Struggling actress working in a family-run coffee shop, occasionally takes time off for auditions. She’s overweight, so she hardly ever gets acting work. She has a heart of gold though. One day, she goes to yet another crappy audition, only it turns out this is a pretty unusual gig – in real life, this fabulously rich but really uptight therapist type wants her to pretend to be her fiancé for a couple of months, so that she can get a book deal to further her career. The pay is $50,000, so why the hell not? They are complete opposites as people, so some acting is definitely required: one is tidy, one messy; one rich, one poor; they look different; one can’t cook, one can. They spend so much time pretend snogging and holding hands that eventually… Guess what happens. No, guess. Did you guess?
What’s interesting about this story is not that it follows the trusty daydream of being plucked from dull obscurity into the arms of a beautiful, rich woman and living happily ever after. No, what’s interesting is that it’s told mostly from the rich woman’s perspective. She just got dumped AT HER ENGAGEMENT PARTY. She has a lot of faults. She isn’t that comfortable with what’s going on. It’s a bit like… OK, imagine Pretty Woman as if it were from Edward’s perspective: it would be quite a different story, no?
This book didn’t make it into the totally recommend you need to read this category because there didn’t feel like there was any peril particularly and this actress behaves like no actress I ever met. Safely in our readable category, though.
She Sighed! 