Risk-averse event planner Amerie Price is jobless, newly single, and about to lose her apartment. With no choice but to gamble on her shaky start-up, the last thing she needed was to run into her smug ex and his new, less complicated girlfriend at Amerie’s favorite coffee shop. Panicked, she pretends to be dating the annoyingly sexy man she met by spilling Americano all over his abs. He plays along—for a price.
Half the single men in Houston claim to be astronauts, but Vincent Rogers turns out to be the real deal. What started as a one-off lie morphs into a plan: for the three months leading up to his mission, Amerie will play Vincent’s doting partner in front of his loving but overly invested family. In exchange, she gets a rent-free room in his house and can put every penny toward her struggling business.
What Amerie doesn’t plan for is Vincent’s gravitational pull. While her mind tells her a future with this astronaut is too unpredictable, her heart says he’s exactly what she needs. As their time together counts down, Amerie must decide if she’ll settle for the safe life—or shoot for the stars.
Release Date: Apr 9, 2024
Heat Level: Warm/Sensual
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley
Price: $10.99
“His gaze is on me, I feel warm from my head to my toes, and like a miracle, all the fear and doubts are pushed to the back of my mind. While watching Gina try on wedding dresses, I couldn’t help but imagine myself in one, marrying Vincent. It’s so wild. Before, all I wanted to do was throttle him whenever we crossed paths. Now I see- recognize- that it wasn’t annoyance that set me on edge around him. At least, not all annoyance. It always caught me off guard the way my body went into hypervigilance mode when I saw him. No man has ever caused that reaction, and I didn’t know what to do with myself but push him away. Erecting a border around my heart made the most sense, but as I’ve gotten to know him more, it’s dissolved as easily as the walls of a sandcastle under the force of the tide. I don’t just want these three months with you. I want forever, he said. And now I want forever.”
Amerie Price lost her boyfriend and her job and is on the verge of losing her apartment when she meets Vincent Rogers, a real-life NASA astronaut. He instantly irritates her, but when she runs into her ex-boyfriend, she can’t help but use Vincent to make him jealous. Amerie doesn’t expect Vincent to request a favor in return. He needs a pretend girlfriend for the next three months to get his family off his back, and in exchange, he will let Amerie move into his home rent-free until he gets back from his mission to the moon.
If I’m being honest, I thought I was going to hate this book within the first ten pages. Amerie came off as ill-mannered and disrespectful, and I knew that if I didn’t like the characters, then I would not like the book. Jokes on me, though, because I really loved this one. Amerie grew on me, but she wasn’t the star of this book. That was Vincent. He was so sweet and genuine, and I could feel his love growing when the lines started to blur between their fake relationship. He is just an overall good guy, and I love rooting for the good guy. Amerie navigated his family and his mother so well and was very supportive of Vincent and his career. This was just overall a sweet love story, and I couldn’t get enough. It’s hard to believe it is a debut, but I won’t hesitate to read Etta Easton again.
If you’re a fan of love stories written by Kennedy Ryan or Farrah Rochon then don’t hesitate to give this debut author a try. I don’t think you will be disappointed.
~ Michelle
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