The Fiancee Farce: A Novel

Written by Alexandria Bellefleur

Narrated by Lauren Sweet

Lambda Literary award winner and national bestselling author Alexandria Bellefleur returns with a steamy sapphic rom-com about a quiet bookseller and a romance novel cover model who agree to a modern-day marriage of convenience...

Tansy Adams’ greatest love is her family’s bookstore, passed down from her late father. But when it comes to actual romance… Tansy can’t get past the first chapter. Tired of her stepfamily’s questions about her love life, Tansy invents Gemma, a fake girlfriend inspired by the stunning cover model on a bestselling book. They’ll never actually meet, so what’s the harm in a little fib? Yet when real-life Gemma crosses Tansy’s path, her white lie nearly implodes.

Gemma van Dalen is a wild child, the outcast of her wealthy family, and now the latest heir to Van Dalen Publishing. But the title comes with one tiny condition: she must be married in order to inherit. When Gemma discovers a beautiful stranger has been pretending to date her for months, she decides to take the charade one step further—and announces their engagement.

Gemma needs a wife to meet the terms of her grandfather’s will and Tansy needs money to save her struggling bookstore. A marriage could be mutually beneficial, if they can fool everyone into thinking it’s a love match. Unexpected sparks fly as Tansy and Gemma play the role of affectionate fiancées, and suddenly the line between convenient arrangement and real feelings begins to blur. But the scheming Van Dalen family won’t give up the company without a fight, and Gemma and Tansy’s newfound happiness might get caught in the fallout…      

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Apr 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9780063258518

Alexandria Bellefleur

Alexandria Bellefleur is a bestselling and award-winning author of swoony contemporary romance often featuring loveable grumps and the sunshine characters who bring them to their knees. A Pacific Northwesterner at heart, Alexandria has a weakness for good coffee, Pike IPA, and Voodoo Doughnuts. Her special skills include finding the best Pad Thai in every city she visits, remembering faces but not names, falling asleep in movie theaters, and keeping cool while reading smutty books in public. Her debut novel, Written in the Stars, was a 2021 Lambda Literary Award winner and a 2020 winner of The Ripped Bodice Awards for Excellence in Romantic Fiction. 

Reviews for The Fiancee Farce

[LaTisha Skelton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic and brilliantly written
Love everything this author writes and the narrator is amazing as well. The way she brings the characters to life in everything she narrates is incredible

[Dawn Hudson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good story and narration. It’s a Sapphic, Bookish, Popular Girl falls for Geek, Marriage of Convenience story all rolled into one.

[Airun 357 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful lovely read!!! Book that talk and communicate in a healthy way, also agree with the comment above that lucy and tucker are the devil haha

[Thea Karan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very decently enjoyable considering how much i hate the other two books i read from this author

[Natale Michaud · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good narration and I always love a romance book that has honesty and things get talked out. So many have the main characters jumping to false conclusions or not speaking their minds which drives me nuts.

[Kayla Pratt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This "Meet Cute" was too cute. I loved every bit of it. Lucy and Tucker were literally the devil. I can't even say I understood Lucy because she was being manipulative to get what she wanted. I don't condone that shit!

4.5 stars

[Jude · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Tansy Adams has been lying to her family for months about dating a woman called Gemma. The name didn’t come out of nowhere, a romance novel model was the inspiration. Things get interesting when said model dances into Tansy’s life at her step-cousin’s wedding. Gemma turns out to be the groom’s cousin and the van Dalen family black sheep, in a pickle of her own: to inherit the family business, Van Dalen Publishing, she needs to get married. Discovering that she’s been a beautiful woman’s fake fiancée for months sounds like a perfect opportunity.

I wasn’t going to read this book because I’m convinced I overrated the only other Bellefleur story I read, Written in the Stars – I blame the Christmas spirit for that – but then I got the opportunity to download an advanced listening copy of The Fiancée Farce and I remembered the narration of Written in the Stars being good so why not? And I ended up having a lot of fun.

I’ll be honest, not much is plausible in this story. That said, how plausible are most romcoms? It all comes down to whether the interactions between the main characters work and for me, they did. I loved Tansy and Gemma, both as individuals struggling with their very different but as difficult families and trying to do the right thing in their work life, and as a couple. The banter, the shifts in strength and support, the fondness, I liked it all.

The narration is to be thanked for that to a considerable extent. The writing itself is okay but repetitive at times and exaggerated, especially when it comes to the bad guys. Lauren Sweet, the narrator, makes it work anyway, and I found myself chuckling more than once. The only flaw in the narration is the few sentences in French, but they’re pronounced by a side character and there aren’t many. That said, while I get prioritizing the rest of the book over a few words that aren’t essential when it comes to the narration, I don’t understand why neither the author nor the publisher thought to check with a French-speaking person that what was written was correct in the first place. Rant over (until the next time).

On the positive side, bonus points for Teddy, one of Gemma’s numerous roommates, who keeps bringing wit and comic relief. Not that Gemma and Tansy aren’t funny in their own right, but Teddy is camp and outrageous and kind and a great secondary character. It also helps that I’m a sucker for any kind of British accent and Sweet gave him the perfect intonations.

All in all, I had a really fun time listening, I was always disappointed when I had to stop to attend to whatever life thought was more urgent. And there’s a playlist on Spotify, which is always appreciated.

I received a copy from Libro.fm and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

[zoe · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really liked it, it was great, looking forward to read more from the author. The narrator was great.

[Taylor Nelson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

So cute! I loved the tensions and twists. It got a bit slow in the middle but then picked back up. I was holding my breath waiting to see what happened at one point. It’s great to see characters get what they deserve. If you like bookstores, weddings, scheming, fake relationships, family drama, revenge, or found family, you’ll like this book.

[Crystal · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I couldn’t love this book any more than I already do! It was perfect and at one point I nearly started crying on my drive into work.

[Jamie Weiß · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love me a good fake-dating-to-lovers romance and this one did not disappoint! A funny, cute read for listening on the go.

[Christen Wong · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A sweet story with plenty of laughs. Narrator was perfect!

[Destiny Lawson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love this book for so many reasons. My top three reasons though would have to be;
1) all the Taylor Swift references I’m a Swifty at heart, so this just spoke to me
2) I like how in this book the author did not focus so much on this being an LGBTQ relationship I know a lot of books bring it back to you. Oh, this is the same sex marriage and all of that I like how this was like. Yep they’re getting married let’s get into the story.
3) honestly, I love all of this authors work, and I’m definitely going to read whatever else comes out by this author