I really enjoyed this! The story was great, the characters are great, and it made me chuckle quite a few times!

Fake dating is one of my favorite tropes, so when I read the blurb for this one I knew I had to read it!

Grey and Ethan. I really enjoyed the character growth and the banter between these two. Watching them realize that their fake dating may be leading to some real feelings was everything.

The plot and writing style propelled me through. I found it to be medium paced, emotional and reflective.

I will be keeping my eye out for other works from this author.

cw: alcoholism, addiction, grief, death, drug use

This was such a charming read -- looking forward to more from this author. I'm a sucker for fake relationshiops with high stakes and this one hit the spot for me. Longer review TK.

Ava Wilder's debut novel about a celebrity couple that fake dates for publicity seems like it might be a light read, but this book definitely packs a serious punch.

It is a bit deeper than just a lighthearted romance and the author does such a fantatsic job of writing about difficult issues and handling them with care. I felt like this had so much more depth and the fleshed out characters just added so much more to the story.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This cover and snippet seemed to promise a whirlwind romance with "sizzling chemistry" but unfortunately for me that sizzle was no where to be found! I do love the single-dad trope which Ethan Atkins delivered on but the characters did not resonate with me and sadly I think this one missed the mark.

How to Fake It in Hollywood is a steamy, angsty romance novel about two actors who agree to fake a relationship in order to boost their careers. The tropes in this story include “Fake Relationship to Love” and “Forced Proximity”.

Grey Brooks is a B-list actress who is struggling to find work after her long-running teen soap opera is canceled. Ethan Atkins is a former A-lister who has fallen out of favor after a public scandal. When their publicists come up with the idea of them faking a relationship, they both agree, even though they know it's a bad idea. As Grey and Ethan spend more time together, they start to develop real feelings for each other. But their relationship is complicated by their pasts, their careers, and the expectations of the public. Can they overcome all the obstacles in their way and find true love?

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were well-developed and relatable, and the romance was both steamy and sweet. I also appreciated the realistic portrayal of the Hollywood industry, with its cutthroat competition and constant pressure to maintain a public image.

If you're looking for a fun, sexy, and heartwarming romance novel, I highly recommend How to Fake It in Hollywood.



Here are some of the things I liked about the book:
🔹The characters were well-developed and relatable. Grey and Ethan were both complex and flawed individuals, and I found myself rooting for them both.
🔹The romance was both steamy and sweet. The author did a great job of building up the sexual tension between the characters, and the eventual payoff was worth it.
🔹The book was a realistic portrayal of the Hollywood industry. The author didn't shy away from the challenges that actors face, such as the constant pressure to maintain a public image and the cutthroat competition for roles.

Overall, I thought How to Fake It in Hollywood was a great read. It's a fun, sexy, and heartwarming romance novel that I would definitely recommend to others.

4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 4 Flames 🔥🔥🔥🔥

📚Disclosure: I received a review copy of this #book from Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Delacorte Press via #Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, comments, and interpretations of the story are my own and bias free. I did not receive any money in exchange for this review. Thank you to the publisher/author for allowing me the opportunity to review. Reviews are usually cross-posted to social media, goodreads, bookbub, and blog. 🦄

This was great! I really liked the cover art and the story was interesting and well written. I'll read another book by Ava Wilder gladly.

Ava wilder nailed it with this one! She’s a new to me author. I love her characters and world she builds with amazing clarity and attention to details. Lover her and highly recommend any of her books.

Contrary to the cover this book deals with heavy themes and a lot of baggage. Both the main characters felt like the world was on their shoulders and a touch one note. It took a little time to get invested in the story but once you did it was hard to put down.

My goodness what an adorable love story. I loved the celebrity aspect. I loved the substance abuse aspect. I loved the strong female friendship and women empowerment aspect. Not to mention also the absolutely adorable main characters who are impossible to not fall in love with. Loved this romance that made me smile the entire way through.

How To Fake It In Hollywood rode the coattails of a trend in novels of a peek behind the curtain of Hollywood. However, books like BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA and THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO accomplished the goal with just a bit more finesse. It wasn’t bad, it just got lost in the shuffle of other books and needed something to make it stand out

Because Grey and Ethan are both at crossroads in their Hollywood careers, their publicist suggests they fake a relationship.

