Arthur Pham didn’t expect to spend his final year at the Stonebury Conservatory for Young Mages dating his archnemesis—fake dating, that is.
 
Arthur’s particular brew of perfectionism and anxiety has served him well, landing him at the top of his class. Almost.
 
The number one spot belongs to Stonebury’s most popular student, Mika Rivera—Arthur’s sworn rival with a mirthful glint in his eye and an ever-present grin. But when Arthur’s tuition check bounces, he must win the fellowship money granted to the top student in his class, or his future will come to a grinding halt.
 
When a spell reveals that the only obstacle in Arthur’s way—Mika—is his soulmate, they enter into a fake dating ploy to stop their classmates’ ridicule. On their rollercoaster of falsified romance, Arthur finds himself shoved into more compromising situations with his rival than he ever imagined, and he’s horrified to find that he even enjoys some of them.
 
The real Mika—wickedly charismatic and earnest in equal parts—refuses to fit into the checkboxes on Arthur’s meticulous to-do lists. Can Arthur put aside his pride to secure the future he has so desperately dreamed of? Or will his obsession with hating Mika cost him everything?