Similar dynamics, themes, and relationship milestones to The Hating Game but lacking that polish. That said, I enjoyed it, minus some issues with jealousy, and will read more of Smith's books without doubt.

Brace yourself, this will not be a pretty review.

I honestly can't believe this book was published. It's got: a stilted, tepid "romance", offensive descriptions about people's skin color, Filipino-baiting (mentioning Eat Bulaga doesn't make the main character "multicultural" at all), cardboard-cutout characters, and a line where the main character describes the love interest's mouth as clean--- how?

I'm a huge fan of a good enemies-to-lovers romance. Unfortunately, this wasn't the book for it. I honestly have read better stories on Archive of Our Own.

This book was so cute! I love the characters flaws and all. The story was fun, engaging and you fell in love with the characters and their surprise love story. I can’t wait to see what’s next from this author!

Faker is a contemporary romance standalone by author Sarah Smith. I really enjoyed Faker. This was an interesting book for me, because there were some things that really did annoy me, but then as I kept reading, I just loved the romance so darn much that by the time I was done I was conflicted on how I wanted to rate this book. On one hand, the overall romance was like a 5 for me. It was swoony, steamy and the characters had fantastic chemistry and there was awesome character growth throughout. On the other hand, I did have some annoyances with the characters and how the multicultural romance was handled that would have made for a much lower rating of the book. So I sat on my review for a while, and I ended up re-reading this book, and I enjoyed overall growth and romantic aspect of the romance just as much the second time. So I decided that my enjoyment outweighed my annoyances and the book should get a higher enjoyment rating in my book.

Let's start with what I did like. I loved the main character, Emmie. Emmie is one of the only female employees at Nuts & Bolts, and as such she has to put up with a lot. Including her real piece of work co-worker, Tate. We will circle back to Tate later on because he started out as one of my major annoyances in the story, but don't worry he really did grow on me. Emmie and Tate do have an enemies to lovers trope going on, but the overall plotline had so much more going on than mere enemies to lovers. Tate and Emmie are forced to work together on a project and things start to blossom from there. The more I saw these two interact, the more I fell in love. And trust me, I was a hard sell. Which leads me to what I didn't love so much about Faker.

Tate was a huge jerk to Emmie. A jerk every single day. To the point where I had no idea how a romance could blossom. At all. And then once he revealed what type of person he really was, I enjoyed the softie romantic side of him so much that he completely won me over. And then we got to the "reason" why he was a jerk in the first place and, it just didn't sit right with me. It irked me, and seemed to go against the multicultural romance aspect that this book was touting. I just thought there were so many different ways this conflcit could have gone about, and I think the author could have presented the romance and the multicultural aspect in some more interesting way than just describing the color of Tate's skin. But again, those annoyances of mine fell into the background because I genuinely enjoyed these characters and their romance so darn much!

I love the Filipino representation and the relationship between the h/H! Looking forward to more books from Sarah Smith!

This was a fun setting and one of my favourite troupes, enemies to lovers! We have Emmie, who is determined and strong in a male-dominated work environment, now working with her supposed nemesis, Tate. The heat between these two is there and the banter is too good! Such a cute read, but that twist at the end though!

Thank you so much for the opportunity to review this book and to be an early reader via NetGalley! However, I will not be writing a review for this title at this time, as my reading preferences have since changed somewhat. In the event that I decide to review the book in the future, I will make sure to purchase a copy for myself or borrow it from a library. Once again, thank you so much for providing me with early access to this title. I truly appreciate it. Please feel free to contact me with any follow-up questions or concerns.

Faker tells the story of Emmie, who works at a construction company called Nuts & Bolts. Almost all the employees of the company are men, which is why Emmie has to pretend to be a tough and hostile person in order to be accepted as equal in the workplace. Another problem with Emmie is that she has to tolerate her co-worker, Tate, who is unfriendly and unbearable.

The truth is that the book is a copy and paste of The Hating Game, they have similar scenes but it isn't even close. I liked the character of Emmie because she's strong and you feel identified with her because she has to use all her weapons to be taken seriously in her work and the men don't harass her either. Then we have Tate, the boy is horrible and his behavior at the beginning of the book isn't justified, nor that later he changes and gives his reasons, so yeah, I don't like him.

My main problem was the rhythm and the conflict of the plot, things happen very fast and the main conflict is resolved in 7 chapters and there's no drama! Something happens that makes Emmie go crazy but then everything is solved in a blink of an eye, at least let me suffer for three chapters!

