Single Sundays: Arrogant Fiancé by T L Smith and Melissa Jane

Single Sundays: While this blog may be focused on reviewing book series as a whole, we can’t forget about the good ole’ standalone novel! On Sundays, I will review a novel that is considered to be a standalone novel. Here is this week’s offering:

Synopsis for Arrogant Fiancé (from Goodreads):

He wasn’t meant to be on my radar, he was definitely the off-limits guy.
My brother’s best friend, my friend’s ex, but most of all he was my boss.
Hawk Carnage resembled one thing, and one thing only. Sex.
He used it, he knew it, he lived it. Hawk owned the largest lingerie company in the world, and I was his leading lady.
In business.
But now business and friendship were about to be crossed. The lines blurred, and I was ready to dip my toes in the forbidden water. Because no matter how much I said I could refrain from Hawk Carnage, now was not the time.
He was to be my fake fiancé.
And I was about to sink into that forbidden water, with Hawk’s hands clutching my sides.
Lord help me because I was about to enjoy every moment of it.
Even if it was just for fun.
Even if it would ruin everything.
I was going to dive in head first.

Author: T L Smith and Melissa Jane
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Heat Rating: Hot
Point of View: First Person, Alternating
Publication Date: December 2017
Source & Format: Own–eBook (Kobo)

Why I Picked it Up / My Expectations:

I’m not entirely sure why I bought this book. It might have been a recommendation from Kobo? Regardless, it has some of my favourite tropes at play like fake fiances and forbidden romance so I’m sure that’s why I picked it up.

Of course, it’s been sitting on my Kobo for nearly 3 years. I picked it up when I was working a boring shift at work and wanted something quick to read (and something I owned for my Tackling the TBR challenge) that I could pickup when I actually had to stop reading and do my job.

Previously Published as “Cocky Fiancé”:

So at first I really struggled to find this title on my Kobo! I had it marked on Goodreads as “Cocky Fiancé” and typing that in lead me to nothing. So searching for the authors helped me find it and that’s when I realized it had been rereleased as “Arrogant Fiancé”.

That’s when I remembered #CockyGate and all these books that had to be renamed because someone trademarked the work “cocky”. You can read more info about it here. So in short, Arrogant Fiancé = Cocky Fiancé.

The Plot:

One thought I had when reading this book was: did the author’s have a challenge to see how many romance tropes they could throw into one book? You’ve got the forbidden romance of a boss and his employee, who happens to be her brothers’ BFF; who she decides is the perfect person to play her fake fiancé. It was a lot thrown at you plus whatever drama was in store.

I think you have to take this book with a grain of salt. It’s melodramatic to say the least. I mean the reason Hawk becomes her fake fiancé is because Britta seems to be a glutton for punishment and agrees to go to a wedding she should never have gone to in the first place.

Add to that the other drama that is packed in at the end and I feel like just pushed the romance to take a backseat which is a shame because I really liked their chemistry together.

The Characters:

Like I said above, Britta is a glutton for punishment. It’s weird because she is so assertive in some scenes but then a complete wimp in others. I understand she is broken from a past relationship but all the more reason to say “no” to certain situations she finds herself in.

Hawk lives up to the “cocky”/”arrogant” name. He says “cock” more than I’ve ever encountered in book before that’s for sure. But I found him to be charming in a way because he clearly wants to do the right thing by Britta.

The Romance:

I really loved the chemistry between these two. You could tell that spark has always been there (especially for Hawk) but these two have had all those tropes in their way. All the drama seems to be the push they finally need but it also got in the way of really grounding the romance.