This is one of those books that sat on my shelf forever, and I just wish I’d read it a whole lot earlier. This was more serious than my usual romance book, but I definitely enjoyed it!

a classic, great romance pick! probably one of the more recent and better done books in the genre with character depth, sweet moments, and more. definitely looking forward to more from ava wilder.

Give me fake dating and Hollywood and I’ll eat it up. I really enjoyed this book and I was pleasantly surprised with how real and honest these characters were. I loved Ethan and Grey’s journey with each other and their own struggles. I laughed and cried and wanted to stay in this world.

What starts out as a PR stunt involving a younger actress and an older, famous actor faking a relationship soon becomes a real attraction. The cover drew me in but the book didn’t live up to what I was expecting. I was expecting the typical fake relationship funny rom-com kinda book but this one had soo much drama involved. I was hoping to be laughing out loud not reading some of the things that were in this.

he plot revolves around Grey, an actress striving to find her next breakthrough while dealing with personal setbacks, and Ethan, a talented yet troubled director in need of positive publicity. Grey's character is portrayed as more than just an up-and-coming actress. She is a resilient individual navigating the challenges of a recent TV series release, a broken relationship, and the pursuit of more mature roles. Ethan, on the other hand, is a complex character struggling with the aftermath of a divorce and the guilt surrounding his best friend's tragic death. He grapples with self-doubt but still finds himself drawn to Grey, recognizing her maturity and wisdom beyond her years.

I appreciated the author's realistic approach to depicting romantic relationships. Grey and Ethan's journey is far from warm and fuzzy, but it is compelling in its authenticity and rawness. Overall, I really liked the well-drawn characters and larger themes surrounding love and redemption.

A quick read, How to Fake It in Hollywood brings humor and heart while packing an unexpectedly emotional punch.

Sometimes it feels crazy reading what you know to be an author’s debut book because the writing has such an ease to it that you think “this can’t possibly be their first publication!” That is absolutely how I felt reading How to Fake It in Hollywood. Ava Wilder’s writing style is effortless and evocative — I flew through this book!

In my opinion, the story starts off stronger than it ends. There’s lots of laughs and great banter in the first part of the book, and the second part of the book is far more serious and emotional than I was expecting. Grey and Ethan are very flawed characters, especially Ethan. While I enjoyed the emotional depth that came from their brokenness and the eventual individual character growth, I felt there isn’t enough of the relationship on-page and was left wanting more of the romance in the end.

Overall, I did like How to Fake It in Hollywood. Ava’s writing was, by far, the biggest highlight for me and will propel me to read more from her.

*Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book. This did not affect my opinion or the content of my review.

Okay I know I am way behind on this one, but I couldn’t NOT come back to say I loved this book!!! Ava’s second book is also fire!! Ava Wilder is one of the best romance writers out there right now!!! We are so lucky

Thank you NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this book.

I usually am a big fan of fake dating and with the synopsis making this sound like a really good time, I thought this book would for sure be a hit for me. And not to get it twisted, it's not that this book is bad necessarily. I think it's mostly just a me problem, and I went into this thinking rom com kind of, and this wasn't exactly what I got.

I don't typically read stories with actors as the main character (off the top of my head, I really can only think of that Merry Meet Cute book, and to be honest, that book was also kind of a flop) but I thought that surely this trope would be well suited for this industry. And it really might. But I think I wanted something more light-hearted and cute and this book deals with a lot of heavy topics in addition to the love story itself not feeling completely believable.

I read this while in a bit of a reading slump, and I will say that it was a super quick read and I enjoyed my time well enough. I've never read anything by this author before, and I think that the writing really worked for me even when the story didn't and I would definitely be interested in picking up other books by them in the future.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House publishers for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, I don't have much to say about this novel because I DNFed it close to the halfway mark after several attempts through multiple formats (E-ARC and audiobook) to try to finish it.

For me, if a romcom hasn't sold me with the couple with the first half of the novel, it's really hard for me to stay motivated to finish it. I didn't understand the connection or chemistry between the two characters and after a while I made the decision to DNF, which I try really hard not to do for ARCs.

I should put a disclaimer that I don't think I'm entirely interested in reading books about Hollywood stars and if you're interested in Hollywood romances, I do suggest you take my words with a grain of salt and take a chance on this novel as according to reviews, my rating is in the minority.