This is a very Hallmark-esque rom-com that takes place in a pacific northwest town.
Harper Cole thought she was going to marry her high school boyfriend turned TV star. Instead she gets dumped and goes viral. Moving back to her small town in Washington, she's going to be temporarily working as a teacher at her elementary school.
Christopher Young is an up and coming lawyer, sent to Hunters Creek to determine if his company should buy the local mill. After losing his parents, Christopher has become all work and no play, determined to succeed and make sure his sister graduates college with no debt. He even thinks his first run in with Harper is something out of a Hallmark movie.
Harper has a problem though. Everyone in her small town wants to set up her with someone in hopes of helping her heal from her break-up. Enter the new, uptight man in town. Harper tells everyone they are dating to get them to back off. Christopher agrees to Harper's idea of fake dating, hoping it will help him with the stand-offish people in town. What neither expected was for the fake feelings to become real. They're both too different to work together, right?
The third act conflict was predictable and I wish there was a little more time spent with the characters really getting to know each other. Overall, I thought this was a light, enjoyable read!

Tropes: small town, grumpy/sunshine, fake dating, closed door

Thank you to NetGalley and Wild Lime for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I don't have a lot to say about this book. I'm usually a sucker for the "grumpy x sunshine" trope but this wasn't it.I didn't feel any connection between the main characters,it was more like love at first sight which I'm not big fan of.

I received this book as an ARC on Netgalley!

I have never read a book by Katie O'Keeffe, and boy have I been missing out!! This book was absolutely adorable. I love the Grumpy/Sunshine Trope!

Harper and Christopher were hard not to fall in love with. Harper is trying to get over her famous Ex and Christopher has been sent to this small town for business. Their story pulls you in right away!

I would highly recommend checking out this book! I can wait for the next book in the Second Chance Cafe series.

This is a sweet, romantic comedy. It had a very Hallmark-movie type feel to me. In fact there are several references made to Hallmark in it.

While I am often found binge watching Hallmark movies, they are not usually known for winning Emmy awards. They have their place and do well there.

That is how I felt about this book. It isn't the next literary masterpiece, but it isn't meant to be that either. For what it is, a sweet, regency romantic comedy, it fits the bill. It's got a pretty predictable romance and resolution, but it provided an escape from a world that has been pretty heavy this week.

It took me awhile to get invested in the story. There were some repetitive phrases and a little choppy time line, but overall it was a cute, light read.

The title was a little misleading to me though. I didn't get the impression any of the characters were grumpy.. Christopher was straight laced and uptight, but never saw him as a grump.

I received an advanced c in the digital copy of this book from #Netgalley.

If you need a fun, sweet romantic comedy, this is for you! Set in a small town in Washington, Harper moves back to her hometown after a viral breakup while Christopher is brought to town for 2 months as a lawyer to scope out the town's lumber mill his firm is considering buying. Harpers dad works for said lumber mill along with nearly the entire town of lumberjacks who are wary to trust the newcomer. Enter the fake dating; Harper gets the townspeople off her back about her previous relationship, and the townspeople can't help but start to love Christopher when he's dating the town's prodigal daughter.

I really loved how Christopher was quiet yet attentive to what Harper needed, recognizing she was a people pleaser and making sure she stood her ground to do things for herself every once in awhile. On the flip side, Harper brought out the spontaneity and "go with the flow" attitude in Christophers usually controlled, organized life. They balanced each other and worked well together. I loved the fun nicknames, and the banter between Harper and her sisters. The fake dating trope is always one of my favorites and this book did not disappoint! I'm excited to read the next book in the series covering one of Harper's sister's story!

⁂𝕣𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨⁂
ʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ:⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
sᴘɪᴄᴇ: 🫑 (only kissing)


Harper, a 2nd grade teacher, is on her way home to Hunter’s Creek Washington, after being dumped by her long term boyfriend, Dex. Unfortunately for Harper, her breakup went viral due to her now ex being a tv star.

