One Week Girlfriend
One Week Girlfriend • Book 1
by Monica Murphy
Why You'll Love This
Two people using each other as cover discover their fake relationship is the most honest thing either of them has.
- Great if you want: emotionally damaged characters slowly dismantling each other's walls
- The experience: fast and emotionally charged — secrets surface quickly, tension builds steadily
- The writing: Murphy writes dual vulnerability well — both leads feel equally broken and real
- Skip if: heavy implied trauma and dark family dynamics aren't your read right now
About This Book
What happens when two people agree to pretend—and then start to mean it? Drew Callahan is a college football star with a dark secret he needs hidden from his family for exactly one week. Fable Malone is a girl the world has already decided she isn't worth much. Their arrangement is simple: show up, play the part, walk away. But the closer they get, the harder it becomes to remember what's real and what's performance. Murphy builds the tension around two people who are genuinely trying to protect each other, which makes their growing connection feel earned rather than inevitable.
What sets this book apart is Murphy's instinct for interiority. Both Drew and Fable narrate in alternating chapters, and the shifting perspectives reveal not just what each character wants but what they're afraid to admit wanting. The prose is direct and emotionally raw without tipping into melodrama—Murphy understands how much weight a single honest line can carry. For a relatively short novel, it covers serious emotional ground: family failure, shame, self-worth, and the terrifying act of letting someone actually see you.