Content warnings for death, grief, addiction, and alcoholism.
How to Fake It in Hollywood is a wonderful debut novel from Ava Wilder perfect for readers in search of angst and spice. Ethan Atkins has kept out of the limelight since his best friend and longtime creative partner died in a car accident. Grey Brooks has been struggling to keep her career as an actress moving forward since the end of her teen soap opera, which has her agreeing to her publicist's plan of setting her up with the reclusive actor for some much needed mutually beneficial attention.
I loved the slow burn between Grey and Ethan, that once sparked, was explosive. The storyline kept me captivated and rooting for them to admit their feelings for each other. I enjoyed Grey as a character, and think Wilder did a great job of keeping her likable, when it could have been so easy to make her vapid and annoying. There was a point towards the end of the middle section that had me incredibly annoyed and aggravated with Ethan, but I think that's the point. Since his best friend's death, Ethan has struggled with grief and alcoholism. As he gets to know Grey better, we see him start to change, but when things get hard, he falls back to his old coping mechanisms. I really appreciated that when Ethan eventually goes to rehab at the end, he makes that choice himself, not because others made him go. The last couple of chapters really had me loving Ethan again after being frustrated with him.
I recommend this book if you are looking for a romance filled with angst with tropes of one bed, fake dating, just this once, and single parent.

This was an amazing debut novel by Ava Wilder. I really enjoy romance books that delve deeper into real issues and show the emotional growth of the characters and this book did just that.

Grey Brooks is struggling to make it in Hollywood after her long running teen soap has ended. She has aspirations to successfully get her screenplay co-written with her bff off the ground. She can't seem to catch a break with a new role, so when her publicist approaches her with a fake-dating relationship with the reclusive and uber famous Ethan Atkins, she decides she has to consider the opportunity.

Since the tragic death of his best friend and writing partner, Ethan has become a recluse and shut himself off from as many interactions as possible. He's divorced with two kids who he only gets to see occasionally after going through a messy split from his ex. His struggles with his grief are front and center when he consistently drowns his problems in a bottle.

When the two meet to decide on whether they should fake date, there is instant chemistry. There's a lot of push and pull between them, with Ethan's reluctance to let anyone, and Grey's fear to do that as well. You can see how each of them does see the other for who they really are, and slowly their bond grows as they get to really know one another.

The issues of addiction and grief are front and center in this book, so please know going in you are going to be exposed to more than just a love story. It's deep and a bit heartbreaking to see all the issues Ethan struggles with and these scenes are written on page. I thought it was very well done and handled with the sensitivity it needed.

This story moved me and I was so hooked from the start. I wanted even more of Grey and Ethan once I finished but I will say the Epilogue in this book is *chef's kiss* perfection and was one of the most creative epilogues I've read. It really made me smile!

CW: addiction, alcoholism, grief, non-consensual release of naked photos, parent physical abuse briefly mentioned, parent abandonment

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

How to Fake It in Hollywood was suggested to me buy some of my friends on Bookstagram and HOLY CRAP am I excited to have received this arc early! (thank you NetGalley and RandomHouse for the advanced copy!)

Alright this is such a fun read. I ADORE pop culture and I am one of those humans that watches the Kardashians and any other docuseries about stars so this was right up my alley. Grey Brooks and Ethan Atkins are both Hollywood stars, one a bit more famous than the other, but both not without their own problems they have to work on. When their publicist (who is a gem imo) suggests they start a "fake relationship" to help both of their careers, they agree.

Now this book is a rom-com delight, with a delightful amount of spice, but without spoilers it also really touches on alcoholism/drug abuse/verbal abuse and a few other triggers so be warned heading into it. As an alcoholic myself (almost 6 years sober this year!) I felt a lot of those arguments and internal battles all too well. Thank you SO much Ava, this was a really really good read.

After reading the synopsis for this book, I was instantly sold. Fake dating, one bed troupe, bickering and sexy time. What more could you possibly want?

We follow Grey Brooks and Ethan Atkins who are both Hollywood stars. After Grey’s teen soap comes to an end, she’s struggling to keep her career afloat. Ethan on the other hand is just trying to stay under the radar and find his way back to himself. When their publicists suggest a fake dating PR stunt, they both surprisingly agree.

I knew going into this that it was obviously a romance but I wasn’t expecting it to deal with a lot of serious topics as well. Alcoholism is a huge part of this story as well as loss of a loved one. I think it was portrayed very well throughout the book and beautifully written. I loved the character development as well.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time reading this book. Its very fast paced and has the perfect amount of spice. Perfect book to read by the pool with a nice margarita. I highly recommend picking this one up on June 14th!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House for the e-arc!

