Review: "The Fiancée Farce" by Alexandria Bellefleur

 

The Fiancée Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur
Published April 2023 via Avon
★★★★

A classic romance trope meets a queer love story in this fast-paced read for fans of Ashley Herring Blake.

Tansy is more comfortable with her books than with people—and inventing a girlfriend based on a romance novel cover didn't seem too risky. For better or for worse, though, that romance novel cover model is a real person...with a very good reason to want a fake girlfriend, and a real fiancée, of her own. Shenanigans (need I say it?) ensue.

Now—I read this 90% for the cover, 5% for the fact that one heroine works in a bookstore and the other works in publishing, and 5% for it being a contemporary queer romance novel. And take heart, readers: the cover is ripped directly from the contents of the book. (I'm less thrilled by the fact that the cover artist has removed Tansy's curves, but the dresses are well and truly in there.)

What intrigued me so much upon reading this, though, was just how much of a classic trope this is—engagement/marriage of convenience based on a little white lie—but updated for the present day. The conflict with Tansy's stepfamily is reminiscent of Delilah Green Doesn't Care, sure, but fake-engagement-turned-real setup is straight out of Turbulent Covenant, published in 1980. Turbulent Covenant remains the worst romance novel that I've ever read, but not because of the trope; it's so terrible because the hero is a would-be rapist who chokes the terrified heroine, leaves bruises, etc., and gets away with it all because love...and because of their marriage of convenience. The Fiancée Farce, thank sweet mercy, takes one look at that sort of predecessor, says fuck no, and proceeds to get on with the heroines both being complicated, imperfect human beings who—and I cannot overstate the importance of this—genuinely care about consent and long-term emotional impact and so on. Could one heroine probably use a long chat with her therapist somewhere between chapter 25 and the epilogue? Definitely. Would the other heroine benefit from trying dry January? Most likely. But they're not compounding each other's stresses.

The other thing I love about this book: Tansy and Gemma talk to each other. Again, I cannot overemphasize this: there are so many moments when there's a misunderstanding, or room for a misunderstanding, and the classic thing to do is to spin it out into a she-said-she-said (hah) drama for twenty or fifty or two hundred pages (the old "you mean she's your sister?" thing). Instead, Tansy and Gemma make a point to seek each other out, to say, "Hey, I heard this thing, but I want to hear your side of it. Can you elaborate?" It makes their budding relationship so much healthier and more functional, and it means that very little of the overarching conflict is the sort of thing that could have been solved with an honest conversation anywhere in the past hundred and fifty pages. It warms the cockles of my cold little heart.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 because there are bookstore cats called Mills and Boon.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a free review copy through NetGalley.