New Release Audio review: Five Fake Dates by DJ Jamison, Performed by Darcy Stark

03 May of 2020 by ButtonsMom2003

Five Fake Dates By DJ Jamison, Narrated by Darcy Stark

Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM

Tropes: Friends-to-lovers, fake dating

Released: audio April 29, 2020; ebook December 26, 2019

Publisher: Self-Published

Length: 2hrs, 46mins / 104 pages

Cover Design: Jay Aheer, Simply Defined Art

Synopsis

Adam
I’ve got it bad for my best friend, but he’s only had eyes for my sister since we were kids. I don’t know what I’ll do if they hook up — especially after a drunken kiss West doesn’t seem to remember. Seeing them together just might kill me, so why I offer to help him hone his dating skills, I’ll never know. FML.

West
Ever since a drunken kiss we haven’t talked about, I’ve been seeing Adam in a new light. Trouble is, he thinks I want his sister. This whole bisexual awakening thing is scary, and I don’t want to risk our friendship by moving too fast. But when Adam mocks my dating skills, I come up with a genius plan: Five Fake Dates. Adam thinks he’s helping me, and I get to test the waters without risking our friendship. Win-win!

A few fake dates, increasingly real kisses, and a tiny deception between friends. What could go wrong?

Five Fake Dates was originally written for a promotional giveaway to fans. It has been expanded to approximately 27,000 words and now has a little more spice and a bonus epilogue with HEA!

Review

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

I loved this so much!

I did a beta read of Five Fake Dates for DJ Jamison back in December when the e-book was released. I really loved it; her new adult stories are some of my favorites. I’m not sure how I dropped the ball but I never did a review of it – anywhere, let alone on this blog. Now that I’ve finished listening to the audiobook, I couldn’t wait to do a review.

I’ve listened to several audiobooks that Darcy Stark has performed and I’ve loved all of them. I think his voice is perfect for this kind of story and he did a fantastic job with Five Fake Dates.

Friends-to-lovers is one of my favorite romance tropes and this one really touched my heart. The blurb is really good so take a look at it. I can tell you that I smiled a lot while reading this but it also really made me feel things.

Adam is in love with his best friend and college roommate, West. Adam believes that West is straight because he’s been crushing on Adam’s sister forever. When West finally realizes that he feels more than friendship for Adam the fake dating he proposes has some really funny things happening.

But it’s not all light and funny as there are some serious moments, too. I love how it all worked out for Adam and West and the epilogue that DJ wrote for their story was wonderful. I loved reading how they were doing together 3 years down the road.

OK, I thought about it a long time before adding this bit and decided I couldn’t resist. I’m in my mid-60’s and I loved the fun and campy Batman TV series when I was young. Every time I wrote Adam and West for this review it made me giggle a bit. For the younger crowd: Adam West played Batman on TV.