ARC Review: Influenced Love by Shellee Marie

My review: 3.65⭐

This is book 1 in the series Black Beauty in Love.

Alivia is a social media beauty influencer who finds herself in the midst of an unwarranted scandal involving her BFF since childhood, pro baseball player, Dan. In hopes of getting herself out of the scandalous spotlight and into more of a beneficial one for her career, she agrees to fake date, Moe, a fitness guru influencer. Moe is a bit over the top with his workouts.

Usually, I am a fan of the fake relationship trope, but this one is not your typical one when the couple inevitability gets together for real. These two never seemed to click, which makes sense since she falls for his friend, Travis.

I liked the reasoning behind how Alivia got her career off the ground and her and Travis were super cute together. Some parts were funny. The man that owned the Emporium was good stuff.
I did not like Donna and how Dan handled the situation, and obviously, Melanie.
I don’t know why I thought this was supposed to be geared toward YA, but it isn’t. Maybe the cover looks YA-ish?
This was a slow burn, on the PG side, fun debut novel and I will probably read more in the series.

*Thank you BookSirens and Shellee Marie for an advance review copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily*

Book blurb: Release date ~ February 12, 2022

After a scandal threatens her reputation, popular beauty influencer, Alivia Fae, attempts to distract her followers by polling them to pick her date. When they pair her up with a fellow influencer, Moe Gava, he takes notice and asks her out. Unfortunately, she soon realizes he’s not as desirable as he seems online.

Despite her disinterest, when it’s suggested that she and Moe start a fake dating relationship, to keep up engagement with their fans, she begrudgingly agrees. As the plan unfolds, she begins to grow closer to his low-key assistant, Travis. Leading her to re-evaluate what she truly wants to influence her life—love.

Shellee Marie’s debut novel is the first book in her Black Beauty in Love series and is perfect for fans of Amy Lea and Alisha Rai.