Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: Love Fool
SERIES: Good Bad Idea Book #4
AUTHOR: A.F. Zoelle
PUBLISHER: Sarayashi Publishing
LENGTH: 181 pages
RELEASE DATE: September 24, 2020
BLURB:
Xander Dandridge
Everybody thinks my best friend is in love with me, including my cheating ex-boyfriend. When I have to see that jerk at my boss’s wedding, bringing Jules as my fake date is the perfect revenge. But why stop there? After all, if everyone is going to accuse Jules and I of being together, why shouldn’t we enjoy ourselves as friends-with-benefits?
Ohhhh, it’s because our arrangement makes me fall in love with him for real. Oops?
Jules Tourneau
I’ve ignored my feelings for Xander so many years that I’m convinced I only love him as a friend. It’s totally a coincidence that thinking of him with his awful ex-boyfriend makes me burn with raging hellfire, right? When we’re fake dating, I’m obviously going to have fun teasing him with obnoxiously cutesy nicknames, like calling him my pookie—crap, I’m actually in love with Xander, aren’t I?
How do you tell your best friend, “Surprise! I just figured out I’ve been stupid in love with you forever,” without sounding like the world’s biggest idiot?
Love Fool is the fourth book in the Good Bad Idea series. This novel features a friends to lovers, fake boyfriends, opposites attract romance. Full of cute sweetness and sexy fun, every story ends with a satisfying HEA and no cliffhangers. Each book can be read as a standalone or as part of the series in order.
REVIEW:
Love Fool is the fourth installment in the Good Bad Idea series, but you don’t need to read the other books first. This book focuses on Jules and Xander, childhood BFFs with a soul deep connection. Jules and Xander show up in some of the prior books so if you’ve read them, you’ve already gotten a glimpse into their relationship and have seen how attached they are to each other.
Jules and Xander’s story is not so much a romance as a foregone conclusion. Everyone around them thinks they’re a couple and have been together for years. Jules and Xander inexplicably seem to be the only ones that haven’t figured out that they belong together as a romantic couple … until this book. And even then, there’s no big reveal. They just fall into the friends with benefits situation without much deliberation or hesitation about it and from there, it’s just a short step to being together for real.
This book is a bit odd in that respect; it hits one note and sticks with it from start to finish. It’s definitely a nice note to hit – Jules and Xander are sweet together but also very hot and sexy. It’s heartwarming to see their unshakeable trust in each other and their love. But there’s not much in the way of development – they’re already together, they’re already in love – and there’s no drama. It’s like hanging out with your favorite couple and basking in their happiness together.
The best way I can describe this book is that it is a love story, not a falling in love story. It’s light and fluffy but lacks a truly engaging plot, action or angst. While I enjoyed the book and do recommend reading it (this whole series is great btw), it felt more like a vehicle to introduce Elias and set him up for the next book than anything really new with Jules and Xander. Not a wasted effort in my opinion, because you’ll immediately like Elias and want to see him get his HEA. I’m looking forward to the next installment to find out. But because this book really didn’t bring anything new to the table, I don’t think I’d read it again now that the table has been set.
RATING: 
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