Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - A Not So Meet Cute

Fun and easy read with all the angsty tropes we love - forced proximity, fake dating, enemies (sort of) to lovers. The characters were a little annoying at times though with not tonnes of depth, although they had good side characters and some development which was good. The spice was great, the ending was cute.

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gracelyn's review against another edition

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4.75

⋆ ⁎ ★° ⁀ ➷ 3,5 steamy

“I’m going to need to know your dick size before you leave.” “Why do you need to know that?” I ask. “Because,” she says with a smile, “I need to know if I have to act like a happy fiancée, or a truly satisfied fiancée.”

Leiselotte “Lottie” Gardner has just been fired by her best friend, and in revenge wants to get a rich boyfriend by the time her high school reunion is and stick it in her face. Along comes Huxley Cane - who is in need of a fake fiancée. Initially going along with, she changes her mind, however, Huxley won’t let her.

Huxley Cane can’t land a deal at work and decides to lie in the hope of gaining some middle ground with the man. Along comes Lottie with a crazy mind and a mouth who always defies him. Having found someone on such short notice he cannot let her slip between his fingers.

Tropes:

Fake engagement
Forced proximity
Grumpy x Sunshine
Enemies to Lovers
Billionaire romance
Inspired by Pretty Woman (1990)

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pippamillerxoxo_'s review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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a_libra_library's review

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emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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matthewslaura's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Ok I genuinely have never laughed so hard at a book until I read the evil one-eyed fake baby scene… there were tears in my eyes! I really liked this story and that’s all I gotta say.

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chloelj27's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I wanted to read this book because everyone and their mother is talking about it. This has been on my TBR for a while but when Michael Penguin Publishing sent me the last book in this series, I thought this was a sign to jump right in and I ordered book one and two.

This book has two points of views. The first is the oldest Cane brother called Huxley. He and his brother own Cane Enterprises and Huxley is trying to get a big deal from a man named Dave. Dave doesn’t like the fact that Huxley is not a family member and seems like playboy, Huxley is determined to prove him wrong and get his business. The second point of view is Lottie. She has just lost her job and she want to move out of her parents' house. She is wanting a boyfriend and preferably a rich one. The meet cute between these two isn’t really cute and is slightly different, Lottie was walking around a wealthy neighbourhood in Beverly Hills, searching for future husband and Huxley was stomping around the place mumbling about a business deal gone wrong and attempting to get himself out of the hole he dug himself in. This is how Huxley and Lottie meet and there was no sparks and no hint of blossoming love, but the next thing Lottie knows she was scaring down free food and listening to this man lay out all of his problems which leads to his big ask . . . he wants Lottie to be his Vivian Ward from Pretty Woman – minus the frisky behaviour. Huxley is wanting Lottie to move in with him in his mansion, go on double dates, and pretending they are engaged and pregnant. Lottie thinks he’s insane, but they are both desperate and people do crazy things when they’re desperate. They both agreed that as long as they won’t fall in love, it can be fun, can’t it?

Okay, this book gave me whiplash and I didn’t know if I liked it or not. One minute Huxley’s all Christian Grey “I won’t touch you” vibes and the next he wants her, and she wants him. 50 pages probably could have been cut if the monologues from Huxley weren’t so confusing. But then at the same time he was so sweet and there was a storyline ish. I liked Lottie being a strong woman but yet her knees go jelly around Huxley. Even though I am saying it was okay, it was addictive, I want to marry into a rich family with multiple brothers just for all the banter and laughs. I didn’t like the third act break up especially over something as petty as the secret being revealed and the miscommunication side of that breakup just drove me nuts. I also would have preferred Huxley grovelling a bit more – Lottie forgave him way to quickly that the storyline fell flat at the end. It felt a bit rushed.

I loved the banter between the brothers and I’m already excited to read about the other brothers and their romance. I love how much shit they give each other but that they would also die for each other. One of my favourite lines in the book even though it was directed at the wrong person was “Fuck with me – fine. Fuck with my brothers - that's a different story”

I also think I'm going to absolutely adore Breaker and I think he’s going to be my favourite like Cal from the other Kane brothers.

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simplyammee's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

This book is shit and I'm suprised it has as many good reviews as it does. Not only is Huxley a piece of shit abuser -his forcing Lottie to listen through actually, physically forcing her is ABUSE. Not kinky, not him being a Dom (this isn't some kink play), it's literally abuse.

The sex scenes are meh. The writing isn't great either. I mean, who publishes a book with "-raises hand- that's me" or "*light bulb*" actually written into it. There are sentences I've had to reread multiple times and not quite know what the author meant. The constant summaries of scenes we just experienced was annoying, especially with the amount of off-page scenes that happen that we get 2 sentences for.

Both characters suck, both are boring, and frankly act like children a lot. This reads as YA fanfic. I finished at 94% because after Huxley thinking that LITERALLY FORCING LOTTIE TO LISTEN was okay and that she was okay with it... obviously the author romanticized abuse and I'm not okay with that. Wish I didn't spend money on this book.

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