Frances is headed to a new academic conference and is thrilled to be included, but she is very nervous because it is being run by her ex boyfriend, the one who said she would end up a failure and lonely. On the plane she is seated by Lewis, a fellow academic. She soon discovers that he is actually her academic rival Theodore L North who should have credited her on a paper that has been cited 562 times a few years ago. But due to a misunderstanding, her ex’s current girlfriend mistakes Lewis and Frances for a couple. So they decide that since he owes her, they will fake date during the conference so he can alleviate pressure from his family who just so happens to be local and celebrating his brother’s graduation and she can save face with the community.
This one had a lot of promise and I know some people will love it, but it was not for me. I learned a lot about the academia life, how you don’t put down roots and it is hard to make friends. It seems kind of cut throat without a lot of benefit. Maybe if this is your setting it will help you feel seen, I feel like a lot of the science and professor speak culturally went over my head. At times I felt as though Frances is better off without Lewis I found him to be non confrontational to the point of being a wimp, she kept saying he was brilliant but I didn’t feel the chemistry or understand what she saw in him. So it took me a really long time to get through this and I felt as though I was forcing myself to finish but not really enjoying the story.
I think I might be burned out on fake dating as a trope as I have read about ten 2026 releases in a row that are fake dating.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the ARC. Book to be published February 3, 2026
Leave a Reply