Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: His Fake Boyfriend
AUTHOR: Hurri Cosmo
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 206 pages
RELEASE DATE: September 20, 2022
BLURB:
Noah is Griffin Colewater’s best friend and absolutely no one knows him better. Certainly not any of the parade of girlfriends he’s had over the years. Even his most recent, Lauren, whom he has been with the longest.
And just broke up with.
Does it make Noah a terrible friend if he’s just a little bit thrilled about that?
It doesn’t really matter, though. Griffin is the oldest son of the owners of Colewater Properties, a multi-gazillion dollar hotel conglomerate. He is also next in line to take over when his father retires which makes Griffin the most sought-after bachelor in the city. So, another girl is right around the corner.
The issue? Griffin’s mother claims to be desperately tired of his playboy antics. She is demanding Griffin settle down with a wife and family “or else”. Being that Griffin has never actually been able to please his mother in anything, Noah doesn’t understand Griffin’s hopeless mission to make that happen now.
Which makes the huge charity bash his parents are throwing a bit problematic. His mother is insisting on meeting Lauren. Yep. Griffin has yet to tell her he’s single again. And he insists he’s not going to. Instead, Griffin does something insane. He hires a fake girlfriend. Yah. A fake Lauren. Well ― not fake. She’s a ‘Lauren’, too. But that’s not the point. Griffin asked Noah to provide the “girlfriend for months” knowledge to Lauren number two so she could pull this whole ‘girlfriend’ thing off.
Honestly. What can go wrong with that?
Everything.
Because Griffin is not only Noah’s very best friend in all the world, Noah is also so crazy in love with the man, he hurts. A stupid stunt like this could reveal that very thing and freak Griffin’s parents out so badly, he’s sure they will gift Noah with cement boots and personally pitch him off the pier themselves. But the bigger problem in Noah’s mind? Griffin is totally not gay and if he ever found out Noah’s true feelings?
Damn.
Griffin would more than likely be the one mixing the cement.
REVIEW:
Noah and Griffin have been best friends for several years. Griffin doesn’t care that Noah is gay. Griffin’s parents, however, are another story. They don’t even want Griffin to be friends with a gay man. Multiple times Griffin’s mother has accused Noah of trying to “turn” her son. Griffin’s parents insist that he needs to settle down with an “appropriate” wife and start having kids. Griffin is not on board with this plan and the longest any girlfriend has lasted is a couple of weeks. And in fact, he’s just broken up with Lauren – who has lasted the longest.
This is now a problem because Griffin’s mother is having a birthday celebration weekend and charity event and she expects to meet this Lauren – who is now out of the picture. Genny and Marcus, Griffin and Noah’s other besties realize this might be a problem. But Marcus has a plan – he’s got a friend Lauren who would play Griffin’s fake girlfriend for a price for the weekend. Except of course she doesn’t actually know Griffin. He knows his sister and family will be looking out for any shenanigans so the answer is that Noah will have to help. Why? Because he DOES know Griffin better than anyone. Marcus has a plan to pull this off.
Noah is sure this is a bad bad idea. First of all, he is in love with his best friend and he knows that this could go sideways in so so so many ways. But Griffin seems like he’s on board with it, so Noah goes along. He does not want Griffin to realize the true nature of his feelings and he can’t lose his best friend, so what choice does he have?
The weekend starts off well enough, but it’s clear that Griffin is nervous. The fake Lauren is playing her part well and Noah is all kinds of jealous. Then Griffin gets very upset and Noah feels terrible that he’s brought up something really painful for Griffin. In the end, he’s not sure that his friendship with Griffin can survive and he may have to just walk away.
This was a sweet romantic book with just enough angst/conflict to keep the reader engaged. Noah has not had an easy life and Griffin is the pampered prince – even though he really doesn’t want to be. Griffin’s biggest problem is his family who want to dictate his life and he’s not happy about it. He doesn’t really want to make waves, but in the end, he really does have to stand up for himself. It’s a bit of a journey for him to reach the point where the scales fall from his eyes and he is able to see what’s been right in front of him all along. Marcus’s backstory was a surprise and explained a lot about his motivation which I appreciated. I’m kind of on the fence about Genny. I thought she wasn’t very perceptive or considerate of Noah at points in this story, but thankfully she came through in the end. The drama with Ray, Noah’s would be suitor was a bit annoying, but did help move the story forward. All in all, this is a cute story that end well 🙂 If you’re in the mood for a sort of rom-comee type read with a little drama thrown in, I think you’ll enjoy this one.
RATING: 
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