Review: Written in the Stars

Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5 stars 

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

“I’m at my wits’ end with my brother’s matchmaking,” Darcy explained. “And you . . . you want your family to think you can hold down a relationship?” 

Written in the Stars draws a little inspiration from Elizabeth and Darcy's personality conflicts from Pride and Prejudice and adds some fake relationship to produce a fantastic romcom (I know Romancelandia is wearing thin on everything being called a romcom but I swear, this is actually one). Elle, along with her roommate Margot, run Oh My Stars on social media sites, they produce astrology content. They've recently teamed up with OTP (One True Pairing), a dating app, to help match people. Brendon is the genius behind OTP and as Elle and him work together and get to know one another, Brendan decides Elle would be perfect for his sister Darcy. Elle is a sweet free spirit and even though she thinks about the ramifications of getting involved with her boss' sister, she agrees to go on the date with good intentions. Darcy on the other hand, is tired of being sent on blind dates that her overly romantic brother keeps forcing on her and after Elle is late to the date, she's already over it. 

“Just because it started out fake doesn’t mean it can’t become real, right?” 

The opposites attract is clear right away but what I enjoyed about Elle and Darcy's connection was that with their initial and mutual physical attraction, with each meeting, it was clear how emotionally they were fitting into each other's grooves. Elle was the more free spirited one but I liked how the author kept her from being the tired silly naive trope who needed the more serious and buttoned up Darcy to mange her and get her life on track. Elle is smart and in a serious career and financial deal with OTP, her family doesn't respect her career and that leads to feelings of inadequacy for her but she has control in her life. While on paper, Darcy would come across as the more stable one, she's actually the one who needs the most help. Her issues stem from her mother being emotionally crushed by their father and never recovering, leading Darcy to equate love with pain and she's coming off a broken engagement where her partner was cheating on her. Darcy has a tough exterior wall but with each date with Elle, it cracks and she lets her in more and more. 

Elle loved herself, but what a feeling it must be, being loved by someone else exactly as you are, quirks and warts and all. 

Darcy wants Brendon to stop looking at every woman as a potential life partner for her and Elle is sick of being single at family holiday get togethers, so the fake dating trope fits to get these two together. This is a character driven story and I enjoyed how through that, we actually get to see their relationship develop and go on the emotional journey with them. Secondary characters played their roles well but I could have stood for even more background and personality from some, Margot, Annie, and even more Brendon; they seem like they could be future stars of their own books in the series, so getting even more of them to entice interest would have been good. This was an open door romance to spice it up a bit but the funny, sweet, and heartfilled romcom tone was strong throughout. This is definitely a romance I would recommend and I'll be anticipating the always on the lookout for that HEA brother of Darcy, Brendon's book. 

Darcy had miscalculated; she wasn’t falling, she’d fallen.

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