It’s both not the best and certainly not the worst thing I’ve ever read.
At the beginning, I was invested, rooting for each character, drawn in by a storyline that didn’t quite live up to its potential.
As the book continued, my need for a happily ever after kind of plummeted. I lost interest, with more and more of the story leaning on the MC’s anxiety and me enjoying it less and less.
I love all things love, but the h spent so much of the book on the bachelorette style dating, and not enough building a romantic relationship with the H. Unfortunately it fell flat, and ended up being not so believable that these two MC’s could in fact have a HEA.

This is a fun and heartwarming romance, mostly because of the endearing main character, Everly Dean. A radio producer, she struggles with anxiety, mostly in social situations. After a particularly bad year, she decides to make a concerted effort to overcome her anxiety and shake things up in her life -- hence the ten rules. Right away, she gets caught up in a radio station promotion that makes her kind of like The Bachelorette, and that's just for starters. I look forward to recommending this to readers who enjoy Susan Mallory, Sarah Morgan, and Jenn McKinlay.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the e-ARC to read and review!

"Ten Rules For Faking It" is a light but sweet office contemporary romance I enjoyed reading more than I thought I would.

The book opens with a unique punch that is at first cliché but then makes you feel secondhand embarrassment for Everly. But I was hooked from then on hoping beyond hope that something good would come out of this for her.

I liked how the story suddenly becomes a smaller scale version of The Bachelorette. It's an interesting turn of events in opposition to Everly's "Ten Rules For Faking It" list to turn her life around. It was a well balanced internal and external conflict.

What I loved most about this book is the apt representation of social anxiety disorder. Anxiety - from what it looks like on the outside versus how it actually looks/feels on the inside - is translated so well through great writing. The author really understands intricacies and subtle nuances anxiety has on the mind and body.

Everly is an empowering character. There's a lot to love about Everly once you get to know her, such as how she loves her job as a radio producer.  I related to Everly so much and understood from experience why she is the way she is. Nobody wants to feel anxious or afraid all the time. Nobody wants to be mentally exhausted after socializing. It’s hard to appear “normal” out of fear of being judged. And having anxiety isn’t something to be ashamed of.

Chris is a great character who’s been fighting demons of his own since childhood. I liked getting to know his character during the chapters in his POV. He has a wonderful, close relationship with his two older brothers, which was nice to see.

"Ten Rules For Faking It" is very much a character driven story where all the characters seem to have something about themselves to overcome. I was wholly invested and wanted to read more afterwards. There are two characters in particular I would love to read a story about.

It’s still a good, slow burn story that was told well. I would read more books by Sophie Sullivan. I think this story will help a lot of people who are indecisive about who they are and what they want from life.

Actually a really sweet romance. I'm shocked to admit that I didn't mind there wasn't much sex, I cared enough about the story and characters to stay invested. Great chemistry between the characters and the author did a nice job writing both viewpoints. Also thought the depiction of anxiety came across as realistic.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read. But, I would have liked to see this shortened a bit; this felt really long to me. Also, I basically learn right off the bat that Chris has been crushing hard for Everly, but it felt slightly awkward for me since I didn't see the build up to why he was pretty much already in love with her. And I was really hoping for more during the dating portion of the story. Basically, I'd totally recommend this to others, but with a caveat. I think I'd tell them this could have used a bit more editing to tighten the story.

I liked this romance and her rules for faking it and finding love. Great romance and finding oneself.

As far as romance novels go, I'd say this one landed somewhere in the middle of the road.

The premise was cute, saccharine, if a bit forgettable. It was about as vanilla as you could get as well, I won't lie. Personally I would've liked to have seen more Bachelorette-like dating sequences instead of only having had overviews of them. I suppose I was hoping for more awkwardness and abashment on Everly's dates so as to counteract the ease, compatibility, and understanding she and Chris shared whenever they hung out.

Speaking of the two mains, by the way--Chris and Everly had a bit of a forbidden, no-fraternizing-at-work, slow burn romance in this. That's typically a trope I love, and while I did appreciate its inclusion here, it fell flatter than I had hoped it would. Chris's intense infatuation started long before they even struck up a friendship and I didn't care for the instalovey-ness of that. (Instalove seems to be my reading plague of 2020, y'all, I kid you not! Makes me want to scratch out my own eyeballs!) Worse, Everly seemed to be as resistant to date him for valid "reasons" as he was to go all in.

I also didn't think Chris and Everly spent enough time together on the whole.

I will say that the depiction of social anxiety was the best part of the book for me. It paralyzed Everly in numerous ways throughout the narrative: at work, on dates, upon entering the gym, etc. I appreciated how the author showed how other characters were both frustrated and compassionate in their reactions to it as well, because isn't that a dichotomy we all encounter in real life on occasion? Sometimes people are sympathetic to our chronic struggles; other times, they grow impatient and ask if we can "let go" or "get over it already," as if it we could turn them off with a mere snap of our fingers. I loved the chomp of realness I could take away from all of that.

Anyway, I wasn't absorbed by this one by any means but it was light and pleasing. Cute enough to keep my attention.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffith for the ARC in exchange for my review!

This was exactly what I needed in this crazy world. It presented itself as a fluffy read about love, but it took on a lot of other issues in a very thoughtful way. The protagonist has social anxiety and the book shows the misunderstandings people have about that illness, along with how challenging it can make life. There were parent-child relationships that evolved, a discussion of what love is, strong friendships. I expected it to be just a light romance, but it was so much better than that!

I did read an advance copy via Netgalley- and there were a few irritating spacing errors that I hope are resolved prior to release (though I am an English teacher so I'm hyper aware of this things).

