How to Lose a Fiancé by Stefanie London

This post is part of Social Butterfly PR's Blog Tour for

  How to Lose a Fiancé by Stefanie London

  

  Title: How to Lose a Fiancé

  Author: Stefanie London

  Release Date: June 17, 2019

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Sophia Andreou has always been the “good daughter” who tried to keep her domineering father happy. She followed the rules and did everything that was asked of her. But this time, her father is asking too much. The family company is crumbling, and her father has arranged a marriage to a Greek billionaire who can save their property business. What?! Umm no thank you. If Cinderella can dress up to win a prince, surely Sophia can do the opposite and ditch hers...

Dion Kourakis has come a long way from being an orphan with only a single friend to his name. Now he runs a billion-dollar investment company and has the respect of everyone in Europe. His charming personality covers a lot of emotional scars, including his desire to make his mentor proud. Dion doesn’t exactly want a bride to go along with his next business deal, and he plans on letting the lass down gently when they meet...

Only, his future bride has turned out to be nothing like what he thought she’d be. She’s quirky and has a habit of turning up to social events in strange outfits. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what she’s up to, but the harder she tries to convince him she’d be an awful wife, the more he wants to convince her they’d be perfect together.

 

Over the past few months or so, after the release of Bad Influence, Stefanie London has become an author on my 'will always check out list'. So it comes as no surprise to anyone ever that when I saw the cover, the blurb, the title (but really, just the name Stefanie London on the cover) of How to Lose a Fiance, of course I jumped on the chance to join the blog tour!

Books that center around an arranged marriage with a billionaire has been around the romance genre for ages, and they are so much fun. How to Lose a Fiance follows the same formula as so many have in the past, and this is what makes it such a comfortable read. It has enough differences to stand on its own though, so you don't have to worry about feeling like you've read this book before.

The story opens with Sophia's dad telling her that she will have to Dion, the businessman who will be buying their family company. Sophia is understandably distressed and frustrated at the news, and given that her father has her mother under his thumb, she's not too eager to rock the boat and refuse the marriage. She then decides that the best way to stop the wedding is to make Dion back out on his end, and she proceeds to cook up a crazy plan of being too 'out there' to ever be Dion's wife.

The first part of the book was just Sophia's antics, and I couldn't stop laughing while reading. Sophia started dressing in loud outfits - she was wearing what Dion referred to as clown pants at one point - and she even pretended to be very into taxidermy at one point. Dion was never deterred though, and he was kind and charming to her at every turn. Of course, he suspects that Sophia is putting on an act, but I love that he never treated her terribly. Once Sophia came clean to Dion about why she doesn't want to get married, they start talking, spending time with each other, and building a relationship. For me, it's at this point that I feel I can't put the book down.

I love Dion! Usually Greeks tend to be portrayed as arrogant and cold in arranged marriage books, and he was neither. He did have an ulterior motive in wanting to marry Sophia, sure, but he never treated her with disrespect. He was prepared to give her what she needed, and to make her comfortable as much as he can. We also see how his feelings for Sophia grow and change, which I personally like.

All in all, How to Lose a Fiance was a fun read. I do feel at some points the story flowed a bit too fast, but not too much that it affected my enjoyment of the story. This book is technically part of a series, but it can be read as a standalone. I feel like it also introduced the third hero of the series, and I'm already excited to read his story! 

Rating: 3.5 Stars