Connie doesn’t trust nice guys. She doesn’t particularly like the bad guys, but at least she knows where she stands with them. They pretty much just want the one thing, so there is no confusion. And then there’s her neighbor, Henry Samuel Beckett (Beck), who is a very nice guy. He’s always making her cakes and is very thoughtful. But he’s married. Or so he said.

Connie is going to get the chance to get to know her neighbor better though. He’s a book editor and has helped plan a weeklong writer’s retreat. Connie has been working as a copywriter, but what she really wants is to write fiction, so she signed up for the writer’s retreat. She’s been looking forward to a week of relaxing and getting to know other writers.

When Connie talks to Beck about the retreat, she finds out that he’s far more awkward than she first realized, to the point that he made up a wife that he told his entire workplace about. And he’s going on the writer’s retreat with people who think he’s married, including a bestselling author who isn’t afraid to call Beck out on his awkwardness. Connie sees that and feels protective toward Beck. She feels so protective that she jumps into the conversation and announces that she is Beck’s wife.

Which is fine, until Connie realizes that now she’s going to have to pretend to be Beck’s wife through the writer’s retreat. And she’s finding that the more time she spends around Beck, the warmer her feelings grow towards him. So acting like his wife won’t be too difficult. But staying in the same room and respecting each other’s boundaries might be harder than they think.

My Big Fat Fake Marriage is a sweet rom com about a couple of people who don’t quite seem to fit into their worlds they live in. They have both been bullied and marginalized for being different, and it takes them some time to realize how perfect they are for each other, and I thought it was really sweet how they found respect and support in each other.

I listened to this book on audio, narrated by Imogen Wilde. I thought she did a really good job. The accent she used for Connie was lovely and brought her to life. The voice she used for Beck was a little awkward, which brought the character to life with perfection. I thought that listening to this book was a lot of fun, but there were several scenes that got extra-spicy, so listening at work may be a bad idea.

I wanted to love this book. I loved Charlotte Stein’s When Grumpy Met Sunshine, and I was excited for this fake marriage story. I thought the idea was a lot of fun. I just felt like the story veered off from the fake marriage idea to a very spicy story about the tension building between Connie and Beck. For me, that took over the plot, so I missed out on the comedy I was looking for with them acting like a couple in public. It’s not a bad book, but I think that the marketing for it was a little off from what the book became. It was still a lot of fun to listen to, and extra spicy, just not as entertaining as the book I was picturing in my mind.

Egalleys for My Big Fat Fake Marriage were provided by St. Martin’s Griffin, and an early copy of the audio were provided by Macmillan Audio, both through NetGalley, with many thanks.

Did Not Finish

I was really looking forward to reading this book after liking Stein's previous novel. However, I could not get past the first few chapters. The main character is neurotic, and the entire first two chapters are about her thinking her neighbor is suspect because he is "too nice." I decide to stop, knowing that I would be quickly annoyed by the protagonist.

Charlotte Stein has been writing for several years, starting in the erotic romance field and has recently turned her hand to contemporary romance. Her popular 2024 release When Grumpy Met Sunshine introduced readers to Mabel and Alfie, and Mabel’s best friend Connie is the star of this new release, My Big Fat Fake Marriage.

Connie is a marketing copy editor and an aspiring writer. She lives down the hall from Henry Samuel Beckett, or Beck as he’s usually known, Mabel’s book editor. In fact, it was Mabel that found the apartment for Beck to live in. Beck is a large man, friendly, cheerful, polite and a bit shy. A gentle giant, if you will. He likes to bake and he leaves her goodies outside of her door. He seems a bit too good to be true to Connie who has a very cynical view of men, having been disappointed by them many times in her life. Connie inadvertently discovers that in defending himself from a bullying colleague, Beck has invented for himself a fake wife. He spends a lot of his time coming up with details about her that he can bring up in case someone asks about her but lying also makes him feel stressed out and sick. While Connie has trouble sticking up for herself, she has no problem when it comes to defending others and she’s outraged on his behalf.

