In REAL KIND OF LOVE by Sara Rider, Clem and Jake have one
week to convince her quirky, overbearing family that their relationship is real
during a summer vacation at a lakefront cottage. Fans of ACT LIKE IT by Lucy
Parker and ACTING ON IMPULSE by Mia Sosa will love this spicy, lighthearted
contemporary romance novel featuring a grumpy hero and introverted heroine.
Find out what happens when a fake relationship turns into a real kind of love.
Real Kind of Love
Books & Brews #1
By Sara Rider
Releasing June 5th, 2018
Self-Published
What happens when a fake relationship turns into a real kind of love?
As an audiobook narrator, Clementine Cox has no trouble mastering the voices of space aliens, elven warriors, or even demon-possessed cats. But the moment she tries her hand at an erotic romance, she’s stumped. With her deadline looming, she books a week at a secluded cabin to restore her inner muse, telling her loving-but-overbearing family it’s a romantic getaway with her not-so-existent new boyfriend to keep them from worrying. She never expects them to invite themselves along to meet the new guy. Now, she has less than twenty-four hours to find a pretend boyfriend in order to save her job and, potentially, her sanity.
Workaholic Jake Donovan isn’t interested in a real relationship. After a broken engagement, all he wants to do is focus on keeping his brewpub, the Holy Grale, afloat. But when he finds out his favorite customer is in need of a fake boyfriend, and his business partners insist he take a much overdue vacation, he has no choice but to help Clem out. All he has to do is enjoy the sunshine, play nice with her family, and keep his hands to himself for the week.
But Jake’s not prepared to like waking up next to Clem every morning as much as he does. Or to feel so welcome by her quirky family. And as the line between real and fake starts to blur, he realizes one week might never be enough.
As an audiobook narrator, Clementine Cox has no trouble mastering the voices of space aliens, elven warriors, or even demon-possessed cats. But the moment she tries her hand at an erotic romance, she’s stumped. With her deadline looming, she books a week at a secluded cabin to restore her inner muse, telling her loving-but-overbearing family it’s a romantic getaway with her not-so-existent new boyfriend to keep them from worrying. She never expects them to invite themselves along to meet the new guy. Now, she has less than twenty-four hours to find a pretend boyfriend in order to save her job and, potentially, her sanity.
Workaholic Jake Donovan isn’t interested in a real relationship. After a broken engagement, all he wants to do is focus on keeping his brewpub, the Holy Grale, afloat. But when he finds out his favorite customer is in need of a fake boyfriend, and his business partners insist he take a much overdue vacation, he has no choice but to help Clem out. All he has to do is enjoy the sunshine, play nice with her family, and keep his hands to himself for the week.
But Jake’s not prepared to like waking up next to Clem every morning as much as he does. Or to feel so welcome by her quirky family. And as the line between real and fake starts to blur, he realizes one week might never be enough.
In Real Love of Love (Books & Brews #1) by Sara Rider, Clementine Cox has a rather overbearing family. Still, she loves them, but when they're constantly trying to set her up with guys, she decides to share that she already has a boyfriend and that they're going on a romantic getaway. But when her family invite themselves along on the trip where she was hoping to relax and take a break from them, she knows she's in trouble unless she can find a man willing to be her fake boyfriend. Luckily, Jake Donovan comes to her rescue. Will she and Jake be able to pull off that they're happy and in love or will her family discover the truth before they have a chance to turn a relationship that starts out fake into something real?
This is the first book I've read by Ms. Rider, but it won't be my last. Everything about this book -- the incredible main characters, the fast-paced and entertaining plot and the riveting dialogue -- made this story an absolute page turner and before I knew it I was at the end of the book. The way this story started drew me in immediately, as the heroine hasn't had the easiest of times with what happened to her. However, she's coping the best she knows how and being around Jake makes her feel safe after what she's been through.
As for the dialogue, it was a wonderful combination of intense moments due to the main characters back stories and playful banter that had me loving the growing relationship between Jake and Clementine. She's shy and loves her privacy, but when she's around Jake she's different. He's someone she can talk to easily because he's not overbearing and knows how to respect her personal boundaries unlike her family who are constantly all up in her business and love to interfere. Still, the heroine is resilient, courageous and I liked how determined she was to show her family that they don't need to worry about her. I also liked the moments when she stands up for herself, which is proven in the moments where her family need to remember that her life is for her to decide what she wants out of it and not what they want for her. Why do they think she needs a man in her life? Why are they concerned that she quite her career to do something that sounds interesting and is something she loves?
While the hero, he's had it tough with how things are between him and his parents. How could they take his ex-fiancé's side over their own son when the pair decided to go their separate ways? Luckily though, Clementine's family show him what it's like to be a part of a family, even though they can be a bit much at times with always wanting to do things as a family instead of having some time to themselves. However, in saying that, I liked that Jake took everything they throw at him well and with plenty of confidence and courage, especially since with Clementine being the daughter of a military man Jake has to prove that he's good enough for her and can take care of her.
Overall, Ms. Rider has delivered a fantastic and captivating read in this first book of her Books and Brews series where the chemistry between this couple was off-the-charts; the sizzling romance shows how right these two are for each other; the secondary characters were fun, especially the heroine's grandmother with some of the things she says to Jake; and the ending had me cheering for this couple's happy ever after, especially with the way Jake makes things right with the heroine after their relationship goes awry. However, it was the epilogue that wrapped this story up perfectly, as both Jake and Clementine are good at keeping secrets. But Jake's secret is the best of all because Clementine is the best thing that's ever happened to him and he's not afraid to tell and show her how he feels. I would recommend Real Kind of Love by Sara Rider, if you enjoy the opposites attract trope, the fake relationship trope or books by authors Talia Hibbert, Jackie Lau, Tamsen Parker and Penny Reid.
