Fake it 'til Fall

There are things nobody tells you about starting over in Boston after your fiancé cheats on you.

Rent will make you consider marrying for closet space. Cobblestones are ankle traps with historical significance. And if you move here to prove you're fine, proper meals and eight hours of sleep are luxuries.

I'm handling it. Mostly.

What I am not handling is Forrest Wolfcraft.

Our families have been feuding since before we were born. Forrest—retired hockey player, professionally grumpy, conversational range of a locked door—sits in the café I work in four days a week with Puck, his ridiculously adorable rescue dog, and refuses to be as awful as he's supposed to be.

Then my mother calls. My ex is marrying the woman he cheated on me with. At my family's vineyard. And Mom wants me to help with their wedding because the vineyard needs the business.

Unfortunately, I need the money.

It's fine. I can help from Boston and stay safely away from the happy couple. Until everything goes wrong and I have to go home and work the wedding in person.

There is no way I'm walking back into town broke, single, and alone while my ex marries his affair partner. I need a boyfriend. A fake one.

So I ask Forrest, and somehow, he says yes.

Unfortunately, Forrest is terrible at being fake because he keeps doing all the things a real boyfriend should.

Somewhere between convincing everyone we're together and trying to keep my walls firmly in place, I'm starting to forget we're pretending.

From USA Today Bestselling Author Claudia Burgoa comes a cozy, fall-filled small-town romance with a fake relationship, grumpy-sunshine chemistry, forced proximity, and a hero who falls first.


🍂Fake dating

🍂A grumpy retired hockey player

🍂Bookstore café meet-cute energy

🍂Cozy fall vineyard chaos

🍂One very dramatic dog

🍂He falls first, but acts like it’s a scheduling problem

🍂No third-act breakup