Madison Nichols, aspiring actress, is floundering. Her rent is due and she needs a job. Desperately. After getting a tip about an open position, she rushes to Jameson Technologies and meets CEO Jared Jameson. Unfortunately, due to a misunderstanding, she is put in the awkward position of pretending to be his girlfriend. Not the job she was applying for. And when she finds out Jared lied to her to get what he wanted, she decides to get back at him. In front of his family.
Jared is stunned when Madison announces they are getting married. She pushed her revenge too far. How can he tell them it’s all a lie? And when his sick aunt asks them to be married before she dies, Madison comes up with a hair-brained plan to hire an actor and stage a fake wedding.
What they both don’t know is Jared’s father has found out about the fake wedding. And he’s got his own hair-brained plan.
Reading this book made me realize it has been eons since I've read a story written in third person, or at least now I noticed it. I can definitely understand why it makes it so difficult to connect with the characters. It constantly felt like I was looking at this story from the side, it didn't draw me in.
Now in the chick-lit genre I've read some crazy plot lines, so I definitely don't mind it being over the top as long as the author is able to make it believable. That felt kind of missing for me. Madison simply took it too far for me to be able to just go with it.
Jared said he maybe had a position for Madison at his company, but she would already get paid to play his girlfriend at a family dinner. When Madison realizes there is no job at his company, she gets mad and takes revenge on him. First of all that is kind of petty. Second, the way she does that is just not funny. In front of his family Madison declares that she and Jared are getting married. Who does such a thing? They don't know each other, there is barely a connection and this just feels wrong to me. She involved his family and claiming you're getting married is a very big lie. As in when people find out, they will hate you.
Of course Madison hasn't really thought this true, as Jared's aunt is really sick and she wants to see the wedding before she dies. Jared's aunt has been like a mom to him, so the man would do anything to make her happy, still marrying Madison might be too much. He's all about coming clean, but it's once again Madison's big mouth that gets them further into trouble and before you know it, she's trying on dresses and choosing flowers.
This screamed disaster from the beginning. I had a lot of trouble liking Madison and honestly I really don't like her. She says and does certain things without thinking about the consequences, including the people who might get hurt. In the beginning she doesn't very much like Jared, but after spending two weeks with him, she's almost ready to really marry him. Everything definitely moved fast in this story.
Jared seemed like an okay guy. He's the typical rich businessman with commitment issues. As soon as Madison gets in his car, he regrets bringing her along. Things just spiral downwards after that. Getting married is the last thing on his mind, though slowly Madison crawls under his skin, in a good way. I really didn't understand what he saw in her. These two people are complete strangers and I just couldn't see that connection between them.
The story was also very short (188 pages) and I feel if it had been longer and things were more deepened, it would have been better. The surface was barely scratched and therefore the characters felt very one dimensional to me.
Also it does switches points of view between Madison, Jared, Jared's dad and Jared's ex-girlfriend. Those last two, to me, weren't necessary for the continuity of the story. That she was a vindictive bitch was very easy to figure out, without needing to know her plans upfront.
Overall the plot was a bit all over the place and it was hard for me to connect with the characters. I've read other books, were girls need to play fake girlfriends for rich men, that were simply better than this. It's fun and light, but even for a short read it lacks depth for me.
Victorine and her husband live in Nebraska where they raise their four children. They manufacture rubber stamps for the craft industry. Victorine self-published her first book, Not What She Seems, in April of 2010. In March of 2011 the book hit the New York Times best selling ebook list, where it stayed on the list for six weeks. By May 2011 she had sold over 100,000 copies. She is represented by literary agent Jason Ashlock of Movable Type Literary Group. Her book, How to Find Success Selling eBooks, details how she found success, and gives advice to other writers wanting to sell eBooks in the genre fiction market.
Now in the chick-lit genre I've read some crazy plot lines, so I definitely don't mind it being over the top as long as the author is able to make it believable. That felt kind of missing for me. Madison simply took it too far for me to be able to just go with it.
Jared said he maybe had a position for Madison at his company, but she would already get paid to play his girlfriend at a family dinner. When Madison realizes there is no job at his company, she gets mad and takes revenge on him. First of all that is kind of petty. Second, the way she does that is just not funny. In front of his family Madison declares that she and Jared are getting married. Who does such a thing? They don't know each other, there is barely a connection and this just feels wrong to me. She involved his family and claiming you're getting married is a very big lie. As in when people find out, they will hate you.
Of course Madison hasn't really thought this true, as Jared's aunt is really sick and she wants to see the wedding before she dies. Jared's aunt has been like a mom to him, so the man would do anything to make her happy, still marrying Madison might be too much. He's all about coming clean, but it's once again Madison's big mouth that gets them further into trouble and before you know it, she's trying on dresses and choosing flowers.
This screamed disaster from the beginning. I had a lot of trouble liking Madison and honestly I really don't like her. She says and does certain things without thinking about the consequences, including the people who might get hurt. In the beginning she doesn't very much like Jared, but after spending two weeks with him, she's almost ready to really marry him. Everything definitely moved fast in this story.
Jared seemed like an okay guy. He's the typical rich businessman with commitment issues. As soon as Madison gets in his car, he regrets bringing her along. Things just spiral downwards after that. Getting married is the last thing on his mind, though slowly Madison crawls under his skin, in a good way. I really didn't understand what he saw in her. These two people are complete strangers and I just couldn't see that connection between them.
The story was also very short (188 pages) and I feel if it had been longer and things were more deepened, it would have been better. The surface was barely scratched and therefore the characters felt very one dimensional to me.
Also it does switches points of view between Madison, Jared, Jared's dad and Jared's ex-girlfriend. Those last two, to me, weren't necessary for the continuity of the story. That she was a vindictive bitch was very easy to figure out, without needing to know her plans upfront.
Overall the plot was a bit all over the place and it was hard for me to connect with the characters. I've read other books, were girls need to play fake girlfriends for rich men, that were simply better than this. It's fun and light, but even for a short read it lacks depth for me.
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