I want to preface this by saying I absolutely adored Things We Never Got Over and Things We Hide From The Light. That being said, I did have high hopes for this story and for me it just fell a bit flat. This book was not bad by any means, I just feel like I did not connect with the main characters and as a result it felt drawn out.

What starts out as a fake romance to keep Luke Garrison's family from nagging him turns into so much more! In another one of Lucy Score's steamy novels she tells the story of Luke and Harper. After meeting under very rowdy circumstances, they really hit it off in the romance department but Luke has too much past baggage to commit to a relationship even though he knows he loves Harper. Turns out both of them have a lot of baggage to sort through before they can finally be together long term. I loved their story and you might too if you can overlook the steamy details. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

This is a great start to an awesome series! Pretend Your Mine is a great for those who love a military hero trope. I loved Luke and Harper! Harper is running away from her life and needs a place to stay. Luke can’t help himself but be drawn to Harper and offers her his place. The two of them agree to help each other out by fake dating. Harper will have a job thanks to Luke and Luke will get everyone to stop trying to set him up. I loved how at first they set a boundary for no sex. Obviously that didn’t work. I loved the chemistry that the two of them shared! Luke was so protective of Harper! It was fun reading how they would play house. They even get two adorable dogs! I don’t think I’ve read any books where the hero goes back to the military. It was sweet reading how Harper and Luke still maintained their relationship. Luke had to deal with some tough things thrown to him in life and that made it hard for him to have a relationship with Harper. I loved reading how he worked through them for Harper!
I really enjoyed this book and I cannot wait for the second!

Read if you like:
3rd person dual POVs
Fake dating
Forced proximity
Workplace romance
Military hero
Protective hero
Open door romance

I had a hard time getting into this book in beginning. But the pace did pick up and I really enjoyed it. I loved the plot and characters and didn't want the book to end

I think I’ve said this before. Lucy Score is probably one of my top two favorite new authors.

So far I’ve read the first two in the Benevolence series; I read #2 first but you don’t need to really read them in order to enjoy the story. It’s just that people appear in subsequent books whose relationships evolved in previous books.

That said, this was a great book. I’ve always loved the friends to lovers trope, and that’s sort of how Harper and Luke started. Very quickly, though, their mutual attraction took over, and it became a romantic relationship. But it was doomed from the start: Harper was leaving, and Luke was going back to Afghanistan for another tour of duty. They agreed she would leave when he left; without giving away too much of the story, she was already moved into his house, lol.

After he leaves, however, he reaches out to Harper and tells her to stay. So she does. For six months. Their relationship develops by video chat, and Harper falls more and more in love with Luke, and with this very small town in Maryland, Benevolence.

Of course, there’s a secret that Luke is keeping and Harper finds out about it while he’s gone. Life goes on, though, and she comes to terms with what she learned but she’s still struggling with how to let Luke know that she knows. When he comes home from the front, their relationship blows up because of the secret, and because he has a mild case of the jealousies, lol.

What I love about Lucy Score’s books is that she develops these relationships so vividly, and we know how each of the characters is thinking and feeling, almost as if we’ve become the characters themselves.

I can’t wait to read the rest of her books and I’m really looking forward to Benevolence #3!

Thanks to Sourcebooks for this ARC, all opinions are my own.

Wooooow! This book totally blew me away and took me on an emotional roller coaster and I loved it! The love story of Luke and Harper. A love story that developed through happenstance but the chemistry could withstand the test of time. Luke a grieving husband and Harper a misplaced woman(former foster child) end up faking a relationship that became real before they could settle previous issues in their lives. This book was a page turner! A must read! My first read from Lucy Score, and this book is ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved it!

I really enjoyed this story. Harper and Luke Net under strange circumstances, but they both needed help in one way or another so they decided to work together. Of course, then it turned into much more. A great story. Thanks to Net Galley and Lucy Score for the ARC of this book.

So this book was a bit slow for me to get into. I don’t know why because once the story of Harper and Luke started it captivated me. I enjoyed the small town love the residents of Benevolence have and the rocky relationships of some of the other characters in the story have. I would recommend this book since it held my interest, made me laugh and made me swoon!!

Such an adorable love story! Two characters are together just for convenience but could it turn into more? I love forced proximity. It got spicy and really hot, omg so so good.

I LOVE Lucy Score’s books and this one didn’t disappoint!!! Pretend You’re Mine is probably one of my top favorites from Lucy. Luke Garrison is my favorite book boyfriend. I love how protective and kind and sweet he is to his town, family, and friends. I loved how he started to look out for Harper and care for her even though he thought he couldn’t care for her. Actions speak louder than words my man!!! I loved his growth and his journey back to allow himself to live and feel life again.

And Harper! I LOVED her character! Harper has been though some stuff in her life but she does not let it get her down. She is optimistic and loves life with a strength I envy. Harper is strong and brave. She know she has to be so she embraces it.

