This was a very enjoyable sapphic romance story with two of my favorite tropes: fake engagement and marriage of convenience.I haven't read any of Alexandria's books prior to this one, but I can tell you that I'll definitely be reading them now. Bellefleur writes with such striking openness and charm, I had a hard time pausing this audiobook. It was a real joy to listen to this story. The fake engagement romance can be a little over the top sometimes, especially if it's a bit too drama heavy, but the conflict in this book felt reasonable and realistic. Plus, I really appreciate how it was all resolved in the end - the ending was perfect.

I loved the chemistry between the characters, Tansy and Gemma work so great together. They have that "opposites attract" thing going on, at least on the surface, and as the story progresses they discover they're more alike than they initially realized. The romance part was amazing, and there was a good amount of spice for a newbie romance reader like myself. Overall this was really fun and I recommend it to anyone looking for a feel good romance story.

When Tansy’s father died, her stepmother inherited her family’s bookstore and Tansy had to grow up with her stepfamily. They’ve always been very nosy so, to avoid some family events she doesn’t want to attend, Tansy says that she’s been dating someone and the first person that she could think of was Gemma, a romance novel cover model.

Everything is great until Gemma herself shows up. Tansy thinks she’ll have to come clean, but to her surprise, Gemma acts as if they were actually dating. Tansy is very confused, so Gemma later explains to her that her grandfather died recently and left her the family’s company, but she can only inherit it if she is married by the time of the annual board meeting in a few months, so this lie could benefit both of them. As they spend time together, they get to know each other and the romance between them becomes less fake each day.

I really enjoyed this modern take on the marriage of convenience trope. Both Tansy and Gemma are great and lovable characters and I really wanted them to be happy. I found it very refreshing how they solved the issues between them by being honest and communicating instead of the very annoying miscommunication trope.

I also love that it’s set in Seattle and I could imagine them in Tansy’s bookstore or in Gemma’s family’s home in Medina. And characters from Alexandria Bellefleur’s previous books were mentioned here!

Thank you @avon and @netgalley for the ARC of The Fiancée Farce.

I was absolutely charmed by this book less than two full chapters in. Tansy and Gemma immediately stole my heart.

I found the plot perfect. The marriage of convenience trope was done so well. I honestly didn’t see the twist coming.

And I absolutely adored the Epilogue! Alexandria Bellefleur is now an auto buy author.

The audiobook was top notch. I found a new audiobook narrator that I love!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher. I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great take on marriage of convenience and was a soft, swoony, and funny romance. I loved that the marriage helped save a family bookstore. The found family as always was delightful, especially with such a terrible blood family. I'm just obsessed with this and all of the books that Alexandria writes.

I made it halfway through before officially calling it quits. It makes me extremely sad because it started off really fun but it had such a weird blend of speed of light fast and glacially slow? Marriage of convenience is one of my favorite tropes so I was super excited to see it in a contemporary sapphic setting. Unfortunately, it lacked the depth and the development of their connection. I can buy insta-lust but it has to go somewhere before I turn 90. Oh and what was with all of the side characters all being horrible people?? I wanted to swoon not be annoyed.

I loved The Fiancée Farce! Filled with tropey romantic goodness, I love fake dating and it’s done so well here. Our main characters are so lovable, individually and together. On the outside looking in, Gemma’s the disaster and Tansy’s the good girl, how could they ever work being so different? But they do! This was fake dating done well, the relationship felt very real and the ending was just excellent. There’s so much excellent queer romance coming out these days and this is one of my recent favorites.

I’ve not read anything by Alexandria Bellefleur before this but I’ve got to now!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Five stars does not accurately depict just how obsessed I am with this book. Also, forget book boyfriends when Gemma van Dalen is in the picture. She is top tier book GIRLFRIEND material and I love her.

This is my favourite book by Alexandria Bellefleur. Even four books in, you can sense that her writing has grown and shifted and that she is really settling into her craft. She created so many incredible characters in this book, both to love AND to hate. And Gemma and Tansy are two MC’s that will stick with me for a very long time.

A romance cover model and a bookshop owner? And it's sapphic?!? YES PLEASE,

This was such a cute romcom! I love that it was low-angst. Sometimes, you just need a light read, and this book was wonderful.

ADORABLE. ADORABLE. ADORABLE. I could not have loved this more!!

Go read this now and thank me later 💕💕💕

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really sweet sapphic romance and it makes my heart so, so happy to see more queer stories on our bookshelves.

