When your Gran needs your help, you would do anything, wouldn’t you?

Synopsis

A Greek island holiday. A fake-dating pact. A chance at true love?

After losing her job as a book scout, hopeless romantic Evie needs a fresh start. So when she hears that her eccentric grandmother has just taken on a small bookshop in Santorini, Evie jumps at the chance to visit her.

But life on the island is not as idyllic as it first seems. Gran has a tempestuous relationship with her landlord and he’s threatening to take the bookshop away from her. So when Gran asks Evie to fake a romance with her landlord’s Greek God of a grandson, Georgios, to keep the family on side, she reluctantly agrees.

As the sun sets on Evie’s Greek holiday, can she save the bookshop – and fake date her way to love?

My review

Evie truly enjoyed being a book scout, until her new boss decided to go a different direction, making Evie end up without a job.
Finding a new job isn’t that easy, and as she needs a fresh start and decide which direction to take next, the chance to visit her excentric Gran in Santorini is the perfect getaway.
But Evie doesn’t only go there to visit Floretta as she truly misses her Gran, but also because Floretta is known to act impulsively. Especially now Floretta has gotten married once again, and took over a small bookshop. A bookshop the landlord is threating to take away from Floretta. So with Evie in Santorini, Floretta thinks it would be perfect to get on the landlord’s good side if Evie would be dating his grandson Georgios, or rather, fake – dating…
To protect her Gran, Evie agrees with the scheme. But as her holiday comes to an end, will she be able to save the bookshop? And what about Georgios, as it may have started as faking to date him, but was is truly all just pretend?

When I picked up this book, I had never heard of a book scout before. And I have to say, that for sure seemed a wonderful job to have: reading books to see if they would work on the big screen. And as Evie was responsible for the romantic books, well I actually envied her!
But that wasn’t the only thing I could relate to, with a character as Evie. Because she isn’t the most extravert character, and prefers to sit quietly in a corner, totally enthralled by the books she is reading.
She doesn’t even truly dares to stand up after being let go, she just meekly packs her stuff and leaves.

Her persona is the total opposite of the rest of her family… her mother is a fancy lawyer, her sister is make a name of her own as an actress, and then there is Floretta, her Gran.
Floretta is a very outspoken person, very extravert. She loves falling in love, and has been married many many times.
I have to admit, reading how each of her husbands left the scene, for sure made me a bit suspicious of her… I would never dare to get on her wrong side, as I would honestly fear for my life! And even if Floretta is still walking around freely, I never was completely sure of her innocence! Luckily at the end of the book, a lot is made clear! 😊

With fake – dating as a plot, we often think about two parties agreeing to pretend of being together for a greater good. But I liked it how the author gave this trope a twist, as Evie is only seeing Georgios to save the bookshop.
While perhaps it is not an honest thing to do, faking an interest in a person and even playing him, it fitted the story. But it was also good to see how that ploy completely backfired, as Evie and Georgios are actually growing closer together. And while Evie believes she is still pretending, the pretence is long over.

As Evie spends more and more time with Georgios, she dares to get out of her rather closed world. Initially she doesn’t agree on everything Georgios has planned, but slowly she finds the courage to get out of her comfort zone and she starts doing things she never imagined she would be doing.

And Georgios for sure shows patience and understanding towards Evie. He doesn’t push her to do what she truly doesn’t want to do. But his presence somehow makes Evie to want to be more courageous. And that was lovely to see, how a person without doing something that exceptional, makes you want to do unthinkable things!

Floretta is, like I said, a force to reckon with. but her passion for the bookshop for sure also sparks from each page. She invested a lot in the place, wanting it to make something spectacular. And I could totally see the complete picture, a place to lose yourself in this wonderful place, but also having that little extra thing that nowhere else can be found.

I found myself not only totally falling in love with not only the bookshop, but also with Santorini itself. It felt like I was discovering the island alongside Evie, feeling the charm of it.
All that on top of reading a wonderful story about how the desire to save a place that matters can turn into a place that feels like home, finding a place where you belong and even a place to find love.