Lucy, I love your books but this one really got to me. You will always remain one of my all time favorite authors.

Thank you to Bloom Books, Lucy Score, and NetGalley for this wonderful book in exchange for my honest review and opinion.

Yikes…
This was…long.
It was just so unbelievable and so many side plots. It’s a “no” for me. It’s just a lot of spicy wrapped up in a really, really, really long story. However, Ives read another book by this author and loved it so I will try again!

Thank you the ARC!

Now I know why people all over BookTok were hyping up Lucy Score. I started this book yesterday, stayed up until near 4AM reading it and was almost late in getting ready for work because I could not stop reading and crying.

I’ve never been more grateful for concealer cause GUYS.. Pretend You’re Mine has completely destroyed me. This one really hits different and maybe it was because I could see a lot of parallels but Harper & Luke? 💔❤️‍🩹 These two are the perfect friends(strangers?) to lovers and I don’t want to say anything about it at all because you all need to read this story without knowing anything about it just like I did.

I really enjoyed this though I thought the MMC could have used more depth. It was dual POV which I enjoyed but his POV focused more on what was happening around him than within him.

✨ small town romance
✨ fake dating
✨ one bed trope
✨ soldiers
✨ overprotective
✨ strong female MC

I enjoyed reading this book. Good storyline and good ending that leads into the next book. The second book is “Finally Mine” which focuses on a different couple from the small town of Benevolence.

⭐️⭐️
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Thank you to Bloom books and NetGalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
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Pretend You’re Mine is a republication of a book Lucy Score wrote in 2018. It introduces us to the sweet, small town of Benevolence, where Harper finds herself after escaping a bad relationship. What she doesn’t expect is that upon arrival to Benevolence is that she’ll end up breaking up a fight between an abusive man and his girlfriend, and end up knocked unconscious in the parking lot. Town hero, and member of the National Guard, Luke, is there to help Harper after the incident and she quickly finds her chaotic life seamlessly intertwined with Luke’s steady and stable presence. When he deploys for 6 months, he asks her to stay, and she becomes an integral part of the town and his family. Can they survive the secrets that he’s kept from her, though?
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I… absolutely hated this. I thought it was so poorly written (sorry Lucy, I normally love you). I thought Luke was an asshole at BEST, and I thought Harper was infantilized and gross. Nothing was believable and very little was likable and it was overall a pretty big disappointment. I’ll still read the second in the series but my hopes are LOW.

PRETEND YOU'RE MINE was one of those books that took me completely by surprise. I picked it up as part of the Kindle Unlimited trial, intrigued by the blurb. What I got was a engaging, funny and emotional read with characters I just couldn't step away from. Harper was one of those heroine's you wish was your best friend. She was so down to earth and lovable, even when you were completely jealous of who she got to go to bed with every night. Then there was Luke. A military man drenched in guilt, sorrow and hotness. Like Harper, it was easy to fall for the man and to want to be the one that fixes him.

A truly delightful read. I'll be looking for more from Lucy Stone.

I tried. I tried so hard. All of my friends rave about Lucy Score. But, I just couldn’t get into this. I don’t know why, I’m into this genre of novels, but I just couldn’t make it past 1/3 of the way in.

𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐲 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞 hooked me again with 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒀𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒆! Okay, to be honest, I wanted to hate Luke, but I just couldn't. I had a soft spot in my heart for his tortured soul. And even though he was an utter jerk at times, he did have some redeeming qualities. Whew - did those qualities get me all steamed up! Hey, ya'll, watch out, this one has one of my favorite tropes - One Bed!! There were a few points in the story that I wanted to reach into the book and slap Harper, but that is the whole point of this type of romance. After all, Luke is a tortured hero, and I was totally down for that kind of storyline! I loved the grumpy, broody, and absolutely possessive Luke. I adored the strong, friendly, and loving Harper with her own past trauma to overcome. Knowing her complicated past crushed my heart at so many points throughout the book. 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐲 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞 did her job and did it well with this one! It hit all the emotions and was full of the spice I enjoy!!

Thank you, @netgalley, @read_bloom, and @scorelucy, for the opportunity to read an eARC of this fantastic book!

This is the story of Harper and Luke. Harper is just walked out of a relationship and gets stranded in Benevolence. Here she meets Luke, and he essentially helps get her back on her feet. What they didn't expect was to fall in love.

Harper struggles with not feeling like she has a place in the world. She has no roots. Her parents died when she was young, and she has a fostering background she would rather not remember.

Luke has a past he can't seem to move forward from. He has stayed stagnant in his life unsure of how to move past such devastation. He isn't sure he can ever love again.

However, Harper and Luke can't deny their chemistry. They fall for each other hard and quickly. Their story gets a little messy, but in the end, they found their happily ever after.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to enjoy and read this title. The new covers of this title are so much better than the old ones. This was and absolutely delightful read.