This was a very enjoyable read for me. A definite Romcom. I like the, as I call it, snarky banter between the 2 main characters Star Shine Meadows and Rafe Whitman. This romance has several different tropes. It has grumpy meets sunshine, fake girlfriend and enemies to lovers. The initial meeting shows how grumpy Rafe is and how full of life and happy Star is. Rafe is a broody and hot hero who does not leave a good impression at first but you come to know why he is unhappy with things. Star is a happy, free spirited individual who has abandonment issues from her childhood.

There are quite few awkward scenes with the family as they are fake dating which I found to be a little humorous. At first his family is not onboard with their ”relationship” but most of them get to know her and become enamored with Star. It becomes very evident the attraction that they have to each other and how their personalities actually complement each other. Star sees what a family really is and wants to take a chance to grow some roots finally but has to confront her fears.
The Love Plot was a fun and enjoyable romance.

I enjoyed this one. The female MC was a total commitment-phone and sunshine personality, and the male MC was a total grump that turned sweet and lovey pretty quickly. I had a good time reading through the ups and downs for the couple and seeing how they dealt with their very different family dynamics. Nothing groundbreaking but enjoyable. Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley publishing for allowing me a copy to read in return for an honest review. 3.5 stars rounded up.

A pretty cute story!
This book is pretty predictable for the contemporary romance genre nowadays. There's a meet-cute, a big city setting, relatable tropes, and a plot with a good message behind it.
One of the things I wasn't crazy about is how the characters all seem to blend into each other.
However, I did enjoy the swoony-lovey-dovey moments.
The characters are lovable and relatable in a fun way! And the banter between them is great.
Rafe and Star Shine are the definition of grumpy x sunshine trope! While I didn't like Rafe at first, by the end, I too had fallen for him!
Star Shine was pretty unbearable at first as well, but she quickly became a favorite by chapter ten. I think it was their differences that really threw me for a loop, and I didn't know if I liked either of them because of it. Throw in the side characters, mainly Rafe's family and Star Shine's family and friends, they quickly become the real stars with their sage advice and funny quips!
This story has a really slow start, it was very hard for me to read and get into. I'm still not 100000% on this review, because there were parts I liked, parts I loved and parts I absolutely hated (and cringed at). I couldn't tell if it was good because of the way the author wrote it, or bad because of the way certain scenes were depicted.
By the end, I did finally enjoy the way the two came together and worked out their MAJOR differences. And the steamy parts were pretty enjoyable too !
Big thanks to Berkeley Pub & NetGalley for this e-ARC! <3

“You’re infuriating!”
“You’re perfect.”
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Star Shine Meadows (yep, her real name!) grew up in an unconventional, hippie household. She is determined to live a carefree life, believes in no expectations, and is a commitment-phobe. While working her “professional costume character” job as Merida from Brave, she meets Rafe, the birthday girls uncle.
Rafferty “Rafe” Whitman is a veterinarian, grew up in a wealthy family, and is tired of his family trying to play matchmaker. After running into Star AGAIN, he makes her an offer she can’t refuse. Be his fake girlfriend, $10,000 a month.
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First off, huge thank you to @valentine_pr_ and @authorsamanthayoung for an advanced copy of this book! When I read the synopsis I knew it would be a perfect book to read and review.
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For the most part, I loved it. I loved the “opposite side of the tracks” fake-relationship trope. I loved how much Rafe clearly loved Star. My thoughts on ways to make it just a teeny bit better is I would’ve loved to have it be a dual pov. I would have LOVED reading Rafe’s thoughts. I also think Star’s hesitance could’ve been knocked down a notch. It got to the point where it was just too much for me personally. Overall, it was a great title and the smut was HOT!
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The Love Plot: 4 stars ⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
Tropes: fake relationship, opposites attract, grumpy sunshine, only one bed

I loved this book! It was so cute and I really loved the grumpy and sunshine banter between the two characters. If I were to not like something about this book it would be that maybe the story could be trimmed down but only slightly. Some scenes just felt like they had too much extra plot and lost focus. With that being said it was so engaging, cute and romantic and it was 5 stars for me.

3.5 rounded up for Goodreads.

