This is the second book of the ‘Scissor link’ series that I recommend to read chronologically as this book reveals a couple of spoilers from the first book.

Elizabeth Smile is contacted by Michelle Harlow, an old college fling, to pose as her girlfriend to beat her cheating husband. For Elizabeth, it’s good money and an opportunity to help her old friend, provided she can ignore her feelings towards Michelle and an awkward week with her fake girlfriend’s family. Will they succeed in their deception? Will it change their relationship?

There’s been a number of fake relationships books in lesfic lately with diverse success. It’s hard for me to rate this book as it has its good and not so good parts. I liked that it’s got some twists and unexpected situations and it’s generally well written. Most of the plot describes the time Elizabeth spends with Michelle and her family during the Christmas holidays. Each member of the family (dog included) has a distinctive personality and quirks which made them easy to recognise in a relatively short novel. However, the dialogues and their banter sounded artificial, as if the author was trying too much to be witty. There are also a lot of references to popular culture (actors, books, films, music, TV shows, etc.) which are a bit excessive even for a well informed person. So much so that in a decade’s time this book will probably be outdated. There are also long parts of the book dedicated to phylosophical discussions between the characters around a number of subjects such as racism, environment, feminism and religion, among others. While some discussions were interesting, I kept wondering if this is the type of book to dwell on them as the plot loses focus on the romance. Consequently, the end seems a bit rushed and the ‘I love you’ moments too fast.

Overall, an ok read if you don’t mind a few philosophical discussions and multiple references to popular culture. 3 stars.

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.