I hate giving a book a single star but I really didn't like it at all. I wanted to. I'm a fan of a well done faux marriage/romance story but there was just so much going on with The Marriage Masquerade - and not much of it dealing with a growing attraction or love - that I just wanted to be done with it. I'll explain a bit of what stood in the way of an enjoyable read for me...

The biggest issue is the fact that a year went by and Taylor and Jaden never really talked with each other about anything of consequence. There was never any discussion of love or showing the couple growing together. Suddenly five months had gone by and each were feeling lust and love but never spoke about it. Then a year was gone and it was pretty much the same thing.

Instead of spending time with Taylor and Jaden, we were told about how awful the grandfather was (super awful), how broken Taylor was, Jaden dealing with an ex, figuring out why Sam had a job when he didn't do anything, who this mysterious grandmother was, best friends Annie and Alex, and Jaden's recovery with the help of a huge sea turtle. But not much relationship building. And absolutely no communication.

While I always appreciate an ARC, I can't recommend this one. ( )