Book Review: Just for Show by Jae

Just for Show

Author: Jae
Publisher: Ylva Publishing (February 21, 2018)
Paperback, 312 pages
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Summary
What happens when an overachieving psychologist with OCD tendencies and an impulsive, out-of-work actress start a fake relationship?

Claire Renshaw thought she had it all: a successful career as a couples therapist, a publishing contract for her self-help book, and a happy relationship. But her perfect world falls apart when her fiancée calls off their engagement. Because of that, even her book deal might be off the table. After all, readers don’t want relationship advice from someone who can’t even make her own relationship work.

So Claire sets out to hire herself a fake fiancée.

Lana Henderson, the actress who shows up to audition for the role, is not exactly Claire’s ideal woman. Her frankness and the messes she leaves everywhere drive Claire up the wall. At least she won’t fall in love with someone like Lana.

But soon, Lana starts to win her over with her big heart, tickle fights, and—gasp!—carbs after six. The longer they pretend to be a love-struck couple, the less fake their kisses feel and the more the lines between reality and role begin to blur.

Once the book contract is signed, will they walk away or is their relationship no longer just for show?

A lesbian romance where role-playing has never been so irresistible.

Rating: 4 stars

Review
I am a sucker for a fake relationship, and Jae gives *good*fake relationship. I really appreciate that Claire and Lana don't fall in instalove (which happens in so many fake relationship books!) and instead have their fair share of issues. The build to their relationship feels very authentic and realistic, and there are so many moments they share that are so real. 

I'm new to the F/F romance scene, but so far I'm seeing a strong tendency towards pairings of the straight-laced Ice Queen and the happy-go-lucky but down-on-her-luck slob. Is that a Thing? 

I love romances that are about more than just the relationship between the two leads, and Jae really delivers in Just for Show. Lana goes through some personal growth and growing up, and I feel like Claire's relationship with her sister also improves by the end of the book. While she has plenty of it - probably THE MOST - I'd still have really loved to see some more of Claire's personal growth in this book. You get little glimpses of it in the things she says and does and observes, the edits she makes to her book and the sections she lets Lana read and the ways she views her actions and thinks about how she'd behaved with Abby and how Abby might have felt, but I'd have liked to see it a little more fully realized. It's a little ironic that Claire was so wrapped up in her work as a relationship psychologist that her own relationship suffered for it, and I'd have liked to have her really see that and feel it more. I'm not a fan of the Ice Queen character, but maybe that's why her transformation is the most interesting of all. And I want to know that some core elements of her character stay the same and that she can still be an Ice Queen but also a lovable one (like Elsa from Frozen!)