A bookseller’s harmless white lie about a fake girlfriend collides with reality when the real woman behind the invented romance shows up needing a wife of her own.

If you love fake-dating-turned-real setups, a marriage-of-convenience countdown clock, and rom-com banter set against a cozy bookstore backdrop, The Fiancée Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur is worth a look.

Our take: this is a fizzy, farce-forward rom-com carried by immediate chemistry and genuinely wounded leads, though the back half’s scheming-family theatrics and thinly drawn side characters won’t work for every reader.

Quick Facts

Author	Alexandria Bellefleur
Publisher	Avon
Publication date	April 18, 2023
Genre	Fake Dating, Marriage of Convenience, Contemporary Romance
Format	Kindle, Paperback, Audiobook
ISBN	978-0063258495
ASIN	0063258498 (Paperback) / B0BC2G73N8 (Audiobook)

Reader Match

Perfect for readers who…

• ✓ Love a fake-dating setup that escalates into a real marriage of convenience
• ✓ Want instant, banter-heavy chemistry over a slow burn
• ✓ Enjoy a bookshop backdrop and found-family warmth
• ✓ Like leads who are both carrying real emotional baggage, not just surface-level conflict
• ✓ Appreciate bi/bi (Bi4Bi) sapphic representation

Avoid If

Skip this if you want…

• A slow burn (this couple’s chemistry ignites almost immediately)
• Every secondary character and subplot fully resolved (several supporting arcs stay thinly drawn)
• No reference to past image-based exploitation of a minor (mentioned as backstory, not shown on-page)
• A restrained finale rather than a farcical, over-the-top climax

Book Synopsis

Tansy Adams pours everything into the bookstore she inherited from her late father, leaving little energy for an actual love life. To get her stepfamily off her back about being single, she invents a girlfriend named Gemma, borrowing the name and face of a romance-novel cover model she’s never actually met.

Gemma van Dalen, meanwhile, is the estranged black sheep of a publishing dynasty who can only inherit her grandfather’s company if she’s married. When she discovers a stranger has been using her image as a fake girlfriend for months, she proposes an unexpected solution: a real engagement, in name only, that solves both of their problems.

What starts as a convenient business arrangement gets complicated as the two women settle into playing devoted fiancées in public, and the line between performance and real feeling starts to blur, even as Gemma’s scheming relatives look for a way to tear them apart before the wedding.

My Review

The Fiancée Farce doesn’t waste time getting Tansy and Gemma into a room together, and that choice pays off: the chemistry is immediate, playful, and rooted in real curiosity rather than manufactured tension.

Bellefleur’s real strength here is banter. The dialogue crackles from the leads’ very first scene, and the performance of being engaged in front of Gemma’s family gives the book plenty of room for comic set pieces without losing sight of the feelings developing underneath.

The back half leans harder into farce than romance, with a scheming cousin, a wedding-adjacent set piece, and a corporate-inheritance subplot that asks readers to accept some fairly generous coincidences. Several supporting characters, including Tansy’s stepfamily, don’t get quite the same depth as the central couple.

Still, the central relationship carries the book. Both women are working through real baggage: a transactional, unloving family for Gemma, and a painful betrayal from her teenage years for Tansy. Watching them choose honesty with each other, even inside a fake arrangement, is where this rom-com is strongest.

Romance Profile

Relationship	Fake Dating, Marriage of Convenience, Opposites Attract
Age Gap	None indicated
Slow Burn	No, fast-developing chemistry
Forced Proximity	Yes (posing as engaged in public and around family)
Heat	Medium
Ending	HEA
Representation	Sapphic, bi/bi (Bi4Bi) leads
Dual POV	Primarily Tansy’s POV
Steam	[Add rating]

Emotional Profile

• Funny
• Swoony
• Angsty
• Hopeful

Content Warnings

Not officially published by the author or publisher; compiled from reader reviews and should be verified by sensitive readers before purchasing.

• References to past image-based exploitation of a minor (non-explicit, disclosed as backstory)
• Wealthy, emotionally neglectful and toxic family dynamics
• Parental estrangement and a distant, disapproving parent
• One explicit sex scene

Book DNA

Main Tropes	Fake Dating, Marriage of Convenience, Opposites Attract, Bookshop Setting
Relationship Dynamics	Invented girlfriend turned real fiancée, a business arrangement blurring into genuine partnership
Emotional Journey	Guarded self-protection to unexpected vulnerability to earned happiness
Reader Moods	Amused, Swoony, Angsty, Hopeful
Themes	Family expectations vs. authentic self, chosen family vs. inherited obligation, performing love vs. feeling it
Tone	Light, witty, and fast-moving, with real family tension underneath
Heat	Medium
Ending	HEA
Representation	Sapphic, bi/bi leads

Similar Books

• The Pining Paradox by Monica McCallan
• Those Who Wait by Haley Cass
• On the Same Page by Haley Cass
• Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake
• Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur

For more similar books visit: Sapphic fake dating romance books

About the Author

Alexandria Bellefleur is a bestselling, award-winning author known for swoony contemporary rom-coms that pair loveable grumps with sunshine-bright love interests. A Pacific Northwesterner now based in New York City, her debut novel Written in the Stars won a 2021 Lambda Literary Award and a Ripped Bodice Award for Excellence in Romantic Fiction. Her other books include Written in the Stars, Hang the Moon, Count Your Lucky Stars, and The Devil She Knows.

Read more Alexandria Bellefleur reviews →

FAQ

Is The Fiancée Farce spicy?

It sits at a medium heat level, with one explicit love scene alongside plenty of buildup and banter.

Does The Fiancée Farce have a happy ending?

Yes, the story ends in a happily-ever-after for Tansy and Gemma.

Can The Fiancée Farce be read as a standalone?

Yes. It is a standalone novel and not part of a series, though fans of Alexandria Bellefleur’s other sapphic rom-coms will recognize her style.

Is The Fiancée Farce slow burn?

No, the central chemistry develops quickly rather than through a long, patient burn.

Is there an age gap in The Fiancée Farce?

No significant age gap is indicated between the leads.

Who narrates the audiobook?

The audiobook is narrated by Lauren Sweet.

Is The Fiancée Farce a fake dating romance?

Yes. The premise centers on an invented fake girlfriend who becomes a real fiancée in a marriage of convenience.

Does The Fiancée Farce use dual POV?

The story is told primarily from Tansy’s perspective.

Final Verdict

Who should read it: fans of fake-dating rom-coms, marriage-of-convenience premises, and banter-driven sapphic romance with a bookish backdrop.

Who shouldn’t: readers who want a slow burn, tightly resolved subplots, or a story that stays low-key rather than leaning into farce.

Final score: [Add score]

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