Beck has organized a writing retreat that Connie has been planning to attend anyway, encouraged by Mabel. Attending a book launch party for Mabel before the retreat though, Connie encounters the bully (Doug) from Beck’s office who is harassing Beck about speaking to a woman (her) and without thinking about it, Connie blurts out “Of course he’s talking to me. I’m his wife.”

So Beck’s fake imaginary wife has now become his fake real person wife. Which would be fine and easy to cope with if she weren’t going to be seeing Doug again, except that he’s also going to the writing retreat and he’s sharing a 2 bedroom cabin with Beck. So now, instead of going as herself, she’s going to have to go as Beck’s fake wife. They say that opposites attract and Connie and Beck appear to be opposites – but are they really? And what if it turns out that they’re each other’s perfect partner?

Ms. Stein has a writing style that some people really like, and others don’t. It’s very introspective. There is a lot of internal woolgathering and thinking and daydreaming and lusting and not everyone is comfortable getting so deep into someone else’s head. I happen to like her style but I know it’s not for everyone. This book is written all from Connie’s point of view but you don’t feel like you’re missing Beck’s POV because of the detail that comes from Connie.

Because of Connie’s upbringing with critical parents, and her general life experiences, she’s often hidden parts of herself- including the fact that her real name is actually Hazel and she’d chosen Connie because it sounded like a cooler name. When Beck finds that out, he insists on calling her Hazel and that he likes the name Hazel a lot and so Connie becomes Hazel in the story from that point on. This is a slow burn romance with the first 60% of the book being a lot of lusting on Hazel’s side, to the last 40% of the book where she discovers that the lust is mutual and Beck and Hazel engage in some intimate relations of the distinctly horny kind. The author doesn’t mince words, and there are pages of pages of sexual longing and then sexual experience which is what bumps this up from a ‘warm’ rating to a ‘hot’ rating for me.

Sex aside though, Hazel discovering that Beck is as good a man as he appears to be is very sweet and satisfying. They have a lot of things in common, nerdy things like 80’s TV shows and science fiction books and writing silly texts to each other and Beck’s idea of a perfect weekend morning with a partner, drinking coffee in bed and splitting sections of the newspaper to read side-by-side sounds pretty ideal to Hazel too. It just comes down to getting Hazel to believe that she can be that partner for Beck.

If you’re in the mood for a slow burn, steamy, forced proximity (there’s only one bed!), funny, and charming (if a little long-winded sometimes) book, this is one for you.

This review will be posted at All About Romance and feedback updated with the link.

Thank you to St Martin's Press for the earc, all opinions are my own.

I had a really hard time with this one right out of the gate. The main character is very unlikeable, the different names doesn't make much sense at all, and the man is just boring. I can't get past about 20% unfortunately. Thank you for the opportunity to try the book out.

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I didn't love this book. I had a hard time getting invested in the characters. I was able to continue reading it, but it felt like the lead up to their story took too long. I was interested enough to see how the story ended and I still rooted for Hazel and Beck to work through their individuals struggles to be honest with themselves and each other.

My Big Fat Fake Marriage is a charming romcom that took me a little while to warm up to, but by the end, I was completely hooked. The quirky, imperfect characters are a refreshing change from the usual romance tropes, and I appreciated the personal growth they each experience throughout the story. It's a heartwarming read for anyone who loves seeing characters evolve and find love along the way.

This story seems like a collection of conversations. There is very little exposition to what is going on around them, unless it furthers the conversations.

It’s a little hard to love a book where the characters spend the entire time explaining how “wrong” they are for each other and why they “can’t be together” when it’s a crock of shit. The greatest strength in this book is the intimate scenes, though.

An amazing spicy, cute romance that was so good I couldn't put this one down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloom Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

The premise of this book sounded good. And while I didn’t love this book, I was able to finish it. I liked the fact Connie was into Beck and it was something new for her. Their interactions were amusing. Neither one of them expected the other.

