Trading Up

by Cathryn Fox

This isn’t one of those stories where I was always in love with my brother’s best friend, and he’d spent years crushing on me.

Furthest thing from it, really.

I like Braden Murphy well enough. He’s a nice guy, and the football’s team star running back.

That’s why I asked him to help me get the attention of a real life prince charming.

Prince Stefan Lundin is a senior at Kinston college.

Rumor has it he’s looking for his princess.

I’m a pretty down to earth girl inside, which means I need to up my game.

Basically, pretend to be everything I’m not.

Braden reluctantly agrees, and then something crazy happens.

I realize I’ve been chasing the wrong prince this whole time.

Too bad I’ve became nothing but a lie.

Everything Braden hated. Everything I hated.

Here I was selling myself to the wrong guy, but now I’m worried the one I really want is no longer buying.

Genres: Contemporary, Sports Romance

302 pages, Paperback

Published January 16, 2022

About the author

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cathryn Fox is a wife, mom, sister, daughter, aunt and friend. She loves dogs, sunny weather, anything chocolate (she never says no to a brownie) pizza and red wine. Cathryn lives in beautiful Nova Scotia with her husband, who is convinced he can turn her into a mixed martial arts fan. When not writing, Cathryn can be found Skyping with her son living in Seattle (could he have moved any farther away?) shopping with her daughter in the city, watching a big action flick with her husband, or hanging out and laughing with friends.

Reviews

[Dar]

Oh, a fake relationship, plus friends to lovers, plus best friends’ little sister? This hit so many things I love in a good love story that I had high hopes going in, and it met every single one of those expectations! Lots of ‘but it’s fake and feels so real’; lots of ‘hide what is really going on from the brother/best friend’; Lots of steamy things that need to be hidden too, so be prepared to need to be cooled down! What these two fail to realize, but is apparent to everyone around them, is that they were made for each other, had been for years, but were super slow on the uptake of that fact. A super slimy bad guy is the push needed, but for every step forward, it seems these two take 2 steps back. That is until it all finally comes together, and then, it is perfection <3

[Sharon Jones]

This book covers so many tropes that I love to read, but I am hard pressed to say which one of those tropes I loved the most after finishing this story.
Sports romance novels are my absolute favorite books to read, this story basically has no on field action, and usually that would annoy me, but that’s not what this book is about.
Cassidy finds herself in a position that is really due to her mother’s making. So many times I hoped she would tell her mother to step back, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. Although that part of the storyline is resolved at the end of the book. Braden is Cassidy’s brothers best friend and he ends up helping Cassidy with what her mother wants her to do. I was absolutely blindsided by the reveal at the end of the book as to how many people were rooting for them to make it as a couple. So many ups and downs throughout the whole book made for such wonderful reading. I will definitely keep my eye out for the next book when it is released. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced readers copy of this book.

[Read.Review.Repeat Blog]

"This book covers so many tropes that I love to read, but I am hard pressed to say which one of those tropes I loved the most after finishing this story.
Sports romance novels are my absolute favorite books to read, this story basically has no on field action, and usually that would annoy me, but that’s not what this book is about.
Cassidy finds herself in a position that is really due to her mother’s making. So many times I hoped she would tell her mother to step back, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. Although that part of the storyline is resolved at the end of the book. Braden is Cassidy’s brothers best friend and he ends up helping Cassidy with what her mother wants her to do. I was absolutely blindsided by the reveal at the end of the book as to how many people were rooting for them to make it as a couple. So many ups and downs throughout the whole book made for such wonderful reading. I will definitely keep my eye out for the next book when it is released. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced readers copy of this book."

[Wendy Livingstone]

Cassidy needs a favour from her brother’s best friend Bradded, who is the star running back in the football team. Cassidy needs help to catch the eye of a real prince who is rumoured to be looking for his princess. There are so many ups and downs between these two, but will Cassidy manage to catch the princes eye? This is a good story which has secrets, twists, emotions, and love, which leads to a steamy and entertaining page turner. I look forward to reading more from this author whose work I recommend.

[Gigi Foster]

Read on Radish. Think of the series this is my favorite. Love Cassidy and Braden and how they get together. So sweet and funny.

[lowkeyreader]

This is the first book I've read by the author and it will not be my last. I really enjoyed Braden and Cassidy's story. I enjoyed their storyline a lot and how her brother and her best friend help them both to realise their feelings for each other by pairing them to fake date to get a prince's attention. Of course, Braden was not having it but also wants to help Cassidy. I loved all the feelings these two gave me while they fake date and even more when they start to really date.