Quick Take
- Narration: Leanne Woodward leans into the romantic comedy register without losing the emotional undercurrent, making Evie’s voice both funny and genuinely vulnerable across the full 9.5-hour runtime.
- Themes: Second-chance romance, fake dating turned real, hockey as emotional backdrop
- Mood: Bright and banter-forward, with a genuine sweetness underneath
- Verdict: A debut romantic comedy that earns comparisons to experienced authors in the genre, best suited to listeners who love witty dialogue and a sports romance that keeps its heat on the lower end.
The Fake Out Flex came across my queue on a Thursday evening when I needed something that was going to make me smile rather than think too hard. This is not a knock, knowing what a book is for and delivering it cleanly is a genuine skill, and Ash Kelly’s debut does exactly that. I was grinning through the opening chapters, appreciating how efficiently the setup is established: the viral breakup, the unwanted nickname, the brother’s inconvenient best friend who turns out to be the high school crush who disappeared without explanation seven years ago. Kelly does not waste time getting to the point.
This is the first book in the Hockeymances series, and it bears all the marks of a writer who knows the genre’s conventions intimately and has thought carefully about where to add her own texture. The banter is the standout element, and multiple reviewers independently flagged it, not just between Evie and Fraser, but across the entire ensemble. The Fast-Talking Four, Evie’s friend group, have genuine chemistry as a unit, and the secondary dialogue often matches or exceeds the central romantic pair’s exchanges.
Our Take on The Fake Out Flex
Evie is a protagonist whose setup, going viral as Breakup Sneeze Girl, could easily tip into pure farce, but Kelly keeps her grounded by giving her a specific texture of embarrassment that feels lived-in rather than comedic shorthand. The ex’s wedding is a genuine threat to Evie’s self-possession, not just a plot device to manufacture a fake-dating scenario. And Fraser’s reasons for agreeing to the arrangement, and for the way he behaves once inside it, are plausible without being dramatically convenient.
Fraser himself is one of those romantic heroes who is constructed as a contradiction: gruff exterior over a fundamentally kind interior, a hockey player who is secretly a Taylor Swift fan, someone whose departure seven years ago had reasons Evie does not initially know. The high school crush history is not played for maximum nostalgia, Kelly is too smart for that, but rather used to create a specific double consciousness in both characters: they are meeting each other as adults while also being aware of who they were. That layering gives the romance more texture than the premise alone would suggest.
Why Listen to The Fake Out Flex
Leanne Woodward’s narration is a strong match for the material. She has a natural fluency with comedic timing in dialogue, the banter scenes are where she shines, but she does not play Evie’s vulnerability for laughs, which is important. One reviewer mentioned a particular bathroom scene as a favorite moment that felt more real than the comedic register around it, and Woodward handles exactly those tonal pivots well. This is a 9.5-hour listen that does not feel like a slog; the chapters move quickly and the dialogue is kinetic enough to make the audio format feel like an advantage rather than a constraint.
Multiple reviewers compared this debut favorably to established romantic comedy authors, with one naming Emma St. Clair and Jenny Proctor specifically. That is a meaningful comparison within the genre, both of those authors are known for clean, character-driven romantic comedy, and it signals the kind of reading experience The Fake Out Flex is aiming for and largely achieves. One reviewer also offers a useful caveat: the series becomes significantly less wholesome in subsequent books, so if the clean register of this one is specifically what attracts you, this is the entry point and possibly the stopping point.
What to Watch For in The Fake Out Flex
The fourth-wall breaks flagged by one reviewer are present and a genuine stylistic choice on Kelly’s part. They feel more natural in some scenes than others, and listeners who find metafictional gestures in romantic comedy distracting should know they are there. One reviewer rated the book 3.5 stars and found them odd, which is a fair response, this is a technique that polarizes rather than universally charming.
The fake-dating setup unfolds at a comfortable pace, and Kelly does not rush the emotional payoff or strain to manufacture conflict once the central relationship is established. The love story earns its resolution through accumulated small moments, Fraser flying across the country just to check in, the flowers, the gradual erosion of both characters’ defenses, rather than a dramatic third-act misunderstanding. This is a gentle structure, and some readers may find it lacking in tension. Others will appreciate that Kelly trusts the relationship to generate its own momentum.
Who Should Listen to The Fake Out Flex
This is for listeners who want a romantic comedy where the banter is actually funny, the hero is genuinely sweet under his gruff exterior, and the heat level stays on the cleaner end of the romance spectrum. Hockey background helps but is not required, the sport is set dressing for character rather than a technical subject. Debut-author fans who enjoy discovering writers early in their careers will find this a satisfying entry point.
Skip it if you need higher romantic tension, explicit content, or dramatic conflict that goes beyond the emotional. The book leans into its sweetness deliberately, and if that register is not what you are looking for, this one will feel slight rather than charming.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does The Fake Out Flex work as a standalone, or do I need to read the rest of the Hockeymances series?
It works completely as a standalone. The series shares a world and some characters, but each book tells an independent romantic story. Note that one reviewer mentions the subsequent books in the series become significantly less wholesome, so if the clean tone here is specifically what you are looking for, this book delivers that most fully.
How prominent is the hockey element, do I need sports knowledge to enjoy it?
Hockey is primarily a character backdrop and setting rather than a technical subject. Fraser is a hockey player, and his sport shapes his schedule and some of his personality, but the book does not require sports knowledge. The genre is squarely hockey romance rather than hockey fiction.
Is the fake-dating trope subverted here, or does it play the convention straight?
It plays the convention with genuine skill but does not subvert it. Kelly’s strength is in execution, the banter, the character depth, the accumulated small moments, rather than in reinventing the trope’s structure. The setup leads where you expect it to lead, but the journey is specifically well done.
Leanne Woodward narrates, how does she handle shifts between comedic banter and emotional vulnerability?
Very well, according to listener response. The banter scenes are where she shines most visibly, but she does not play Evie’s vulnerability for laughs, which matters when the story requires tonal pivots. The narration is consistently noted as a strength of the audiobook experience.
