Cute, light and fluffy but missing something. I didn't connect with the characters and found the plot way too unbelievable.

Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) provided by the Author and Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an fair and honest review.

Quirky, real quirky. But I stayed with it and it is a very different romance than what I usually read. Rake is adorable as the carefree millionaire who suddenly finds all his millions gone. Delaney is harder to pin down through most of the book. Her motives are mercenary, for sure, but there is a lot more to her than that. Lillith is scary smart for a seven year old and wise way beyond her years. I enjoyed the book, but it was hard to piece it all together. I love a romance with a touch of mystery and "Love Scam" was all that and more.

Rake Tarbell knew something was wrong, very wrong, when he woke up, didn't know where he was and was having trouble remembering even who he was and he was sick as a dog with the hangover from hell. Stumbling from his room she makes his way down the street and fell, jumped into the Grand Canal in Venice in the throes of that hangover from hell. When he was dragged out he barfs over a very nice woman and the little girl with her. Not a good way to make a first impression on someone trying to help you. Rake, who is notorious for living up to his name, just needs to make a few phone calls to solve all his problems, except his phone is at the bottom of the Grand Canal. The nice woman, Claire Delaney, is just making his head hurt more when she tells him the little girl, Lillith, could be his daughter. WHAT!!! Now that she has his attention she tells him that the reason he doesn't have any money with him is because he lost his ID and money when he tried to skip his wallet over Lake Como last night because he was ass over tea kettle drunk. This guy has some real problems and they are only just beginning.

Delaney is a woman on a mission, well, more than one actually. Rake is just part of her job and she needs to keep an eye on him. When she puts him to work stuffing Easter baskets for the charity, she had more than one motive behind this task. But as she gets to know him, she is more than a little surprised at what she finds and that she finds herself coming to care for him a great deal.

I was pleasantly surprised by this romance by a new author to me as a reader. I will admit, at the beginning, I felt a out of sorts trying to figure out the flow of the story. The characters share an inner monologue which ended up being enjoyable but it took me some time to find the rhythm with the story. Rake wakes up in Venice, Italy completely hungover with no memory of how he ended up there. To top things off, all his money is gone along with his wallet and phone. He meets Claire who may his daughter with her, a daughter he didn’t know about. Claire has built a tough exterior after growing up in foster care. She takes on jobs to fund her Big Pipe Dream so running into Rake isn’t an accident. She expected Rake to be arrogant and obnoxious but what she finds is a man without a real direction that has a heart of gold. Lillith is a beautiful light in this story having recently lost her mother and really hoping she finds her dad out of all the chaos. Now, this story surprised me at every twist and turn and truly ended up as a fun and wonderful journey. I am really glad I got the chance to experience this author’s talent. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC that I voluntarily read and this is my honest review.

I made it 11% through the book and then had to DNF. I didn’t really like the main character, which made it difficult to get into.

The Love Scam is book #2 in the Danger series, but it can be read as a stand-alone (my case). Rake Tarbell is in real trouble: he wakes up no money, with a hungover and no idea how he is in Venice, if he was in Los Angeles. To make matters worse, there's Lillith, a little girl claiming to be his daughter, and the lovely woman who took Lillith to him, Claire.
Claire Delaney doesn't care a bit about Rake's predicaments, but if helping him will get her away quickly, she's up to the task. Until the initial boring task becomes a romantic one...
This book has funny moments, but it took too long for me to get interested in the plot - I almost gave up the reading. Maybe I'm not used to this author's writing style.

I was given this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn’t a huge fan of this book, as much as I wanted to be. It jumped around a lot and you were never quite sure where in the plot you were. It didn’t suck me in and was very easy to put aside and forget to pick it back up.

I probably wouldn’t recommend to most people, I’ve read much more gripping rom coms in the past.

When I requested this novel I was into the idea of reading this novel but I discovered that I was unable to provide feedback on this book due to the series being archived prior to download and file/download issues. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience of not being to review and thank you for taking the time to provide me an ARC of this novel.