Christopher is working his way up the corporate ladder at an Acquisitions and mergers law firm. In order for him to get his next promotion, Christopher needs to get the numbers on a lumber mill in Hunter’ Creek.

When Christopher and Harper run into each other in one of the many bear themed bars, they strike up a fake dating deal that benefits both parties. Unfortunately, their relationship doesn’t remain fake, and they live an entire country apart.

This was my first read by O’Keeffe. It was a very light, sweet romance. Faking It With the Grump was very clean. No mention of anything more than kissing and very little swearing.

The book hit many of my favorite tropes- fake dating, small town, slow burn, and opposites attract. If you are looking for an easy, quick, Hallmark-esq contemporary romance with a happily ever after, Faking It with the Grump might just be for you!

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity.

I love reading the trope grumpy/sunshine, but I have no idea what this was. Christopher to me.wasn't really grumpy in my opinion. He was just raised with being serious and professional. I wouldn't call that grumpy all the time. Harper didn't really fall in line with being the sunshine either. Yes she wore floral designs and was trying to be positive all the time and help out, but that's it.

This story felt like a high school hallmark to me. They both had the same feelings for each other throughout the whole book, but never acted on them. They acted like they were in middle school, instead of in there late 20's. I don't understand after every chapter, both the main characters said the same thing about one another from the chapter before. How they would talk seems like they were really young kids. It made me cringe

The story line had potential, but it was a total let down. You get dumped, move back home, meet a man, fall for one another, finally get together, then a hiccup with seeing an ex come back and try to be with you, the man see's it and runs away, you run after them to explain, forgive each other at the end and live happily ever after. It was cute, but I don't think I was the right targeted audience for this book. Just wasn't for me.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Harper just got dumped by her boyfriend in a very public way. She decides to move back to her hometown since that's what she always wanted. There she meets Christopher, a NYC lawyer that just arrived in the city to do some consulting job at the mill or so he says. Because of her meddling co-workers she asks him to pretend to be her boyfriend.

What a massive letdown. From the glowing reviews, I can see I'm an exception so maybe the book just wasn't for me. But I didn't like it at all.

Starting with the characters... The main characters are supposed to be 25 and 29 years old. Why do they act like they are 11? Not only them but everyone around them. It's not that they are completely imature in how they act, it's also how they talk and think. Christopher has a rival in his firm that acts like a middle schooler bully. The big showdown between them in the beginning of the book consistis of this 30-year-old lawyer calling the 29-year-old lawyer a boring ogre. And Christopher keeps on talking about it until Harper explains to him that he shouldn't think about it because the man doesn't like him. That's the dialogue! And he never talks about it again! All the characters are extremely cartoonish, they have no personality, no traits, no nothing. The way all of the characters talk and interact is simply unbelievable! And how is Christopher a grump in the book? Oh, he just uses big words up until he just stops doing that for no reason. And Harper is a sunshine because she wears clothes with daisies on them. And since when it's cute calling someone by a name they didn't like and asked to no be called that? Every time she said Topher I cringed.

The writing... This feels like a very rough first draft full of ideas and sentences that are just thrown with no purpose whatsoever and do not work. The first time Harper and Christopher talk, Harper thinks that he must have been raised in Japan because he nods his head when she talks to him. What? Why? There's a moment they are talking about her name and he says that the origin of her name must be someone who plays a harp, because harp-er. She responds that he must be smart because not even her parents knew that. Again, what? The scenes that show Harper teaching her class are just awful and just thrown in the middle of the story. There is no cohesion.That just some examples of what happens in the book. The dialogue is so clunky and awkward. There is a lot of telling and no showing; I'm told the characters like each other that they have amazing chemistry but where? I could not see it.

The insta-love... Sometimes authors can make it work when the characters show they have this big attraction towards one another and start building something meaningful from there. That's not the case here. Christopher sees Harper and is already madly in love with her just by looking at her. Harper decides to use Christopher without even saying "Hi" to him ever in her life as her fake boyfriend without a second thought and after her first conversation with him she already doesn't want the whole thing to be fake anymore. And they have zero chemistry and the author tell us that they like each other but we never see it. They never talk, they only throw lines and zingers (that don't work) at each other.

