I decided to pick up the excerpt before committing to the entire book, and after reading this, I’m looking forward to reading the rest!

The View Was Exhausting has a lot of things I love for a romance book – fake dating trope, exciting characters, and exquisite writing. The main characters are remarkable and e believable chemistry. I love them together; they are fun and witty. I also like how the authors address Win’s struggles and how hard it is to be a person of color in the public eye—looking forward to reading the rest and how Win and Leo’s relationship develops!

After reading this brief introduction I placed an online order at B&N where I will feature and tag net galley as well.

So far, so good! This story is glamorous, hilarious, and very atmospheric. This book is perfect for readers who enjoy reading about Hollywood and famous people.

I absolutely loved this book and diving into Win's life. This book reminded me so much of Taylor Jenkins Reid's writing style and I was totally sucked into Win and Leo's relationship. I'm not going to lie the audio totally had me crying on my way home from work one shift.

This review is for an excerpt of the first four chapters. A compelling premise and the first four chapters got me invested in Win’s and Leo’s relationship.

In The View Was Exhausting, Win is an internationally famous British superstar of South Asian heritage. Leo is a wealthy, American/European playboy who is kind of lost when it comes to his future. For the past several years, they have had a mutually beneficial fake relationship they trot out whenever one of them needs a distraction in the press. Aside from one hot week in their early 20s, they are just friends, with any physical affection curated and staged perfectly for the paparazzi. Leo has fun with it all. Win feels the enormous pressure of being in the public eye while being female and Indian British. Leo has no idea how not fun that can be. When Win's most recent relationship blows up and her ex starts spouting off on television that she's too career-driven, cold, and difficult, it's time to once again bring on the Leo show. However, times and feelings have changed and it's not so much fun anymore.

This book was great! I think I found it here on my beloved bookstagram and I'm so glad I did. Both Leo and Win are strong characters who share a platonic love (or maybe more) for each other but definitely have competing interests at heart. It certainly makes you stop and think about the pressure we put on celebrities and our need to have them be everything to us (not too nice but not too bitchy, driven but not ambitious, it goes on and on). I found the whole thing to be exhausting, making the title absolutely perfect.

(I also have to say it was VERY interesting to be reading this right during the reunion of Ben and JLo. I'm not saying that their relationship is fake and used to create buzz in the press, but I'm not NOT saying, either...)

This excerpt includes the first 4 chapters of the book. Win is a young up and coming actress who is getting bad publicity following a nasty relationship break up. Leo, a wealthy playboy comes to the rescue as arranged by Win’s controlling publicist. Win and Leo must “put on a show” for the paparazzi to make it appear as if Win has moved on. Apparently, this is at least the second time that Leo has been asked to fulfill this role. The first chapters are definitely entertaining although the characters are shallow and unlikable. But it drew me in and I’m anxious to finish the book to find out if Win and Leo’s relationship becomes something more than “pretend” or even just a good friendship.

Oh my gosh, this excerpt was NOT enough! I knew I would enjoy this one when one of my favorite authors, Taylor Jenkins Reid, raved about it. On my way to buy the book ASAP!

Taylor Swift said it best with, "I'd be just like Leo in Saint Tropez."
I could not stop singing this line while reading this excerpt.

Awesome title? check
Gorgeous cover? check
Hollywood? check
Fake Dating? check

This excerpt gave me just enough taste to know that I want Leo and Win to be together.
It is very frustrating while reading to know that Win/Whitman has to be perfect and everything is so calculated.
I do believe that there are celebrities that are in "PR relationships" and that have every step already planned ahead. The four chapters has me wanting more and I do have need to know some answers to some of my questions. I want to know if we meet Nathan? Does Win make it to Shift's wedding? Does Leo ever open up a gallery?

Thank you Net Galley for the preview!

Thanks to Netgalley for the first 4 chapters of this book. Unfortunately for me, I wanted more of the story of Win and Leo and their real/not-so-real love story. I can't wait to read more.

My first thought when I finished this book was "Is that all? Maybe the book didn't download completely?" As it was written, it read more like a short story, rather than a novel. I could see on my Kindle that I was getting close to the end, so I thought something exciting must be about to happen, but nope. I'm not sure what the "shocking secret in Leo's past" was supposed to be. Maybe I'm missing something? Thank-you to the publisher, authors, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

I downloaded this not realizing it was an excerpt. I did read the entire book, and it was good but not great for me. I loved the cover and I love the premise- I just got frustrated with the characters. I did enjoy the look at the exceptional pressures women of color face in the media.

This book was provided to me compliments of #NetGalley for my honest opinion.

This excerpt shows a lot of promise for the actual book. I look forward to reading it eventually.

This was not a book just an excerpt so I haven’t written a review yet. Someday I will finish the book

This is really something, I was thinking about reading this book but I wasn't so sure if I would like it when I saw that I could read an excerpt thanks to NetGalley. I have to say that I was really intrested in what was going on in this short preview so it really helped me with my decision on giving the whole book an opportunity.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a preview of The Dating Playbook in exchange for my honest review!

I just read the excerpt but I can already tell this is a MUST read. The cover alone caught my attention just the beginning of the story has convinced me to stay. I put a hold on the book at a local library AND ordered it online. Now it's just a race of which one will I get first? Ha.

I don’t think I’ll be reading the full version of this one. Since the book jumps right into dialogue, it was hard for me to understand what was going on with the characters. Unfortunately, their characters did not give me much to go off of, and did not make me want to keep reading.

I was excited to find the first few chapters of The View Was Exhausting on NetGalley. Having seen this all over Instagram, but knowing it was not my typical read, I dove into this excerpt and absolutely loved what I read. I am definitely looking forward to reading the entire book.

The View Was Exhausting has everything blended perfectly to make it one of the must read romance novels this month. Win a woman of color is an A-list Hollywood actress who fakes her relationship with playboy Leo to control her public persona.

An incredibly well written story with swoon worthy romance on yatchs, mesmerizing settings with a dash of family drama, makes it such a glamorous, fun and refreshing read!

If you like beautiful location, fake relationship trope, cheesy romcom, this book is right up your alley, that hit the shelves on July 6, 2021

Thank you Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for the complimentary galley in exchange of my honest review!

I'm a sucker for the fake dating trope, and that combined with the witty banter in this excerpt have me wanting to read the rest of the book immediately! I flew through the first chapters of this, and I already like Whitman and Leo and the chemistry they have. I will definitely be picking this up soon!