Acting Merry

By: Martha Keyes

Narrated by: Caroline Lauf

Rule number one of Christmas cabin trips? Don’t show up single when your friend brings her new boyfriend—especially when he happens to be your ex.

Rule number two? If you’re about to break rule one…bring a fake boyfriend.

Which is exactly how Reese Cameron ends up with Cole Bradley. He may be a contractor rather than an actor, but he’s convincing enough at the boyfriend gig to make her wonder if it’s really all an act.

But Cole has a strict two-date policy, and Reese’s heart isn’t built for casual. Which means she’s in danger of forgetting the most important rule of all: fake boyfriends don’t last past Christmas.

©2025 Martha Keyes (P)2025 Paradigm Press

sweet romance ish

I bought this immediately when seeing it, since I love everything from Aspen Hadley. This time though, Aspen jumped in the same murky waters that so many clean authors are swimming in. It makes me uncomfortable to think that my teenage boys or girls would read a clean romance and think it's ok to share a bed with your makeout buddy and think nothing is going to "happen." I sincerely dislike this misleading trope. I can't recommend it to any of my young reader friends for i don't want to normalize non-committal sleeping together.