The Love Plot is a fun, lighthearted novel about a young woman who works as a "gig" worker (essentially she plays the role of whatever someone hires her for) and a professional line sitter. She and an upper-class veterinarian join a fake relationship to dupe his family so they won't keep trying to set him up with people - and the rest is history.

There were definitely some aspects of this book I really enjoyed. I like how it touched on the element of realizing that you're losing yourself in a relationship and how to handle that. Also the enemies to lovers/fake dating tropes are always ones I enjoy.

HOWEVER, I honestly didn't find the relationship/chemistry with the couple that believable. I can't exactly put my finger on WHY (and no, its not just because of how opposite they were). Maybe there wasn't enough build up with the two of them as friends for me to believe that they were in love?

I can definitely see him falling for her, but honestly I can't figure out why she loved him other than the fact that she thought he was hot?

Overall, an easy and fun summer romance - but not one that I will really ever reach for again.

3.5⭐️

This was a fun read with some of my favourite tropes, but I did have a few problems with it. I thought that the relationship between Star and Rafe was really believable, they truly did feel made for each other by the end of the book. My only issue was that I found Star’s quirkiness was very forced and it drove me a little bit mental at times which made me enjoy the book a lot less.

Read if you like:
🩵 Fake dating
🩵 Miscommunication trope
🩵 Grumpy x Sunshine
🩵 One bed trope
🩵 Spice

(Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for the EARC)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚’𝙨 𝙖 𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙖 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙮-𝙜𝙤-𝙡𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙮 𝙜𝙞𝙜 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙛𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙝, 𝙪𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙔𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙮 𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙮.

📍 Read if you like:
• Fake Dating
• Grumpy/Sunshine
• Found Family
• Opposites Attract

This was such an entertaining and swoon-worthy romance. The characters are so lovable and I instantly felt a connection towards them.

The grumpy/sunshine trope is one of my absolute favorite tropes in a romance, and I think it was exceptional in this book. We also get an addition of a fake dating aspect.

We get Star and Rafe, and from the beginning, it’s quite clear they’re very different from one another. Star is a professional line sitter and character actress at parties, while Rafe is a veterinarian from a wealthy family. Star is our sunshine, while Rafe is a grumpy character!

I always love it when complete opposites catch feelings for one another. I found myself flying through this book and I was having a great time with the story. I laughed a few times with the banter in this book.

This was such a fun and heartwarming read. I loved the chemistry between the characters and the tropes in this book. I can’t wait to read more from Samantha Young, highly would recommend this romance!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Berkley for the review copy in exchange for my honest review!

•𝗧𝗪/𝗖𝗪: Sexual Content, Emotional Abuse, Classism, Bullying, Child Abuse, Injury/Injury Detail

Samantha Young is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I absolutely adore her novels and the quirky characters that fill the pages. Star Shine and Rafe were amazing together, I loved their chemistry. The couple is an example of grumpy/sunshine done right. It was also a fantastic enemies to lovers book. There's a lot of drama, but it felt realistic and not manufactured for a plot device. Five fabulous stars!

Happy-go-lucky, quirky (sunshine) Star and rich, uptight (grumpy) Rafe fake a relationship and find out that opposites really do attract.

The Love Plot could have been titled The Love Trope - it’s a grumpy/sunshine, opposites attract, fake relationship, one bed, etc. etc. Samantha Young is a must read for me, and I enjoyed this one too! It was a quick listen for me, and I definitely recommend the audiobook.

This opposites attract romance was a blast to read. The characters were so different but complimented each other perfectly! They had incredibly chemistry and the swoonworthy moments were a delight to read!

Ok how cute is this cover?!

I truly enjoyed this story so much - cute doggos, uppity wealthy people, a free spirited bohemian and and uptight vet.

I loved the grumpy/sunshine trope plus opposites attract. I think my biggest challenge was too much spice (I know!) and a story that dragged in the last third. It all made sense though, so props for that.

Overall a good, solid read

“The least you can do is say hi considering you got peanut butter and jelly all over my bedsheets!”

I loved it! This book had a lot of my fave tropes and Star completely tugged at my heart strings. Despite her neglectful childhood her zest for life was infectious. Not to mention there is a hot, grumpy veterinarian who needs her help to get his nosy family to butt out of his dating life.

