Meet Me in London by Georgia Toffolo: Victoria was involved in a bad accident which left her unable to 
have children. When her ex found out, he put the blame on her for leading him on and chose to find another woman in the meantime. With how her last relationship ended, she doesn’t trust that she won’t be holding someone back again, so she can only chuckle when she is proposed to by a stranger in a bar.
When Oliver promises his mother that she will meet his new fiancée at the new store opening, he has to scramble to find a woman. Nursing a drink at the bar, he hears Victoria’s voice and is hooked. Maybe proposing immediately wasn’t the best decision, since she immediately says no. Thankfully he has another opportunity when he accidentally runs directly into her.
When Victoria finds out that he is the owner of the new department store in the area (which already has a bad reputation in the community), she tries to run away as quickly as possible. Oliver doesn’t want to let her go that easily, so he tries to explain his situation. When she still isn’t convinced, he gives her a sweetheart deal that appeals to her in more ways than one: he’s going to have the community involved in pop-up shops at the store, as well as host the fashion show for Victoria’s community design class. Victoria can’t pass up all the benefits for her community, so she agrees.
Victoria and Oliver are both up front and honest about not wanting anything serious past their farce. As they try to get to know each other, they find that they like spending more and more time with each other. From meeting her students to meeting his family, both of them feel their defenses dropping as they find out more about their fake betrothed. Can they handle the outer influences of Victoria’s cheating ex and Oliver’s conniving cousin?
Victoria goes through a lot of self-forgiveness throughout the book. She starts off not knowing how to trust love, since she had been so hurt in the past. Oliver, along with her friends, help her stop putting the blame on herself and accept herself for who she is.
Oliver always thought he was going to go into the family business, but he never wanted to. It was the thing to do: keep the business going. Seeing Victoria doing what she loves, he learns a lot about what is important to him and has to learn how to talk to his family about it.
Both of them help each other in ways that go way past a fake engagement. They help each other become better people and understand what love truly is. The entire book was filled with a hope and longing in different ways, and it teaches the reader how to be who you are and accept the love that you deserve. It didn’t take the steam too high, but you knew the longing between the two just from their interactions. It was a beautifully written book.
Book Info:
Publication: September 28, 2021 | HQN | Meet Me #1
Fans of Josie Silver’s One Day in December and Christina Lauren’s In a Holidaze will adore watching Victoria and Oliver’s pretend engagement dissolve as their very real chemistry threatens to upend all their carefully laid-out secrets. Set against the most charming London backdrop, Meet Me in London is an irrisistable seasonal treat!
What do you do when your fake engagement starts to feel too real…
Aspiring clothes designer Victoria Scott spends her days working in a bar in Chelsea and her evenings designing vintage clothes, dreaming of one day opening her own boutique. But these aspirations are under threat from the new department store opening at the end of her road. She needs a Christmas miracle, but one is not forthcoming.
Oliver Russell’s Christmas is not looking very festive right now. His family’s new London department store opening is behind schedule, and on top of that his interfering, if well-meaning, mother is pressing him to introduce his girlfriend to her over the holidays—a girlfriend who does not exist. He needs a diversion…something to keep his mother from meddling while he focuses on the business.
When Oliver meets Victoria, he offers a proposition: pretend to be his girlfriend at the opening of his store and he will provide an opportunity for Victoria to showcase her designs. But what starts as a business arrangement soon becomes something more tempting as the fake relationship starts to feel very real. But when secrets in Victoria’s past are exposed, will Oliver walk away, or will they both follow their hearts and find what neither knew they were looking for…?
“An ideal Christmas escape!”—Laura Jane Williams, Bestselling author of Our Stop