I just got mad by the end of the book with also the amount of conveniences that started happening for the plot to work. But a lot of people did like it so maybe it's a me thing.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.

I enjoyed this one! It was cute and fun - a sweet strangers meet-cute turns to a fake relationship which benefits both parties, turns to more. Sweet and swoony, aka, clean romance.

Poor Harper thinks she’s getting a proposal in a romantic location from long-time, high school sweetheart turned tv star Dex, but instead he tells her he’s moving on with his shiny new co-star, and she’s out…. So she is on the next bus home, where she’d rather be, any… except Dex is the hometown hero who made it “big”, and it’s hard to escape his shadow. How to get out from under that shadow? Find the first stranger and kiss him in public to show she’s moved on, and luckily he is willing to play along - because he’s in town for a reason the townsfolk might not like and it’ll be good to have an ally.

And it’s my favourite trope - fake relationship!

Such a well written story and great chemistry with all the characters. Looking forward to reading more of O’Keeffe’s books now - I’ve definitely been looking at reading them for quite a while and glad I finally have! I definitely recommend this one, starting her new series, Second Chance Cafe.

I received an advance review copy from NetGalley and Wild Lime Books, and this is my honest feedback.

This was my first book by this author and I received an ARC copy in return for my honest review. 4/5⭐️

This was a definite feel good book - that I didn’t know I needed. It’s a closed door, small town Romance located in a quaint little town called Hunters Creek… where everyone is Bear obsessed and has a love for some flannel.

The tropes are some of my favs; fake dating, grumpy - Sunshine, opposites attract, small town, and a bit of a slow burn. Spice level is a 0.25/5🌶️

When Harper (FMC) and her long term boyfriend come to an end, she moves back to her hometown to teach some adorable little 2nd graders.

Upon moving back to town she runs into Christopher (MMC) the grumpy ogre at the twins Second Chance Cafe, where all of their food is the best this side of Seattle! And, little does he know that this beautiful, selfless teacher will become a big part of his day to day while he is working in this small town.

How will this big time, ocd, straight lined NY lawyer handle little Miss. Sunshine and her caring and selfless ways?

Highly recommend- it’s a great book- can’t wait to read more by this author.

Thanks to netgalley and publisher for the arc.

This was way too repetitive and hallmark movie cheesy cringe for me. Wanted to like it as I really liked the plot and couple but the book itself wasn't my jam at all.

2.5✨

Ok, I didn't like it enough as I thought, I didn't feel connection with the protagonists, I like the instalove but here it was weird, I didn't feel anything.
Besides the attitudes of both protagonists made me desperate, it has a double pov, and it's a light read, so that helped me make the book bearable.
Anyway, I don't know whether to continue the series because I don't want to put up with attitudes similar to these two, but at the same time I want to know the story of ryn and gabe😅

Thank you netgalley for this arc

“Kelly, you and I both know that is just a plot to one of your (Hallmark) movies. The big city suit falls for the pretty small-town girl.”
“Sounds like a great movie to me.”

“If you want her, nothing else matters… Go get yourself happy.”

Yep. That sums it up.

No steamy scenes, some cheesy (in a good way!) dialog, and lots of warm and fuzzy.

Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for early access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

Faking with the grump is a small town, fake dating romance that follows Christopher and Harper after they move to her home town. Harper’s famous boyfriend broke up with her for his co-star and she decided to come back home; Christopher is there for work.
Harper asks Christopher to be her fake boyfriend, but between them it’s kinda insta-love.

This book was sweet and cute, but too cheesy. Christopher is supposed to be a grumpy, but I didn’t see it. These characters and their story was the definition of “Hallmark movie”. An easy read, but nothing more. No development, a little superficial, sometimes boring. The idea was good, but something was missing.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.

