e-Audio, 11:10:06
Narrated by: Soneela Nankani and Vikas Adam
Release Date:
Published by: Simon & Schuster Audio
Read from: July 19-21, 2024
Stand-Alone
Source: PRH Audio Influencer Program (I received a copy of this e-audio from their app in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning:
For Readers Interested In: Romance, Sparkly Covers, Adult, Low Spice, Realistic FictionOne impulsive lie leads to a weeklong adventure of fake dating for two bickering coworkers in this swoony destination wedding rom-com.
Sunshine incarnate Bhanu brings big UX energy to whatever she does, including going for the promotion where her only serious competition is her work nemesis, AKA Sunny, the grump with the Denzel voice. She expected to get a reprieve from him while visiting her family in Hawai’i, but the universe has other plans. When Bhanu runs into Sunny at the hotel and witnesses his ex criticizing him about being single, Bhanu does the first thing that comes to she impetuously claims to be Sunny’s girlfriend just to get some peace and quiet. Except Sunny is on island for a friend’s wedding and his ex has already texted the entire wedding party about this mysterious girlfriend.
Bhanu truly is the bane of Sunny’s existence. But the last thing he wants to do is cause tension during his friend’s wedding festivities, much less be the object of their pity. He has no choice except to play along, if only he and Bhanu can put aside their quarreling and act like a real couple.
Between Bhanu’s hilariously meddling family and Sunny’s ecstatic friends, the two are pushed closer together, even as stress mounts over the impending promotion.
They say what happens on island, stays on island. But as Sunny and Bhanu let their guards down, will either of them be able to resist this romantic getaway without crossing the line?
*MY THOUGHTS*
I’m not gonna lie, I saw that this was fake dating and the narrator was Soneela Nankani and that was all I needed to know. I immediately added this to my TBR and I remember like checking everyday to see if it would be added to the app. And when it finally was, I immediately downloaded it. And I wasn’t disappointed.
So this Grumpy/Sunshine book was a BIT of a surprise for me. I’m not usually one who likes Grumpy/Sunshine books, but this one had an incredible cover, fake dating as a trope, and was set in Hawaii. So I gave it a shot anyway. And although I wasn’t a huge fan of Sunny, I didn’t think he deserved what happened to him. Lordt I was so sick of that person. I think I would have done the same thing that Bhanu did just to shut them up!
The romance was cute! I could tell their chemistry back when they were still arguing about everything. I DO wish that the chemistry they had at the beginning was carried throughout the story tho. One of my favorite things about fake dating is when they decide that they have real feelings so they start doing like subtle things to make those feelings known. But in this one, they both were too scared to make a move and I was annoyed that I didn’t get that. She didn’t even want to say there was a form of protection in the basket. And maybe I’m old school but if you can’t say that part, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it? Idk.
The only thing about the romance I didn’t care for was the ending. I hate when they spend so much time arguing and then finally do it but they’re still arguing, and then the third act break up and then it’s the end and then BOOM last chapter and they’re together. I always feel like I don’t understand why I sat there through a whole book just to see them just be together at the end and never see them really be together. I get that there are slow burns, but don’t make it so slow that you don’t give them their shine at the end too.
I LOVED the way she incorporated so much of the setting in this tho. I am a HUGE supporter of making the setting in books big, especially in realistic fiction, because there’s a lot of places I’ve never been. Books are my best mode of traveling, so I always live through the characters. And this one was no different. Especially since they were in Hawaii. But I loved the way she made sure to make the sister turn into one of the locals and to make sure that going there and being disrespectful to the people and the land is a terrible thing to do. I hope someone learns something from this. I know even I learned something very important….. I need to try something with ube because the way she wrote it in everything in this book? I’m trying to try that ube drink the sister made too because Lordt she made everything should so good.
This was cute and i really love visiting Hawaii with them. I do think there were some issues that could be fixed, but for the most part I enjoyed reading this Grumpy/Sunshine narrated by one of my favorite narrators. It definitely helped to make this already good book even more enjoyable.
Overall, I give this
