Friday, July 24, 2020

The Substitute: cute but not very interesting


The Substitute by Denise Grover Swank is the first book in The Wedding Pact series. It is the story of Megan Vandemeer. She meant to tell her parents about her broken engagement. But six weeks later, she boards a plane back home to Kansas City for a wedding her parents think is still on. She is terrified to reveal the truth, knowing her mother will place the blame solely on Megan. Once on the plane, she takes a dose of Dramamine for her airsickness and has a couple drinks to calm her nerves. She finds herself spilling her story out to the handsome stranger seated next to her. Josh McMillan boards the plane to Kansas City on a desperate effort to save his company. Although Megan is completely loopy, her honesty and humor charm him and he decides to help her off the plane. When an overheard comment mistakes him for Megan’s fiancĂ©, Jay, and Josh has no choice to play along. They decide to have a very public break up. But as they do the pre-wedding activities her mother has planned, the less they want to break it off. Can this charade really be happily ever after?


I’ve read a few fake pact leads to real romance type of stories before and The Substitute is definitely one of those stories. It has a great start as Megan gets on the plane and meets Josh. After that it really slows down until the last quarter of the story. I just didn’t understand how Megan, who stood up to her mother once before, couldn’t do it again and tell her the engagement was off. I also don’t believe that after 2 years of dating, her family has never met Jay or seen a picture of him! The story is sweet and the banter between Megan and Josh is fun but there were events that just didn’t seem plausible or realistic. Overall, it was a cute story but didn’t hold my interest enough to continue with the series. If you enjoy the fake pact love romance stories, you may enjoy The Substitute.

The Substitute
is available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook

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