Review: When It’s Real by Erin Watt || When faking it=never ending headaches |

Title: When It’s Real
Author: Erin Watt
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, [Young-Adult]
Standalone
Heat Rating: Cool
Page Count and Format: 416 pages, Ebook
Expected Publication: May 30th, 2017 by Harlequin Teen
Source: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
My Rating:

Blurb (from Goodreads):

Wealth, fame and a real-life romance she never expected—seventeen-year-old Vaughn Bennett lands it all when she agrees to become a pop star’s fake girlfriend in this smart, utterly addictive novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author duo Erin Watt

Under ordinary circumstances, Oakley Ford and Vaughn Bennett would never even cross paths.

There’s nothing ordinary about Oakley. This bad-boy pop star’s got Grammy Awards, millions of fangirls and a reputation as a restless, too-charming troublemaker. But with his home life disintegrating, his music well suddenly running dry and the tabloids having a field day over his outrageous exploits, Oakley needs to show the world he’s settling down—and who better to help him than Vaughn, a part-time waitress trying to help her family get by? The very definition of ordinary.

Posing as his girlfriend, Vaughn will overhaul Oakley’s image from troublemaker to serious artist. In return for enough money to put her brothers through college, she can endure outlandish Hollywood parties and carefully orchestrated Twitter exchanges. She’ll fool the paparazzi and the groupies. She might even start fooling herself a little.

Because when ordinary rules no longer apply, there’s no telling what your heart will do…

This book was so much fun to read. It was exactly what I needed and Oakley and Vaughan were a treat to read!

Oakley Ford’s lifestyle is catching up to him while he hasn’t been productive for a few years. If he remains like that, his singing career will do down the drain. To avoid this situation, his PR team comes up with a plan of fake girlfriend to reverse his party image and that’s where Vaughn Bennett comes in. But when fake starts feeling like real, it’s up to Oakley and Vaughan to decide if they should give themselves a chance at something real.

I’m not going to lie, the plot was predictable but I fell in love with the characters and due to which I enjoyed this book so much more. The fake girlfriend trope is something that I quite love and it was executed perfectly in this book. Oakley hasn’t been able to produce new music in two years and if he doesn’t do anything soon, he’ll soon have to say goodbye to the music industry and on top of that his wild lifestyle doesn’t help his image at all. Not only Oakley but Vaughn is in for a shock when they come to know about the PR team’s plan for the fake girlfriend. I liked Vaughn from the start, she was a simple girl trying to help her family as much as possible after her parent’s death which left them in a crap load of debt and when she learns about the money that she’ll get, she reluctantly agrees to play her part to help her sister out.

It was pretty much hate at first sight for them. And their continuous banter was hilarious. Both of their lifestyles were completely opposite to each other and inevitably when they met, they clashed. I wasn’t a fan of Oakley at first, but slowly he warmed up to my heart as did Vaughn’s. The romance was slowly build up and I really loved the chemistry between them.

Oakley was a party animal and indeed he had some issues but with Vaughn, he was finally able to open up about them. With her, he didn’t have to be the rock star, he could just be Oakley which was something I really loved. Also, it was not that much but I did enjoy the family aspect of this book. I was enraged when the thing with the PR happened but I was glad how Vaughn finally fought for herself and snatched her happy ending in the end.

Overall, When It’s Real was a great read. The plot was executed neatly and I loved the character development throughout the book. I loved Oakley and Vaughan together so much! The writing was beautiful and the pace was even throughout the book. I sooo can’t wait to read more by Erin Watt.

Recommend it?

Yes!