Book Review: The Undergrads: Student Union by Julie Murphy

Official Synopsis: CLOVER ROWAN WALSH knows The Plan™.

1. Get a full ride to her dream school, Wexley University.

2. Conquer the school of business.

3. Say goodbye to the paycheck-to-paycheck life she and her mom have known for years.

There’s just one hiccup. With the first semester rapidly approaching, Clover learns her housing grant has fallen through. But a loophole presents itself: Married couples can live in the dorms for the price of one student. Clover is willing to sacrifice the sanctity of marriage . . . even if it means proposing to the one person she swore she’d never speak to again.

Bennett Andrew Graves is the only heir to the Graves Coffee empire. After spending his first year at Wexley, squeaking by in classes and becoming personally acquainted with the female student body, he is looking forward to living off campus. Until the girl he grew up with (and whom he completely devastated years ago) walks back into his life with the most absurd question: Will you marry me?

Bennett can’t refuse Clover. He owes her this, but that doesn’t change the fact that these two can barely carry on a conversation without getting at each other’s throats. Forget about sharing a dorm―much less one bed.

But as Clover and Bennett hide the true nature of their marriage, they find that playing house isn’t all that bad―especially with certain marital benefits in the mix. In fact, Clover and Bennett are soon forgetting the most important part of their fake marriage of convenience . . . that it’s supposed to be fake.

Clover didn't think she would need Bennett Graves again, especially after the falling out between not only them but their mothers when Clover and Bennett were in high school. Now she is looking at him while they get married in a court room, all so she can afford boarding at her dream school, Wexley University, where she hopes to get a degree and business and finally not need multiple jobs. She doesn't want to get married at 19, especially when she doesn't like her husband, but the married couple dorm room is the only option and Bennett owes her. Bennett is more than happy to agree, especially since he would do anything to have Clover back in his life. He spent his first years at Wexley making his way through all the girls trying to forget what he did in high school, but now he is sharing a bed with the person he has loved forever...but she can barely stand to look at him.

Clover's plan is simple, use Bennett to get housing for the first semester, find new housing for the second and get a divorce after finals so she doesn't have to talk to Bennett again. Should be simple, especially as she starts to make friends with the girls across the hall and people in her class. But soon it seems like Bennett is everywhere, even when she is trying to avoid him, and that he thinks he has a right to tell her what to do. Clover knows they have to pretend to be married...but with the end in sight she wants to make sure she has other options.

That is until Bennett comes to save her from a party hosted by a shadier group of guys, finding her asleep in someone else's bed without her ring, something starts to change between them. As Clover starts to fight the very real feelings she is developing for Bennett, and Bennett tries to fight the idea of divorce from Clover, they start to fall into a cycle of fighting and making up...and then the making up part starts to become even more. Now the lines are blurred between their real feelings and fake marriage and maybe they both have to realize that plans are meant to change.

I am really excited to be picked for Julie Murphy's influencer team and be able to share a review of this book early with you all! This book has a lot of fun plot lines between the characters, especially when it comes to the history between Bennett and Clover. They both saw each other as home for a long time before losing it, and being back together definitely shakes up their perceptions of each other. Bennett and Clover have a complicated history that extends past the normal 'we were friends as children' especially since Clover's mom worked for Bennett's mom, giving a different dynamic to their relationship.

I enjoyed seeing how Clover and Bennett changed throughout the story while also keeping their eyes on the prize, even if the prize changed over time. We also got to see how Bennett dealt with his feelings of guilt for what happened between them as high schoolers, and how that impacts his choices when it comes to Clover. I loved seeing how these interactions were perceived by both of them since the book is dual POV. Overall, I think this book is a really fun and steamy, college romance that has a different twist to a lot of college romances we see. I think having them start out married...and hating each other, was really fun, especially since they are younger than the couples we usually see in that trope. The other thing I liked about the dual POV was seeing the tiny ways Bennett was taking care of Clover the whole time. The small ways he would refill her shampoo and vitamins with her preferred brands because he knew she couldn't afford them normally. He had small ways of showing he cared throughout the whole book and I truly loved seeing it.

With Clover we also get to see the plus sized rep that Julie is known for in her books and even have her in a friend group where they can share clothes and help each other and I really like seeing that support, especially since it's not always common in real life and with the history Clover has at her prep high school.

This book does get spicy after about 45-55% of the way through and is definitely meant for an adult audience. (I saw this since Julie Murphy does have young adult books out there and I don't want anyone to be confused.) There are no scenes in this book that border on anything nefarious (even with the shadier frat dudes), though some fat-phobia and bully is brought up in flashbacks to the high school days. Overall, this book is a nice little treat with some twists, turns and drama that make it a really great read.

I rated this book 4 / 5 stars!

The Undergrads: Student Union comes out May 5, 2026!

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