Faking It With the Grump by Kate O’Keeffe is a small town, grumpy vs. sunshine, and fake dating romance that follows Harper and Christopher after they move to Hunter’s Creek. Harper is back after her boyfriend broke up with her and Christopher is in town for work. in order to not be pitied by the whole town, Harper asks Christopher to be her fake boyfriend, however, things don’t go exactly as planned.
their meet cute was absolutely adorable and so was their love story, however, I really wish that there were more scenes of them pretending to date and that their romance had been slower. I LOVED how the book was from both of their POVs and that we got to see the story from both of their sides. I loved all the tropes in the book and the Hallmark vibes this gives off. it was a quick and easy read and I was very entertained!
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Fake dating. Grumpy/Sunshine. Small town, Hallmark-like setting. These are some of my favorite tropes to see in a romantic comedy lately, and Faking It With the Grump has them all rolled into one fantastically swoon-worthy package!

I love a Hallmark love story. You know, a big city guy meets a small town girl... so on and so forth. This book very much had that same type of storyline, right down to the letter... and acknowledged that and even poked a little fun at that fact very early on in an inner dialogue with Christopher that certainly had me grinning as I read. While it's a story that may seem familiar in many ways in that sense, it was done wonderfully and felt unique in its delivery. There were several moments that had me laughing out loud, and I loved the chemistry between Christopher and Harper right from the start. While I loved the POVs of both characters, this might be one of the few that I've read that I found myself enjoying HIS more than hers. I think for me this was because Christopher seems a bit more socially awkward (even perhaps a bit socially anxious) than an actual grump as the title suggests, which is something I can very much relate to.

This is a closed-door romantic comedy--- loads of attraction and some chemistry-filled kissing moments, but nothing beyond that, There was no language.

The last chapter gave a small glimpse at what is to come next in this new series, and it certainly had me looking forward to that. I cannot wait for book two! If you enjoy fake dating and a small-town setting in your RomComs, this is certainly one to check out.

**I received a complimentary copy for consideration. All thoughts are my own.

This is a cutesy quick and easy read. It’s very hallmark with no spice and pretty predictable, not that that’s a bad thing. I do think the title is a bit misleading as Christopher isn’t a grump. He’s just serious and routine and goal oriented. I did like the small town charm and there are some great side characters. I especially loved Kelly even though we only get a small glimpse at her. There is a lot of repetition which made bits of the book feel slow but then Harper and Christopher seem to fall in love instantly which I’m not a huge fan of. It felt like a lot of the would be romance happened in the background and we didn’t get to actually see it. We’re just told about a lot of the fake dates and meetings and don’t get to experience it so it made the speed they fell in love feel unrealistic. It is still a cute love story and great if you’re looking for a short, fun read.

I received a copy of the ebook via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

What a frigging sweet book. If you're looking for the Hallmark movie, book equivalent, then look no further.
This is it. A little bit of heart break and finding themselves with some attraction at first sight and fake dating? Insta love is always great.
I only wish they got to know more about each other better so we could see a deeper connection but otherwise This is the perfect light hearted book you're looking for!

This grumpy/sunshine Rom-Com was absolutely amazing. I could not read it fast enough. Loved it!
I just reviewed Faking It With the Grump by Kate O’Keeffe. #FakingItWiththeGrump #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

Thank you to Net Galley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion.

Is it cheesy to call a book the perfect Hallmark movie package, when they talk about Hallmark movies in the book? LOL

This was such a sweet story following Harper back to her hometown, after a big break up. Her small town Hunters Creek is so charming, and made me want to visit. Christopher, whose an outsider from NYC and very out of place in this small town shows up, and him and Harper strike up a deal to “fake date.” We all know how that usually turns out, but their story was so sweet. I love that we got to see them grow as individuals, and make tough decisions.

All in all, a sweet happily ever after, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I was also so excited to find out there will be another book in the series, where we get to watch Harpers younger sister Ryn find love.