Okay, I actually loved this so much! I requested it because I'd seen the cover artist post the reveal and saw fat rep for both characters and the words "fake marriage" in the title and was all in. I started to read the arc and then immediately realized the other book I'd seen by this author was the first and was connected, so I started that one but was already too interested in this one, so I'll have to go back to that one. I'm curious to see what I'll think of Hazel as the best friend in book one, because I love her as the MC in this one. That she's fiesty, a little rude, loves going for shock value, all while being standoffish because she was essentially trained by her mother to be exactly what men want, to hide her real self and interests, etc. Then her adorably oafish, gentle-giant neighbor, Beck, sees right through that and without her even realizing it at first, encourages her to own it. She situates herself as his fake wife to help him save face with an awful colleague, and they end up at a two week writer's retreat all togrther, where she struggles with the fact that the more she sees who he is, the more she falls her walls dropping and wishing she was someone worthy of his real love.
This book is simultaneously so beautifully soft and incredibly horny, and it's such a great mix. It's all from her POV so there were times I wanted to shake her and say, "Get it together! This sweet man CLEARLY wants you for real, exactly as you are!" Beck is nearing 40 and very inexperienced, and I loved the way that was handled in the story, with her not only not judging him for it, but ultimately being excited by the fact that she's the one who gets to have firsts with him. He may be polite, and seem rather innocent because of his general demeanor with the public, but he also knows what he wants and is a very quick to apply what he's learned. The ending made me feel a little emotional for them both and I think it's because the "everyone deserves someone to love them just as they are" message got to me a little, because isn't that what so many of us want? 
Thank you to SMP for the arc, I very much enjoyed the story and will definitely look for more from this author in the future.
•Fat rep
•British and American characters 
•Spicy and sweet
•Release date: Mar 11/25