3 Playboy Stars!!

When I read the synopsis for this book I was very excited because it sounded like a fun kind of romp taking us on a journey in Venice with all sorts of things going wrong! Well, part of it was right, Rake is a man that’s in a serious world of confusion because he’s broke, in a foreign city and apparently has a daughter he knows nothing about!!

The book started out on a good foot as I was intrigued as to how this happened to Rake and how can he not remember anything…but the further I got into the book, the more I thought maybe I stepped into an alternate universe. There was all sorts of jumping around and things didn’t make sense and at these moments I had a lot of why would this happen and who would do this type questions.

The one character that truly loved in this book was his daughter Lillith. This girl is all sorts of precocious and knows a lot of things about random things in this world that she lives in…she’s convinced she’s his daughter and until proven otherwise she’s fully on board with that! And the conclusion to this part of the story was good!

This was my first book by Ms. Davidson and while there were parts of the book that were entertaining, it was a meh read for me.

I really enjoyed this book! It was funny and heartwarming. The characters were wonderful. I highly recommend it.I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

I just can't. I honestly have no idea what is happening in this book. Between the conversations and timelines that are jumping all over the place, and the inner voice, I"m confused. Also, who in the world would name their kids Rake and Blake.

Rake Tarbell is a hot mess.

He wakes up in Venice with no clue how he got there.
With a kid claiming to be his and Lilith who hands him said kid.
Short, choppy chapters, it starts in media res and we're mainly along for the chaotic ride.

Twin brothers Blake and Rake Tarbell are as different as night and day. Blake the hardworking, never taking time off to relax and Rake, the playboy, always having fun. They know all the buttons to push to get on each others nerves. Within a day, their lives are altered. Rake can't tell you how he ended up in Venice, Italy. He has no money, no credit cards and now at the mercy of Claire Delaney and a little girl named Lillith. Now Claire Delaney has been hired to do a job. She has had preconceived notion that all Rake does is drink and have fun. Little did she know that he has a work ethic and a very protective nature. When she asked for permission to tell him the truth, the person she works for said no. Rake was always underestimated. He figured it all out but it didn't change the ending. Love pierced his heart and there was no going back. Love the ending with the twins on the phone.

I so enjoyed this book. Now, I will grant that at first, since I was reading an ARC, I thought it was in need of some major editing, but then I realized she was writing that way on purpose. It took a little bit of time to get used to seeing Rake's inner monologue especially with weird exclamations, etc., however once I did, I loved it. His inner thoughts were hilarious and it was so refreshing for a book to be told from the hero's POV. There are plenty of shenanigans in this book to keep you guessing throughout and then Claire having to tell the things he did pre-hangover was so funny too. He did vomit a bit too much though (not all hangover related). His twin is the exact opposite and although there is his story to be told, it does have me wondering how to make him funny. I believe the author can do it though. Lillith, Rake's possible daughter, was a delight and I just wish there could have been a bit more of her in the book. Overall, great book! Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC for an honest review.

This was disappointing. I was excited when I saw that this was a Romance in Venice, Italy but it wasn't at all what I expected. There was a whole mystery element to it. I would have loved that had it been done well. It missed the mark for me. I didn't like the writing, and I just didn't believe in their romance. I mean I didn't believe in the story at all really... I saw a lot of the twists coming and I just didn't connect with the characters... The main silver lining for me though was the daughter character who was pretty cool and funny. Also, this was pretty short...

The Love Scam by MaryJanice Davidson

Contemporary romantic comedy. Danger series, book 2. Best read in order. I didn’t read book 1 and for the most part was ok, but I got the feeling, especially towards the end that I was missing a connection.
The writing style is humorous and very sarcastic. Every page, and every paragraph is heavily laced with internal character commentary or witty and snarky banter. At least through the first half of the book.

