Enjoyable, quick read. A really cute premise and gives you lots of feels. The main character suffers from social anxiety, has very few friends and is constantly wishing she could be more open/different. An “on the air” incident forces her out of her comfort zone, and leads her to develop her “Ten Rules for Faking It” and to become the person she’s always wanted to be. The book gives you great friendship and a slow burning romance, and really good character development. Would definitely recommend!

Everly Dean has always hated her birthdays. Something always seems to go wrong on her birthday and her 30th is no exception. Trying to surprise her boyfriend with an early morning coffee date, she instead finds him in bed with his assistant. Then she tries to vent her frustration to her best friend and coworker at the radio station, only to realize that she announced her embarrassing breakup live on air. All of a sudden their ratings are soaring, everyone messaging advice and offering to take her out on dates. When Chris, her boss and secret crush, suggests a bachelorette style dating special, Everly agrees for the sake of keeping her job. But as she dates her way through the game, she starts to realize the bachelor she really wants isn't even in the game.
This book was a slow build. I love the radio station setting and the story was really unique. I really like the focus on Everly's crippling social anxiety, which I suffer myself. Everyone close to her is so accepting of her limits, especially her hunky boss Chris
Thank you to Sophie Sullivan and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The views and opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Great read. I love that it explores different types of relationships outside the main characters. It’s an unpredictable story that really hooks you in.

Real, honest look at navigating life and dating with all the stress and anxiety. Everly loves being a radio producer, working in the background and staying out of the limelight. She struggles with anxiety so most social situations are a true struggle. Sadly, birthdays are the worst for her which hits an all-time high when her partner, Stacy the DJ, has her live on camera and she blurts out her latest dating drama. Suddenly, her job is in jeopardy and the whole city knows her life story. Chris is working hard to prove to his obstinate father that he can run the business without his intervention. When the story for Everly goes viral, Chris devises a plan to save her job and the radio station with a dating game for Everly through the station. I enjoyed this journey for Everly. I felt her ups and downs while being right there with her as she challenged herself to be brave and face her fears and anxieties. Chris ends up being a great balance for her but he has his own challenge of dealing with his father. Stacy is an awesome best friend as she always has Everly’s back while giving the nudge when needed to help Everly stay strong and stick to her rules. I voluntarily read an ARC of this book and this is my honest review.

Ten Rules for Faking It is a debut book from a new author. It was a very impressive debut. A radio producer is caught on audio talking about her awful birthday and terrible ex who has completely ruined her birthday. What ensues is a Bachelorette style dating game, where she dates a few men and pushes them through to the next round. The one at the end is the guy she’s chooses to date for awhile.

The real hiccup is Everly herself. She does not have any desire to put herself in the spotlight. Everly has severe anxiety and is an over thinker. I think the author did a fantastic job of portraying someone with anxiety. You really got to get straight into Everly’s thoughts. It honestly broke my heart with some of the things she was thinking. But, she really changed throughout the course of the story and got a little bit braver.

While the contest is going on, Everly gets closer to her station manager, Chris. Their friendship and romance played out really well behind the scenes. Chris is dealing with his own issues; mostly family related. And he is hiding a big secret from everyone.

Overall, I really enjoyed this romantic comedy. There were definitely some heavier parts that the author handled fantastically. I would recommend this one. I look forward to the author’s future books.

Everly lives her life battling anxiety everyday. Situations we may find normal completely send her into a tailspin. It doesn’t help when her best friend/radio host accidentally lets her vent her latest love life fiasco live, on air! This leads to a “bachelorette” type radio show starring Everly Dean. Yes, she’s shy and anxious, but she uses the show to help herself overcome some of her fears-and hopefully find someone who can accept her for all she is.

