ARC, 368 pages
Release Date: February 24, 2026
Published by: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Read from: February 3-March 14, 2026
Stand-alone
Source: The Publisher (I received this ARC free from the publisher. This did nothing to influence my review!)
Content Warning:
For Readers Interested In: ARC, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Sparkly Cover, Most Anticipated, Own Voices, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Realistic Fiction, Romance, Sports (Soccer), Stand-alone, YA, Friends to LoversIn this sweet teen rom-com, in order to find the right guy, she will have to (fake) date the wrong one first—perfect for fans of Lynn Painter and Kasie West.
When soccer star Dru Eason’s longtime crush Kai finally asks her out, she can’t say no. She also can’t say yes. Not when she knows things with him will end just as they have with all of her exes. They’ll date, break up, and in a matter of days he’ll become someone else’s perfect boyfriend.
Because Dru is The Boyfriend Launcher.
To buy time to figure out why this keeps happening, Dru negotiates a no-dating pact with her team for the duration of the playoffs—twenty-four days. Then she asks Winston Portis, one of her best friends, to fake-date her. Maybe after some feedback on what it’s like being her boyfriend, she can take her chance with Kai and keep him far away from the launchpad.
But is twenty-four days enough time to uncover her issues? Or is it just long enough for Dru to wonder: Has she been overlooking the perfect boy, or is she just launching Winston for the next girl? And is she finally brave enough to take a shot at finding out?
*MY THOUGHTS*
This was so cute! I knew immediately how this was going to end lol Like I’m talking my very first note that I took of this book. And even that didn’t make me not like it. It made me like it more.
Ok so the main thing about this that I didn’t care for was all the different unclosed plot points. And they all had to do with family. His family and hers. I was so confused as to what they had to do with this story. ESPECIALLY if they were going to act like this. His brother wasn’t that bad. He was just super quiet and kept to himself. But her sisters? They were both terrible. They did nothing but berate and judge her. She already felt bad about herself because of the way the dudes she was “dating” made her feel. But Lordt they were callous and rude for no reason.
The fake dating was cute. I liked that it was a different approach to it. They weren’t really counting it as fake dating because they were only “boyfriend _______/girlfriend Dru” at certain times and just their regular friends all the other times. I thought it was cute that they thought they would be able to have a difference lol You can guess that it was a hot mess. And it was. I wanted to shake her a lot of the times. Because she knew that what she was feeling was real. And gon say I just didn’t want to think about it? I remember saying out-loud, “oh you like chaos huh?” Because what do you meannnnn lol Plus you were hurting the boy in the process. Lordt she was a hot mess lol But I kept reminding myself she’s a teen and just wanted to sit her down and talk to her like an auntie. Because she needed some guidance lol
I also really liked the plot. I enjoyed hearing about the struggles she had from being with those dudes and trying to learn from that information from those dudes. I thought it was a cute and funny premise at first, but then I started reading and I saw how hard she was taking it. She really felt like something was wrong with her and that hurt even me. I can’t imagine how in the world Winston survived her talking like that all that time.
The romance was cute! I liked that even though they weren’t together together we got to see them go on dates and acutally find each other. They were friends before so it flowed so easily. I loved that their dates were just hanging out for the two of them. They were so comfortable and so good for each other. It was the sweetest thing watching their transition.
This was cute. Even though she stressed me out in some places, I enjoyed reading about her and watching her hard shell melt for him. He was already gone for her in the beginning, so I knew it wouldn’t be long. And sure enough, he was too eager to agree. Their chemistry is everything that I love about Friends to Lovers and I hope y’all like this part of it too!
Overall, I give this
