I actually thought this story was really cute!! I loved Penelope and Rory to absolute bits. One of my favorites tropes is fake dating and I love that the FMC was also a rom-com writer, writing a fake dating book!

I thought the story dragged a little bit but that also could be me as I feel like I'm in a bit of a reading slump but I absolutely adored the story overall!

Thank you to Strawbundle Publishing and Netgalley for an ARC!

This was such a cute and fun romance read. Best friends to lovers, fake dating, slow burn, and one bed?! I love Penelope and Rory so much. They have so much chemistry.

This book was funny, sweet, and I highly recommend it!

I wanted to ask the same thing. Is this For real. And it was pretty awesome. I wanted to read this book. It was a good read and I really enjoyed this from the beginning to the end of it. Will read more and liked it very much.

This book follows Penelope, a struggling author, and her best friend Rory. They have been friends since college although throughout their friendship Penelope has had an on and off crush on him.

This is a great opposites-attract, friends-to-lovers, slow burn, fake-dating romantic comedy. I loved it and will definitely be reading more of Strobos in the future!

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review.

I wanted to like this book far more than I did which sums up the whole book. The fake dating trope in this book is always a favourite but the main characters had so little chemistry it just fell flat. Even in the end when they did eventually get together I didn't even feel that happy for them because it had gone on for so long I was bored. Within the book these people go on three separate trips and by the time the second rolled around I couldn't be bothered with them. There was more time spent describing these than focused on building their relationship and it just felt like it never progressed.

All of the people in Penelope's life were unsupportive and annoyed me other than her best friend. I didn't understand why as a grown woman she had to send bank statements to people in order for them to let her live her life. Just an altogether insufferable group to read about. I did like the premise and felt optimistic going in but honestly I had to force myself to finish it.

this has every trope that a romance reader and lover could possibly want!!!!! super super cute lighthearted read!! i would recommend

Is This for real did not hold my interest at all. I know I had to try to keep picking it up a lot but I didn't like this after all despite the fact that it had a cute plot and I also liked the cover too. The cover also made it seem like it was a fun and interesting story. It was still a cute cover though!

I finally read Is This for Real? and it was not entirely my favorite but all due to personal issues and relating too heavy. Overall, the plot and writing was AMAZING, it just wasn't my favorite.

Friends to lovers and fake dating tropes? Sign me up!!

This was a fun and easy read that had me hooked! The characters were great and I was rooting for them from the get go!

Friend-to-lovers, fake dating
Libro molto carino con una trama semplice ma efficace, un perfetto friend-to-lovers che sai come finirà ma vuoi goderti il viaggio.
Penelope e Rory sono bellissimi insieme, Penelope è una protagonista particolare, ha una passione per le miniature tridimensionali, crea storie ma non ha avuto successo in amore e la sua carriera da scrittrice non riesce a decollare come sognava.
Rory è un ragazzo bello e sicuro di sé, uscito da una storia d'amore turbolenta e con una buona carriera davanti, amico dai tempi del college di Penelope.
Il fake dating è soddisfacente, coinvolge una pagina dopo l'altra e Penelope come narratrice rende la lettura scorrevole e scoppiettante.
Ho trovato il "punto di crisi" e la risoluzione troppo frettolosi, non ci è dato il tempo di elaborare la crisi che i due già si riconciliano, sarebbe stato meglio costruire in modo più dettagliato e drammatico il litigio così da rendere più dolce la riconciliazione.

Kathy Strobos follows up 'Partner Pursuit' with a charming friends-to-lovers tale with 'Is this for real?'.

Long-time friends Rory and Penelope agree to fake-date so they can convince a client's wife to not hit on Rory, and another friend she's no longer in love with him. GEE I wonder what will happen next?!

This is a sweet story, Rory is a sweetheart, from the get go its obvious he has Penelope's back with his never ending support of her writing. He sees her, and this is made clear through Strobos' deft touch with witty dialogue which brings their bond to life.

It's a slow burn romance, which is done well, and of course Strobos tackles the characters' experience of the blurred lines in a realistic manner. What was a huge plus for me with this book is we don't have the usual 'miscommunication' that is such a mainstay of romance novels which drives me crazy.

If you love fake-dating, friends to lovers, and a good ole slow burn, this book is well worth a reading journey. I'm looking forward to Kathy Strobos' next book.

