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There’s a magnetic attraction when a happy-go-lucky gig worker agrees to a fake relationship with a rich, uptight New Yorker in this steamy romantic comedy from New York Times bestselling author Samantha Young. Star Shine Meadows is all about freedom, thanks to the hippie parents who raised her. Juggling her jobs as a professional costume character actor and a line sitter, she believes in no expectations, no stressful ambitions, and no-strings-attached relationships. So when she meets a birthday girl’s grumpy uncle while working a princess party, she can’t help but needle him. She’ll never see him again, and honestly, he's pretty hot. Rafe Whitman may be a veterinarian with a great bedside manner, but that doesn’t mean his patience extends to anyone with opposable thumbs. His family will not stop nagging him about finding “the one,” so when he runs into obnoxiously cheery Star again, he makes her an offer: He’ll pay her more than she would make doing her odd jobs if she’ll pretend to be his girlfriend at family gatherings. She can stop sitting in line waiting for someone else’s new phone, and he’ll get his family off his back. When the tension between them heats to a breaking point, Star’s desire for "no strings" is tested against Rafe’s staunch stability. They say opposites attract, after all....
There’s a magnetic attraction when a happy-go-lucky gig worker agrees to a fake relationship with a rich, uptight New Yorker in this steamy romantic comedy from New York Times bestselling author Samantha Young. Star Shine Meadows is all about freedom, thanks to the hippie parents who raised her. Juggling her jobs as a professional costume character actor and a line sitter, she believes in no expectations, no stressful ambitions, and no-strings-attached relationships. So when she meets a birthday girl’s grumpy uncle while working a princess party, she can’t help but needle him. She’ll never see him again, and honestly, he's pretty hot. Rafe Whitman may be a veterinarian with a great bedside manner, but that doesn’t mean his patience extends to anyone with opposable thumbs. His family will not stop nagging him about finding “the one,” so when he runs into obnoxiously cheery Star again, he makes her an offer: He’ll pay her more than she would make doing her odd jobs if she’ll pretend to be his girlfriend at family gatherings. She can stop sitting in line waiting for someone else’s new phone, and he’ll get his family off his back. When the tension between them heats to a breaking point, Star’s desire for "no strings" is tested against Rafe’s staunch stability. They say opposites attract, after all....
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Excerpts-
From the cover
Chapter One
I've never been one to swoon over a man.
I'd felt attraction to gorgeous guys and had pretty good sex in my twenty-eight years on this planet. But swooning?
Nope.
In many ways, I was like the character I'd donned for the eight-year-old's birthday party that day. My strawberry-blond hair wasn't the right hue, so I wore a wig of tumbling, riotous bright red curls that were vivid against the teal velvet fabric of my medieval-style gown. I had a bow (fake weapon) looped over my shoulder and a brown belt slung across my hips, with a quiver holding plastic arrows attached to it.
It wasn't too hard to guess that I was Merida from Disney Pixar's Brave. This was a new character for me. I'd dressed up as many a Disney princess for parties, but it was the first time someone had paid me to play Merida. This character meant practicing a Scottish accent, and I didn't think mine was too shabby. Och, ah was quite proud o' it, so ah was.
The birthday party was hosted in the fanciest Upper West Side apartment I'd ever set foot inside, and I was feeling pretty connected to wee Merida because we were both independent women who had no intention of settling down with a man as a way of finding fulfillment in our lives. Merida would never swoon.
I was pretty damn annoyed that while I was in that moment, really feeling the character, making the kids laugh with my boisterous boasting and brogue, my gaze lifted for a second from the birthday girl and I saw him.
The sight of the stranger struck me in a way I didn't understand. But it was like all the air fled my lungs. It felt like that time I got mugged when I was nineteen and I tried to fight the guy instead of letting him take what little money I had. He'd punched me so hard in the gut, I couldn't breathe. It wasn't a pleasant sensation. It was discombobulating.
"Merida!" The birthday girl, Charmaine, tugged on my dress. "You were telling us about the Loch Ness monster!"
I blinked, dazed. Thankfully, I was a great multitasker, because I launched back into my story of being sent to kill the Loch Ness monster to protect my people only to discover that he was a hilarious big softy that I needed to protect from my people, and all the while I kept throwing glances at him.
Who was he?
What was he doing at a children's birthday party?
Whoever he was, he was a wondrous mix of male beauty and primal masculinity who just the sight of-once I got over the horrible breathless moment-made me tingle delightfully between my thighs.
Tall, very broad-shouldered, and from the thick forearms revealed by the pushed-up sleeves of his sweater, it was more than obvious he worked out. You could see the man's biceps shaping the fabric. I'd never been into working-out types. However, he was a very fine specimen, with his tapered swimmer's waist and long, long, long legs. What was also puzzling about my physical response to the stranger was the fact he hadn't smiled once the entire time I surreptitiously eyed him up. I was into happy, funny guys. Not brooding, surly types. Usually, they were a hard pass. A frown marred his strong brow, and his full lips flattened into a grim line. That face. Boy, was that a face that could launch a thousand ships. All chiseled angles. I couldn't discern his eye color from across the room, but it didn't matter. He was just . . . sexier than a night in with hot chocolate and Netflix's The Witcher.
Yeah, I said it.
While, like Merida, I might not want to play arm candy to some man intent on being "my king," I wouldn't mind banging a headboard with a burly warrior in a kilt.
I imagined the stranger in a kilt and what I...
Reviews-
June 12, 2023 A straitlaced veterinarian and a carefree kid’s party entertainer fall in love while attempting to thwart family matchmaking attempts in this lighthearted rom-com from Young (A Cosmic Kind of Love). Raised by hippies, gig worker Star Shine Meadows is a fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants kind of gal. She makes no long-term commitments in her personal or professional life, unlike Rafe Whitman, the driven, handsome vet she meets while playing a princess at a birthday party. Buttoned-up Rafe is Star’s total opposite, but when he offers to pay her a huge amount to play his fake girlfriend and get his domineering mother and sister-in-law to stop setting him up on horrible dates, she agrees. Soon, fake dating turns into real love, and Rafe’s acceptance of Star’s quirks persuades the commitment-phobe to give a relationship a shot. Problems arise when Rafe’s wealthy family object to Star’s lifestyle (unbeknownst to Rafe) and she makes changes to appease them, confusing Rafe and driving a wedge between her and her friends. Will the desires of others destroy what Star and Rafe could have? Young’s take on the fake dating trope is sexy and charmingly unpretentious. This is sure to leave readers smiling. Agent: Lauren Abramo, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.
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Narrator Savannah Peachwood excels in her narration of the romance between free-spirited Star Shine Meadows and wealthy veterinarian Rafe Whitman. Star, who makes her living as a line sitter and a character actor, encounters Rafe at his niece's birthday party. Rafe's mother and sister-in-law have been shoving eligible women at him, so he hires Star to pose as his girlfriend. Star has a sparkling personality, and Peachwood brings a lightness to her voice reflecting this. Rafe is more somber, and Peachwood provides a good contrast to Star. As Rafe and Star grow closer, Peachwood adds warmth to her narration. Telling the story in the first person, Peachwood brings intimacy to her performance, which illuminates Star's emotional journey. S.B. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
