Review: "The Billionaire's Faux Fiancee" by Tina Gabor

The Billionaire's Faux Fiancée: A Pretend Relationship / Fake Fiancee Romance by Tina Gabor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"The Billionaire's Faux Fiancee" by Tina Gabor is the second book of the Bronson Billionaire Romance series. The timeline partially overlaps with the events of the first book, but it works well as a standalone.

Two years after quitting the music business to get her life together, Mackenzie Harper believes that all of her hard work is about to pay off. She's on the verge of being hired as the assistant band director for a local high school when she learns that the position has been eliminated due to budget cuts. The timing couldn't be worse; her parents, who've supported her the entire way, are making an offer on their dream house, and she's promised to repay them the money she owes by the end of the summer. With no other options, Mackenzie accepts a promotion to assistant manager at Rexford Drugs. Meanwhile, playboy billionaire Damien Bronson is in Florida to gather information on the potential acquisition of Rexford Drugs for his family's company. A series of accidental meetings with Mackenzie leads to him asking her to play his fake fiancee to help him with the acquisition. She agrees, but only because she needs the money to repay her parents. The more time they spend pretending, the more the relationship starts to feel real, but Damien has never been interested in a serious relationship before. Can Mackenzie change his mind?

I really enjoyed the fast pace of this story, as well as Damien and Mackenzie's chemistry. It was a slow burn, but when they finally got together, there was plenty of steam. I also liked Mackenzie herself, who was wonderfully strong and independent no matter what challenges she faced. It would have been easy for her to give in to Damien when he tried to step in and solve all of her problems for her near the end, but instead, she stood up to him and got her life together on her own.

Unfortunately, I wasn't quite as big a fan of Damien. His arrogance was rather off-putting at times, as was his tendency to lean into the billionaire lifestyle and throw money around to get whatever he wanted, day or night, no matter the inconvenience to other people. I loved that Mackenzie called him on that and made an effort to show him what it was like to exist in a world without limitless resources. Aside from that, I would have liked to see Damien be a bit more open about his feelings for Mackenzie. There didn't seem to be a lot of progression; it was more like a switch flipped after he had a conversation with his brother, and he suddenly decided that he was in love with her. Finally, the book's ending felt a bit rushed to me. I would have liked to see more of Damien's transformation into a patient, supportive partner shown on the page.

While I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as the first one in the series, I would still recommend it for all fans of contemporary romance and romantic comedy. I look forward to picking up the next book, which will feature Damien's brother Bradley and Mackenzie's friend Carolyn.

*Review copy provided by the author. All opinions expressed are my own.

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