Format: E-Book
Read with: Kindle Paperwhite
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Self-Published
Hero: Mason Jackson
Heroine: Lauren Green
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: June 25, 2019
Started On: June 25, 2019
Finished On: June 26, 2019

The Accidental Girlfriend by Emma Hart is my very first novel by the author. I was looking for something lighthearted after the emotionally devastating and yet wholesome book I had read just prior to this, and I believe I found exactly what I was looking for in this book.

The main protagonists, Lauren Green and Mason Jackson, meet under unusual circumstances. Maybe not so unusual when you consider the age of social media where everything is posted online for everyone to see. Lauren, who is in a dating funk, makes the mistake of putting an online ad offering her services as a fake date, believing that no one would be that desperate. Turns out she was wrong. Which is how she ends up as Mason’s fake girlfriend for his ten-year high school reunion.

While both strive to be “objective” about their “union”, there is no hiding that attraction between the two. As Mason and Lauren are “forced” to spend time together, both find qualities in the other that might just make for a long lasting relationship, if only they are willing to give it a chance.

The Accidental Girlfriend is a novel that was enjoyable without much huss or fuss. There was a lot of snark in the novel, sometimes leading me to believe that there was too much of it. This is a very grown up take on love and the feelings that blossom alongside with it. There was zero angst and drama to it; just two consenting adults who were not looking for anything serious, finding their soulmates along the way. I felt that the heroine had too much snark to her, so much so that sometimes it was difficult to figure out where she was coming from, which detracted a lot from my enjoyment factor.

I believe that that is in essence what led to the lack of emotional depth to the characters, especially the heroine. She was just too busy throwing around sarcastic quips and making fantastic comebacks for every and any conversation she had to contribute to, which made it a trifle bit exhausting for me. I wanted to see her, the real Lauren, the one who quits taking on sarcasm as a defence mechanism and shows her vulnerabilities, especially to the one person who accepted her as she was.

Mason on the other hand, seemed fairly well put together. He was not embittered by the six years he had “wasted” on his previous girlfriend, the cheating aspect to which he just seemed indifferent to at best. Which was a trifle bit odd as well. However, Mason was kind, sexy, and patient, and perhaps what Lauren needed because Mason for some reason, sees the softness inside of her, something which I failed to because it was difficult to understand her on a deeper level.

Overall, I would say this was an okay read, a bit of flat-liner when you need one.

Final Verdict: If you like snark and lots of it, The Accidental Girlfriend is for you. Emma Hart has a lot where that came from to deliver when it comes to Mason and Lauren.

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