"One Week Girlfriend" by Monica Murphy

Judge a book by its cover

Sexy.  My guess - a YA romance novel.  Or as I like to refer to them as "PG-13 romance novels".  And does anyone else think the guy kind looks like Robert Pattinson???

Synopsis

Drew Callahan, collage football legend, needs a pretend girlfriend for when he returns home for Thanksgiving, so he asks Fable, the local bar waitress, who has made a reputation for herself in his circle of friends, and not in a "ladylike" way.  Drew isn't looking for a serious relationship because he believes himself to be too damaged; and Fable isn't looking for a serious relationship because she has her brother to look out for since mom is a drunk.  Fable agrees to be Drew "girlfriend" for $3000, for one week, while he returns home to see his dad and step-mom.  Tension is high in the Callahan household.  Fable discovers Drew is keeping a big secret that is eating away at him, and the more time Drew and Fable spend together, the more the fake relationship begins to feel real.  Will Drew's secret push Fable away, or bring her closer?

Humble Opinion

Totally predictable story.  I guessed Drew's secret even before they got to his home.  And I guessed the step-mom's secret immediately.  The "hints" were pretty damn obvious.  I hope that's what Murphy was going for, but if it was supposed to be a "shocking twist"... it wasn't.  In the slightest.


Obviously I went into the book predicting that the fake relationship would blossom into a real relationship, because that's what always happens in stories, but something about it felt... lacking.  It was an incredibly easy read but I didn't feel like there were much depth to the characters or the story in general.  Everything was predictable and textbook "teen romance story".  It almost felt more like a detailed outline for how the story was going to go, and what certain points/secrets needed to be revealed, but then Murphy never added depth to it.  I felt like the story had more potential than the final published product.

Final say

If you want an easy read and a story that doesn't make you think too hard, then this is the book for you.  But there are much better stories about "people from two different worlds" falling in love with each other.  Plus it wasn't nearly as steamy and sexy as the book cover suggested.  Ultimately - pass.