I enjoyed reading My Big Fat Fake Marriage by Charlotte Stein. You will fall in love with all the characters. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy Reading!

Dear Charlotte Stein,

My Big Fat Fake Marriage is the follow up novel to last year’s When Grumpy Met Sunshine, which made my best of 2024 list so my hopes were high for this one. Readers first met Connie in the earlier book – she’s the friend who tolerates the epithet “bestie” from Mabel. Connie writes marketing copy for a living but secretly dreams of being a romance author.

Henry Samuel Beckett (“Beck”), is an American editor who came across the Atlantic to work in London and edit Mabel’s book. Mabel knew there was a vacancy in Connie’s building and let Henry know, so he ended up renting the apartment across the hall from Connie.

Just like Alfie Harding was inspired by Roy Kent, Beck is inspired by Ted Lasso himself. He’s not Ted but it’s not hard to see the similarities either. For one thing, Beck is 6’5″ and a beefy guy. He has dark hair and a large straight mustache and a very hairy chest. And he’s kind. He is the kindest man Connie has ever met. She doesn’t trust it at all of course. Her experience of men is that they are mostly rubbish. Alfie is one of the few exceptions she’s met in real life.

Connie’s dating history is pretty tragic.

I am the sort of woman who’d have a fucking nightmare like that for a husband. In fact I can almost see him now, in my mind’s eye. He’s wearing a jacket he claims he got off David Bowie’s corpse but really it came from a shop like Fatface, and two cigarettes are dangling from his lips for reasons he never explains, and every time we go out he tells everyone terrible things, like how only he knows the moon isn’t real.

She’s used to men being critical of her body, her personality and not caring if she experiences pleasure – in sex or anything else. She’s had plenty of experience of being treated badly by men and the “Nice Guys” are the worst. They’re the ones who immediately turn on her if she says or does something they don’t like. So yeah, she’s super suspicious of Beck.

And he’s not the only one I remember suffering through a date with, or having to work alongside, or accidentally ending up stuck with at a party. One “nice guy” brought me a can of Pringles at my sister’s birthday, and then tried to lock me in a random bedroom. Another felt that praising me in a meeting meant I should return the favor with a blow job in the supply cupboard.

And it made zero difference that this man had told me he was married.

A lot of the time, married Nice Guys are even worse than single ones. They harbor secret seething hatred for their wives under a veneer of jovial sweetness and hollow laughter. Like the laughter he aimed at me the other day, when we passed each other in the hall and I asked how his wife was doing without him, over there in America, and he did this big ha, ha, ha.

Beck bakes her pies and cakes and leaves them outside her door with lovely little notes. He’s unfailingly polite and cheery. Connie is baffled by the attention. And then she accidentally sees the inside of Beck’s apartment and it gets so much worse. I’ll let readers discover why Connie believes (with good reason) for a few hours that Beck is actually a serial killer.

Except… poor Beck has become trapped in a lie and things in his apartment are all in aid of that lie. He’s not married. His wife is entirely fictional. A (shitty) work colleague by the name of Doug (who “has a Tesla” so that tells you all you need to know – bang on descriptive work right there. A+. No notes) has been bullying Beck and needling him about everything. Mostly Beck can shrug it off but his sore spot is being single. Like all bullies, Doug has honed in on it and all of a sudden Beck finds himself with an invented (albeit absent) wife. Beck does not like to lie – it makes him nauseous. As a result he’s been living on motion sickness pills for months.

Connie has a lot of baggage from her childhood. Her parents always wanted her to be someone she was not. Her mum would make fun of her for liking anything nerdy and encouraged her to hide her big brain and focus on being attractive to men. It’s had an impact. Connie has been largely hiding herself ever since. In fact, Connie is not even her real name. She just adopted it because she thought it was cooler than her actual given name – Hazel.

Whereas Hazel is not always great at advocating for herself, she finds herself entirely outraged on Beck’s behalf. This Doug guy needs to be taken down a peg or a hundred. Before you know it, Hazel has told Doug she’s Beck’s wife. Oops.

