A Not So Meet Cute by Meghan Quinn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
How did you two meet?
The quintessential question asked to every couple. And the answer is usually some bubbly, lovey-dovey tale of being struck in the bum by Cupid’s arrow.
My meet-cute (well not so meet cute) is slightly different. I was trolling a wealthy neighborhood in Beverly Hills, searching for someone to take me as their bride, you know, to make my arch nemesis jealous who consequently just fired me.
He was stomping around the block like some sort of gorgeous ogre, mumbling about a business deal gone wrong and attempting to finagle his way out of it.
And that’s when we bumped into each other.
There were no sparks.
Not even a hint of blossoming love.
But next thing I knew, I was scarfing down free chips and guac, listening to this man lay out all of his problems, which led to his big ask…he wanted me to be his Vivian Ward, you know, from Pretty Woman – minus the frisky behavior.
We’re talking about living in a mansion, intimate double dates, and pretending we were head over heels in love…and engaged. Can you imagine?
The absolute audacity.
But people do crazy things when they’re desperate. And I reeked of desperation. So, I struck up a deal.
My one big mistake, though…big…huge? I accidentally fell for the incomparable Huxley Cane.
A Not So Meet Cute
Funny fake fiancee romance!
The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 🖤💙❤️💜💚
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌍
Character development: 😄🙂🥰☺️😋
Narrator(s): 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration type: Dual Narration
The Hero: Huxley Cane – he and his brothers have a billion-dollar commercial real estate development business. They used the insurance money they got when their dad died as an initial investment and built their business from the ground up. Huxley wants to do a deal with a guy named Dave who is successful, though a bit more down to earth than Huxley. Dave didn’t jump at the chance to work with Huxley. His brothers figured it was because Dave just didn’t connect with the completely business minded and obviously wealthy Huxley Cane.
The heroine: Leiselotte Gardener (a.k.a. Lottie) – she grew up as the poor girl in beverly hills, though now she has a master’s in business administration. When she had trouble finding a job after college, she agreed to work with a friend, Angela from high school who has a lifestyle blog. She agreed to work for a paltry salary for a year, at which time she would be promoted and her salary would triple. Meanwhile since her salary was so small and she had to pay student loans, she was stuck living with her mom and stepdad Jeff, who have a small home on the edge of Beverly Hills.
The Story: Angela fires Lottie just days before her one-year anniversary at the lifestyle blog. Angela gives her the reason that she was soon supposed to get a big bump in salary and why would she keep Lottie when she can hire someone new for much less. Lottie was flummoxed by the fact that she was betrayed by a supposed friend, not able to continue paying her student loans and not able to move out from her parents’ place soon. Especially considering the fact that both her mother and stepfather have been heavily hinting at how nice it will be to finally have some privacy so they can walk around their own house naked. Lottie is so nonplussed about her prospects that she decides to go on a walk in Beverly Hills to try to find a rich husband.
When Huxley sees Dave and his pregnant fiancee in front of a local diner, he comes up with a plan to make Dave see him in a different light than just the Type A man focused on nothing but business and profit. He tells them that he also is engaged and his fiancee is pregnant as well. Dave did start seeing him in a different way, but his plan backfired when Dave and his fiancee invite Huxley and his fiancee to dinner the following Saturday. Huxley has no idea what he is going to do so he goes for a walk to think things out. It isn’t long before he bumps into Lottie. He finds her attractive and soon finds out that they each have something the other needs, so a fake engagement is what he suggests.
I do love a fake engagement romance, and I have loved Meghan Quinn books for a while, so I figured this would be a great one. The fake pregnancy added another level to this book, and it also added some hilarious, laugh out loud situations, especially when they go to a lamaze type class with Dave and his fiancee. It was a new age type of class for both pregnant couples and couples trying to get pregnant and had me rolling. And that was nothing compared to the shopping for breast pumps.
The relationship between the two main characters was a bit toxic at first as they bickered like an old married couple that hate each other. I wasn’t too fond of that, but when they finally got over the animosity they had for each other, I liked that they really started to get to know each other as human beings. Another thing I really liked about this book was their references to pop culture. They were both big fans of watching The Challenge and both of them liked C.T. the best. He is also my favorite, and it is nice to have something like that in common with characters in a book.
This audiobook was told in dual points of view via dual narration and was narrated by Aaron Shedlock and Ava Erickson. These are two of my favorite narrators. Ava has an awesome voice with just the right amount of softness and femininity, and it is always pleasing to hear. Aaron has a nice deep, sexy voice which I really enjoy. Both of them are terrific at sounding natural and not at all like they are reading. They are also both great at using different voices for different characters and their voices for the opposite sex are about as good as you can get.
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