This is a fantastically fun read while also being very real and compelling. I'm a huge pop culture fan so this fictional glimpse into a fake Hollywood couple that turns real hooked me. The chemistry between Grey and Ethan is as real as their many issues. This book does not shy away from the darker side of life including death, addiction, and grief.

I would highly recommend my other friends, especially those who love pop culture, to read this one. It gives me vibes of Taylor Jenkins Reid mixed with Robinne Lee's "The Idea of You."

Thank you for the advanced copy!

Thanks to #NetGalley and #RandomHouse for an ARC of this #HowtoFakeItinHollywood.

This book needs some trigger warnings! I was not ready for the heaviness of it.. I enjoyed Grey and Ethan's story but the rom-com just wasn't there for me. Not to say that I didn't enjoy the book! I did, there was some fun banter, an interesting story line and Hollywood is always fun to read about! Overall, a good read! Just not a rom-com for me!

As a pop-culture-a-holic, I really love any book that references Hollywood life, so I was immediately drawn to this book. Grey and Ethan were such dynamic characters, and it was addictive to follow their "relationship." Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for a copy of this book for an honest review.

I picked this book up once before and I actually don’t know why I didn’t start it, but I’m honestly sad I didn’t. I loved this book and the messages the author wove through.

I really loved Grey’s character and I loved watching Ethan grow. I think there was such an important lesson in this book: you can want someone to change/better themselves but it doesn’t matter how much if they aren’t willing/ready to change. I also think this serves as a reminder, that celebrities are people too though we don’t always treat them that way.

If you like fake-dating, forced proximity and celebrities, this is for you. I know I will be preordering it.

Here’s my thing: I didn’t love this book. I had SUCH high hopes after reading the summary combined with the cover. I was expecting light, rom-com vibes. That isn’t the case, it’s much more. It touches on some pretty heavy topics (grief and addiction to name a few. Definitely check TW before attempting to read).

This book follows Grey and Ethan, both actors, both are given the opportunity to change the narrative of their careers by getting into a fake relationship.

I just couldn’t get past the execution of the tropes. It has a HEA, so I guess it wrapped up nicely in the end.

HOWEVER! I do recognize that I tend to read books with more of a critical eye (I can’t help itttt). Give this book a try!!! It might be your bread and butter!!!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars

I thought I was going to love this book. But just no. Like no. It was really good (which is why it has 2 stars), but until Chapter 16. From that point on, it just went WAY downhill for me. I'm going to try to make this review as spoiler free as I can, but I will be giving away some general things that happened in the book to explain why I didn't like it.

Let's talk about Grey. She was essentially the reason why I disliked this book so much.

Grey knew that Ethan was an alcoholic. She mentioned it a few times to him even. BUT instead of doing something about it (until the end of the book) she encouraged him to drink alcohol. Now, typically if you care about someone, you would want to help them, not enable them to do something that is harmful.

Towards the beginning of the book, Grey told Ethan that she wanted him to stop smoking. It was a condition of their fake dating contract. Guess what? In chapter 16 & 17, Grey started smoking a joint. Yeah, that's when the book went downhill. But the fun part is that later in the book AFTER she smoked the joint herself, she got upset that Ethan was smoking. Hmmm....

Finally, Grey didn't seem like herself. At the beginning of the book, she was worried about what other's thought of her and always trying to be polite. I didn't feel like her character grew at all to evolve into thinking otherwise, but it seemed like her character just randomly stopped caring.

I will say that the last 3 chapters were good, so I gave an extra 1/2 star with that.

Overall, I cannot recommend this book. It just had too many issues for me to love it. I see the potential, but it needs some serious editing before I can love it.

Trigger Warnings:
- Alohol
- Car accident
- Depression

Trigger warnings for: grief, alcohol and drug abuse, child abuse (from character's childhood/offscreen), death (before book)

Grey Brooks was an up-and-coming actress but her career has been somewhat stagnant since the end of her most recent TV show. She's actively looking for work and also working on a screenplay with her best friend when her publicist comes up with a scheme to help her: fake-date Ethan Atkins, a disgraced Hollywood heartthrob who is in need of some good publicity to rehabilitate his image. Grey and Ethan agree to the scheme but soon find that the have sizzling chemistry both on and off "screen".

