Early Review: How to Fake It in Hollywood by Ava Wilder

April 27, 2022

by Ava Wilder

Pub date: June 14, 2022

🎥 4 stars out of 5 🎬

Grey Brooks is on a mission to keep her career afloat now that the end of her long-running teen TV show has her (unsuccessfully) pounding the pavement again. With a life-changing role on the line, she’s finally desperate enough to agree to her publicist’s scheme: fake a love affair with a disgraced Hollywood heartthrob who needs the publicity, but for very different reasons.

Ethan Atkins just wants to be left alone. Between his high-profile divorce, struggles with drinking, and grief over the death of his longtime creative partner and best friend, Ethan has slowly let himself fade into the background. But if he ever wants to produce the last movie he and his partner wrote together, Ethan needs to clean up his reputation and step back into the spotlight. A gossip-inducing affair with a gorgeous actress might be just the ticket, even if it’s the last thing he wants to do.

Though their juicy public relationship is less than perfect behind the scenes, it doesn’t take long before Grey and Ethan’s sizzling chemistry starts to feel like more than just an act. But after decades in a ruthless industry that requires bulletproof emotional armor to survive, are they too used to faking it to open themselves up to the real thing?

☙ ☙ ☙

I liked both Grey and Ethan; Grey is funny and relatable, and Ethan is sweet and his story pulls at your heartstrings. There’s a strong emotional component to this book that I appreciated. I felt every bit of anxiety and sorrow that Grey and Ethan went through.

I really like this author’s writing style. It was easy and enjoyable, the pacing swift. The characters had depth and dimension. The dialogue was very natural. It had an ever-present realism to it; power dynamics, privilege, youth obsession are just a few topics that are casually addressed.

I wasn’t sure how the fake dating trope in this was going to go but I actually really liked how it was executed. I thought it worked. It was surprisingly believable.

One complaint I had is, a couple of times early on, Ethan made a weird, slightly intimate, flirty comment to Grey and it came off (to me) as borderline creepy. Not full-on creepy, just like, questionable and a little off-putting. It made me feel weird.

Things get pretty heavy in the last 30% of the book as both Grey and Ethan attempt to confront their pasts. Ethan especially has a rather sad and complicated history. He deals with alcoholism and substance abuse and it wreaks havoc on his life and the lives of everyone around him. Because of this aspect of the storyline, I could see this not being everyone’s cup of tea. It delves into some serious territory. But in the end, each one makes the effort to become a better version of themselves and embark on a truly healthy relationship.

Overall, I was impressed with this debut. Very solid effort and a very good book. (The ending was excellent.) I look forward to seeing what this author does in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing the digital ARC.

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