Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur
After a disastrous blind date, Darcy Lowell is desperate to stop her well-meaning brother from playing matchmaker ever again. Love—and the inevitable heartbreak—is the last thing she wants. So she fibs and says her latest setup was a success. Darcy doesn’t expect her lie to bite her in the ass.
Elle Jones, one of the astrologers behind the popular Twitter account, Oh My Stars, dreams of finding her soul mate. But she knows it is most assuredly not Darcy... a no-nonsense stick-in-the-mud, who is way too analytical, punctual, and skeptical for someone as free-spirited as Elle. When Darcy’s brother—and Elle's new business partner—expresses how happy he is that they hit it off, Elle is baffled. Was Darcy on the same date? Because... awkward.
When Darcy begs Elle to play along, she agrees to pretend they’re dating to save face. But with a few conditions: Darcy must help Elle navigate her own overbearing family over the holidays and their arrangement expires on New Year’s Eve. The last thing they expect is to develop real feelings during a fake relationship.
Book Rating: 5/5
Read: July 27th
Book Review: Written in the Stars is by far my favorite book that I've read this year, which might be slightly biased since it involves one of my favorite book tropes; Fake Dating. I've noticed that fake dating has become a popular trope in books lately, but this book stands out as the most convincing portrayal of it that I've read.
The grumpy x sunshine dynamic between Darcy and Elle had a big impact on why I enjoyed this book. From their first interaction, you can see they have a spark, but their personalities crash and keep them from wanting to pursue a relationship. When the two start fake dating the clashes in personality are very evident and allow for some fun banter and witty conversations that just radiate romantic comedy energy. I enjoyed watching as their relationship grew in an organic and not rushed way.
I've mentioned before that I dislike miscommunication but since this book felt exactly like a rom-com in book form I expected some level of drama and plot twists. I was so engrossed in the book that when the miscommunication happened, it felt so real and I found myself tearing up. This was especially true since I had been reading the book while listening to music, and the most perfect sad song came on. I'm not even exaggerating when I say that the song, "Under the Table" by Banks, had lyrics that related almost perfectly to the dialogue in the book. This made the scene ten times more devastating than it would have been otherwise.
In conclusion, Written in the Stars is by far my favorite book of the year, and will always hold a special place in my heart as the first sapphic romance book I ever purchased. I really love the book hence the full five-star rating, and will highly recommend it to whoever is reading this blog post.