I have some...complicated feelings about this book. I loved the first half and thought it was super fun! It gets pretty dark and heavy in the second half though. Thankfully, a fellow bookstagrammer had told me this so I was prepared, but if I hadn't been I definitely would have been expecting more of a rom-com with this cover and description. I still ended up really liking the book and I think it did deal with the heavy topics pretty well, but I have some critiques that I really hope make it into the final copy of this book.

First all, at a minimum this book should have trigger warnings before the story starts. This is NOT a book for everyone - it is a romance so of course does have a HEA but there is a lot of work that the characters and readers go through in the second half. I also think this book should have resources at the end for Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-anon, and Narcotics Anonymous.

I appreciate that this book wasn't afraid to talk about those resources as well as rehab and therapy. However, all of Ethan's healing happens off-screen. I understand why, given the genre of this book, however I think it could have been meaningful to see a glance into that process. Ethan struggles with unresolved grief and alcoholism and drug use which gets him to a pretty dark place pretty late in the book (like, over 75% through). I was really worried about how it was all going to resolve with about 10-15% left. I do also think that there were a fair number of conflicts that just really weren't addressed (primarily Grey's relationship with her mom), which detracted a bit from the book for me.

I did think the ending was good - I appreciate that 16 months had passed since Ethan entered rehab - I think any sooner than that would have been too soon. Healing takes time and as most therapists would tell you, trying to heal while also being focused on someone else (especially a fairly new relationship) is often not going to be beneficial. I also appreciated that when Ethan apologizes to Grey, he acknowledges that his healing is not over and she acknowledges that it is going to take time for her to trust him again. Healing is not linear or one-and-done, and I think the author did this well.

I think this is between a 3.75-4 stars for me. I'm glad I had warning before diving in, and I hope other readers get that warning as well.

Book: How to Fake it in Hollywood
Author: Ava Wilder
Pub Date: 6/14/2022
Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Review~
How to Fake it in Hollywood is a celebrity romance, fake dating, forced proximity, and single father book!!

Make sure to check the trigger warnings for this book. It talks about the struggle of mental health, a reality of what it’s like to be a movie star, and addiction.

Grey and Ethan are both movie stars who are in a fallout and trying to get a job in a new movie role. This causes them to start to fake dating due to boosting their careers.

Overall this book was amazing!! The chemistry between was so good. I loved how the book shows how important mental health is and the need of having space to get help. This book is a definitely good summer read book. And parts of this book really took me by surprise.

This novel was a surprise in many ways. 3.5 stars

I really enjoyed the writing. Good writing is hard to come by lately. And the couple and supporting cast was just wonderful. The couple had real chemistry and I loved it that they took their time to get to know each other, and didn't jump into bed at first sight.

If you love the fake-relationship trope it's a must read!!! But it's far from a fluffy light romance, it touches some heavy topics, and soon became much more emotional than expected. My heart broke at times, especially when it came to Ethan's struggles. Also, Hollywood was really well depicted, with all it's glimmer and rot.

How to Fake it in Hollywood is a great debut novel, and a book I would recommend to anyone who loves this trope and Hollywood, the author did a great job with both. Also the writing was really well done!!

This had a really strong start. Grey and Ethan are both strong characters with interesting backstories, so I was interested in seeing their dynamic and how their story played out. This was a bit more emotionally heavy than I would have expected from the blurb and the cover.

I started to lose interest somewhere around the midway point. I think there were two main reasons for this. The first is not the book's fault- the relationship with Grey / Ethan was heavily focused on lust, and that's just not something I personally enjoy reading. The second is that the plot seemed to drag in parts while other moments were rushed through too quickly.

I did enjoy the writing style overall, and I'd be interested in reading more from this author.

How To Fake It In Hollywood by Ava Wilder was a wonderful read! This book is fast-paced all while giving the reader the "behind the scenes" feel of Hollywood. The characters and story both felt so real and the author did a fantastic job of describing scenes to the point it felt like I was in them. The premise of the story played out like a movie and I couldn't put this book down. This is a highly recommended read!

I really enjoyed this. The story had so much angst that really added to my enjoyment. The relationship between the two main characters and how it continued to change and develop along with how the character’s themselves evolved was amazing. That was definitely the star of the story.

I would say if you’re looking for a sweet, no stress, rom-com this wouldn’t be it. There are definitely moments where you can find humor or sweetness but that’s isn’t the tone of the overall story. This is still definitely a romance but I would not consider it to be a rom-com.

This is something for readers who like Emily Henry’s books and the Addicted Series by the Krista and Becca Ritchie. I say that because the story is more than just the romance it’s the character’s individual problems and challenges they’re facing that are just as important in the book.

I really loved this story and it’s one of my favorites of the year so far.