✨This book was so cute 🥰 A slow burn romcom with great characters! Everly was a strong lead female and I adored Stacey and Chris and their willingness to understand Everly better. I can definitely see this being set up into a series.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

I’ve had a difficult time coming up with the right things to say for this review. The book was good, cute, and I loved the friendship between Stacey and Everly. I enjoyed getting to experience life inside a radio station and in Southern California.
I liked Chris and Everly together. But never actually felt their chemistry. I thought he was good for her and treated her well. But the chemistry felt forced.
This book actually took me longer to read than normal. So take that how you will.
Overall it was a cute book and if you are looking for a fun, radio book, this would be a good one to pick up.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I like Everly. She has anxiety and I liked how it was portrayed. She was also sarcastic and witty and was relatable in a lot of ways. There were times where her indecisiveness annoyed me but as someone with anxiety, I also kind of understood. I think Everly was a very real character and it was so much fun to read about her life and I loved seeing her get her HEA!

After finishing this book, I have been going back and forth on how to rate it. I decided with 3 stars, not 2 or 4. Its odd for me to be so back and forth on a book rating, usually its like, love or do not enjoy. This book has nuances that could teeter it from one side to another.

We start with our heroine, Everly, having a really crappy birthday. She walks in on her boyfriend cheating and then goes to work to tell her bestie. Unbeknownst to Everly it is broadcast on the radio station they work for. OOPS. In swoops our hero, Chris her boss, with an idea to save the day. A bachelorette style show in which Everly goes out on dates with listeners. This slow burn takes place over the month long contest and while our anxiety prone Everly is going out with random men, she seems to be falling for Chris. Could he possibly feel the same way?

Now on to my very long list of reasons for my rating. The good bits along with the bad bits because sometimes they go hand in hand. I love a good bachelorette style trope and this one on the radio is one I haven't read, but I have lived. Oh yes friends you read that right. I have participated in a date on the radio bachelorette style. While I loved the trope, everything else I felt detracted from it. I liked that our Everly had some severe social anxiety (we need to normalize these things) as many people in our day to day lives have anxiety. My problem is that it seemed as though Chris was the only one who could ease her anxiety. And don't even get me started on how much this girl needed a therapist. When I read how bad her anxiety was, I just assumed that she would be seeing a therapist, but no. Hey if we are writing about anxiety, lets do the right thing and give the character a therapist too.

Another big love hate situation with this book is her interaction with her parents. WOW. They seem to be the absolute root cause of Everly's anxiety. I can't imagine living my life where I don't know if my parents are married or separated this week. I love that she has such a good relationship with them, but oh my, she is like a ping pong ball. I think their weird relationship causes her to have some archaic ideas on marriage and divorce. The author pretty much lost me there.

My last love hate is the slow burn/boss employee romance tropes. I love a slow burn, its one of my favorites. I also love workplace romances. I think this book took both of these tropes way over the line. The romance was so slow, I started to get bored, and this was a longer romance book. I think it could have moved a little more quickly. I want to say the first kiss between characters hit about 75%- that is slow burn people. Now the workplace romance is a little more cut and dry for me. While I do really enjoy reading them, this had glaring danger signs all over it. First, Everly didn't know just how much of being her boss Chris was. As in the owner's son and not a nice owner either. Second, it started to feel icky because he was so much higher on the rung than she was. In this day and age of #metoo it just felt wrong

I loved the premise and wanted to love the book. I can guarantee this is the start of a series. We had way too many introductions to other characters and their issues to not see more books in this world. If the next book is about the bestie or the brother, I will give it another go. For me this was 3 stars. I just expected more.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for a advanced copy to read and review.

2.5 stars!

I'm having a hard time putting together cohesive thoughts about this story for a review because it's honestly pretty meh for me all around. It's fairly forgettable, with one notable exception (and I'll get to that in a moment), and while it's a great premise for a story, it didn't hold my attention.

The first thing I want to be sure to mention is that they do not even kiss until 85% into the book (and this is not a short story), so it is the slowest of slow burns. Unfortunately, the tension just isn't there to keep the fires going either. So by the time they finally came together I was pretty indifferent about it; like ok, we're kissing now, what next. If you're looking for a steamy read, this is not it.

Also, is one of those books where the main conflict could have been solved with a simple, 5-minute conversation at the beginning of the story. So once they did come together, I knew we then had to deal with the problem-that-shouldn't-be-a-problem. It made it really difficult to care about the characters or their development. I cared more about secondary characters, but even our time with them was minimal.

