aditilolc
For seventeen-year-old Aru Shah, the Hamptons is a battlefield of old money, starched linen, and suffocating whispers. Eight years ago, her father's failed corporate coup against the multi-billion-dollar Acharya Media stripped her branch of the family of their wealth, their reputation, and their seat at the table. But following her father's recent death, a fragile olive branch from her wealthy aunt brings Aru and her mother back to the world they were erased from, the glittering lakeside estates and private lawns of the Midsummer Cotillion season, where the daughters of prestigious families are formally introduced to society and everyone is watching.
Aru returns as a social pariah. She watches from the sidelines as her cousin Kara, gorgeous, elegant, and beloved, orbits effortlessly through the world Aru was born into but never allowed to keep. And at the center of that world, as always, is Aiden Acharya: the untouchable golden heir of Acharya Media, devastatingly handsome, fiercely guarded, and widely expected to spend the summer making it official with Kara. And most of all, her first love.
To Aiden, Aru is a chaotic nuisance from a disgraced family. To the rest of the summer colony, she is a charity case to be pitied or mocked.
So when a cruel public humiliation at the season's opening gala leaves Aru with nothing left to lose, she does the worst possible thing: she corners Aiden Acharya and proposes a deal.
Fake-date her.