[Review] The (Fake) Dating Game - Timothy Janovsky

Summary: Holden James picked the worst time to have a meltdown. His chance to audition for his favorite game show, Madcap Market, should have been a moment of triumph—a glorious, loving homage to his adored mom, who died six years ago. Instead, he’s destroying the minibar in a grim Los Angeles hotel room…recently dumped, partnerless and sliding into misery.

But at least the hotel service is sublime. It even comes with an unfairly fit and sexy (smart-ass) concierge who arrives at the door with pizza, Monopoly and deliciously distracting forearms.

All Holden knows about Leo Min is that he’s beautiful and unexpectedly sympathetic, and the chemistry between them is beyond. Maybe it’s even enough to convince everyone, including the show’s casting directors, that they’re a real couple. All they’d have to do is crush the competition, win the huge cash prize and all of Holden’s problems—his broken heart, his buried grief, his complete lack of money and direction—will be fixed.

Of course, reality doesn’t quite work out that way. But love is an entirely different game… (Pub Date: Jan 23, 2024)

 

I was looking forward to this book, and maybe that's one of the reasons it didn't feel as good as I was sure it would be. So take that into consideration as you read what has disappointed me.

Holden had everything ready for a trip to LA where he and his boyfriend would compete in his favorite TV show. Except that when his boyfriend hears of this surprise, he breaks everything off with Holden instead. He ends up in LA not only with a broken heart but also without someone to audition with him to be part of that show. That's when Leo shows up and they come up with a story sure to get them chosen, which includes faking they're together.

So this is supposed to be in the fake boyfriends trope. It's even a part of the title. And I can't say there wasn't anything about it in the plot, it did happen. I'm just sure that the result could have been the same if it hadn't. In other words, the trope is there, but not what we are reading this trope for. This was my biggest issue with this book. It's interesting, Holden's story isn't only relatable, it also makes us curious for how it will turn out, and he's a great character. So is Leo, by the way. But the fake dating thing wasn't really the point of it, and to be honest, I don't even see how that was fake. They kind of lied about how they'd met, but all the rest seemed real enough.

Which leads us to another problem, it takes a long time for us to understand what will be the thrill in this story. First we think it will be to become a competitor, then it could be because Leo has been lying to his mother, and then something else, or another. For a while I wondered if this was actually supposed to be about the sex, because for a while that's all their days led to. Nothing that could have been big enough turned out to be a real challenge, so what should we hope for in this? Even the game show part felt rushed. So I'd say the story had a small issue with focus. Luckily, I liked the characters enough to follow them or it would be the kind of book I stopped reading one day and never remembered to resume reading later. 

I still think this could have been lots of fun, and I also suspect I would have liked it more if it hadn't been marketed to me as a fake dating trope, but it's still a good book. It doesn't drag, it's got charismatic main characters, and it's cute.

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

Rating: 3 out of 5.