Thank you netgalley and penguin random house for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

DNF…I found both characters to be extremely unlikable. I found Star’s quirkiness to be annoying. I hated how condescending Rafe is. It’s terrible that the first time they meet they are disrespecting each other. They both are extremely immature which made me stop reading. I’m disappointed this didn’t work as I loved the author’s previous work.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

Couldn't provide feedback for this book because I didn't finish reading it. The story never captured me. I ended up reading about 40% of the book and I felt bored the whole time. I tried reading it as an audiobook when it came out and picked up where I left off and I still couldn't finish it. It was just a boring story for me.

I read this as an audiobook. The narratorjdid a great job capturing the tome of the books and the different characters. I recommend the audio.

Star and Rafe could not be more opposite. Which means watching them fall for each other couldn't be sweeter. Star is living the life she wants. She takes gigs to pay the rent, and manages to maintain some free tom in her life. Her gig might be line sitting, or it might mean being a princess at a birthday party. At said birthday party, she meets the birthday girl's grumpy uncle where he is obviously judge-y about her life choices.

Fast forward and she runs into him again while line sitting. She can't help but yell out some embarrassing things- really just for the fun of getting under his skin. She certainly wants' expecting that to turn into a proposition... to be in a fake relationship (one of my favorite tropes). Rafe just wants his family to stop match making, and Star seems like the perfect solution.

The result is a slow burn romance where Star also questions who she is and who she wants to be and who she wants to be with I love my romances with a side of personal introspection and growth ad this had both. It also made me smile and root for the Rafe and Star.

Thanks to the publisher for a copy. All opinions are my own.

I had this book in my TBR pile since the summer and I don’t know why it took me so long to get to it. As soon as I started reading it, I could not put it down. I read it in a day and half. I have enjoyed other Samantha Young romantic comedy books. Fun, flirty and hard to put down. This book starts out as a fake dating situation between grumpy vet, Rafe and super cheerful and optimistic Star. She is a character actor who is performing at a children’s birthday party and Rafe just happens to be there as the uncle. During this birthday party, Rafe’s mom and sister in law try to set him up on a date. In fact, they have been trying for months and they are quite aggressive. Rafe decides to take matters into his own hands and hires Star to be his girlfriend to get his family off his back.

There is some hilarity along the way, especially when Star sees Rafe on the street and he doesn’t quite recognize her because she is not in costume. He is more than ready to introduce her to his family so they stop trying to set him up on dates. Star is worried about the family because she is not sure their relationship will be believable and it turns out she likes them because they are nice people. As Rafe and Star get to know each other better, their fake dating relationship turns into a real romance. They both have to get over some emotional baggage from their past, but as long as they support each other, things should be fine.
Rafe and Star have some sizzling attraction going on. They both have a lot of depth to them that is not so clearly visible on the surface. If you are looking for fun banter, laugh out loud situations, steamy pages and just plain fun, this book is for you. I highly recommend this book for when you are in the mood for a good romantic comedy.

I really enjoyed this romcom! Its got that hippie chick and high class man love in it. Also grumpy x sunshine which is literally my fav trope lol its everything you might want in a romcom. Also fake dating and one bed? Count all of us in. Also has some spice in there that we all love. I've enjoyed all of the Samantha Young books I've read so far so I was so excited to get accepted for this one on NetGalley.
Thank you, NetGalley and Samantha Young, for the ARC.

When Star is at her job dressed as Merida for a girls birthday party and she meets grumpy Rafe. He could care less about her job as a costume actor and thinks she’s doing a terrible job. The last thing either of them expected was to run into each other standing in a line. That’s when Rafe comes up with an idea to hire Star to be his fake girlfriend and get his mother and sister in law off his back about dating.

This was such a cute romance story. I thought it was an easy fast read that kept interested and entertained. It had a some spice in it but wasn’t too overwhelming so, if you’re newer to spice or do not like a ton of it in your books this would be a great option.


•grumpy/ sunshine
•fake dating
•he falls first
•opposites attract
•boss romance
•billionaire romance