One of my absolute favorite tropes is the fake dating trope. It peaks my interest every single time and most of the books I read with the trope I really like. So today I wanted to share some of the fake dating books I loved!
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before – Jenny Han
This is probably where my love for this trope started! I love(d) this book so so much and was really happy we got 2 more books. The characters are wonderful and I really loved the story. Seeing it all play out in the movies was also pretty perfect in my opinion. And talking about it makes me want to reread and rewatch the story right away haha.
The Fill-In Boyfriend – Kasie West
After To All the Boys I wanted to read another book just like it, and that is when I found The Fill-In Boyfriend. I really enjoyed this one although it wasn’t as good as TATBILB. This one probably wouldn’t hold up that well anymore if I would read it right now, but 10 years ago I liked it ;).
The Unhoneymooners – Christina Lauren
This is one of the more recent ones I read and it combines fake dating with another favorite trope of mine; enemies-to-lovers. The fake dating is actually a fake honeymoon in this one, a pretty fun premise in my opinion! It’s not my favorite one ever, but I did enjoy it a lot.
10 Things I Hate About Pinky – Sandhya Menon
To be honest, I didn’t expect to like this one. I hadn’t read When Dimple met Rishi or There’s Something About Sweetie, but I do love 10 Things I Hate About You and when you combine that with my love for fake dating you have me at least interested. Turned out I really liked this book. The story was pretty predictable but the characters made it worth it.
The Kiss Quotient – Helen Hoang
This is such a wonderful book! I loved the premise of this one and I really liked the representation of a woman with Asperger’s. This was a really cute book and I enjoyed it so so much. Writing this also reminds me I still have to read the third book in this series
Red, White Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston
I was debating if this one counted as fake dating, as it’s more of a fake friendship haha. But since this is one of my favorite contemporary books ever and the fake friendship has the same effect as a fake relationship would have I say it counts ;). It’s all in the forced proximity game I would argue. This book is so so good and you probably have heard me talk about it before.
Serpent & Dove – Shelby Mahurin
This is another one that doesn’t perfectly fit, as this has a marriage of convenience instead of fake dating but I would once again argue that it counts as it also is a fake relationship. I liked that this took place in a fantasy book, it combines more loves for me that way. Nowadays we get all the romantasy books we want so I guess I could probably find more fake dating books set in fantasy worlds there. If you have any recommendations.. ;).
These are a couple of my favorite fake dating books! Have you read any of these? And do you have any recommendations for me? I would love to hear from you in the comments down below!