This is the first book I've read by Ms. Rider, but it won't be my last. Everything about this book -- the incredible main characters, the fast-paced and entertaining plot and the riveting dialogue -- made this story an absolute page turner and before I knew it I was at the end of the book. The way this story started drew me in immediately, as the heroine hasn't had the easiest of times with what happened to her. However, she's coping the best she knows how and being around Jake makes her feel safe after what she's been through.
As for the dialogue, it was a wonderful combination of intense moments due to the main characters back stories and playful banter that had me loving the growing relationship between Jake and Clementine. She's shy and loves her privacy, but when she's around Jake she's different. He's someone she can talk to easily because he's not overbearing and knows how to respect her personal boundaries unlike her family who are constantly all up in her business and love to interfere. Still, the heroine is resilient, courageous and I liked how determined she was to show her family that they don't need to worry about her. I also liked the moments when she stands up for herself, which is proven in the moments where her family need to remember that her life is for her to decide what she wants out of it and not what they want for her. Why do they think she needs a man in her life? Why are they concerned that she quite her career to do something that sounds interesting and is something she loves?
While the hero, he's had it tough with how things are between him and his parents. How could they take his ex-fiancé's side over their own son when the pair decided to go their separate ways? Luckily though, Clementine's family show him what it's like to be a part of a family, even though they can be a bit much at times with always wanting to do things as a family instead of having some time to themselves. However, in saying that, I liked that Jake took everything they throw at him well and with plenty of confidence and courage, especially since with Clementine being the daughter of a military man Jake has to prove that he's good enough for her and can take care of her.
Overall, Ms. Rider has delivered a fantastic and captivating read in this first book of her Books and Brews series where the chemistry between this couple was off-the-charts; the sizzling romance shows how right these two are for each other; the secondary characters were fun, especially the heroine's grandmother with some of the things she says to Jake; and the ending had me cheering for this couple's happy ever after, especially with the way Jake makes things right with the heroine after their relationship goes awry. However, it was the epilogue that wrapped this story up perfectly, as both Jake and Clementine are good at keeping secrets. But Jake's secret is the best of all because Clementine is the best thing that's ever happened to him and he's not afraid to tell and show her how he feels. I would recommend Real Kind of Love by Sara Rider, if you enjoy the opposites attract trope, the fake relationship trope or books by authors Talia Hibbert, Jackie Lau, Tamsen Parker and Penny Reid.
Copyright
© 2018 Sara Rider
With a deep breath, she
opened her eyes to see Jake standing in front of her with his arms crossed. She
swallowed the bile rising in her throat, reminding herself that if
mortification could actually kill, she’d have been a pile of ashes by now.
“Tomorrow?”
“Thanks for playing
along. For the record, you die of Ebola tonight. Or dysentery. Whichever one
works faster.”
“Clem.” He tilted his
head toward her, voice deepening to a low growl. “Why do your sisters think
we’re dating?”
“I kind of told them I
was going on a romantic getaway this week so they wouldn’t tag along on my
vacation. Except instead of giving me space, they booked the cabin right next
door and now I need you to use that hammer to build me a tiny little coffin
while I curl up and die.”
“Wait a second,” Julia
said from the dining room doorway with Eli standing next to her, grinning. “You
lied to your family about having a boyfriend and now they think Jake is coming
with you on vacation tomorrow?”
“Of course you and Eli
overheard,” she mumbled. “I know it was a terrible idea but—”
“It’s a great idea!”
Clem wiped her clammy
palms against the ugly pair of basketball shorts she was still wearing and
tried to fathom the reason for Julia’s wide grin. “Sure, if you think watching
me dig myself into a deep hole with no escape is fun.”
“You don’t need an
escape. You need Jake.”
“What?” Her and Jake’s
gazes met like a head-on collision.
Eli rubbed his palms
together. “I don’t know what devious idea is churning in your brain, Sis, but I
have a feeling it’s going to be good.”
“It’s simple. I need
Jake to get out of my hair for the next week before he micromanages the wedding
I’ve been planning to death, and you need a fake boyfriend. It’s perfect.”
It would be perfect, the
devil on Clem’s shoulder whispered. Her family was so desperate to see her in a
relationship, they’d probably actually give her some space this week. Maybe
even enough that she could focus on the recording she needed to turn over to
the publisher two weeks from now.
But it was a ridiculous
idea. There was no way Jake would go for it. He had a business. A life. A fiancée.
Crap. “You can’t be serious?”
“Sorry, man,” Eli said,
raising his palms. “My vote’s with Julia. We outnumber you.”
Jake’s jaw clenched so
hard, Clem could see the pulse point ticking in his neck. Her heart thumped
against her chest as she waited for him to laugh at her. Or shake his head in
disgust. Because there was no way he would actually go through with this.
She braced herself for
rejection as he turned toward her, expression grim. “I’m game if you are.”
Holy shit.
Sara Rider writes contemporary
romance full of heart, heat, and happily ever after. She lives in British
Columbia with her husband and daughters. She spends far too much time in public
libraries and never leaves the home without her e-reader stuffed in her purse.
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