ARC Book Review | 'Faked' By Karla Sorensen*

I think it’s fairly obvious by now to say I have a weak spot for all things romantic.

I love snuggling down with a good book that I can devour for a few hours, that I can get lost in until the hero and heroine have ultimately reached their happily ever after. Liam often finds it amusing, but I love being able to get lost in a good romance every now and then!

Every action has a consequence, and Claire Ward knows it. And yet, even knowing that her decision to swap places with her identical twin sister, Lia, for a night could be disastrous, she still does it. 

Why? 

Because it will give her an evening with the man she’s been crushing on for years, Lia’s best friend, Finn. 

Miss Straight A Student has thought through all the angles, and knows the risk is worth it. And everything would have been fine, if Finn had been the one to show up at her door. 

But it wasn’t. 

Bauer Davis— Finn’s half brother and his exact opposite in just about every definable category is the one waiting for her instead. A professional snowboarder, Bauer is covered in ink, full of attitude, and has a chip on his shoulder the size of Mt. Olympus. The kind of bad boy that Claire has never been attracted to before. 

Now the good girl is with the wrong brother for a night, and when the consequence is that they have to pretend to be together for an event, it’s nothing she could have predicted. But maybe, just maybe, what makes Bauer so bad, is exactly what Claire needs. 

One series I got into right as lockdown started was the ‘Washington Wolves’ series  by Karla Sorensen – what can I say, I’m a sucker for a good sports romance okay? So when the series came to an end, or rather I binge read the books in the space of about three days, I was a little lost – but thankfully not for long. Because as fate would have it, Sorensen had actually started a spin off series based all around four of the characters that are part of the focus of the third book, ‘The Marriage Effect’.

Having already read ‘Focused’, the first book in this new series centred on Molly Ward, I couldn’t wait to get to grips with ‘Faked’, the second book in the series focusing on one of the twins, Claire Ward. So when the ARC dropped on my kindle one day, I maybe possibly did a little squeal of excitement.

‘Yes, for her, I could try. I still felt unbalanced and about a thousand miles outside of my comfort zone, but when I touched her, felt her touch me back, everything fell back into place.’

So when I first started seeing little snippets of information about this book, I was excited. At first I thought it would be something along the lines of Claire posing as her sister, then the hero realising something was different about his best friend and falling for her without knowing about the twin swap. Scandalous right? However the book definitely took me by surprise by instead adding a bad boy to the mix in the form of Bauer, Finn’s brother and the black sheep of the family. Are you intrigued yet?

Claire Ward has been crushing on her twin sisters best friend Finn for years, so when Lia asks her to do a twin swap for a night as a favour, she’s secretly just a little bit thrilled at the fact that she will get to spend the evening with him, even if it’s just firmly in the friend-zone. As fate would have it though, Finn ends up falling ill and at the last moment, Bauer takes his place and that’s where the shenanigans start.

I warmed to Bauer straight from the outset, and even though he was painted as a bad boy, I definitely think it was over-hyped. He was such a sweetheart and pretty much smitten with Claire from the outset, seeing straight through the twin swap ruse. Bauer puts on a good show of being strong and independent, but when he let down his walls a bit and showed Claire his vulnerable side, I knew he’d stick around in my memory for a while afterwards. Oh, and add to the fact that he’s a semi-pro snowboarder? Swoon much?!

Seeing the world through Claire’s eyes was definitely a treat, and honestly after the past couple of books where she was a bit quiet it was refreshing to see her take on things. Claire is a strong character not to be messed with, even though she feels like she has mostly been in her twin’s shadow. And I have to say it here, I’m glad she got her pairing with Bauer because the two bring out the best qualities in each other, and dare I say it…Finn would not have been a good match.

‘His smile was small and sweet, and the way he was watching me made me blush in a different way. It wasn't sexual. Bauer looked… fascinated. Enamoured. Like a man who was falling in love.’

Claire and Bauer’s story kept me hooked from the very start, and if anything, I swear I need more of them. After a small misunderstanding hurts Bauer, I honestly wanted to give him a hug because you can just feel how it affects him. That’s the power of Sorensen’s writing, but thankfully the ending was more than satisfying.

Overall, ‘Faked’ is a light and sweet romantic read with a strong female lead and a sweet but rough around the edges bad boy. The epitome of all cliché romance books? Possibly. But it’s so damn good.

Have you read any of the 'Washington Wolves' series or any of the spin-off books? What was your favourite? Or are you adding this to your TBR pile? Let me know in the comments below!

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.