I don't know why celebrity themed contemporary romances hit the right notes for me, but this is no exception

HOW TO FAKE IT IN HOLLYWOOD by Ava Wilder was a surprisingly delightful take on the fake-dating trope and a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Wilder tells the story of Grey and Ethan, both of whom have much to gain by a fake romance in the public eye,. Both Grey and Ethan are complex, believable and lovable characters who grow throughout this lovely story. HOW TO FAKE IT IN HOLLYWOOD takes a few romance tropes I love - fake-dating, hate to love - and turns them into a story that will leave you smiling, Grey and Ethan have great chemistry and Wilder's writing is completely enjoyable. Highly recommend this one!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC which I received in exchange for my honest review!

How To Fake it In Hollywood
By Ava Wilder

I was surprised to see how much I enjoyed this rom/com with a fake dating trope – I figured, okay this was going to be another one of those types of romances, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Between Ethan, a reclusive Hollywood A-lister with a bad reputation, and Grey, a child star looking to spruce up her career, it seems getting these two together will solve a lot of their problems.

What I got from this is not just a sizzling romance with great chemistry, but more than that with the themes that really enveloped these two characters – but addressed in a very sensitive way and weaved into the story line well.
This gave a rich depth to the characters background and back story.

I enjoyed this read – with great steam, chemistry, and a swoon worthy romance.

Ava Wilder's "How to Fake it in Hollywood" introduces us to Lucy-er Grey, a young in life-but possibly aging out of Hollywood, actress and Ethan, a well-known but following tragedy, currently out of the game actor. Grey and Ethan, both clients of well-known publicist, Audrey, are both in need of a career boost, Audrey's solution-a mutually beneficial fake romance.

As with all fake relationship tropes, it is only fake in the beginning.

This book was a good read. I wanted to love it more than I did, but I was not disappointed. There are some pretty deep topics dealing with grief, substance abuse, and spiraling out of control, while all are things I am not oppose to reading in general, they aren't something I usually expect in a rom-com.

w o w. Was NOT expecting the depth that this book took! I always go in blind and when this one took a turn in the opposite direction of light and fluffy romCOM I was pleasantly surprised! The characters were so dimensional and I loved their chemistry!

While I'm a sucker for fake dating I'm not the biggest fan of hollywood romances so I was a bit skeptical going in, but this exceeded my expectations! I think Grey and Ethan had really good and believable chemistry, but I think my favourite thing about this book was how unexpectedly angsty and deep it got? This book deals with heavy themes so I definitely recommend checking trigger warnings before reading. I can't speak to the accuracy of the addiction representation, but I was thoroughly impressed with how well grief was represented. These heavy topics were handled with care and respect in my opinion.

This book was a breath of fresh air to a very popular trope, which is hard to do in romance. I look forward to reading more of this author's work and rereading this book in the future. It's easily one of my favourites from this year and one I highly recommend!

This is a new to me author and this ended up being so much better than I expected!

I thought the chemistry between the main characters was the highlight of the book and I found myself excited for their next scene together.

The dialogue was well done and while there was a little more angst than I expected, I really loved this one!

Omg I loved this!!! Forced dating that turns into real love with characters that both have stuff to work through. I though this was great :)

I really enjoyed this but it wasn’t at all what I was expecting. I thought this would be a fun, light beach read, and while there were certainly elements of that it had a lot more depth. Grey is a fun character and it was great to see her come into her own as the book progresses. Ethan was likable as well for the most part and hard not to root for. I’d give this 4 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I went into reading this with a super high expectation but unfortunately, this book did not give me the feels I wished for! It was an enjoyable read nonetheless, gave us a very real peek into the life of stars, being followed by the media, not having the privacy and enough boundaries.

Grey was adorable, but a bit naïve, although she has grown by the end of the story and stood up for herself.
Mr. Famous Actor Whose Life Is In Ruins (wow this was long), was a good example for what the inner unresolved traumas and regret can cause and give an upside down twist to your life. Their relationship was real and transparent to the reader (age gap romance hello there!).

All in all, this book has dealt with serious topics, was enjoyable, a bit monotonous in the middle, and the ending was really well executed!

Thank you so much PRH International and Netgalley for the free egalley!

Thanks NetGalley and Dell Books/Ballantine for the gifted eARC!

Read if you like:
*romance with depth
*books set in Hollywood
*fake dating

How to Fake it in Hollywood was a fun, mostly light-hearted romance about a talented Hollywood starlet and a reclusive A-lister that enter into a fake relationship to better their respective careers. Both of the MCs in this book have been through some stuff and it was portrayed well. There was a lot of emotional depth while still feeling like a pretty light read. I’m finding that I enjoy the fake dating trope— sometimes it feels too much like insta love but it didn’t here. This book has a bit of steam, but it’s not over the top. I found this debut to be a very enjoyable read/listen. I recommend it and will definitely be picking up future books from this author!