The massive problem with that is that Beck is just about to host a writer’s retreat. Doug is going too and they are both staying in the same two bedroom cabin on the property. Hazel was going as well but now she has to stay with Beck in the same cabin as Doug and there’s only one bed.

Beck and Hazel do a crash “getting to know you 101” course and freak out about how to make it look believable that they’re married. If Doug finds out he lied, his Beck’s boss finds out he lied, well, Beck won’t have a job anymore.

The plan is for them to attend the retreat together and then, over time, Beck can indicate there’s trouble in their (fake) marriage and they can quietly (fake) divorce. It’s not real of course. Hazel knows that Beck could never want anyone like her, not really. And Beck knows that Hazel would never truly want him. We readers know that’s not the case at all but it takes them a while to work it out.

Beck thinks he’s a dull dork. Not without some reason. People have told him. To his face. He has an even worse dating history than Hazel does.

Just like with When Grumpy Met Sunshine, I highlighted large portions of the book and laughed out loud at the humour and the banter. I also loved how fierce Hazel was for Beck. He’s so used to being treated poorly it barely registers. When others around him are treated badly, that’s when he’ll say something. He won’t stand for that. But for himself? He’s not important enough to defend it seems. And then Hazel comes along and just defends him all over the place.

“You’re not going to die alone. Or at least, not unless you want to die alone. Which is a perfectly valid choice, and not something anyone should be an asshole to you about,” I say, and now his astonishment at how hard I’m going about this is starting to settle into something else. Delighted bemusement, I think it is. Actually no—I know it is. Because he has that big face, and his emotions are equally enormous, and so it’s just easy with him. He’s like a complicated adult story, told via the medium of a beautiful pop-up book.

And for some reason, I think I like reading it.

Beck, for his part, starts doing sneaky things like encouraging Hazel to wear whatever she’s comfortable in and be open about her love of Quantum Leap and to believe in herself that she really can be a romance writer. At first she thinks it’s because she’s fitting into the mold of the wife Beck invented. It turns out that mold looks an awful lot like Hazel.

“I don’t want you to have to fit me. I don’t want you to contort yourself for this silly thing. And anyway, my ideal woman is just someone I can get along with. Someone I can talk to, and not worry about what I’m saying. Someone I can confide in. Someone who gives great advice. None of which are things you really seem to struggle with. I mean, you’re considerate and gracious enough with me that I doubt anyone would think, whoa, she really loathes every word he says,” he tells me.

And though I wait for him to seem queasy, it never happens.

He’s telling the truth. He really does see me as what sounds like a good person.

All of which sinks through me, like warm syrup. It sticks…

All that proximity at the retreat, especially after kinda sort dancing around one another for months before then, has the expected effect. Of course, Beck and Hazel have to show affection in public to make sure their fake marriage is believable to the suspicious Doug. Their first public kiss is such a disaster they have to practice privately – which leads to them finding out they are very sexually compatible.

Hazel and Beck have some delightfully frank conversations about what they want, sexually and otherwise. Other times they’re painfully shy with each other and resort to sending each emails or texts while they’re doing separate things at the retreat. Hazel is the more forthright of the pair though and, over time, Beck opens up even more. He’s never not kind but he does reveal an enjoyment of and for dirty talk and fucking. I loved watching Beck open up to Hazel’s encouragement, to speak aloud what he wanted and what he liked. Beck being baffled by Hazel’s desire for all of him was one of the many delights of the book.

Beck is inexperienced from a sexual perspective (not ignorant, just inexperienced). Hazel has lots of experience. But as they explore their attraction it seems to Hazel that she’s the real virgin. Beck introduces her to feelings – both the pants kind and the heart kind – she’s not ever had before. It’s heady stuff.

Beyond the banter and the humour and the kindness of the main characters, the book also contains some lovely turns of phrase and word pictures.

That flummoxes him, quite clearly. He looks at me like I just trapped him in a maze of complete accuracy, and he has no idea how to get back out.

