Fauxmances and Wedding Bouquets
Fauxmances and Wedding Bouquets is a charming romance novel filled with engaging personalities and magical flourishes.
Filled with flirty banter, anticipatory tension, and small-town mysticism, Natalie May’s funny and surprising series-opening romance novel Fauxmances and Wedding Bouquets captures the magic of summer love.
Bailey, who struggles to say no to people, is coerced into joining a high-strung stranger’s bridal party as a favor for a friend. Her bridesmaid duties extend far past the altar, forcing her to feign a relationship with Knox, a former fling who works at the same elementary school as Bailey. Amid the pressures of maintaining their lie in Serenade Creek, their small Southern town that’s obsessed with romance, Bailey and Knox struggle to navigate their true feelings for each other.
Bailey and Knox are magnetic leads with undeniable chemistry. Their individual perspectives are distinctive, and they complement one another well. They are surrounded by fun secondary characters too, including the attention-commanding bride-to-be, who oscillates between being irritating and endearing. While each person’s voice stands out as their own, Bailey and Knox have the most organic perspectives, marked by wry, self-deprecating wit; they help keep the story grounded despite its fantastical tendencies.
Serenade Creek is a somewhat absurd setting, but its idiosyncrasies are embraced throughout. The prose leans into the whimsy of the place, coloring the town with countless flourishes. Serenade Creek is revealed to be home to a multitude of superstitions, traditions, and local events, almost all of which tie back to love and destiny. Over-the-top elements such as an enchanted wishing fountain and local roses that wilt when in the presence of a liar strike a tongue-in-cheek note.
The plot is thoughtful, with the conflict and story beats handled in a way that makes perfect internal sense. Indeed, problems arise due to Bailey’s and Knox’s established shortcomings rather than external issues. And while elements like Bailey’s compulsive people pleasing and Knox’s resistance to emotional vulnerability drive the story forward, the dreamy magical realism adds interest, placing Bailey and Knox’s love story against a lively backdrop of cursed bouquets and matchmaking cardinals. Sweet and satisfying from beginning to end, their tale is a pleasant escape from the everyday. Its loose ends are resolved while also setting the stage for future installments.
Fauxmances and Wedding Bouquets is a light, playful romance novel that captures the warm, fun feeling of a summer fling that may turn into more.
Reviewed by
James Edward Cook
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
