i received this ARC for an honest review. I thought this story was ok. I really didn’t connect with the characters. It took me a long time to finish because I kept stopping to read a different book.

I wanted to love this book but it just fell short for me. I got about 75% through and didn’t finish it. I thought the premise sounded super cute but I just didn’t connect with the characters

I’m sorry to say this book just didn’t hold my interest. The premise sounded so good. It sounded like a book I’d enjoy but I had a hard time finishing it. I think the skipping back and forth throughout the story was the problem for me. I have enjoyed other books by this author but this one just didn’t grab me.
Thank you to NetGallery, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this book.

A playboy bachelor who is suffering from one of the worst hangover of his life finds himself in Venice penniless and he meets with her daughter. Wait a minute, how can he be father and who has no idea about it?

If there were four men, one of them is missing, one of them is singing “In the shallow shaaaalloww!”, other ones are crazy red head and dentist and if we also add a little baby, tiger into the equation at Caesar Place, an ex-boxer singing “In the Air Tonight”, I would say: Yay! I know this plot very well!

Nope, we have another plot with a good start and we only one Bradley Cooper kind of notorious bachelor (wow, Rake Tarbell and Bradley have something in common. They had both cutest daughters) as I mentioned his name at parenthesis found himself robbed, drunk at Venice, had short term amnesia about how the hell he flew there from California and yes, the sweetest kid Lillith (wrong choice of name) and Claire Delaney (why her name reminded me of Claire Daines and now I started to visualize our heroine as Homeland’s obsessed agent Carrie! Oh my goodness! The author might have chosen better names!) introduce themselves. Rake is a breathing example of train wreck, dumbfounded because somebody stole his ID, drained his millions from his bank account and now he has a sweet daughter and badass investigator Claire might know more than she tells about the mystery of him. So he has to know the truth and afterwards he has to show his true self to gain Claire’s heart! Let the games begin!

Even though the book has a promising start, it failed from romance parts. I didn’t get how those characters start to fall for each other because from the beginning Claire is so sure how she hates everything about Rake and Rake still thinks she has big feet! Then suddenly Claire starts to giggle like a half-witted teenager who recently bumped into Justin Bieber and fell in love with his yummy pink hair!

I also detested the reasonable, polar opposite twin brother of Rake, too. Only character I could truly attach was Lillith, even though she is named wrongly.

The story telling reminded me of a bumpy road. I just have to stop several times to take a break and force myself to read more. There were tooooo much inner monologues which could be edited just a little bit because sometimes I wasn’t sure they’ve been said aloud.

Overall there are so many entertaining parts and idea of the story seems like a great plot of romantic comedy. I couldn’t connect with the characters and I still believe that their romantic story is a little unreliable maybe Claire’s sarcastic tone was way too much louder and brought so much awkwardness to couple’s relationship dynamics and I still didn’t believe in their attraction. So it’s not a bad book and author’s previous “Undead” series were really entertaining books so it’s a big proof she is hell of a great writer. But I think the story progression and some inner monologues need more edits and characters need more chemistry.

So I gave 2.5 stars and rounded up to 3. Another in the middle, let’s stay in Switzerland, I didn’t hate it but I also didn’t enjoy it stars!

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for sharing this romantic ARC COPY with me in exchange my honest review.

Like other readers, I was so disappointed in this book. The premise and description seemed so fun, but the book was such a letdown. The main issue with the book is that it's almost entirely (and at times incoherently) all dialogue between the characters and then the characters in their own heads. It was almost babble at some points.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book.

DNF. The male characters were so outlandish that it kept pulling me out of the story, kind of like the comedy that is funny at first but them becomes cumbersome and annoying. Plus the whole Blake/Rake name thing became a hassle in scenes where I’d forget who was saying what.

Cute, far-fetched premise just not executed very well. Didn’t like that the heroine was scamming the hero over money (even if for a somewhat good cause). Not very plausible grounds for the basis of a relationship. Too much bouncing back and forth in the dialogue- felt like ADD episodes. There were plugs for other books and footnotes at the end of each chapter that were very distracting and interrupted the flow of reading. It was a struggle to finish with the things I pointed out. There were a few laughs and surprises that made this read not a total waste. In my honest opinion, if a few tweaks were made, this could be a good read.

I loved the back cover copy! This sounded so intriguing. This was my first time reading this author and her unique voice. I would have liked to see more action and more of the Venice setting in the story.

Full review posted at Reader's Edyn on 01.31.20

Claire is quite secretive about everything involving Rake as well as herself. She has the upper hand because she actually knows more than she’s letting on to and the longer she can delay Rake from discovering the truth, the better things will be for all of them. The billionaire playboy won’t be but a memory of a short time spent in Venice when all is completed. Except the man she believes she has pegged turns out to be anything but. The image thrust in the public’s face merely a facade. In a short amount of time, as she begins to form a delicate bond with Rake, she quickly finds herself in danger of much more than anticipated at the start of this journey. Her heart could very well be lost to her when they inevitably part ways; her resistance toward Rake rapidly crumbling. As long as she focuses on the importance of this Venice encounter, she will be able to hold her ground and resist his distracting charms…maybe.

