11 Fake Relationship Romance Books That Will Make You Have Real Feelings

Eliza Roth runs a jewelry shop in Brooklyn with her sister Sophie. After learning of an ex's engagement, Eliza accidentally posts a photo of herself wearing a diamond ring on that finger to her Instagram account and her 100,000 followers. Suddenly, the store is abuzz with the rumor of Eliza's engagement, as sales skyrocket and press rolls in. Rather than clear up the misunderstanding, Eliza seizes the business opportunity and sets out to find a fake fiancé.

Fellow entrepreneur Blake seems like the perfect match, but there's a problem: Eliza is starting to feel drawn to someone else. In a twist on the trope, Love at First Like asks whether a fake relationship will get in the way of real feelings.

Meet Cute Diary turns the fake relationship trope on its head. It's not that protagonist Noah Ramirez is in a fake relationship, but he has used dozens of fake relationship stories of trans happily ever afters for his popular blog, the titular Meet Cute Diary.

When Noah's fantasies are exposed as fiction, he needs to find a way to make the stories feel real. He finds Drew, who seems like the perfect match, but it's clear from the start that real-life fake dating is more complicated than manufacturing love on the page. 

Jack Winchester needs cover to solve a decades-old mystery revolving around his family ranch, and Josey Smith offers the perfect opportunity. Posing for his wife for the week, Josey is on the run from a killer, and Jack takes his vow of protection seriously, even if the wedding vows are fake. 

Soon, the sparks begin to fly, even as danger descends upon the “newly married” couple. 

If you're a fan of the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce story, or maybe the Hailee Steinfeld and Josh Allen connection instead, this one's for you. Emily Hamilton is an actor who doesn't trust men, and certainly not playboys like NFL star Brandon McKenna. When a misunderstanding in the press makes them the newest hot couple, however, Emily and Brandon find themselves in a fake engagement that yields unexpected and breathtaking benefits.

The intensely prolific Janet Dailey has written literally dozens of romance books, with fifty titles alone forming her most famous series, Americana, with a novel for each American state. 

Fire and Ice, book five in the series, takes place in California and follows a glamorous model as she propositions a stranger with marriage as means to get full custody of her younger sister. He agrees, but only under the condition that they live together. She plans to divorce him after a year and maintains an icy façade to keep him away, but that doesn’t last for long.

To help secure his latest business deal, billionaire Dante Lucarelli enters a fake relationship with Belle Forrester, a waitress who owns little more than the clothes on her back. The charade was only supposed to last two weeks. 

But to both their surprise, the connection between them is electric, and they wind up in bed together. And giving into temptation can have permanent consequences...

Sarah, a teacher from Cornwall, and Matt, a businessman from Nashville, meet on a European coach tour and quickly establish a fake relationship of mutually beneficial qualities. Matt's too busy for romance and enjoys the buzz of their arrangement, while Sarah is happy to do anything that will make her cheating ex-husband jealous. 

Everything goes well at first as they take in the sights together, tour the many picturesque locations of Europe, and share their loved-up snapshots online. It's exactly what a real relationship looks like, only it’s not, but why isn’t it real? Neither Matt nor Sarah can fully answer that question.

Kate is trying to succeed in the male-dominated and depressingly conservative world of finance. Her colleagues don't seem to treat her seriously thanks to her past reputation as a flighty party girl, but she's trying to reform that with an engagement to the perfect man who will cement her reputation as a serious businesswoman. 

The only problem: He doesn't exist. All she can do now is draft in her best friend from high school, Adam, and get him to play along until she gets what she wants.

Stella Lane prefers to look at things logically, especially in her job where she comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases. It's harder to apply that approach to her love life. Living with Asperger's has made romance a little harder too, but with her family eager to see her settle down, she decides the only thing that can be done is a re-education. 

Stella needs to learn how to date, how to kiss, and how to love, so she hires the extremely handsome escort Michael Phan to teach her everything she needs to know. The Kiss Quotient was one of 2018's most buzzed-about contemporary romance novels, and for good reason!

We can’t talk about fake relationship books without mentioning the YA romance that took the world by storm when it became a Netflix movie last year. Nobody could have predicted the staggering success that the big-screen adaptation of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before would experience, even those of us who have loved the book for years. Yet it has all the ingredients for a perfect spirit-lifting romance. 

Lara Jean writes letters to all the boys she's ever crushed on, seals them in a box under her bed, and never lets anyone else see them. However, things get awkward when one day she realizes someone has sent out the letters. Suddenly she needs a boyfriend to help take the heat off her, and the seemingly-perfect Peter Kavinsky volunteers as tribute!

While at a rustic wedding, city boy Derrick Massey has plenty of fun with a cowboy, Kendall "Slater" Stamos. And with more weddings to attend that summer, he asks Slater to pretend to be his boyfriend so his family will stop bothering him about settling down.

The deal also works for Slater, who's recently been injured and could use a place to stay while he recuperates. But as the deadline for their summer relationship grows near, both men find themselves wondering if their casual arrangement could be the real deal.

Will is a proud introvert who enjoys quiet nights in writing his sci-fi novels and avoiding his family's endless attempts to get him out of his shell. Naomi, the little sister of one of Will's best friends, needs a fake boyfriend for a house party she and her ex are both attending. 

She's vibrant and bubbly and the polar opposite of Will's quieter self. But to Will, she's also sort of perfect, and their one night of fake love feels more real than anything he's experienced. Grumpy Fake Boyfriend is as adorable as the title suggests, a short breezy read perfect to scratch any fake romance itch you have.

Georgette Castle’s family runs the best home renovation business in town, but since she chose a career in children's birthday parties as a literal clown over being a fixer-upper, they've never truly taken her seriously. Travis Ford is a former pro baseball player whose career was brought to an end by injury, forcing him to move back to his home town and start his life afresh. 

Both Georgie and Travis want to be taken more seriously, so they concoct a fake relationship plan to help change everyone's perceptions of them. He wants to look more wholesome and she wants the exact opposite. Add laughs, angst, and lots of dirty talk, and what more could you ask for?! 

This plot reminds us of the first book of the Bridgerton series: the Marquess of Rossdale has no desire to marry, and neither does Gemma, the youngest daughter of the scandalous Summerfield family. 

To keep potential matches at bay for the rest of the season, Ross suggests to Gemma that the two enter a fake engagement. Of course, pulling off such a scheme will require them to make their relationship look real—and with every stolen kiss, the lines between them become more blurred.