Anyway, it entertained me but I didn't like it, I would recommend it to all those who liked The Hating Game but don't have so many expectations.

Love-Hate tropes is not that tricky a subject, but when done poorly everything is dragged down. The first part of the book and the character's perseverance is a whole lot interesting, but when the romance was introduced, everything just turned upside down.

The entirety of this books romance seems too forced. Even considering this book as a romance novel seems off when you reach the part of its so called 'romance.' I really wanted to like this book. I tried to read through it but it just contributed to my disinterest to read.

This book just wasn't for me. There was so much potential in it, but things felt forced. This was a DNF for me.

A big ball of nope. unbearingly unrealistic and the enemies to lovers romance feels more like a miscommunication than anything. overall nopesville.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book. It felt like fan fiction for The Hating Game, and not the good kind. It's clear the author was a fan of that book, but her interpretation fell flat.

This was a really fun and quirky book and I really enjoyed it. Full of snark, romance (steam) and a love hate relationship, this was the perfect romcom read.

First, let me thank netgalley and the publishers for approving my request for an early release of this book. All reviews of my netgalley books can be found on goodreads and youtube. Please be sure to check out the links attached.

After reading amazing reviews of this book , I was really excited to read it too ..


But Unfortunately ended up really disappointed ...
I loved the characters so much , even the writing style was awesome , but the plot development was kinda obvious ...

Super cute! I loved the characters and found myself rooting for their story. I loved how empowered Emmie was - she gave me some tips for the workplace, too!

Sadly this book just didn't work for me and I didn't finish reading it. I'm a huge fan of enemies to love stories but this one just didn't do it for me. Something felt off and I can't place what it was but I'm calling it a day. Thank you for giving me the chance to read this one, but as it goes sometimes...just not for me.

I liked the main character, hated the romance. Once the romance and Tate were introduced, the plot took a nosedive and became so unbelievable you were taken out of the story.

Very cute, enemies to lovers steamy story. Emmie gets a job at a power tool company. Most of her co-workers are men. When she first meets Tate, it seems they will not get along, but one thing leads to another and it's very steamy. The chemistry was great.

This was a good idea, but I just couldn’t get on board with the main character. I felt the dialogue was a little too stilted and not natural enough.

"Funny how a single tantalizing kiss can destroy the brain cells responsible for my short-term memory"

A construction workplace romcom that will have you squealing and giggling in bed.

SUMMARY
As one of the five female employees at the power tool company, Nuts and Bolts, Emmie Eschavarre has had to learn to fake it. From nine-to-five she slips on her "Boss-Bitch" face and "take-no-shit" attitude. The only person she doesn't have to fake it with is Tate Rasumussen, her hostile-but-hot office neighbor.
When Nuts and Bolts embarks on a construction charity project, Emmie and Tate are paired up to head the social media publicity and marketing. But how can they be expected to work side-by-side when they haven't even set foot in one another's office for eleven months?

REVIEW
Faker took me by surprise in the best way possible. This book had me laughing out loud and clutching the book to my heart during the flirty scenes. I devoured this book in two days and was genuinely made when I had to put it down.

In the beginning Emmie did annoy me a little because I was frustrated at her attitude. But she quickly grew on me and I adored the heck out of her. Her romantic insecurities were ones that I also personally have, so I felt very connected to her character. Watching her deal with them alone and the learn to open-up to those around her really hit a cord inside me. Also, Emmie is Hawaiian-Filipino, which is own voices representation from the author. I loved all the Ilocano words sprinkled throughout and cultural references. They never felt forced, which was appreciated.

Tate truly is a soft-boy with a tough-boy exterior. It was clear as day for me to see just how head-over-heels he was for Emmie. I adored learning more about his backstory and childhood struggles, I fell for him alongside Emmie. Sure, he is an extremely jealous human being, but it didn't really hinder my enjoyment of the book or his character.

Okay, onto Emmie and Tate's relationship. Even though the root of their disdain was due to blatant miscommunication, it didn't really bother me because everything else was so much fun. I loved watching Emmie and Tate open up and trust one another, it was a beautifully paced progression. There were also a lot of cute and flirty scenes that had me squealing on my couch, so how could I not give this a 5-stars?

Finally, what I really appreciated about this was that despite that it was a coworker relationship, there was never the trope or "issue" of one of them having to potentially give up their job or an opportunity for the other. Nor was the an imbalance of workplace power dynamic. What a breath of fresh air!

Overall, I am keeping an eye out on more books by Sarah Smith. Her debut romance was a hit for me!