Read if you like:
-Fake Engagements
-Modern Marriage of Convenience
-Opposites Attract
-Instalove
-Queer found family
-Taylor Swift references

For me, it didn't quite land. The relationship felt a bit unrealistic from the start and I stronglyyyy dislike the instalove trope. The main characters were sweet (I really liked Gemma), but they fell for each other far too quickly imo. I was also just a bit bored. Which is consistent with my experiences with Alexandria's other books. She just may not be for me.

If the above tropes are your jam, I do definitely recommend! The audiobook (thank you Librofm!) was also really enjoyable.

I have read a book by this author before and wasn't the biggest fan of it, but a part of me was still curious to check out other books by this author and I'm really glad I thought that way. This book was really good, very addictive, and just a fun time while also having some great emotional depths to it as well. I really liked the themes of dysfunctional family, and being the black sheep in your family. I also like how those themes were tied into some found family stuff. Gemma's friend group was WAY larger than life and I loved their addition to the story. It really made this book pop. The romance was also just incredibly cute. There are some over the top/unrealistic elements to it, but like what did you expect from a book with this premise? However, the actual romance was rooted in so many great conversations between our two leads that really made them connect to each other besides just that instant attraction to each other. I also loved how our two leads where each other's biggest cheerleaders and were constantly hyping each other up. It just made me squee with joy. So yeah, I wasn't fully in love with this book but I did really enjoy it and I'm glad I gave this author another chance and can't wait to read even more by her now.

The Fiancée Farce is my fourth novel by Alexandria Bellefleur. Unlike the other three novels, this one is currently a standalone. Since each main character has side characters around them, there could be another series, but it did not read like this was the intention. (I could be proven wrong, though, and I would read the future series.) The cover intrigued me a lot to read the novel plus I love fake relationships. (I do wish that the cover better reflected the characters as Tansy is described as bigger, yet she appears a lot thinner on the cover.) Once you add in that both main characters are bisexual, this seemed like a winning concept. I am pleased that this novel turned out well for me although there are a few elements that I felt could be improved.

This novel follows Tansy Adams who is an introverted bookseller who prefers the company of books to people. She is trying to save the family business and keep her family off her back for her love life. She invents a fake girlfriend from the cover of a romance novel, who turns out to be a real person. Gemma van Dalen is not only a romance cover model but the heir to a newspaper. Gemma needs a fiancée as her family wants her married to take over the business. The two begin a fake relationship that is mutually beneficial that, as expected, develops into something more. Their relationship was sweet, and I loved how they communicated well with each other. The relationship does develop faster than I expected as it seemed their romance moved forward quickly so the two could focus on their personal issues instead. For me, I would prefer a slowly build up as the tension is something I love in these types of stories.

As there is not a lot of relationship build-up, both Tansy and Gemma have a lot to work on in their personal lives. As Gemma is working to inherit the company, I did love this part of the story, however, I did want a little more about her other job as a romance cover model. Since Tansy saw Gemma on a cover, I would have loved this part of Gemma’s career expanded on a little more. The story itself was well-paced and the other characters interacted well with the two main ones. There is a minor event involving underage photos that I do not think was handled with enough care; however, this was a minor piece of the story, so it does not take away from the rest of the writing. Overall, this was a sweet story and a great novel by Bellefleur. I continue to enjoy her work and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Avon, for the opportunity to read this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

Thank you @AvonBooks and @Netgalley for the #gifted eARC of THE FIANCEE FARCE!

This sapphic romance was the cutest! I was grinning from the very start of the book as Tansy and Gemma collided and sparks immediately flew.

There are Taylor Swift references galore, the steamiest library scene, a prank involving a glitter bomb and a devious uncle that had me smirking. Oh and it’s set in my home of Seattle. Love seeing some local rep!

My favorite part of the book though was how Gemma and Tansy actually talked to each other. It was so refreshing to have a romance with open communication between the MCs. And their teasing banter was fire!

THE FIANCEE FARCE is out today!

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This book was such a great read. Tansy is a bookseller and Gemma is a romance cover model who cross paths and end up in a fake relationship.

I really enjoyed all of the side characters in this book. The friendships they had were great but their families were awful to them. Even though I kind of knew what was going to happen in the end I was not expecting it to go down how it did so that was a really nice surprise.

I'm not a fan of misunderstandings in books where the characters could have fixed everything by just talking so I really enjoyed that Tansy and Gemma actually search each other out to have conversations about things they heard or said. They said early on in the story that they didn't want to lie to each other and they really stuck to it.

