Playing pretend by Tamsyn Bester

ARC kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Kadence Kavanagh has spent the last two years trying to rebuild her life. When a job opportunity presents itself, she can’t say no, even if it’s with the man who’s life was ruined by her father’s indiscretion. It’s been years since she last saw Caleb Callahan, and she’s not even sure he remembers her, but she’s determined to give herself a clean slate no matter who she has to work for.

In the unlikeliest of circumstances, Caleb becomes her savior – if somewhat reluctantly - and she discovers that the man she’s read about in the gossip columns is nothing more than a smoke screen. Kadence knows that keeping her distance is for the best, no matter how difficult, but when Caleb proposes the unthinkable, she finds herself caught between what’s real, and what she wishes was real.

Caleb and Kadence lose themselves in a lie, and when reality comes knocking, they realize that all they were doing was playing pretend… 

"You have to stop that"

"Stop what? "

"Saving me. You've been doing that a lot."

"Oh, sweet Kadence, I'm afraid my intentions  as far as you're concerned have always been too depraved for me to save you.But I have the feeling you're going to be the one to save me."

When Kadence took the job opportunity she never thought that she'll end up working for Caleb, the man she secretly loved every since she was a little girl.  More than that, when she faced hard times Caleb was the one to help Kadence out. To return the favour, Kadence agreed to  play the "girlfriend" role when the great CEO faced some issues of his own. Al cotton candy and rainbows, seems like our heroes decided to put aside their sad past.

"For the last two years, I've been running from a family I'm ashamed of. You think your family was the only one that suffered, but mine did too. You've been so focused on making me feel small ,that you didn't stop to think maybe , just maybe, you weren't the only one who got hurt."

At first Kadence knew that their "relationship" was all lies and pretend but she never expected to actually  play a big part in Caleb's revenge plan. Of course that in the process Caleb loses his mind and heart - but it's a little late for real love or for quiting his foolish plan. It was only a matter of time until Kadence found out the truth behind Caleb's generosity and "good  intentions".

"We're not over."

"We are , Caleb. There are no happy-ever-after's when you play pretend."

Caleb  screwed up big time , not puting the past to rest wasn't the smartest thing to do. As a consequences he lost Kandence and possibly a great new mom for his daughter.. 

And speaking  of Braelynn and horrible decisions, I fail to see why Caleb allows Natalia back into their life . This man continues to make his life miserable .

On the other hand I just love how Aaliyah and  Macy were all like -

It takes lots of courage for Caleb to make things right. Our girl isn't really the kind to get over a broken heart that easily .Twice.