The Former Fake Boyfriend by Maya Jean (Sweet Southern Book #2)

TITLE: ⟫ The Former Fake Boyfriend

AUTHOR: ⟫ Maya Jean

SERIES: ⟫ Sweet Southern Book #2

RATING: ⟫ 4/5

BLURB: ⟫ Beau

The strong one. The dependable one. Eldest son. Big brother. Now the family farm is mine to run. My entire life is centered around others. To keep the attention off me at my baby sister’s wedding, I impulsively hire a fake boyfriend to give the pretense of happiness. What I don’t expect is a man that seamlessly fits into my life. Trevor holds me up when no one else thinks twice about my needs or wants. And he keeps coming back for me. Again and again. Our relationship might be fake to Trevor, but I’m playing for keeps.

Trevor

Fake boyfriend. Good friend. Shitty son. Faking is my only real skill. The dark family secrets I carry inside remind me daily of my worth. Nothing. I’m only of value when I’m providing fake boyfriends a service. But when a sweet farmer hires me for a wedding weekend, everything slowly starts to unravel. Beau works his way into my battered heart with gentle smiles, shy looks, and profound steadiness. Safe with Beau, maybe it’s finally time to stop faking my way through life.

The Former Fake Boyfriend is the second novel in the Sweet Southern series. Expect a swoony fake dating romance between a city boy sex worker and a gentle giant farmer featuring an age gap, hurt/comfort, and second chances.

REVIEW: ⟫ When I say that this was easy to read, I mean that the characters draw you in pretty much immediately and it was very easy to enter the world of Beau and Trevor. However, the things that Trevor and Beau were handling weren’t easy and I really appreciated the thought and effort the author put into showing these two men being so vulnerable with each other. The strength that they both showed in such different circumstances was fascinating to read – with Trevor, it wasn’t always easy to understand why he did what he did – but the parallels between the two of them made it perfectly plain why they were so good for each other.

I read the Husband Experience previously so knew some of the background, but I didn’t expect to care as much as I did about these two.

The phone calls between them – the one word from Trevor – made me feel so sad for him. I can’t imagine going through what he did and could well understand his difficulty in accepting the love that was offered to him. The background characters were fun, touching and very real, and I very much enjoyed reading how these two men fought for their happy ever after.

I received an ARC from GRR.

The Husband Experience by Maya Jean (Sweet Southern Book #1)

TITLE: ⟫ The Husband Experience

AUTHOR: ⟫ Maya Jean

RATING: ⟫ 3.5/5

SERIES: ⟫ Sweet Southern #1

BLURB: ⟫ Elijah

Being a fake boyfriend is usually pretty easy. My part time job slots perfectly into my schedule as I pursue my PhD. But when the agency sends me on a week-long vacation to play husband … I don’t expect the experience to feel the opposite of fake. Colby Smith is everything I never knew I needed. He’s sweet, he even blushes, but in the bedroom, he calls all the shots. This experience is supposed to be for him, but as time goes on, I think it’s starting to be real for me.

Colby

After losing my husband, my cousin recommended I reach out to The Boyfriend Experience to get back in the saddle, so to speak. I asked for a husband for a week and they sure delivered. Elijah Ruiz is wild, in a way that shakes my world to the core. But after a week of tender touches, of breathtaking smiles, I start to wonder if it’s really all an act. Can we make this something real after only a week of playing pretend?

The Husband Experience is the 36k novella that starts the Sweet Southern series. It features a professional fake boyfriend, a ready for love again widower, an age gap, fake husbands for a week by the beach, lots of swoon, emotional steam, and just a sprinkle of kink.

REVIEW: ⟫ This was a very sweet, sexy novella that acts as a very good introduction to the planned Sweet Southern series. Colby comes across as a self-aware man who has accepted the loss of his husband and is ready to re-enter the world of dating. However, he wants his first real experience to not be a random hook-up – he knows himself well enough to know that that is not how he operates. Hence the husband experience.

Eli comes across as a little less self aware. Initially with Colby, he tries to put up artificial barriers, constantly reminding the both of them that he is a ‘sure’ thing and doesn’t need the romance, etc that Colby keeps trying to offer. I really enjoyed the way in which Eli slowly let down his barriers and began to accept the affection and attention Colby was offering until the two men began to have an experience that perhaps neither of them fully expected. I was impressed with how much the author managed to pile into the novella, but obviously being that length it suffered a little from how ‘surface’ and superficial things had to be. I definitely enjoyed reading this story and will look for more from the Sweet Southern series.

I received an ARC from GRR.