Around 60%, POV began altering between Rake and Delaney. Prior was from Rake’s POV.
Italian phrases or events or places were sometimes starred with an asterisk. The connecting definition was at the end of that specific chapter. A couple times it was to reference book 1. While nice to provide the translation or info, by the time I got to the end of the chapter, I had to figure out why I needed to know whatever it was.

Overall, a complicated and amusing situational romantic comedy. Often humor filled and silly. Sentimental in the end with family connections made all around.

Excerpt sample of writing style:
“Are you yelling at your inner voice again?”
“No,” he grumped.
“Your pants are on fire, you liar liar.” And God, it sounded affectionate. Like when a normal woman would say “You’re so cute!” Wait, did he want a normal woman? No, he wanted Delaney. Wait, what? Wait.
What?“
Excerpt from The Love Scam by MaryJanice Davidson

I received a copy of this from NetGalley.

I have read many of the author’s books so I was excited to receive this one! And it does not disappoint. Plenty of romance, humor and fun. And best of all, Venice! Italy is one of my favorite places to spend time so this book is absolutely my cup of tea. Now I need to grab the authors more recent books and see what she has been up to since the undead series. Which I loved by the way. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

The plot of this story is very interesting, however I found it very difficult to relate to all the different characters. Their is so much internal monologue that some times the comedy gets a little lost. I also found it very hard to keep going. Lilith was the only character that I felt I could relate to. I would give this a 3 out of 5 stars.

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martian’s Griffin for sharing this ARC with me in return for a honest review.

The Love Scam was my first book by author MaryJanice Davidson. I liked the storyline, and while it was funny, I didn’t really feel connected to the main characters. There was a lot going on, and maybe that’s why it was so hard to get into it. I’m sure this will be a big hit with her fans but for me it was just okay.

2.5*

Chapter 2 of The Love Scam starts out Ten confusing minutes later… and if that wasn’t a fitting reflection of how I felt pretty much the entire time I was reading…

Even though it’s been quite a few years since I’ve read a MaryJanice Davidson book, I was pretty surprised when I went to GR to mark this as “currently reading” to see it had such a low rating. I remember really enjoying the books I had read, I even own some in paperback. Sadly, after finishing The Love Scam, I can understand the low rating and less than stellar reviews.

While I did end up enjoying the story, at least the ending when things kind of came together, it took a little getting there and I’m still confused about some things. I feel like chapters 1 and 2 should have been the prologue because I’m not sure how they fit, even after going back this morning and reading them again. I don’t know if they would have worked if I read the first book, but they just didn’t make sense to me and I’m still at a loss as to what’s going on with Rake and Blake’s mother. The whole point of them needing to get together to call her the next day- where did that fit in? It was weird to have the prologue take place in current time, jump to the past for a couple of chapters, and then right back to where the prologue left off.

The Love Scam had the potential to be a fun, escapism type read, but ultimately failed a bit short. There were bits and pieces that I liked (Lillith) and found entertaining (some of Rake’s inner ramblings), but overall there were just too many things that didn’t add up or come together. Apparently this book and Danger, Sweetheart, the first book, run concurrently, so maybe if I had read that first I wouldn’t have been as lost as I was, but when I requested the book on NetGalley there was no mention of it being a part of a series so I figured The Love Scam was safe to read on its own, and that's on me.

*Side note- Ms. Davidson says in her Author’s Note that she wanted to write a love letter about love and tropes, and she included an index of “tropes” at the end of the book. Are “Hero is handsome” and “Heroine is beautiful” really tropes, especially in contemporary romance?!? And what was the reasoning for the 000 after each item?

MaryJanice Davidson’s “Love Scam” is a deliberately trope-laden romance comedy with a fun Venice setting.

So many rom-com themes are packed into this one that the author has provided a trope index in the back. (It was kind of fun to name them as they came along.) My problem with the book was that too many clues to the underlying mystery were withheld from the reader, and I found myself losing interest in trying to spot them. The characters are sweet, although it took them forever to get on the same page.

This is a light read for hot August days.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.