THE UNDERGRADS

To secure campus housing, a student enters a marriage of convenience with her sworn enemy.

Eighteen-year-old Clover Walsh is used to barely getting by, but she’s determined to change that. The first step is getting into her prestigious dream school, Wexley University in Oregon. She earns a full scholarship, but when her housing grant falls through, she’s completely screwed. Wexley doesn’t permit first-years to live off campus, and even if it did, Clover doesn’t have the money for a car. Her only option shows up buried in a housing office newsletter: A new rule allows married students to live in the dorms together, meaning if she can only find a guy to marry her on short notice, she’ll have a place to live for free. Enter Bennett Graves, once her closest friend. Clover’s mother used to work for Bennett’s mother, but a spectacular falling-out led to Clover’s mom getting fired and Clover and Bennett never speaking again. That is, until Clover asks Bennett to marry her and Bennett says yes. Now, the two of them are forced to convincingly act as if they’re in love so they won’t cast suspicion on their housing ruse. Of course, things are quickly complicated by Clover’s slowly building attraction to Bennett and the fact that Bennett’s been in love with her for years. The details of campus life—a grumpy RA, parties, and a girl selling black-market grilled cheese out of her dorm room—are fun and fresh, and Bennett and Clover have strong physical chemistry. Author Murphy takes a chance by giving Bennett a serious flaw—what he did is only slowly revealed, but it’s clear that he betrayed Clover deeply during their falling-out—giving him a satisfying character arc as he grows into a more mature person. As the first entry in Murphy’s The Undergrads trilogy, this book is entertaining and swoony enough to keep readers coming back for more.

A fun and steamy college romance.