Book Smart Kate

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by @christinalauren – This was the 10th book by Christina Lauren that I’ve read, and it easily has taken a place with The Soulmate Equation and The True Love Experiment as one of my favorites (Love and Other Words is in a rarified class by itself and is on my all-time favorite books list).

Poor college students will do just about anything for a decent apartment, which is how Anna Green and Liam “West” Weston enter into a fake marriage to access subsidized family housing at UCLA. For Anna, that was the end of the story – she thought that when they parted ways, they dissolved their marriage, too. But she really should have read those documents she signed. West is one of the heirs to a massive fortune that only pays out in full after he’s been married for five years. Almost three years later, Anna barely makes ends meet as an artist while West is a professor at Stanford. With only a few months until the five-year mark, West, who is estranged from his family, is being forced to attend his sister’s destination wedding, and his dad is very suspicious about the wife no one has ever met. To save his inheritance, he must convince Anna to play his wife under the scrutiny of his hyper-critical family. To West’s surprise, Anna’s artistic nature and humor charms (most) of his family, and as they fake affection toward each other, they struggle to deny their real connection while keeping the ruse alive.

There is SO MUCH to love about this book! Amidst an absolutely stunning background, West and Anna are incredibly charming. Their banter is top-notch, and although opposite in so many ways, they are both grappling with the weight of family obligation while yearning to carve their own path. Like The Soulmate Equation, there is an incredibly interesting and well-developed dramatic storyline about the business that helps drive the book forward.

The audiobook, narrated by Patti Murin (The Bodyguard, Hello Stranger) and Jon Root (Something Wilder), is completely addictive. I found myself bouncing between audio and print.