Rake is a rich playboy. Rather than embrace responsibility, he shirks anything serious; running through life full of sass, booze, and women. His twin brother is the polar opposite and constantly taking the form of an annoying little voice in Rake’s head, admonishing him for the choices he makes as he flits through life with no purpose. After one drunken night of…unknown…Rake finds himself in Venice with no ID, no possessions, and no money. His bank has been drained of millions. The only clue available to him comes in the form of Claire. A conundrum to be sure, initially, he can’t quite seem to figure her out. There’s also the slight hiccup that she’s toting around a highly observant and intelligent girl who she claims is Rake’s daughter. Challenge accepted. He’s going to get to the bottom if this situation. Claire may think she holds all of the cards in Rake’s momentary loss of – everything, really – but he’s just as intelligent and observant as the young Lillith, if not more. Preferring to play the role he’s been cast in given his fast life, Rake soon unravels the mystery. Not only that, he plans to put his own spin on it and Claire will certainly hold a place in the new reality he chooses to create. He’s just got to make his plea believable and trust that she has had enough time getting to know his true self – one he never reveals to anyone.

OK guys … all I can say is that I I sincerely hope that between now and August, this book gets some serious edits. My review copy is an ARC, so some things can be forgiven as ARCs frequently have a few issues. Not near this many typically, but generally speaking, you can be a little less stringent on editing errors within an ARC. There is so much wrong with this fantastic plot. It’s maddening!

The first thing that I immediately disliked was that Rake’s twin brother is named Blake. No. Stop it. My first impression was, “Are you kidding me?” Second, there are so many internal monologues going on. Some of the pages appear as though the keyboard barfed italics and refused to revert back to the standard font. Due to this issue, much of the writing became confusing. Many times, I was sure that the text appeared to be an inner thought, but had been spoken instead. And vice versa. There are also several side comments contained within parenthesis. The moral of the story here is to make up your mind. Write the inner monologue as part of the scene instead of creating so much separation. I could have read this book twice as quickly had I not been forced to keep track of where the text was attempting to take me. Third, whatever the descriptions are, they should remain consistent. Rake’s initial description of Claire did not bring me to believe that he found her attractive. In fact, one portion of the description included that she had big feet. What? The? Hell? Not a couple of chapters later, he’s describing her as gorgeous. By this time, I’m seriously contemplating stamping a humongous DNF on this book. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that it was an ARC and I argued with myself that I was being too hard on the plot due to a large percentage of my complaints encircling…yep. Editing. I persevered. Fourth, Claire is clearly annoyed by everything Rake. His dashing looks, his blasé attitude, his money, his inability to take anything serious. Yep. Everything Rake annoys her. All of a sudden, we find her giggling at something he’s said or done. This ends up happening several times. But giggling? She’s clearly some sort of bad-ass investigator. Maybe. Giggling just took her badassery down a notch. I didn’t care for it at all. Fifth would be the language and by language I am referring to the Italian and whatever else is used. Now this would not regularly annoy me, but the fact that the author felt the need to translate what was being said, did. In fact, several chapters have footnotes explaining either the translation or something else. For example, stating that something that occurred is referring to a previous book. Huh? Never in all of the books I have read have I come across an author that actually referred to a previous book. Adding to the muddle, if this story is part of a series, it is not indicated anywhere. I mean nowhere. I searched and I couldn’t find it. I didn’t even turn up the book the footnote referred to. Aggravating! Sixth was the fact that Claire – I mean Delaney – she doesn’t go by Claire and pretty much all of the text refers to her as Delaney. What? But I digress. Claire leaves Lillith with Rake, not even knowing for sure if he is her father. I didn’t at all care for this action. It was later explained, but still didn’t sit well with me; especially given how Claire feels about Rake at the time. Ugh. I was literally about to end the book right there. This thing has fifty-three chapters! Fifty-three! And some of them are maybe ½ a page. Why? I don’t know. All mentioned thus far occurred by the conclusion of chapter thirteen. Thirteen you guys! And you know what kept me going after that? No lie. I was literally about to shut off the e-reader. It was the last flipping line of the chapter. I’m not even kidding! So maybe start reading at chapter fourteen at this point. Blessedly, once I got past those first thirteen chapters, everything got so much better. There was still a bunch of the editing, italics, parenthesis, etc. occurring. However, it was much less than initially. So those are the problems.