This story revolves around a sort of Bachelorette-style promo for the radio station where the two LI's work, and I really wish we would have seen more of that! I would have loved to have read the Facebook posts that Everly wrote about the dates or more interactions between her and Chris afterward. Instead, there was so much (too much) introspection. It was a great representation of social anxiety, but it really felt like it elongated the book about 100 pages longer than it should have been. This part of the story and of Everly could have been conveyed without giving us as the readers social anxiety.

In general, the writing felt heavy-handed and in need of some editing and focus. We really didn't get to know or be invested in the characters, their voices blended together, and while the potential was there it just wasn't executed in a way that worked for me.

The one thing that I will take away from this book is SCI. You cannot tell me that ANYONE could possibly think that Squishy Cat Industries was actually a good idea in any way, shape, or form for a grand gesture, multimillion-dollar company. I deducted a half-star for this alone. It was too much, too cheesy. It's now going to be a part of a comparison scale: if it doesn't reach SCI levels of cringy cheese, then it's not too much. It's my line in the sand. I don't know why this specific moment did me in, it just did. Where were the beta readers on this one?

Ten Rules for Faking It was a refreshing and touching romance novel that normalized mental health with real-life anxiety impacts. Everly is a producer for a radio show, and her best friend is the DJ. When her BF accidentally goes live on-the-air to wish her a happy birthday, all of Everly’s dirty laundry about her cheating now ex-boyfriend is heard. The community roots for Everly to find love through a bachelorette like dating bracket in the weeks to come. However, her boss, Chris, continues to be a front runner even though he’s not an option. Everly is a strong woman, even if she does not believe in herself. Throughout the book, her anxiety shows up, and she advocates for how it makes daily activities more challenging. I appreciated how Everly provided concrete examples and explained how her anxiety affects her. I am not a person who has anxiety, but this book allowed me to empathize with my friends and family members. We need more books like Ten Rules for Faking It to normalize mental health and create opportunities for conversations to begin with friends and family members. I loved this book so much and was lost enjoying Everly’s story of finding the love of a special man but, most importantly, loving herself. I am excited Sophie Sullivan will have at least two more books for follow-up love stories for Chris’ brothers! I cannot wait to devour this book too!

Thank you to Sophie Sullivan, St. Martin’s Press / St. Martin’s Griffin, and NetGalley for this advanced copy for my honest review.

I just couldn’t get into this book, there as just something about it that I couldn’t connect with. I did like the social anxiety aspect of the book but just something did sit right with me on this.

A romance about Everly and her anxiety and Chris trying to get his dream job. Everly is anxious in crowds, when the focus is in her and a lot of other times. Yet she ends up spilling her story on the air about catching her boyfriend cheating on her on her birthday. This sets up a mini bachelorette for the radio. Chris is working hard to impress his Dad and move up in the company but he has also fallen for Everly. As her boss and hoping to move back to New York, he is avoiding his feelings.

A cute romance.

i've had good luck with contemporary romance in the past and i was excited to see how i'd feel about this one. unfortunately, this was only okay. it had a lot of promise. a radio show producer and the radio's station manager butting heads and then falling in love sounds sweet and unique. throw a little dating competition and secrets and you've got yourself a fun little romance.

however, i really didn't like the writing style. i could tell from pretty early on that this wasn't going to be a new favorite because it felt a little overwritten. like, every little thing the main character did was described. (i.e. "she got a bottle of water from the fridge. she unscrewed the bottle of water. she drank from the bottle of water.") also, the main character was really annoying. she had some serious communications issues and she really made everything more dramatic than it needed to be. she had social anxiety and i think a lot of the issues that came up were supposed to stem from that. but seriously, a simple conversation or letting someone explain themselves could've solved 99% of those problems.

overall, it was cute and fun. but i had a lot of issues with it and it definitely wasn't a new fave. it comes out in a few days though, so if you're looking for something light and romantic to end 2020 on, i'd definitely recommend checking this one out.

