Rumor Has It by Jessica Lemmon

Rumor Has It (Real Love, #4)

by Jessica Lemmon

This is one bad boy who’s fit to print. 

Barrett: As a former pro football star, I’m used to playing the field. After injuries cut my NFL career short, my second act as a broadcaster ended on live television when a hot mic picked up a little verbal . . . indiscretion. But this latest publicity stunt might just land me back on top—much to the chagrin of Catarina Everhart, the prissy, beautiful journalist who’s been assigned to date a bad boy (i.e., me) and write about it. Catarina swears I’ll never touch her, let alone kiss those full lips of hers. Based on our chemistry, I’m not buying it. . . .

Catarina: Barrett Fox seems to be doing everything in his power to make me hate him. The cocky egomaniac is infamous for his bad behavior, and now, thanks to my boss’s harebrained schemes, he’s apparently my problem. As one fake date leads to another, I start to see a different side of Barrett. He’s close with his family. He does volunteer work. And, okay, he kisses like a dream. Am I really dating Barrett Fox? Or is he playing me? Because suddenly I’m risking my reputation—and my heart.

Reviewed by Sam@WLABB on

4 of 5 stars

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What happens when a ex-NFL bad boy is paired with a work-a-holic, rigid reporter? You get a fun and sexy romance, where opposites attract in the best way.

The Set-up:

Barrett agrees to fake-date Catarina, and write a column about their dates as part of a publicity stunt to improve his image with female readers, and perhaps, also save his DOA career.

My Thoughts:

There may not have been insta-love, but there was definitely insta-lust. Catarina and Barrett spent quite a bit of time fighting their mutual attraction while exchanging barbs, but the more time they spent with each other, the more Catarina realized that Barrett was hiding a rather fantastic person under that bad boy armor.

I loved both Catarina and Barrett. Catarina was extremely driven and good at her job, but she short changed herself when it came to her own relationships, and accepted less than she deserved from her boyfriend. The relationship left her slightly wounded, and I was more than happy when Barrett entered the picture, and showed her that she was worthy of much more.

Barrett's backstory was complicated, and he was wrestling with his feelings of inadequacy due to his upbringing. He struggled with his past, and always felt "less than", even though he wasn't. Catarina was able to see through his facade to the real Barrett, and I got so much pleasure when she unwrapped him layer by layer, and let the true Barrett Fox shine through.

Yeah, there were some deep parts, but there were a LOT more fun moments in this book. The office antics were one thing that made me smile. These two were in constant verbal sparring mode, and it was quite amusing to behold. And the dates, which started out outrageous, soon turned out to be sweet and fun.

One thing I really liked was how they complimented and influenced each other in a good way. Barrett began to focus more, and pushed himself to produce a great column for the paper. Catrina began to loosen up a little, and enjoy more outside of work. It was almost as if they were meeting somewhere in the middle, and finding a perfect balance.

Overall: A sexy and fun hate-to-love fauxmance-romance, where an uber-disciplined woman and a bad boy reform each other.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 22 September, 2018: Finished reading
  • 22 September, 2018: Reviewed