Let’s get this out of the way first: fake dating is an insane construct. Even done well, as it is here, it’s just silly. But Annabel Monaghan does it well enough that you forgive it almost immediately.
Dolly All the Time is Monaghan’s homage to Pretty Woman and a love letter to eldest daughters and caregivers everywhere. Dolly Brick is a single mom living in Boston with her teenage son Gus when she’s pulled back to her Rhode Island hometown to care for her dad and disabled brother after a fire damages the family home. While she’s there, she runs into Stewart Whitfield, scion of the family the town is named after. He offers her the money she needs to repair the house in exchange for fake dating him for the summer, to convince his family he’s not a workaholic and deserves to be named CEO of their company. (Like I said, a little silly.)
The chemistry between Dolly and Stewart is so good, and their feelings for each other develop so genuinely, that the fake dating scaffolding stops mattering pretty quickly. And Gus is a great book kid and Dolly’s best friend Naomi is a great book best friend.
But what Monaghan does better than almost anyone is write women you want to root for. Not 22-year-olds living charmed lives, but real women navigating love amidst the mess of reality. Dolly in particular will feel like a mirror to so many eldest daughters and caregivers — women who have spent their whole lives pushing their own needs down, not speaking up for themselves, taking on everything for everyone else. To see that reflected so clearly, and then to watch Dolly grow out of it, is genuinely meaningful. Monaghan tackles it with such care. I teared up more than once, which happens almost every time I read one of her books.
She remains the author I’d most recommend to anyone looking for a romance that feels like the warmest hug you could ever wish to receive.
PS: Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for providing me with an Advanced Reading Copy.
