Synopsis
Ben Stephens has never bothered with serious relationships. He has plenty of casual dates to keep him busy, family drama he’s trying to ignore and his advertising job to focus on. When Ben lands a huge ad campaign featuring movie star Anna Gardiner, however, it’s hard to keep it purely professional. Anna is not just gorgeous and sexy, she’s also down to earth and considerate, and he can’t help flirting a little…
Anna Gardiner is on a mission: to make herself a household name, and this ad campaign will be a great distraction while she waits to hear if she’s booked her next movie. However, she didn’t expect Ben Stephens to be her biggest distraction. She knows mixing business with pleasure never works out, but why not indulge in a harmless flirtation?
But their lighthearted banter takes a turn for the serious when Ben helps Anna in a family emergency, and they reveal truths about themselves to each other, truths they’ve barely shared with those closest to them.
When the opportunity comes to turn their real-life fling into something more for the Hollywood spotlight, will Ben be content to play the background role in Anna’s life and leave when the cameras stop rolling? Or could he be the leading man she needs to craft their own Hollywood ending?
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Review
I’ve concluded that Jaime Guillory is hit or miss for me. I liked Anna and Ben in While We Were Dating, but I was just not feeling their chemistry.
While You Were Dating sort of circumvents the fake dating trope. I liked the way it was done here, and I did enjoy the story. However, I do think there was too much going on in this story. I would have liked it better if it had just focused on Anna and Ben instead of some of the outside relationships. Though the story started strong, I felt like it dragged on too long. And I just didn’t care that much about Anna and Ben’s relationship.
My favorite thing about While You Were Dating was how it handled mental health. I loved that both characters have “issues” and that it normalized seeing a therapist. The book did a great job of tackling many mental health issues, something that I wish more books, especially books in this genre, would do.
While this book was not for me in many ways, it was a good read. Though Party of Two remains my favorite of her books!
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