If you enjoy books with two bi main characters, a marriage of convenience, amazing banter, and a myriad of Taylor Swift references this sapphic rom-com is for you.

I always love an Alexandria Bellefleur sapphic romance but I really think she's topped herself with The Fiancee Farce. This book was so much fun and example of when a romantic comedy really leans on both the romance and the comedy. Tansy and Gemma were so lovely separately and together and ultimately made each other better which is my favorite type of romance.

The highlights of this book for me really came with the peripheral characters. They were all so much fun- Gemma has the funniest friend group and for as horrible as her family is, there is a lot of shenanigans to be mined from any time spent with them.

I love so much how Tansy in particular grows in this book and yes, it is another fake dating/marriage of convenience book, but the concept is so much fun and I don't think I'll ever get enough. There are so many ridiculous situations in this book but ultimately the heart of it is two lost people who find each other and make each other better while they fall in love and what's better than that?

Thank you so much to Avon and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved everything about this from the chance meeting to the HEA!

Marriage of convenience is like catnip to me, and this one did not disappoint! This book was funny and sweet and poetic, all the things I’ve come to love about Bellefleur’s writing. Nothing about this story was too out there or had me scoffing at the notion that such a thing would ever happen in real life. And I mean, come on…a book store owner and a romance cover model? 😍

I loved every word, and I can’t wait to see what Bellefleur does next!

Read if you like: Sapphic romances (both bi), fake dating, marriage of convenience, fluffy reads, Taylor Swift references, anxiety disorder representation, steamy 🔥

Firstly, I thought it was historical romance from the cover, so when they started talking about Instagram, I was like what.... 🤣 The cover doesn't match to me, but I do like it. This read was really good. It's a very low angst fluffy Sapphic romance. Both Tansy and Gemma are bi. The characters are so well-developed. I love Gemma's bluntness. There were too many side characters, but that's okay. Tansy and Gemma had so much chemistry. I loved the story. I highly recommend this!

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC.

🌟🌟🌟🌟 4/5 stars

The Fiancé Farce is a fun marriage-of-convenience romance with Gossip Girl vibes and plenty of Taylor Swift references. The story follows Tansy, a bookstore owner who invents a fake girlfriend to get her family off her back. The “girlfriend” is inspired by the cover model of a bestselling book. This lie catches up with her when she crosses paths with the cover model. Gemma is the black sheep outcast of her wealthy family. She needs a wife to meet the terms of her grandfather’s will and finds the perfect solution in Tansy. The farce is working out great until real feelings get involved.

This was a very fresh and breezy read that was great on audio. Bellefleur writes a believable marriage-of-convenience and has fun with the high society aspect. The characters are all multidimensional and the romance is swoony. Overall, an entertaining romcom.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I freaking loved this book! I had no idea how Alexandria was going to pull off a convincing marriage of convenience in 2023, but she absolutely nailed it. I loved these characters so much and I totally felt all of their heartache. The angst and the banter were on point!

I absolutely ate up the dynamic between Tansy and Gemma in The Fiancée Farce. Every moment - from their first, accidental meeting to the happily ever after - found me willingly strapped in on the rollercoaster that was their romance.

Marriage of convenience usually seem a bit far-fetched to me, like the stipulation would never happen in real life. But The Fiancée Farce truly seemed like a plot that could happen, and I didn't have to spend the whole novel suspending my belief in order to enjoy the story. I mean, of course a bookshop owner would make up a girlfriend who resembles a romance cover model. What both Gemma and Tansy stood to gain from the marriage made plausible sense; Gemma has money that Tansy needs for her bookstore, and Tansy is more than Gemma could ever hope for in a wife, all stipulations aside. Nothing in the plot seemed too outrageous, too out there, and it didn't take much to imagine that such a story could truly happen.

I enjoyed Bellefleur's Written in the Stars books, and I was glad to see her signature writing carried over into this new adventure. Bellefleur's prose is poetic and beautiful, steamy and poignant and funny. Love is love, and I loved the fact that none of Gemma's horrible family ever once brought up the fact that she was marrying a woman as a reason to fight the grandfather's will.

Gemma and Tansy were cute, and funny, and romantic, and even the usual third act relationship issues didn't bother me because I enjoyed their relationship arc so much. They brought so much to each others' lives, and Bellefleur brought so much to this story. As much as I loved all the couples in the Written in the Stars series, Tansy and Gemma might just be my new favorite Alexandria Bellefleur couple.