Pretend It's Love

Stefanie London’s Behind the Bar series features romance novels set in and taking place between people who own and operate bars. The second of these novels is Pretend It's Love, a relationship of convenience subgenre novel published in 2015. Featuring a relationship between a bar manager whose charm hides emotional wounds and a cocktail developer looking for a big break, the novel follows the traditional trajectory of a couple forced together by circumstance but kept together by deepening feelings.

Libby Harris has lived most of her life trying to measure up to her wealthy and controlling father’s ideals, so much so that she has been dubbed Little Miss Perfect in the process. But after a stint at med school showed her that she wasn’t cut out to be a doctor, Libby has decided to go in her own direction. Using her knowledge of chemistry, Libby has created a new way to induce flavor into vodka. The problem is that her idea was so good that a celebrity has just stolen it and has been trying to market it as his own. Now, because Libby has put everything on the line for her business, she needs a way to get her cocktail exposure in restaurants and bars as quickly as possible. Some bars she already had agreements with have started to back out, but she still has a shot to prove to her father that she has what it takes to succeed in the business world—the bar of Des Chapman.

When Libby goes to pitch her product, Des isn’t at the bar, but his younger brother Paul is. Paul is the bar’s manager, a very handsome and charming man who has always lived in his older brother’s “golden boy” shadow. Ever since his girlfriend cheated on him with his cousin, Paul has sworn off serious relationships and has just been jumping from casual hookup to casual hookup, coasting on his looks. Now, Des is about to get married, and Paul’s ex will be at the wedding. Still with his cousin, she is now pregnant. Paul is worried that if he comes to the wedding alone, he will look like a loser to his ex. He also knows that if he doesn’t get a “serious” girlfriend soon, his family—particularly, his traditional Italian mother who is very concerned that her son hasn’t gotten married or had babies yet—will never let him hear the end of it.



Paul and Libby feel an immediate connection when they meet—even just touching hands has an electric charge. After hearing Libby out, Paul comes up with a great idea. Paul will help Libby get her product featured at the bar by talking it and her up to Des. In exchange, Libby will pretend to be his girlfriend convincingly enough to fool his cheating ex and get his family to leave him alone. The agreement has two rules: no sex, and no falling in love with each other.

In order to look like they are really in a relationship, Paul and Libby start spending a lot of time together. They flirt and banter, eventually revealing deeper truths about themselves to each other. Libby tells Paul about her absentee parents—her father, who doesn’t ever show that he cares about her especially after she stopped following the path he had laid out, and her mother, who has recently remarried and now ignores Libby in favor of her younger stepsiblings. In contrast, Paul complains about his own family members, who mean well, but who are so intrusive that he can’t get his life in order without their interference.

The no-sex rule goes out the window quickly, as Paul and Libby are deeply attracted to one another. What takes them a long time to admit is that their physical desire is no match for the emotional connection they are also forging. Eventually, however, they realize that they have fallen in love and want to take their relationship to the next level.



As they support each other, it is clear they are a strong team. Libby sees the potential that Paul has been hiding by pretending to be satisfied with his slacker lifestyle. In turn, he gives her the praise that she has never received from her parents. In climactic scenes, both confront the demons that haunt the other: Libby has it out with Paul’s cheating ex, telling her off in a way that shows how much Libby has come to care for and understand Paul. Later, Paul tears into Libby’s father, kicking him out of her house in order to protect Libby from her father’s verbal abuse.

The ending is, of course, a happy one. Not only do Paul and Libby end up together, but also his warm and loving family embraces her as one of their own.