61 pages • 2 hours read
Lauren AsherTerms and Conditions
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Literary Context: The Dreamland Billionaires Series
Terms and Conditions is the second novel in the Dreamland Billionaires series, between The Fine Print (2021) and Final Offer (2023). The series follows the lives of the three Kane brothers, Declan, Rowan, and Cal, and their romantic interests. The novels each follow the billionaires romance trope; each of the brothers is a billionaire through inheritance, work, or a combination of both. They are the heirs to their grandfather’s legacy, the Dreamland media empire, which consists of theme parks, five-star hotels, and production companies.
In each novel, one of the brothers is placed in forced proximity with the object of his affection, but he resists his feelings because of his mother’s early death and his father’s subsequent abuse. All three brothers must learn to heal from the effects of The Cyclical Nature of Family Trauma, which they discover as they allow themselves to be vulnerable and examine the habits they inherited from trauma. Haunted by the legacy of the Dreamland fairy tale and their belief that it does not exist in real life, each brother pulls away from others through coldness, work, or addiction.
Each of the Dreamland Billionaires novels stands alone, and they can be read out of order with only minimal confusion or spoilers. Each novel is also accompanied by a curated Spotify playlist, creating a multimedia approach for interested readers.
Genre Context: The “Fake Relationship” Trope in Romance
With Terms and Conditions, Asher both utilizes and subverts the “fake relationship” trope commonly used in romance novels and romantic comedies. One of many premises of the romance genre, a fake relationship novel encompasses fake dating, fake engagement, or fake marriage. One of the protagonists of a fake relationship novel needs a fake partner for some reason. Such reasons include appeasing one’s parents, fulfilling a legal requirement, or shaping public opinion. The plot moves from both protagonists treating the deal as harmless to both having feelings for the other but trying to deny it to, eventually, confessing their feelings and making the relationship a real one.
Terms and Conditions plays with some of the common features of fake relationship novels. One way it does so is through the professionalization of the relationship: Many fake relationship agreements are made between the two protagonists, with no formal agreement, but in Terms and Conditions, the fake marriage is set up through a legal contract. The contract adds a new complication for the protagonists, even though they rarely discuss it. In many fake relationship novels, when the protagonists fight at the climax of the plot, one or both can often flee and go back to their lives before the fake relationship. Iris and Declan, however, cannot easily escape one another. With the contract between them and the marriage license signed, any retreat from their relationship would involve the legal system and ruining their public image. With these limitations, Iris and Declan must try to protect themselves while forced into physical and emotional proximity.
Another way Asher’s version of the fake relationship trope heightens conflict is through Iris’s agreement to have Declan’s child via in vitro fertilization. Although the plot of the novel unfolds before Iris becomes pregnant, the knowledge of their future connection creates difficulties for the characters. Iris always has this in the back of her mind, and when the characters give in to their feelings and make love, the future child complicates the nature of their intimacy, as Terms and Conditions reveals when Iris and Declan discuss whether or not to use condoms since they planned on having a child anyway.
With such legally and emotionally binding connections, Asher subverts the fake relationship trope by creating even higher stakes and more binding limitations on the characters’ abilities to run in the face of their feelings.
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By Lauren Asher
