A quick light read that's the perfect antidote for a pandemic lock-up. The word play alone had me smiling.
Thanks netgalley for the e-review edition of this book.

This rom-com was heavy on the comedy and the tropes. The thread of the story and the romance got kind of lost under all of the tropey stuff. It was a unique story and engrossing at times!

What a ride? This was a quirky novel where I got to brush up with my Italian. Loved the role of family in this book. This book is not for everyone but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was funny.

I will be interviewing MaryJanice next week for the podcast. The episode will air publication date.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this early copy!

Did not finish - I did not connect with the plot and writing and decided to put it down.

Such a cute rom-com. I really liked Rafe and Clare, even if some of Rafe's descriptions were a little too vivid for my taste. Overall, a cute read.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

There was a little too much going on in this one for me. I felt like to was all over the place trying to decide which box it belonged in. I thought the story line was a little different, which I appreciated but. all in all it was just an ok read for me.

The rom-com genre can be truly magical in boundless ways, and there's always something about the cliché that appeals to me. But the captivation of a book relies so heavily on execution that no amount of interesting premises would be enough to save the work.

Unfortunately, the style of this book was just beyond chaotic, immature, and incomprehensible to me. There were so many aspects that lacked clarity altogether from the very beginning. While I understand that the confusion is supposed to be a key component of the mystery of how the MC got to Venice and everything, it's definitely possible to clearly present confusion!

Instead, all I got was some level of chaos that I couldn't even begin to try and understand, characters with dialogues wildly mismatched to their ages, and a narration style that seemed to be inconsistent and choppy.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's for the opportunity to read this ARC, and I'm really sorry to say that this one wasn't really my cup of tea.

Very cute story. Funny and sweet with a little sexiness thrown in. I really enjoyed it! This was definitely a fun read!

To be honest, I didn’t/couldn’t finish this book. I just didn’t like it from the beginning so I only made 50% through before I decided I couldn’t finish it. The characters are unlikable and/or unbelievable. The situations are also unlikely. I didn’t like Rake at all. I don’t care what he looks like he’s a drunk, a loser and really only cares about himself and his ego. Sure, he’ll protect a damsel in distress but he’s a rake just like his name. Claire is trying to determine if he is Lillith’s father. I honestly couldn’t understand why she would want him to be the father. I didn’t get far enough in to find out because I didn’t care. This was not for me and I’m surprised because I usually enjoy Maryjanice Davidson stories. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Full disclaimer: I did not finish reading this book. That being said, I only got halfway through and was disappointed in the fact that the novel just didn't hold my interest after that. It could be a feeling that I am not in the state of mind to read this right now, but a lot has to do with the fact that for me the book falls flat. The description promised a whirlwind of a tale, and it is interesting to a point. The are funny point especially between Rake and his brother, but the dialogue for me falls short. The structure of bouncing back and forth between different times in Rake experience, such as while in Venice, or before--so sometimes in the present and the other times in the lead up to him finding out he's in Venice without having a clue as to why. I understand that structure was part of the build up but it just doesn't work for me in the way certain part are presented. I'm sure someone will find this book more pleasing and actually be able to connect to it, because there are points where the book excels and hits, but I just could not.

The Love Scam
Rating: 3 stars

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC given through NetGalley for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Overall it was an interesting and fun read. As I was reading it I had no idea where the story was going but with all that was happening to Rake and Delaney I wanted to see how it would end. The story was told mostly in Rake’s POV. So it was fun to see how page by page he learned about the real reason of what was happening to him. His inner dialogue were funny! His relationship with his twin brother Blake felt very real. They bashed and picked on each other but you could see they would do anything for each other.
I would of liked more romance, because Rake and Delaney had great chemistry.

Good story, but be warned that Blake also has own book and is made reference a couple of times in this one. Some things about what is going on with him are not explained because they’re happening in his story.

“What is it about love and sex that can make people so completely, dangerously irrational? To take risks they’d never, ever take in their right mind?”

So The Love Scam was a trope-y comedy heavy romcom. I think that the romance in this book sort of gets lost amongst the tropes (con-artist, drunken memory loss, surprise child) and the stream of consciousness writing style. I think that this story would be considered funny to anyone who can follow the style of writing. Even though I personally didn’t laugh very much because I was busy keeping up with Rake, Delaney, Lilith, and co. and all of their antics. With a few of the characters having heavy back stories it kept things interesting, but once again the writing style also made it hard for me to deeply connect with any of them. All in all this is a decent read with an interesting and unique plot. Now that I know this authors writing style, I’m not sure I’d pick up another, but I can say The Love Scam was definitely a unique reading experience!

This was a fast read for me, and no better time than now to read it. I really enjoyed everything about it.

I tried three times to read this and it was for sure a DNF. I really gave it a try. The dialogue was choppy in the beginning which was a large part of why I stopped.

I was on the struggle bus reading this book. It just didn't grab me and pull me in. It just didn't flow, I felt like I must have missed a page or two.

I tried, goodness I tried. Thanks so much to the publisher for allowing me to read this early. I just found myself utterly disinterested in Rake right from the beginning. I’m not sure what age the character should be but it seemed more like a bingy 18 year old instead of a (semi) mature adult. Sadly i didn’t even make it to meet Claire even though her character sounded way more appealing and interesting. Maybe my opinion will change closer to release date or if I listen to this one in audio. Opinions can change right?

This book had so much promise, first of all it takes place in Venice, Italy and that's one of the main reasons I picked it up, I love Venice and when I saw this book and saw that it took place in Venice and it was a romance with a mystery, I knew that I wanted to read. But, it just felt short in my opinion.

Rake is our main character, who is a millionaire, but he wakes up in Venice one day with no idea on how he got there, and he has no wallet and worst of all he his bank account has been emptied. And then enters Claire, who brings Lillith to Rake claiming that she is his long lost daughter.

Well, so far the story was great, but them it got weird, Rake doesn't do anything to solve his problem, he just does whatever Claire tells him to do, he has to "work" in order to get a new cell phone and sleep in the hotel room where she is living, and while he is working for her he can help her figure out what happened to Lillith's mother and she will also get a DNA test to confirm the paternity. Things just went too fast for me, I love so meet cute, but this one just fell a little too fast and not real for me.

I really loved the little girl, Lillith, she was my favorite character, she was wicked smart and I wish there was more of her throughout the book. lol

Overall 2.5 out of 5 stars.

I tried and tried to get into this book but I was unable to read or enjoy The Love Scam. I didn't like anything about the main guy in the story, Rake. The way Davidson wrote the beginning of the book was so confusing and just unreadable.

2.5 stars

The premise of this book is really good, but the follow through, not so much.

There is some comedic banter that somewhat keeps this book afloat, but other than that, there isn’t a lot more that kept my interest. It was a bit confusing at times and the writing was just ok. I feel like some tweaking could make this book better and raise the rating. But as it is, I can’t say I would recommend it.

I received an ARC of The Love Scam by MaryJanice Davidson from St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

I give this one star. The description sounded like it could be a really great book! I wanted to like it but I struggled to get through it. I had a difficult time relating to the characters and the story didn't flow.