Usually I enjoy the slow burn romance, but this one is told from the point-of-view of both lead characters, Everly and Chris. Chris is Everly's boss at a radio station. Everly has social anxiety that Chris is quite aware of and tuned into. However, you know straight from the start that he is interested in her and she is attracted to him. There is no suspense in building the slow burn, only a long frustrating story. Chris tries to bolster the radio stations ratings by having Everly go on dates with listeners. This story would have been much better if we didn't know all the details of Chris's thoughts, and just tried to deduce what he was thinking from his actions. He is clearly very attentive to Everly and her needs, but still he sends her on dates. To make this a more effective slow burn, the reader should not be privy to Chris's thoughts. The reader should be trying to sort out what it means that Chris pays close attention to her anxiety, and yet still lets her go on dates with all of these listeners to the radio show. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

So as someone who has never watched The Bachelor, the premise still intrigued me. In this book you meet Everly, a radio producer with anxiety, and Chris, her boss with secrets that has a crush on her. After being humiliated on her birthday and accidently saying it on air, the station puts on a Bacherlor type show for her to go on dates.
One issue I had with the book was the 'instant love", that Chris has for Everly. All in all a cute story, and I liked that the premise was new to me.

2.5 stars rounded up.

Ten Rules for Faking It is about Everly Dean, a woman who discovers her boyfriend is cheating on her and accidentally rants about it on air at the radio station where she works as a producer. After a huge outpouring of support (and interest) from the radio station's audience, Everly's boss, Chris, pitches a Bachelorette style dating game where Everly will date a set of men, eventually picking her happily ever after. But while Everly is supposed to be falling for one of the men she's dating, she's actually (accidentally) falling for Chris. 

What I liked about this book: It's an amazing premise. I'm here for anything styled after The Bach and I thought this was a really innovative spin. I also really liked this book's attempts at representing social anxiety. It's very clear the author wanted to present the whole picture of how anxiety can affect an individual in all aspects of their life and that came across clearly. 

What I didn't like: The book is a little bit too long -- it's a VERY slow burn that borders on boring at times. I am not a fan of work romances, particularly when there's a very clear power dynamic imbalance (as there is between Everly and Chris) and there was no real attempt to address that issue. It also seemed problematic to me that the only person who "understood" Everly's anxiety was Chris -- and he was like a unicorn in always knowing exactly the right thing to do when she was having anxious moments. It just didn't feel like a realistic depiction of how even the healthiest relationships work.  Also Everly's views on divorce and marriage are... extremely retrograde and that whole plot point I found to be extremely off putting. 

There are parts of this that are very well written and compelling. The scene with the pinata is hilarious, like a slow motion accident you can't look away from. But overall this one wasn't for me. 

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun read for me! I just loved everything about the sweet romance novel. I was so absorbed in the unique, quirky storyline!

Ten Rules for Faking It, is a romance that brings light to people with social anxiety and how living with it can effect many aspects of life. Everly has just turned thirty and thought her life would be more “normal” with her being married and having kids by now but life just wasn’t working out that way and has thrown her some curve balls. I enjoyed having both POV’s of the main characters and I feel that added to the story however, much of the book repeated the why they can’t be together so much that it was a bit like bashing my head against the wall. I also had a problem with the main character being hypocritical such has what she says compared to what she actually does in the story and I wish she would have gone and gotten more professional help with treating her anxiety.

I was provided with an electronic ARC through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved this story! From the friendships to the romantic relationships, everything pulled at my heartstrings. I wanted more from these characters! Can there be a sequel please? The writing is fabulous, easy to follow, funny, and witty! The characters are real- nothing cheesy here! I laughed, I cried, and I still wish there were more pages to this one so I didn’t have to stop reading it.

I really enjoyed the premise and the book was hard to put down. It was fun and charming and the main characters were fairly realistic. The only drawback was the constant and repetitive thoughts of Chris. Almost every section written from his point of view was full of the same sentiments and thoughts, so he became a much more boring character. I wish there was more development of his character as there was with Everly.

I have received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This story made me think of the lyrics "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to". It's one of my favorite songs so the book was dear to me by association. The writing and the characters helped with that as well. I also liked how anxiety played its part in the unfolding - I am a sucker for 'less than perfect' girls and the good guys who get them. A very nice read.

2.75/5 stars
I really wanted to enjoy this book, but the main character Everly really brought it down. I really enjoyed her for 65% of the book, but then her character development was actually her getting worse. There were the two stereotypical moments of her overcoming her debilitating social anxiety, but then nothing else happens. Her friend mentions therapy once and then it's never mentioned again. Everly convinces her parents to take couple's counseling, but she never even thinks of doing it herself. She's also a huge hypocrite and by the end she's worse than she was in the beginning.
I loved the love interest/other main character Chris. He has great character development, and while he's very understanding and dreamy, he's able to call Everly out on her hypocriticalness and her naïveté that don't fit into what she's dealt with in her life. She literally wishes her parents would get a divorce, but then, when she finds out Chris had been divorced, she thinks it's the end of the world and refuses to see other sides.
I also really liked the plot and supporting characters, but everyone was screwed over by Everly, and they never really seemed to mind. She is the type of person who apologizes on the verge of a panic attack so you can't stay angry, but then they make the same mistake again and again.

This review is not going to be long. I am not a huge fan of a review rehashing the entire plot and spoiling it for everyone.

This is the first book of Sophie Sullivan that I have read. I loved it!!! The story was engaging and the charters awesome. I actually laughed out loud while reading it. I am going to purchase more of her books.


I received an ARC of this book to read through NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Such a fun, chick-lit style read. Loved this one!

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

Sweet and quirky. I like the way the characters are written. They seem like people you would meet while you’re going about your life. The forbidden aspect of the relationship made it all the more steamy and exciting. Very good and well written.