In How to Fake it in Hollywood by Ava Wilder, Actress Grey Brooks foolishly thought that having been on 
a popular teen drama for years would give her a leg up in the next phase of her career. But oh how fickle Hollywood can be. Grey is willing to do just about anything to get the chance for a big time role. Although a fake relationship with an award-winning actor eleven years her senior isn’t what she thought her publicist would suggest. While Ethan Atkins is charming and undeniably sexy, Grey can see within minutes of meeting him that he’s not in a good place in his personal life. And little wonder, after losing his best friend Sam in a car accident a few years ago and his own marriage ending shortly after. Once they get to know each other, Grey knows her chemistry with Ethan will help boost their relationship in the public eye. But it will only make things more complicated between them one-on-one.
‘She was playing a part: the up-and-coming ingenue infatuated with her older, A-list paramour… The boundaries of what was required of her were clear. It was when they were alone that things started to get muddled.’
Ethan knows hiding away from everyone is likely not helping him get over Sam’s death or the failure that became of his marriage–but he’s not sure he really cares. That is, until he’s introduced to Grey. A woman so smart, so beautiful–and so not taking any of his crap–that he’s knocked flat emotionally. As Ethan begins to “fake date” Grey and it seems everyone in the world takes notice, he’d much rather keep her to himself and hide away in his Hollywood home with her. Because after years of self-medicating and not dealing with the losses he’s suffered, Ethan finds peace in Grey’s company. Something unexpected but wonderful just the same. His only worry is, will that peace of mind last? Or will it be one more relationship he ruins?
“I’m so fucking in love with you. You know that, right?”
He felt her inhale sharply… As he said it now, it felt inadequate to describe the enormity of what he felt for her. But until the English language caught up with him, it was the best he could do.
Don’t let the cover fool you–How to Fake it in Hollywood might look like a rom-com, but it is actually an emotionally-charged romance with so much depth and angst, heartbreak and inspiration, that readers will be breathless by the end.
“If I want to do anything real again, I need to prove I’m…what’s the word? …Stable? Dependable? Sane?”
…She looked him dead in the eye. “Are you?”
He stared right back. “I’m not sure. I think I’m ready to find out, though.”
Trigger warning: View Spoiler »
What an intense, crazy-good ride! I truly did think How to Fake it in Hollywood would be on the lighthearted side. Boy wasn’t I in for a surprise. But not in a bad way. Author Ava Wilder’s debut followed actors Grey and Ethan while they tried to sell a fake relationship to the world in an effort to boost their careers. In this kind of trope you’d expect some awkwardness between them while they got to know each other, some sparks to fly chemistry-wise, and for Ethan and Grey to eventually fall in love. In actuality, the spin Wilder put on it was so much deeper.
Grey and Ethan’s relationship did start off a tad awkward, not only because they’d never met before but also because there was an age gap of about eleven years–and their careers were at very different places. Starry-eyed Grey met her Hollywood crush and realized that Ethan was very different from his persona. He was still grieving the loss of his longtime best friend Sam and sadly not in a healthy way, turning to alcohol and seclusion instead of therapy. And Grey herself, while she didn’t take any guff off of Ethan, was still finding her way after the end of her first big successful acting gig. Even after her famous role on a teen soap opera, the industry wasn’t taking her seriously as an adult actress.
It was when Ethan and Grey finally gave in to their attraction that the countdown to implosion began. Wilder didn’t hold back on the gritty, raw emotions they both felt as their lives changed and they tried to make room for each other in their struggles. Through the sorrowful scenes where Ethan faced down his loss and his poor choices to Grey having to decide if she could continue with him sabotaging their relationship–and his own life in general–it was full of turmoil. But don’t worry. If you hang on until the sweet ending, Wilder will have you believing in second chances. And that true love is always worth fighting for.
QOTD: Have you read any romances set in Hollywood? If so, any favorites that come to mind?
Book Info:
Publication: Expected publication: June 14th 2022 | Dell |
A talented Hollywood starlet and a reclusive A-lister enter into a fake relationship . . . and discover that their feelings might be more than a PR stunt in this sexy debut for fans of Beach Read and The Unhoneymooners.
Grey Brooks is on a mission to keep her career afloat now that the end of her long-running teen soap has her (unsuccessfully) pounding the pavement again. With a life-changing role on the line, she’s finally desperate enough to agree to her publicist’s scheme . . . faking a love affair with a disgraced Hollywood heartthrob who needs the publicity, but for very different reasons.
Ethan Atkins just wants to be left alone. Between his high-profile divorce, his struggles with drinking, and his grief over the death of his longtime creative partner and best friend, he’s slowly let himself fade into the background. But if he ever wants to produce the last movie he and his partner wrote together, Ethan needs to clean up his reputation and step back into the spotlight. A gossip-inducing affair with a gorgeous actress might be just the ticket, even if it’s the last thing he wants to do.
Though their juicy public relationship is less than perfect behind the scenes, it doesn’t take long before Grey and Ethan’s sizzling chemistry starts to feel like more than just an act. But after decades in a ruthless industry that requires bulletproof emotional armor to survive, are they too used to faking it to open themselves up to the real thing?
