Artificial Sweethearts

by Julie Hammerle

[readingwithwrin]

3.5 stars

I love reading fake romance books because I'm always interested to see if they will fall for each other for real or just go back to being friends, etc after the romance need is over.
Artificial Sweethearts did not disappoint.

Tinka and Sam are from two different worlds it seems. Sam is expected to help everyone in the family and make sure everyone is okay, after the death of his mom. While Tinka is left having to constantly please her parents after a death in the family left them heartbroken. Together they share stories, memories and how hard it is to live up to the expectations placed on them by others. All while having a fake romance to avoid family chosen bf/gf relationships. The big question is though will they actually fall for each other? Or will they be able to end the summer as nothing more than friends?

Overall I really enjoyed this story. First, it's Christmas in July and Christmas is one of my favorite holidays so an excuse to celebrate it I am all for. Add a character who changes throughout the book and goes from keeping everyone at arm's length or just simply pushing them away when they get too close to someone who is able to have good relationships I'm all for as well.
We all know I'm not much of a romance reader, but as it is summer and I have been reading so much fantasy, and historical fiction recently I figured it was time to read a contemporary book. This one did not disappoint and I actually enjoyed the romance/relationship for a change. The tension between Sam and Tinka was really the driving force in this book as it caused them to do or say certain things to try and keep things even.
The friendships that are also shown while very rocky at the start, I really grew to like and it was nice to see characters actually work through their problems, instead of just jumping over them and everything being all sunshine and rainbows.

If you're not much of a romance reader than I would still say this is a good choice as it's a fake relationship that deals with so much more.

Thank you to YAReads, NetGalley and Entangled Teen for an e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review and as a part of this blog tour!


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