perfect sense of disharmony to their romance – fun chaos to a degree, but a lot of space for them to both grow up and get to know one another. And the fun feeling of the novel definitely makes reading about their dating fun.

But again – this is a low-tension, low-stakes romance that goes from fake dating to real dating very quickly. More time should’ve been spent on the maybes and their worries. But the foundation is entertaining, strong, and a hoot, and the relationship is good. The Fiancée Farce isn’t my favorite Bellefleur romance, but it’s definitely a good one.

THE FIANCÉE FARCE is a perfectly fine romantic comedy that hits all the right beats. Some of the jokes didn't land for me and I found a few of the side characters bothersome, but I was sold on the love story at the center of the story.

Alexandria Bellefleur has done it again! I enjoyed every single page of THE FIANCEE FARCE. If you are wanting to get out of a reading slump with a bright, fun, sexy queer rom-com, I cannot recommend this book enough. I loved the characters a lot – Tansy and Gemma were fantastic narraters. This book solidified that "marriage of convenience" is one of my favorite romance tropes. The execution of THE FIANCEE FARCE was equally as fun as the initial set up. Suffice to say, I will be reading anything and everything Bellefleur publishes in the future.

What happens when you lie to your family saying you have a girlfriend... when in fact you just used the cover model for popular romances as your fake girlfriend.. and said model actually appears at the same wedding you are attending... and then proposes to you? Well, Tansy Adam’s is about to find out. Tansy has one thing she loves: her family’s bookstore that has been passed down to her stepmother, all Tansy wants to do is make her bookstore flourish and survive another family dinner without people asking her about her love life and avoiding the leering gazes of a horrible ex. So she invents a fake girlfriend, and since she works in a bookstore, she uses the stunning book covet model Gemma West as her fake girlfriend.. except now at a wedding she is attending Gemma shows up and when Tansy’s stepsister confronts her about dating Tansy, Gemma just goes along with the lie and in fact takes it a step further, she proposes on the spot to Tansy. Gemma West, acually is Gemma van Dalen, a wildchild who has been the outcast of her wealthy family, has now been selected as the latest heir to the Van Dalen Publishing business... except her grandfather had one stipulation: in order to inherit the company Gemma has to marry, and she’s desperate to keep the business out of her horrible family’s hands. With limited options and nownhere left to turn she suddenly finds herself literally handed the perfect fake fiancee, Tansy. Gemma just needs someone to agree to marry her for two years so she can inherit her company... and Tansy needs money to buy her beloved bookstore before her stepmother sells it off. Gemma offers to give Tansy the money and in return Tansy just needs to get married to her. Gemma isn’t a relationships girl, but something about Tansy has her wanting to break all her rules. Tansy has had her trust and heart broken yet Gemma is her literal dream girl come true. What started off as a business arrangement might take a turn as both Tansy and Gemma find that there are real feelings between them and that what started off as a fake engagement could actually turn into a real one. This was an AMAZING and super sweet story. I absolutely adored Tansy and Gemma, and their romance was so cute. I loved the story and i just had so much fun reading this! HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

*Thanks Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager, Avon for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I haven’t read anything else by this Author and I found this book very fun and pleasing to read! There was good banter and chemistry, I think that it would be a good read for any romance reader.

I absolutely loved this. The writing was witty and easy to follow, and it was a fun spin on the marriage of convenience trope. We had such a solid foundation for their inevitable love story, and their support system in the form of the side characters was magnificent! Hoping to see more of these characters eventually because I absolutely adore them.

Bellefleur is one of my absolute go-to authors when I need something funny, sexy, and full of banter. THE FIANCEE FARCE lives up to all of my very high expectations and then some. Gemma and Tansy are a wonderful pair with wickedly funny repartee and great chemistry. Everyone should be on the look out for this marriage of convenience romance.

3.5 stars.
I started out really enjoying this book, loved the characters, loved the tropes, they tension was building so nicely. Then things started to get a little repetitive, same jokes being used over and over, and the characters relationship developed really fast, in my opinion, for them being strangers. I struggled pretty hard to get through the last chunk of this book, even though I still really liked the characters and their relationship (once it was solidified). There was a lot to love from this book, I just think a couple things got in the way from it being a standout for me.

As someone who has read all of Bellefleur’s previous works, I was SO excited to receive an ARC of the newest addition to her collection. This story is so upbeat, funny, and engaging I just couldn’t stop reading, I’m not typically one for marriage of convenience tropes but this book did so well with it.

My only complaint was the writing at the beginning of the book. It felt choppy and like I couldn’t get a good sense of what was going on. Otherwise, this was a 5/5 star for me!

I really enjoyed The Fiancee Farce by Alexandra Bellefleur. I have some patrons who I know will love this romance, too, so we will definitely be purchasing this one for our collection. Thank you!

Absolutely stunning. I adored this romance. I adored everything about this and highly recommend it. The tropes and the characters, were just so fantastic. Highly recommended if you enjoy the marriage of convenience trope, like I do. It is one of my favorite tropes done so well here.

Tansy pretended to have a girlfriend to avoid family bs, especially events that involved her one-time lover Tucker, who is connected to her family I forget how. He's a bad dude, but he belongs to a prestigious (wealthy) clan, the van Dalens, and Tansy's stepmother is a climber. The fake girlfriend is a romance book cover model who shows up to Tucker's wedding and upon learning of Tansy's fake relationship with her makes it real and ups the deal by inventing their engagement.