If you loved A Star is Born, get ready for How to Fake It in Hollywood!

With all the elements you need for a great dramady, HTFIIH brings the heartache and hope you look for when you're only laughing to keep from crying. I'll admit, I wasn't ready for it. I went into this thinking it would be along the lines of a Tessa Bailey book (although I couldn't tell you why) and got hit with a bit more reality/hardship than my poor heart wanted. But I kept reading. And reading, and reading, until I finished this book in a little more than a day. It was good.

Just be ready to delve into what it means to love someone who is deeply flawed while trying to put yourself first and still being able to hold onto hope.

I loved the first 1/3 of this book, but the last 2/3 were not what I was expecting. This is sold as a fake dating story set in Hollywood, but most of the book focuses on Grey and Ethan's real relationship and the different ways they both self-sabotage it. There was so much more drama and darkness than the cover and blurb would lead you to believe.

I do think it handled the topics (grief, alcoholism) relatively well, but I never was really rooting for their relationship to succeed. The physical chemistry was there, but not anything else that makes a relationship work.

Overall, there was nothing glaringly wrong with this, and if I had picked it up when I was looking for a more serious romance, I likely would have enjoyed it more, so it gets 3/5 from me.

The fake dating trope is a fave of mine and I enjoyed the premise of this one with the peak into a fake Hollywood relationship. I enjoyed the dual POV. I think I liked Ethan better than Grey character wise, however I felt there were some things with Ethan that could have been handled better (aka his alcohol abuse). Overall this was an ok read, nothing to rave about for me. I'd still try another book by Ava Wilder though!

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballentine Books for this eARC.

Overall this book didn't keep my attention. It was a little cheesy and predictable. I didn't feel attached to either character; wasn't rooting for them at all. My favorite was the ex wife.

3.5☆

Thank you for PRH International for providing a free copy for review.

Tropes: fake dating, forced proximity, grumpy and sunshine

I have rather mixed feelings about this book, because on one side I enjoyed it a lot, flew through it within 2 days, but on the other hand I often caught myself wanting to skip through several pages. Going into this book I expected an easy-breezy rom-com type of a book, but to my surprise it was so much more. It does discuss some heavier topics, like death of a loved one, alcoholism, definitely check trigger warning before reading it. Grey and Ethan were really likeable characters and I loved the chemistry between them, however I often found myself too annoyed about Ethan's behaviour and his environment allowing him to behave that way. I understand he went through a lot but still, I just couldn't deal with it at some point and wanted to yell at him.

All in all I enjoyed this book, I just felt like towards the end I ended up not enjoying the story as much as in the beginning and caught myself wanting to skip several pages and just get to the end. I am really excited however for what Ava Wilder is writing next, because this book was somehow giving me similar feels to an Emily Henry book and I definitely need more of those in my life.

The title and blurb make you believe you’re getting a light fluffy fun hearted fake to real romance. You are, but there is much more depth to this story than alone. Real world issues that may trigger some (addiction, child abuse, mental health), but these are a part of the storyline, not at all gratuitous and written about realistically with respect. Great characters, a lot of witty banter, some heartbreak, a lot of will they won’t they, a lot of humor and wonderful writing all make for a great read.

This was a Bookstagram Darling, but I really didn’t enjoy it. The story is fine, the writing is fine….but I didn’t like the characters. The story was more uncomfortable than romantic. I wanted Grey to RUN from this dysfunction. I never felt swooned by their love, only wary. If you like a really angsty romance, then give it a try. But even so, I just didn’t work for me.

Something about the second half of this book didn't work for me even though I enjoyed the first half. This book was trying to be too many things and it became muddled.

Thank you so much @RandomHouse & @NetGalley for giving me this eARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 14 June 2022)

SYNOPSIS | Grey has been an actress since she was 8 years old, however it's been nearly one year since her last role & she frustratingly doesn't have anything else lined up. Ethan is an established actor who took a break after the death of his best friend & has been struggling with the associated grief. In an effort to boost both of their careers their publicists propose a PR relationship.

WHAT I LIKED:
- the discussion around the invasion of privacy, addiction & recovery as well as the downsides of being famous
- the fact we got a dual POV

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- the romance was too insta-love for my liking
- constant miscommunication throughout (aka my least favourite romance trope)
- Ethan's recovery mostly happened off-page & felt like it was kinda brushed off & rushed