Faking the Game by Claudia Burgoa ~ New Release Review
FAKING THE GAME
CLAUDIA BURGOA INTRODUCES READERS TO A BRAND-NEW SERIES
Today on Okie Dreams, we have a book review for Faking the Game by Claudia Burgoa. Faking the Game is the first book in Burgoa’s Paradise Bay Billionaire Brothers contemporary romance series and features a fake relationship office romance.
BOOK INFORMATION
I received an advanced reading copy (ARC) of this book from the author, publisher, or publicist. The receipt of this ARC did not influence my choice to review the book on this site. It also did not influence how I felt about the book or its characters, storyline, and overall feel. The opinions expressed in this review are my own. As such, they only deal with what is written on the pages of the book and how what is written and otherwise presented made me feel during and after my reading of the book.

Series: Paradise Bay Billionaire Brothers #1
Published by Self-Published on March 22, 2022
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 265
Format: E-Arc
Source: Publicist/PR
Buy: Amazon | B & N | Kobo | iBooks
RATING:

Know what they say about never mixing business with pleasure? Yeah, no.
The one about never sleeping with your boss?
I ignored it too.
I blame Aslan Spearman, the boss.
He’s a wealthy playboy who doesn’t believe in happily ever after.
He’s demanding, a workaholic, and cynical.
He’d rather have a root canal than be in a romantic relationship.
Do you want to know a secret? I think he’s afraid of love.
So when he has to go to the Spearman family reunion in Hawaii with his girlfriend, he’s in big trouble.
That’s what happens when you lie to your family about your relationship status.
It wasn’t important—until now.
What does he do?
He comes to me, his VP of Operations and right hand for assistance.
After all, I’m a problem solver.
Except my personal life is complete chaos.
So we make a deal. I’ll be his girlfriend if he helps me solve my problems.
It’s a win-win situation, right?
I mean, how hard can it be?
It’s not like I plan to fall in love.
BOOK REVIEW
In Faking the Game by Claudia Burgoa, Aslan Spearman is a man in need of a plan. Or maybe just an intervention. He’s lied to his mother for nearly a year that he has a girlfriend and now he must produce said girlfriend for a family event in Hawaii. Except he doesn’t have a girlfriend and has no idea how to find fake one. His brother, Lysander, suggests he ask his right-hand employee, Keaton Nealy, to help him out, but Aslan isn’t so sure that’s a feasible solution. Too bad he doesn’t seem to have any other options. Well, none except for telling his mother the truth… which he has no intention of doing anytime soon.
Keaton is a woman hanging on by a thread. She’s taken on far more than she can handle with trying to maintain care for her mentally declining mother and her feistier eighteen-year-old sister. She has a job, a good one, but not enough money to pay all the bills coming due. Which is what leads her to actually consider Aslan’s crazy proposition to fake-date in exchange for help with her problems.
I loved Aslan and Keaton, both separately and together. Their banter was fantastic, as was their genuine caring for one another. They had believable chemistry, which leapt off the page anytime they were together. And they were so easy to root for because they felt like they were similar in all the right ways and different in the ways that would keep things both fun and interesting for them.
While this is my first read by this author and the first in the Paradise Bay Billionaire Brothers series, I feel confident in saying it won’t be the last. I really enjoyed the author’s writing style, as it pulled me right into the story and kept me engaged throughout its conclusion. The characters were witty, the story fast paced, and the journey was both fun and flirty, with the perfect amount of push and pull tension. Really liked this read, and these characters.
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