“But even if we’d never joined, fate would have brought us together, because nothing and no one could’ve hidden you from me. Not even the heavens could’ve secreted you away. If they’d needed to, the earth and the sky would’ve changed places so that you and I could find one another, because from the first moment we met, I wanted to carve out a space in my life for you, and nothing on this earth or beyond would’ve stopped me from doing that.”
If you like any of the following, this book is for you!
- Romantasy
- Urban Romantasy
- Fae
- Witches
- Engagement/Marriage of Convenience
- Magic
- Hallmark + Romantasy
- Fast Read
- Miscommunication trope
My Brief Synopsis:
How to Fake It with a Fae is written by Amy Boyles and is book 1 of the Seven Suitors for Seven Witches series. It is a stand alone book. I believe each book focuses on each of the sisters in the Thornrose family. I only read the first book, so don’t quote me on that.
If you like a fast paced, hallmarky + romantasy type of story, then this is right up your alley.
Addison Thornrose, eldest sister, is a witch with no magic. But she can certainly pick out the best book for you! On what was supposed to be a special night, she instead ends up getting dumped by her boyfriend and summoned back home due to a family emergency.
King of the Fae, Feylin, is on a quest to ruin the Thornrose family for revenge. He drops in on the ball that the Thornrose’s put on, all in an effort to marry Addison off in order to save the family’s magic. Addison tries to sneak away from the ball and well, Feylin and Addison end up the center of attention instead. And surprise, surprise! When they lie and claim that they are engaged, ancient fae magic binds them together.
They decide to strike a bargain – pretend to be in a fake relationship while trying to to break the spell. Feylin still has revenge he needs to extract. Addison has to cover up that she has no magic and needs to figure out how she is going to take over the family bookstore while having no magic. Oh, and, how to dodge her family from marrying her off.
Miscommunication and shenanigans ensue, but Feylin and Addison do get their HEA at the end.
Plot/Pacing:
The romance happens quite fast in this book – as do all romances in a what I call “hallmark” type romances. Marriage/engagement/dating of convenience tropes all tend to move fast. Its fun to read. Its not realistic, but who wants realism when you are reading romance and fantasy, right? Its insta-love, its insta-forgiveness. Its just insta-everything.
Overall the plot was engaging-ish. I didn’t DNF. And the pacing was fine. Things happen fast in the beginning – the breakup, the family emergency, but those had to do happen to get the story rolling, to get Addison where she needed to be to set up the fake relationship romance.
World & Magic Building:
There wasn’t really any world building in this. This story takes place in our world, if our world had magic, witches, fae, etc. The Thornrose family is a family of witches. The mom runs the magical bookstore, but that gets passed to Addison when her mom has to take over other familial and community duties. The Fae world is connected to the human world, but we don’t get too much into that.
We also don’t get too much magic building in this world. Feylin is Fae and has magic – its just kind of generic. The witches also have magic (except Addison). There doesn’t seem to be much difference in their types of magic – witch vs fae. The family owned bookshop is unique in that the readers that visit actually get transported into the books and can live out the story in the books. The witches seem to be able to snap their fingers and spells work.
(SPOILER ALERT)
Feylin and Addison are supposed to do several fae engagement rituals together – combing their magics. They were all nature based. But since Addison doesn’t have magic, each ritual ended up in chaos and mayhem. For someone who is supposed to be King of the Fae and strong in magic, the fact that he couldn’t sense her magic (or lack thereof) and call her out on it right away just didn’t sit right with me.
Also, the witches rode cast iron skillets (albeit large ones) instead of brooms. Excuse me, what? I get trying to think outside of the box and being creative, but this was just kind of weird? Sometimes keeping to the tropes (like witches with brooms) works best.
Character Building & Development:
It was nice to see both characters having self reflection moments. They both needed to grow and find themselves. And you get to see them do that through each of their eyes. Like them realizing they weren’t being honest and communicating with each other.
But for two grown adults, I expected more. This wasn’t a story about a 500 year old male and a 20 year old woman, who is still developing. No. They are both adult-adults. And the constant miscommunication, or lack of communication, got old quickly.
Emotional Impact/Triggers:
(SPOILERS ALERT)
One of the things that I did not like is when Feylin acted out on his anger and went to destroy the family bookstore. Even with Addison crying and pleading, he still burnt it down. Fine. We need a bit of drama and chaos in our books before the resolution. What I didn’t like was Addison and one of her sister’s coming to the conclusion that Feylin did all of that out of love. Excuse me, what? He loves her, so he acted out in anger and hurt, and burnt down something that meant everything to Addison and her family? Especially considering that was the only way that the family earns money? That’s not love. We won’t even get into the fact that acting out like that is already a major red flag (what happened to drinking and eating a gallon of ice cream when dealing with a heart break?), but to think that its ok to act like that because it was done in the name of love? While the person you love is pleading and crying and begging? No. It really was because of this that I made the decision not to continue the series.
I also felt like Addison did all of the apologizing. How truly sorry was Feylin? How do you even come back from watching a man destroy something that you love and hold dear? That your family depended on? And after a few days of crying, you just accept him back? And Feylin. Does he really love Addison? If he did, how could he destroy something so important to her? Why not come clean about the revenge he wanted to extract? Maybe talk to her about what he thought her family did.
Her family also kept a huge secret from her. And it involved Feylin. This was all around toxic. We love you, want to protect you, but we aren’t going to tell you what happened with our bookstore and Feylin, and how he might hurt you because of it? Psh.
And don’t get me started on the fact that in order to break the ancient fae binding them together, they have to have sex before they part ways. What in the messed up tripe is that? I kept thinking, no, girl. Don’t do it. It isn’t worth it. Make him suffer. You mean to tell me you need to get intimate with someone in order to break the spell? How could you even do it or want to do it? I would rather the MCs get angry over the lack of communication – “oh you wanted to ruin my family over a lie” and “why didn’t you tell me you had no magic, and made me look the fool in front of my people” – have a good angry bang, then afterwards realize they had just broken the bond.
So overall, I was frustrated and bit angered with this book.
Prose & Style:
The book follows both Addison and Feylin’s point of view. I love it when books do this, because then we get insight into both characters – what they are feeling, thinking, scheming, etc. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy a first person narrative all the way or a third person pov, following multiple characters. But there is something about getting into both MCs minds.
Spice Level:
As far as spice level in this book, I would give it 1 chili peppers. The characters do have sex but it wasn’t the steamiest, toe curling thing I’ve read. And the first time they do its almost rapey. Neither character wanted to do it, but felt forced into it. It could have been done better.
Reread Worthy & Closing Thoughts:
Personally, I won’t be re-reading this book. At this point, I don’t think I will be continuing this series. It just wasn’t for me. And that’s ok. Not every book is for every person.
It was an easy, fast read. If you prefer the easy, fast reads, not a lot of world building, with an almost like hallmark meets romantasy trope, then this book, and possibly series, is for you.
