Release Blitz + Review: "Even Better Than the Real Thing" by Melanie Summers

I'm thrilled to participate in today's release blitz celebrating "Even Better Than the Real Thing" by Melanie Summers.

Finley Greene grew up on a peanut farm in Georgia but moved to London to study art history when she was 18. She's now working full time as a data entry clerk at Stuart Private Equity while waiting to start her PhD program. The professor she's admired for years has agreed to be her advisor, provided Finley can persuade her boss, Hayden Stuart, heir to the Earl of Pemberton, to grant them access to his family's private art collection. Meanwhile, Hayden's father has just passed away, and he's shocked to learn that he must be married in order to inherit the title and estate. When Finley comes to him and asks for his permission to study his family's art collection, he realizes that she's the perfect candidate to help him with his marriage problem. Once they've eloped, however, each starts to see that their temporary marriage of convenience might not be so convenient after all. Will their fake relationship turn into real love?

I absolutely adored this funny, sweet fake relationship romance, which featured likeable, three-dimensional characters and an engaging plot. After watching his parents' marriage implode and suffering from their neglect all his life, Hayden came to the conclusion that all relationships were transactional and that marriage should be avoided at all costs. Finley managed to break down his walls and prove that not everyone loved him for what he could give them. He didn't make it easy for her, but his apology at the end was obviously heartfelt and showed exactly how much he'd changed because of her love.
 

The book's supporting characters were a ton of fun and added a great deal of depth and humor to the story. I particularly loved Hayden's hilarious best friend Caleb and his wife Ava. I don't think they have a story of their own, but I'm officially begging the author for a prequel novel or novella. I need more Caleb and Ava!

Overall, "Even Better Than the Real Thing" was yet another fantastic book by the amazing Melanie Summers, and I highly recommend it for all contemporary romance and romantic comedy fans. I can't wait for her next release.

 

*Review copy provided by the author/publisher via Wildfire Marketing Solutions. All opinions expressed are my own.

 

 

About "Even Better Than the Real Thing"

A swoon-worthy, buttery, uber-fun romance about a marriage of convenience between two people who couldn't be more wrong for each other...

You know what’s great about applying for an art history Ph.D. program at one of the world’s most prestigious universities? I get to study what I love and land my dream job at the end of it. You know what’s not so great? Being told I’ll only get accepted to the program if I gain access to my aloof, uppity, super grumpy boss’s private art collection.

As it turns out, said boss—a one Lord Hayden Stuart—needs to get married to inherit his late father’s estate and earldom. And if there’s one thing Hayden Stuart is never going to want for real—it’s a wife.

So, we strike up a deal: I marry him and go live at his castle, where I’ll have unlimited access to his collection, he gets his earldom, and when the estate is settled, we part ways forever.

Win-win, right?

Wrong.

I may have fooled myself into believing I wasn’t risking my heart, but there’s one huge problem: I’m definitely falling for him. He’s not just another man. He’s THE man—an irresistibly good-looking, in-control, expensive-suit-wearing man who makes all the other men look like little boys. And the more time I spend with him pretending to be his wife, the more desperate I become to believe the lie.

But he’s never going to fall for some lowly Ph.D. student. So what if at the wedding he looked at me as if I’m the only woman in the world, and kissed me like he’s shipping off to war in the morning? It doesn’t mean anything.

Or does it?

Because the more we’re together, the more I realize that, even though we’re from totally different worlds, we have a lot more in common than I ever could have imagined.

Now all I have to do is convince him he really does want a wife…

*** Even Better Than the Real Thing is a standalone romance with a little extra spice than a regular Melanie Summers book. ***