Reviewed by Ro
TITLE: 21-Day Boyfriend
AUTHOR: A.S. Kelly
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 401 pages
RELEASE DATE: October 25, 2023
BLURB:
Eric O’Shea needs to make a decision. The annual event his family forces him to attend is just around the corner, and he doesn’t have a date.
Eric never needs help when it comes to finding men. But this time is different – his ex and his new boyfriend will be there, and Eric can’t just bring along one of his usual flings.
His only hope seems to be him: the best friend of his best friend, who he never wanted to meet.
Sean Quinn is a calm, collected, and cultured man; someone who would rather stay at home and read a book than waste his time chasing a date with no future.
Sean isn’t in a rush to find the perfect man, and he certainly doesn’t intend to go out with Eric: his best friend’s other best friend, who he’s avoided meeting for years.
But Sean has a flaw: he can’t say no to anyone, especially not when it comes to his friend Jake, who has a habit of worming his way into other people’s lives.
But it’s just one date, after all: pure fiction. It’s a shame, then, that when Eric needs Sean for another favour, he can’t turn his back. It’s a shame that just when Sean is beginning to understand that Eric isn’t what he seems, he can’t seem to stop before he gets hurt.
Twenty-one days: that’s the agreement.
Twenty-one days of grazing hands, furtive glances, and unexpected kisses.
Twenty-one days where anything goes; except falling in love.
REVIEW:
Fake boyfriend is one of my favorite tropes, so I was excited for this one. Eric comes from a wealthy family in which his parents treat him poorly, if at all. He didn’t follow in his father’s footsteps to be a surgeon, and they don’t respect the fact that he is a chef. His father treats Eric’s ex-boyfriend, Colm, very well; however, after being dumped by Colm, Eric does not want to face a family fundraiser alone. Enter Jake, Eric’s best friend, who arranges for his other best friend, Sean, to be Eric’s fake date for the party, which turns into another fake date, which turns into keeping up the pretense for 21 days, until Christmas.
I admit to being very confused by why Sean and Eric never wanted to meet. Jake has been Sean’s best friend since childhood and Eric’s best friend for years. When even Jake questions why they can’t meet, Sean’s response is, “Because things are fine as they are, and I don’t want to complicate anything.” Honestly, made no sense to me. Does Jake never have parties? Dinners? Get-togethers? How have Eric and Sean stayed isolated from each other all that time?
What Eric has is a Granny who loves him. I loved her, too. Part of the reason for the continued pretending was because Granny likes Sean, and Eric doesn’t want to disappoint her. So they begin to fake date and then get to know each other.
I have to be honest, I didn’t like Eric. At all. He begins the book and is such a jerk, to Jake and then to Sean, that I couldn’t figure out why Sean wouldn’t say forget it and move on. Eric is the one needing the favor, and he acts like such an ass. There is one point at their first meeting where Sean does say, “Could you please tell our mutual friend it wasn’t my fault and that you showed up already pissed off?” Eric repeats the jerk behavior often, and it’s maddening, more so when he acts decently, and you see he can be a good person.
Things get a little convoluted between Sean’s sister, Mila, Jake, the horrible ex-boyfriend, and so on. I liked Sean and his protectiveness towards Mila. Love Granny and Larry! There is a lot of repetitive inner dialogue from both Sean and Jake about their feelings and the pretense. There are some great food descriptions when Eric shows off his chef skills. As a fake date story, it’s not my favorite but had it’s moments.
RATING: 
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