I mean, are these not just wonderful?

I joke salute on the end. Mostly to disguise the fact that everything he’s said just makes me want to throw myself at him like a bug against an extremely kind and protective windshield.

My criticism of When Grumpy Met Sunshine was that I thought it took too long for Mabel and Alfie to work out they were wrong to think the other didn’t love them. My Big Fat Fake Marriage does not have that same delay, something I was so very pleased about I can’t even tell you. The story did not lack in tension because of it. It’s clear that Hazel and Beck had the benefit of learning from Mabel and Alfie’s mistakes.

Both books are fake relationship stories but both are very different. My Big Fat Fake Marriage has a much shorter timeline for one thing. It’s testament that a skilled author can take a similar premise and write an entirely unique story and I am so here for it.

Grade: A


Regards,
Kaetrin

Did you ever wish all those virgin FMC were actually about a virgin MMC who still knows what he wants? This book is for you!

This book is HILARIOUS. If you love quick witted characters, this is the book for you. I loved the growth we see from the FMC and how she opens up after getting to know our MMC.

It did take me a little time to get fully invested but now I want to read the authors debut about characters in this book.

I devoured this book in one sitting, no breaks! It was funny, spicy, and packed with everything you’d want from a fake relationship romance. While there were a few plot holes, I still thoroughly enjoyed it and would happily read anything Charlotte Stein writes! If you love a swoony, laugh-out-loud rom-com with plenty of heat, this one’s for you.
Thank you, NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press, for the ARC!

Connie doesn’t trust nice guys—they always have a secret. So when she meets Beck, a cheerful, bow tie-loving editor, she’s skeptical. Then she learns his truth: he’s lied to his entire publishing house about being married. In a moment of impulse, Connie backs him up, becoming his fake wife.

A writing retreat forces them into close quarters, and what starts as a harmless deception soon ignites something real. Late nights, shared spaces, and an undeniable spark leave Connie questioning everything.

Such a enjoyable read I highly recommend.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was an incredibly fun read. Beck reminded me of Ted Lasso with a dad bod, and Connie was a character who was easy to root for. They had a lovely chemistry, and I enjoyed their banter and how much he was clearly smitten by her. The steam factor in this book was an unexpected surprise, and Charlotte Stein knows how to write tension AND release.

There were a few elements that felt a touch cartoony. Beck's coworker was almost comic villain mean to him, and I lost the thread on Connie's job and career a few times. I ultimately felt her character was a bit one-dimensional - but even in that dimension, I wanted her to find love with Beck. This was an enjoyable read and I would definitely check out the next in the series. I'd call this 3.5 stars bumped up to 4.

I don’t know how to describe my feelings on this book other than to say it was a soft read. I don’t mean that in any sort of bad way at all. I greatly enjoyed the story of Connie aka Hazel and Beck. They are tiptoeing their way around each other because, quite frankly, they have both had the worst luck when it comes to the opposite sex. So when they find that they click and get along so well, neither trust what is right in front of their faces.

Charlotte Stein is a master at writing a single POV story where you never doubt what that other character is feeling. You would think that would mean it is obvious to the character whose POV is seen, but somehow the author always makes it make sense that that isn’t the case. Hazel is so clueless when it comes to how gaga Beck is over her. That, on top of her waiting for him to do a 180 on her and act in some horrible manner, had her always pushing Beck away just as they were opening up. Poor Beck, what is he supposed to think other than he is not the man for Hazel?

I absolutely adore Beck. He is the biggest cinnamon roll of all cinnamon rolls. He doesn’t hide it, he doesn’t even seem to know the extent of his kindness. It’s just who he is, and it’s marvelous. That also means he can be a bit of a doormat, and I hated that for him. I love how quickly Hazel comes to his defense and puts herself between Beck and those who treat him poorly. Even before she barely knew the guy! Hazel may think she’s rough and tough, but she’s also a big softy at heart.