The rest of the novel is a girl gets girl, girl loses girl, and girl gets girl back (spoiler! but it's a romance novel so sorry/not sorry). It's a cute romp with likable characters and a surprise villain.

Actual rating: 3.5/5 stars.

This was a super fun romance to read! I love a good F/F romance, and Alexandria Bellefleur is great at writing them! I loved the main trope-- marriage of convenience-- and the fun, complicated antics that the two MCs ended up in to create this situation and keep up their farce. Gemma and Tansy had great chemistry straight off the bat, and though the story occurs in a relatively short amount of time I was able to buy that they fell for each other so quickly. Kudos for that!!

There were some things that didn't totally jive with me, though I wouldn't say they affected my enjoyment very much. I did think pretty much all of the side characters were very one-dimensional (Katherine is the uncaring stepmother, Teddy is the gay best friend, Lucy is the jealous ex, Tucker is the villain, etc), and I didn't really care about anyone in the story but Gemma and Tansy. I also thought Katherine's "redemption" at the end felt very quick and far too easy.

But overall, this was a fun romance to read and I would recommend giving it a shot when it comes out next year!

Fake dating is one of my all time favorite tropes, and Bellefleur really knocked it out of the park. Gemma and Tansy have quite the story and I was immediately drawn in to their personalities and connection with each other. We really dive into their relationship at breakneck speed, which isn’t a let down, but the story certainly could have benefited from a bit more of a slow burn.

Once they did get together for real, though, I was hooked. Their relationship is absolutely adorable and I found their constant joking with each other to be very charming. I was actually surprised by the little twist that was thrown in, which only made the book more enjoyable. There are some elements of the story that are a bit far fetched, hence my 4.5/5 rating, but overall I had a great time reading this book and would highly recommend it to anyone.

Tansy Adams and Gemma van Dalen find themselves in a delicious marriage of convenience— Tansy needs to keep up the lie that she’d been dating Gemma for the past six months and Gemma desperately needs to find a wife to fulfill the wishes of her late grandfather’s will in order to be president of the publishing company he left behind.

Alexandria knocked it out of the park with The Fiancée Farce. Tansy and Gemma complement each other perfectly and their instant attraction was everything. I loved that both of them learned how to be in a relationship with each other and that Gemma gave Tansy the confidence that she needed to shine while Tansy gave Gemma the unconditional love she’d been missing her whole life. Both women had their personality quirks that gave them depth and dimension on the page and the HEA was everything I could’ve asked for!

A fun fake dating/marriage of convenience romance! Read this in one sitting.

Tansy is a bookstore manager who's been lying to her family and saying she has a girlfriend (a romance novel cover model!) in order to get them off her back. When that exact romance novel cover model walks into Tansy's step-cousin's wedding, Tansy's certain her lies are about to out. Instead, Gemma, estranged cousin of the groom, plays along with Tansy's lies, needing a fake partner of her own. The two strike a deal to enter a marriage of convenience.

I'm not typically a fan of fake dating/marriage of convenience, but I think this one took out most of the bits about the trope that frustrate me—lack of communication, too many assumptions, refusing to get together for real out of preconceived notions, etc. The two main characters were very open and honest with each other, which was refreshing. The side characters were great, and I was rooting for the MCs the whole way.

Overall, I enjoyed this book! It was a touch insta-lovey, but not overly saccharine. A solid 3.5, rounding up because I think a 4 is more accurate than a 3.


Oh, PS! The book is written in third person, dual POV, like Alexandria's other novels. I know some people like to know that kind of thing going in.

4.5 rounded to five

I fazoomed through this f/f romance last night, which is paced at a breakneck speed, especially in the first half.

It's not truly a marriage of convenience, but once I adjusted my expectations, I began to appreciate how much these two *talked* to each other. It was such a relief not to run into Grand Misunderstandings caused by total non-communication, a trope I've never liked, and have come to thoroughly dislike.

Tansy and Gemma have enormous issues, which we uncover as they get to know each other. The side characters are colorful (I adored Teddy, Gemma's main roomie) and the tension between Gemma and Lucy really gripped me. I fell in love with both Tansy and Gemma from the latter's first dramatic appearance (this would make such a terrific film!) and the villains were all thoroughly horrible, which highlighted Uncle Brooks and his arc.

Lots of delicious emotional and UST, and great turns of phrase made me an instant fan of this writer.

The Fiancee Farce is a WLW fake dating romance novel. Tansy is the shy bookstore owner who has accidentally told her family she is dating a romance cover model named Gemma. She fears it will all blow up in her face when the real Gemma walks in to the same wedding she and her family are attending. However, Gemma has reasons of her own to continue the charade. Fans of the trope know exactly where this is headed . . .

While I like the premise of Gemma having to marry to gain control of the family business, I do think the pace of the book is on the slow side. I don't quite understand why Gemma falls for Tansy-- she's nice enough but it did take me out of the story.

I do prefer Bellefleur's other books, but plenty of romance readers and fans of the fake dating trope will enjoy this one.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. This was a delightful & quick read queer romance novel. The plot was completely extra and over the top, but I was rooting for the protagonists the whole way. A great addition to the queer romance genre.