Parts of How to Fake it in Hollywood were a five-star book (especially the end), and parts of it were a two-star book. I've settled at 3 because although I like the author's writing style and the premise of the book, it just didn't seem to hit home for me and was much more serious of a book than expected (I expected a fun rom-com going in).

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for allowing me access to this book in exchange for an honest review!

This book was a whole bunch of -OK-. Not bad, not great, just a competent s'alright. I was lured by the cute cover, expecting "Cute, Fluffy, Shenanigans-filled F U N." Or some silly, still shenanigans-filled drama. And uhhhh, was not expecting actually serious stuff. Which, again, isn't bad--but I was never grabbed by the throat till about 90% in. In fact, it took me awhile to get myself to complete it--I wanted to see it through to the end out of obligation and curiosity, but I was never hooked. Which is a bummer.

The writing style is cute and it conveyed characterization pretty well. Hell, I liked Grey and Ethan as characters just fine--they were plenty likable without it feeling forced. And their platonic chemistry was charming. One of my favorite moments was when Ethan was dicking around on his guitar and Grey makes a show like she's gonna blow his mind with her awesome playing before just letting out that loud ass strum--I felt that, that shit was dang cute lol. Beyond that though, I never quite bought into their romance. Their continual "20 questions" style of getting to know each other (when they were prepping for that Vanity Fair interview) did feel like a contrived way to get them to bond. There was a real lack of moments between them when they could just do a thing and let the moment speak for itself. The two them eating breakfast for dinner in bed while watching Ethan's early film was another cute scene between them--but again, it's a more platonic one! I feel like there was a real lack of overall passion between them. When they finally had sex, even though getting their was an intentional "yo, lets just do it and get it over with" "yeah ok cool," when they got down to it, I can tell there was supposed to be a transition from "this is just sex" to "oh no this is real," but I never resonated with that emotional shift. I was just like, ":/ kay, they're fuckin' now. cool."

One thing I really appreciated though was how strongly the characters communicated with one another. It's almost as if a trend has recently sprung up where miscommunication is a conflict that readers suddenly like now (*COUGH COUGH*) and I can imagine Wilder was like, "NO. No, no, no, no. Not in this house," LMAO! So instead our conflict is Grey not at all benefiting from this Fake Dating and Ethan having I S S U E S. And these conflicts are threaded and progressed well enough into the overarching plotline. Like, this book is pretty well structured. Also, I'm very thankful that this is in 3rd person past POV. I feel like I don't see those as much these days, and that's a shame because it is clearly the superior form of storytelling lol (but, no I truly mean that).

However, I think the actual prose just dragged on and on. There was not enough dialogue to break up the tedious narration of shit I felt was superfluous. There was a time where the narrator went on and on about Grey's relationship with her mom and brother, which she ended up relaying more or less the same info at Ethan later on. Or we're told about Grey reconnected with Mia and them going shopping together through blocks of text where I'd rather read the actual scene itself or just don't include it at all. All these things that happened outside of our view that barely amounts to anything is really boring to read about--especially if it's dragged on for multiple paragraphs.

To leave this on a brighter note: I LOVED the scene where Grey and Ethan both furiously masturbated out of spite while being within earshot of each other. I laughed my ass off, it was the funniest shit lol 10/10 that's the kind of petty shenanigans-y shit I signed up for--gimme more of that please lol~

I'd love to read Wilder's next book someday. Thanks for granting me this ARC. Video review will be released within the June/July timeframe. (If I'm able, I'll edit this review to include a link to the video when it's finished)

If you’re like me and judged this book by its cover then be ready to be disappointed. What I thought would be a palate cleanser summer romance quickly proved me wrong. This book was full of strong female characters and explored some deeper subject matter than I was expecting it to. At about the 75% mark I thought okay, the couple appears happy for now so what are we doing for the rest of these pages? I’m so glad to finally have been able to read a story like this, one of the few that doesn’t just stick the main characters together without forcing anyone to acknowledge their shortcomings. Not to mention, the main character Grey is a full person in a way I didn’t expect her to be. The story leads you to believe initially that she’s just an out of work Actor coming off of a CW type series but the more you learn about her the more you can’t help but love and respect her.

For me, this was a 4 star read. I’d recommend it for fans of It Ends With Us and The Love Hypothesis

Whoa! What a ride. It was very fast-paced. The writing style kept me hooked and I didn't find myself losing any interest. I enjoyed getting to know each of the characters and how real the story felt. The author did a great job painting the setting, so it was easy for me to visualize the scene played out before me. I recommend giving this one a chance!