Thank you to Strawbundle Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC.

I really loved this read!! The pacing of the relationship was so believable, and nothing delights me more than friends to lovers trope. This was a great read. It was believable for me, and I loved the dialogue. It was also great for bookish people/aspiring writers, as we get to see the process of writing a book through the lens of the character.

This was a let-down for me. I was expecting so much more, especially since I loved the premise and the tropes included in the book. The relationship felt lacking, Rory and Penelope weren't developed that I didn't believe in their relationship. It also felt very repetitive, with Penelope getting rejections over and over again, and Rory just being there. This was also very slow, and I had a difficult time reading it continuously. I had to pause at times because it was too boring.

This is yet another great book. I really enjoyed the concept and really love everything about it. I enjoyed the journey and how she managed to get to reach her dreams.

Full Review TO BE LINKED HERE.

A fun romance read ! I enjoyed the story, but it did have a bit of a slow burn. I had to force myself to read through a few parts

What can go wrong when you fake date someone? You just might fall in love with them! Is This For Real was an adorable read that you just know how it will end.

Penelope and Rory-fake dating to provide Rory dates to business affairs and give Penelope ideas for her fake dating novel. There is a lot of interference by an ex-girlfriend and a former boyfriend to complicate their romance. Plus, Penelope fears she will lose Rory as her best friend if it all goes south…. a book that made me laugh out loud!

I love fake dating books! My favourite trope.

I also like when an author makes their main character an author too, because you know what they are describing is probably spot on for others in that field of work.

This story is a slow burn, friends to lovers.

Penelope and Rory are long term friends, she wants to research the fake dating trope and he needs a pretend girlfriend to keep the married women away.

Both main characters were likeable. This is my first book by Kathy Strobos and I really enjoyed it.

Okay, let's say up front that I am probably the wrong demographic for this romance and so much of what jarred is probably an age thing.

Penelope makes minatures, little scenes with tiny characters which she sells on her Etsy page (can you hear my 50+ year old eyes rolling?), she also blogs about her minatures and is trying to write a romance based on the characters, which are loosely based on her life. To make ends meet she also walks dogs and helps her friend Jamie's mum Theresa in her sporting goods store. Things have gone very, very wrong after Penelope declares her love for Jamie, only for him to say he doesn't think of her like that. Now she has to see him and his new girlfriend at a friends and family brunch without dying of mortification.

While Jamie has been in Singapore for a year working, Penelope has become good friends with Rory, a guy she was at college with. Penelope and Rory couldn't be more different, she had parents who were on the brink of divorce when they died, his parents are still happily married. To save Penelope from embarrassment, and to save Rory from his boss' wife's wandering hands, Penelope and Rory decide to fake date. Not everyone is convinced by the fake dating, particularly Penelope's annoying older sister Olivia and Rory's ex-girlfriend Callie, which is odd because Penelope starts to realise that her feelings for Jamie were merely a crush, it's Rory she wants to spend the rest of her life with. But having already declared her love and been shot down once, can she dare to do it a second time, and possibly destroy an amazing friendship?

First let me say that Penelope is a mouthful to say and a pain to type, but she hates being called Penny (eye roll). Now I'm a fan of the slow burn, yes I'm looking at you Mariana Zapata but there has to be some purpose to it, some small steps towards the HEA, in this case I just felt like this was a short novel which had been extended by lots of little scenes that didn't go anywhere. Penelope shares three chapters of her book with her writing club and gets critique, Penelope shares three chapters of her book with her tutor and gets critique, Penelope shares three chapters of her book with a publisher and gets critique, rinse and repeat. Frankly with all the conflicting advice I'm surprised the book was readable at the end.

Also, it was clear to the reader that Rory was in love with Penelope from the very first chapter (2% to be precise) when he's reading a romance to better give Penelope's draft novel a better critique, so the push-me-pull-me where they almost kiss and then shy away got old really quickly.

My final gripe was the story within a story within a story plot, while Penelope and Rory are fake dating, so are her minatures on her blog and so are the characters in her novel. Penelope and Rory go on fake dates so that Penelope has fodder for her writing.

Overall, the blurb is on point when it calls this an opposites-attract, friends-to-lovers, slow burn, fake-dating romantic comedy, just not to my taste.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.