Thoughts: Falling for Her Fiance

Falling for Her Fiancé

by Cindi Madsen
Book 1 of Accidentally in Love

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  2.5 Stars

Danielle and Wes have been best friends since college, so when Wes needs a date for his sister’s wedding and Dani needs a partner for her company’s retreat, they devise the perfect plan: a fake engagement to get through both events unscathed.  Adrenaline-junkie Wes can prove to both his ex and his family that he’s well and truly moved on, and serious-minded Dani can prove to her boss that she’s worthy of the promotion he seems to only want to give to a family-oriented employee.

But amid the fake swoons, fake kisses, and forced proximity, neither expects the very real feelings that develop.  There’s nothing more dangerous than falling for your best friend…but what if the landing is worth the fall?

For what it's worth, this was a breezy, enjoyable read, but it sped by like every other simple contemporary romance ever written:

The couple is a pair of best friends struggling not to cross that dreaded "friends only" line into a deeper relationship even though they're both pining after each other.  Complications arise when they make the decision to pretend to be engaged for their own reasons.  Antics ensue.  A big misunderstanding laced with the fact that no one ever bothers to communicate with each other properly occurs.  Angst ensues.  Big realizations abound.  Happily ever after.

It's not spoilery territory if everyone knows what the outcome will end up being, right?  Because it's the same formula as the rest of the romances that use the same clichéd plot device.  It's in the way the author does the telling and whether or not he or she can present with something more unique than the same ol' formula.  And most of the time, I enjoy myself the same clichéd tellings just because they're fun and they're tried and true and they work.

So it's only unfortunate that there wasn't really anything that stood out about Falling for Her Fiance.  Which is totally not the fault of the book, or the story, or the author.  I just figured that I was maybe looking for something that stood out uniquely aside from carbon-copy standard protagonists and the same old conflicts and story developments.

The humor was mediocre to almost tacky.  None of the other characters stood out much either, which is a shame because I would have at least liked to have enjoyed myself with a lovable side character since I found Dani and Wes kind of boring.

Nonetheless, I do appreciate the friendship between Wes and Dani--as friends they were definitely a fun enough pair and it would have been nice to explore their friendship from day one, when they first met in a college history class.  As a romantic couple, however, there were many times you just wanted to shake them both and tell them to get over themselves already and make-out until one of them gives in.

Anyway, this was enjoyable on its own merits, but it just didn't really work out too well for me in the end.

---

This review was originally posted at Ani's Book Abyss / BookLikes in September 2014.

---