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Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance

Theme: Fake Relationship

Archetype: Actor/Actress/Celebrity, Firefighter

This RITA® Reader Challenge 2016 review was written by SharonEm. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Mid-Length Contemporary category.

The summary:

Between ‘I will’ and ‘I do’, there’s room to fall.

Caitlyn Gregg just agreed to marry ‘Mister Perfect’ on national television. There’s only one problem: as soon as the cameras stop rolling on their whirlwind reality show romance, she realizes she doesn’t love him. Returning home to Colorado as the show begins to air, she has only her doubts for company–until she accidentally sets her apartment on fire and finds herself in the arms of oh-so-sexy fire-fighter Will Hamilton.

Sparks fly–and not just from her singed apartment–but Caitlyn is engaged to another man and is contractually forbidden from talking about the engagement, breaking it off, or seeing other men until the show’s finale.

Will doesn’t know what to make of Caitlyn’s hot-and-cold routine, until he turns on the TV one night and sees her being wooed by another man. Thinking she must be gunshy after what is about to be a very public break-up, he tells her they can take it slow… but their insane chemistry has other ideas.

Falling hard for Will is against all the rules and every week she dreads Tuesday, knowing any episode could be the one that drives him away. When the truth comes out, will Caitlyn lose the man of her dreams because she already said yes to Mister Perfect?

Here is SharonEm's review:

“Milk,” Mimi suggested. “Soaks up some of the sweetness.”

Falling for Mr. Wrong by Lizzie Shane, is a finalist for Best Mid-Length Contemporary. It is the third book in Shane’s Reality Romance series. Book two, Romancing Miss Right, is also a finalist in this category.

Caitlyn is the winner of the reality television show Marrying Mr. Perfect. In accordance with her contract with the show, she returns home after the final episode is filmed and is prohibited from giving any indication whatsoever about what happens on the show until the final episode airs. While waiting for the season to play out, she meets her downstairs neighbor, Will, and is immediately attracted to him. Will, a ski-instructor and volunteer firefighter in the small resort town of Tuller Springs Colorado, has his own issues. He recently lost his fiancé to his best friend and is finding it difficult to get past his hurt.
While the set-up is technically a love triangle, this is not a “cheating” book. The reader is aware in the first few pages that Caitlyn is ambivalent about her reality show success and her Mr. Perfect. The primary tension is in the conflict between her developing feelings for Will and her legal obligation to the show.

Ms. Shane writes great female characters. Caitlyn’s relationship with her best friend, Mimi, is a lot of fun, and Will’s sisters were characters I wouldn’t have minded spending more time with. The male characters needed work. Will was a nice guy but I never felt attracted to him and I didn’t feel a lot of heat between him and Caitlyn. The title ended up being a play on words and expectations as Will is Mr. Wrong only in the sense that he is not a player in the reality show game. He is practically perfect and is Mr. Right in every other sense of the word.

Caitlyn was a child prodigy pianist and I liked the use of music throughout the story. Caitlyn and Will’s relationship evolves through music – he hears her playing before they ever meet, and he gives her a gift later in the story that touches her dearly. Caitlyn’s exclamations are cute classical references such as “Holy Hadyn” and “Sweet Mozart’s Toes.” In fact, there were several phrases that made me grin or even chuckle. The writing was solid, the editing was good, and my only complaint is that the male characters could use a little more oomph.

Even though this is part of a series, it can be read as a stand- alone. In the interest of research I read books one and two. Book two introduces Daniel, the Mr. Perfect of book three. A secondary relationship between the reality show producer and her former mentor carries on from book one, and while that relationship has a bit more pizazz than Caitlyn and Will, the backstory is fairly well given in book three so you are not lost. And finally, don’t be put off if you are not a fan of reality television. The show is just a setting in these stories and I actually found myself interested in the details of how the show worked and how the audience responded. One of my favorite characters in the series is the producer, Miranda. Her voice spoke to the best and worst of these shows, so I never felt as though reality television was being glorified or demonized.

Overall, I give this story a B. If you are in the mood for something light, sweet and easy to digest, this is a good choice. I actually preferred book two, Romancing Miss Right.