Here’s what I liked. This book wasn’t at all what I expected. Aside from all of the confusing aspects, it was generally a very good plot. The jocular dialogue and thoughts were quite entertaining. Lillith was unlike any child I have read about and I enjoyed her out-of-the-box character development. I wouldn’t say I became overly attached to Claire and Rake. However, by the time Rake put in his two cents as to what was occurring over the course of their time in Venice, I fell just a little bit in love with him. With the way he handled everything and his solution to each curve ball thrown at him, I was impressed. Want to know the dumbest thing? Corresponding to Rake’s disaster in Venice, Blake is going through his own turmoil. We glimpse a bit of it as Rake communicated with Blake. Shockingly, I became curious about what Blake was enduring! What? I’m not even sure how that happened. I’m really not. I suppose in some small way, despite all of the glaring snags, somehow this author got to me. For that, I have to give her kudos. Pretty freaking amazing given my determination not to finish the book originally. Or crazy. Maybe both. I am a bit dismayed that Ms. Davidson has so many published books and yet the ARC has so much formatting difficulty. It looks as though many of her books are a part of one series and involve vampires. So perhaps this is a new writing journey into less than uncharted territory. I am unsure. Come to think of it, I don’t know how much my review will help anyone. But this is the way I see it currently. An ARC is not the final copy. If I am not honest about the negative areas, then I shouldn’t be reviewing. And if I let everything remain in the negative without speaking to those instances that I ultimately enjoyed, then I am doing everyone a disservice. From this review I am taking away the following: The ARC needs a lot of work and likely will not bring this author a new following; might actually cause her to lose some of her current following. However, with the adjustments made – and I find it truly unfathomable to entertain the thought that there wouldn’t be a deep edit prior to publishing in August – it’s actually quite an entertaining read. If you are a reader and you don’t tend to review, then just wait for the final copy to be released later in the year. That way, hopefully, none of the above problems I encountered will become your burden. If the book does not get cleaned up, then I wouldn’t come back. Despite my curiosity in the companion book (if there is one), there are just too many issues that interfere with my reading enjoyment to allow me to knowingly go through anything like this again.

Kindle version provided by NetGalley/St. Martin’s in exchange for an honest review.

A fun story overall, but for some reason I had trouble keeping Rake and Blake separate. Twin brothers, with a strange family. Rake is in Europe, and wakes up in Venice, Italy, while his brother is in North Dakota with their mother. This is the 2nd in the series, so a lot of the parts I found confusing may be answered in the first one. This one is mostly with Rake, and Claire, who helps him after he falls into the canal. She has Lillith, who may be his daughter or his niece, but either way he falls for the girl. A lot of fun banter, which kept it lively, but at times I found it hard to follow. May just be me. The tone at times reminded me of the author of One for the Money, as it is that style of humor. Cute, but wasn't really my favorite. Would still recommend though if you are looking for a light quick read.

I've Been a Fan of MaryJanice Davidson since I read The Undead series (which is a top favorite of mine) so I was excited to see she was writing something new. For the most part, I enjoyed this book. It's perfect for a lazy day, and would be great for those this summer who need a beach read. However, I felt the book was a little too rushed for me. Things happened way to quickly especially considering how big a deal the concept was. That's not to say I didn't like it because I did. I just didn't like how rushed it felt.

I loved this story in fact as soon as I was done reading I went ahead and purchased the twin brother mentioned in this story’s book. It was a cute read that had me smiling throughout.

This book is funny and surprising, like a romcom version of The Hangover. It keeps you guessing and turning the pages over and over. I read this in two quick sittings and was disappointed when it was done. So fun!

I did not finish this book. I couldn’t get through the story. I felt like it was dragging on forever and I didn’t want to spend more time trying to read something I wasn’t enjoying. I think I had a hard time connecting with the characters as well

I struggled to get in to this story! The premise sounded interesting...shenanigans, mystery, potential romantic interest, surprise daughter...but the execution was a mangled mess. I had difficulty relating to the characters and the story line was crazy scattered. Thank you to St. Martin and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this title. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I struggled through this book. It sounded like it would be fantastic, I usually love this author. I had high hopes for the story, but after 2 weeks of avoiding the book, I gave up.

I was really looking forward to reading this book, but I was disappointed. The writing was very different and it jumped around a lot. I have read some of her other books and enjoyed them so was definitely let down.

I received this ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review

I almost gave up on this book within the first couple of chapters because it’s insane. Rake and Blake were so hard to follow and really the conversations were bonkers. The other characters were just as insane and once I realized that the entire thing would be that way, I decided to look past the nonsensical cadence. And it was fun and funny. It’s still insane so I’m sticking with 3 stars but it could have been a 4 so easily.

I was provided with an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

#TheLoveScam
#Edelweiss
#NetGalley
Thank you to the publisher for the E-arc copy of The Love Scam by MaryJanice Davidson.
If you have read Ms. Davidson before then you will get her writing. She has several great series if you like this one.

A fast-paced story with lots of twists and turns and oddly enough romance. MaryJanice has an aptitude for creatively combining multiple cultures in an interesting manner.