This slow-burn romance follows Everly Dean and her boss Chris, after the revelation that Everly found her boyfriend cheating on her on the morning of her birthday. I enjoyed this story and felt that it had a good cast of characters and left me wanting to know what happened. I also really enjoyed the depiction of Everly's anxiety because it felt real and you could tell how much it affected her everyday life. I do wish slow burn wasn't quite so slow, but I understand why it was as both main characters navigated through their feelings. This story is told from a third person POV, so we get looks into the innermost thoughts of both Everly and Chris, which I found interesting and helpful to the pacing of the story.

I feel like I am on a bad train of romances lately and it feels like this pairing is part of it. The anxiety representation in this one was solid. That being said, frankly I wanted development from the couple as a couple as well.

This was such a heartwarming book! Right from the start, Everly was entirely relatable. I too, have never really experiences a "good" birthday. With every page I understood her. I felt her happiness, I felt her anxiety and I was her. I love the fact that the ideology of the stigma of social anxiety was Incorporated into this novel. It really helped grasp the idea what it feels like to have social anxiety especially in the dating world. Sophie does an amazing job captivating each character enticing us to want to know them. From the well-intentioned extroverted best friend to the protective loving parents, you felt like you were also a part of Everly's world. With each date Everly went on, you felt like were there too in her shoes. The romance you noticed blossoming from the start led you on an adventure yelling at the book, being like "JUST TELL THEM HOW YOU FEEL ALREADY". You feel Everly falling in love in the most heartwarming and wholesome way, that brings out the warm and fuzzies and makes you want to fall in love again. I highly recommend this book for all romantic comedy enthusiasts and all who want to feel what it is like to fall in love again.

Overall, I thought this was an "okay" read. I liked the premise, I thought the characters were pretty good, but the storyline was waaaaayyyyy too slow moving and predictable. Unfortunately, I couldn't connect enough with it and found myself not able to really be engaged with this book. I am certain others will absolutely LOVE it. I will give it a 3.5 because it had potential.

How do you feel about birthdays?

If you ask Everly Dean, birthdays are the absolute worst. On the morning of her 30th birthday, she finds her boyfriend in the act of cheating on her, then accidentally broadcasts this plight for thousands to hear over the radio. What ensues next is a Bachelorette-like radio promotion that pushes Everly out of her comfort zone and into a journey of self-discovery. Complete with a forbidden crush on her station manager boss, Ten Rules for Faking It is a slow burn romance that does not disappoint.

I really loved this book. The first few chapters were a tad slow to build the main story line, but once it got going, I quickly fell in love with Everly and the small group of people she chose to keep close, including her over-the-top parents and their hilarious antics (cue inappropriately-filled donkey piñata). Her relationship with her boss Chris builds slowly and as they become friends, it was completely endearing how Chris seems to understand what Everly needs, even when she doesn’t quite understand what she needs herself. I found myself rooting for them, despite Everly having to go on blind dates to save the station and her job.

While I loved how Everly’s relationship with Chris, the true winner in this book was the relationship with Stacey, her best friend. Stacey pushes past all Everly’s crap with the right amount of love, coupled with persuasion and brutal honesty. She never gives up on Ev, despite Everly fighting it at every turn. Stacey is definitely the type of friend you need in your life and I’m secretly hoping we can get a book to explore her life (and hopefully including Rob!!).

Another win is how the book accurately portrays anxiety and its impact on both Everly’s professional and personal life. Mental illness is not something people regularly talk about, but I love how it’s becoming more and more prevalent in books. Ten Rules for Faking It nails it and I hope it will bring more awareness and understanding around the issue.

This was a very engaging book, and the main characters are interesting, likable, and well developed. The main character, Everly begins the book on her birthday by walking in on her boyfriend with another woman in his bed. Her job at a local radio station is usually spent producing her friend Stacey’s show and staying OFF mike. But a mis-communication causes her to blurt out a large dose of honesty about her day on air. This leads to an interesting promotion to set Everly up with a series of dates in a contest to find her a nice guy. The biggest problem with this scheme is that Everly has a big case of social anxiety as well as generalized anxiety, and it is not like her to put herself out this way. But she is trying to push past her insecurities. The author uses Everly to give a very insightful look at the way anxiety affects the way you think and act, and the courage it takes to conquer everyday situations, and I think that was an important view. It was a fun read, with an interesting premise.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.