While there are will they or won’t they moments, some past hurts that inform their actions, and a deadline to their fake arrangement that neither wants to stick to, there isn’t a lot of angst or drama in this book. That’s what I meant by soft. It’s so sweet, even when Hazel is getting in her own way.

I actually loved this book. Beck and Connie are both these little sweetie pies and clearly so interested in each other from the jump, which was just sooo nice to enjoy from start to finish. They had so many crossed wires that you just wanted to yell at them to get together the whole time, but in the best way. I didn’t read the first book, but it’s not quite a series, just featuring same characters. Oh also there’s quite a lot of spice! 🌶️

Relatable characters + quippy banter + amazing set up = lots of fun and sweet romance.

Connie is a poster girl for emotional trauma, but she masks it by showing a confident, take-charge persona to the world. It makes her rush to confrontations in the defense of others, which lands her in a pickle when she claims to be her dorky teddy-bear neighbor Beck's made-up wife. Now, they'll have to convince everyone at a writing retreat that they're the real thing, even as they both try to deny how perfect they are for each other. Can a series of steamy first times and forced proximity convince them that there's more reality to the fake marriage than they're willing to accept?

I wanted to like this one, I really did. I loved the couple in the first book and was really looking forward to more of that vibe. It just wasn't possible with how ridiculous I found poor Henry Samuel Beckett and Connie's constant self-putdowns. It's one thing for a guy to be nice and shy and another to make him into what I found to be a caricature. There are sweet moments, but he's mostly just too much for me. And Connie also has some powerful moments, and I loved her character arc of accepting that she can be herself and not listen to the awful voices her mom planted in her as a kid. But again, there's only so much negativity I can take before I check out with a romance.

In the end, this just wasn't the type of romance I could get into. I think there are elements to it that other readers will love, and I can kind of see them, but it's just not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the read.

I received an ARC via Netgalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

3.5/5 stars.

The entire book is written from Hazel's perspective. I found the pacing bogged down by all the chatter-y dialogue. She calls herself Connie at the very beginning, but quickly tells the MMC her real name is Hazel, and she's referenced as that for the remainder of the book.

Hazel's description of the MMC, her neighbour Samuel, is almost cartoon-ish. He's huge, with a bushy black mustache, always wears a bow tie - except for when he's wearing tiny shorts, and has a host of other over the top quirks. And the way Samuel talks!! It's like a 1950s Ned Flanders type thing. (Think gosh darn minute, oh my stars, and more along that line). Hazel is initially concerned with his over the top niceties believing that they are hiding something. As she spends more time with him, these odd quirks become endearing, and she soon realizes that Samuel is a great person.

When a work nemesis taunts Samuel, Hazel finds herself announcing that they are married. Together as a faux married couple they attend a writers retreat Samuel is hosting. Shenanigans ensue and the whole situation quickly becomes messy and entangled.

This was a quick, sweet romance that was equal parts steamy and equal parts reflective. The FMC, Connie, is cynical. She has never met a man that is genuinely nice and finds her neighbor to be of any men masquerading as truly "nice." The story begins with this and there is a cute back and forth between neighbors as we get to know the characters. The MMC, Beck, is a sweet cinnamon roll who is very innocent and loveable. He is at times too innocent and kind of leans into the naive American stereotype but I'm not sure if that was potentially a mask in the beginning. Driven by justice, the FMC finds herself in the middle of a fake marriage with Beck. Slowly, she starts to realize that much to her surprise, she's into the sweet, innocent type. She's actually more into it than she thought she would be. It's a light and subtle reflection on how society sometimes encourages women to seek more toxic male behaviors and encourage women to embrace them under the guise of masculinity. Connie, but actually Hazel starts to realize she has to undo years of trauma to finally accept who she truly is and the man before her. Through his encouragement, she is able to really show who she is. What I didn't expect was how steamy this book was as Hazel and Beck get more involved. At times, I found it a bit surprising that Beck hadn't experienced a lot in his late 30s. There is a bit of miscommunication between both characters as they figure out how they truly feel. Overall, it was a sweet love story and I rate it 3.5 stars.