A cute small town rom-com. Our main character Harper rolls into town like the hurricane she is after her ex cheats on her. When she stops a jerk from attacking his girlfriend she gets a black eye and a fake boyfriend for her trouble. Luke is our broody boy next door who doesn’t want to feel love again.
I enjoy this book but I also found it repetitive at times which took away the fun for me. It’s definitely an instalove book which I don’t mind provided the pacing is good which as much as I wanted it to be this wasn’t. Still enjoyed it though 3.5

I absolutely loved this story! Luke and Harper broke me and then put me back together! Or so I had thought! This is a rollercoaster ride of twists and turns and things I never imagined would happen!! I loved every minute of this book!!

Fake Dating, in a small town, with a protective main male character (grumpy/sunshine vibes too!) are tropes that clearly reeled me in and kept me turning pages. The storyline at times was unbelievable/unrelatable but who cares - it's a made up story right? I liked Harper's attitute on life and how she wormed her way into everyone's heart in this small town. Luke's protective, grumpy vibes were enjoyable for the first two-thirds of the book but the last third had me face palming and wanting to smack him (but thankfully all the other characters called him a dumbass enough that I think he got the message... ). There were a few parts of the book that felt a tad slow for me and a side plot that I wonder if it was needed, but overall the book held my interest.

This was my first Lucy Score book and I'm sure it won't by my list.

Rating 3.5/5
Spice 4.1/5

Thanks NetGalley & Lucy Score for the chance to read this book; these opinions are my own

My first Lucy Score book and it did not disappoint, I LOVED IT ❤️

Luke Garrison is a Captain in the Air National Guard (& soon to be deployed to Afghanistan for 6 months). He owns his own construction and bidding company as well. His buddy Aldo and him also have a patent on a military device too. In other words he is a millionaire but doesn’t flaunt it or anything. He is a dreamy, smart, tattooed, muscular man, and protective of those he cares for. Luke has a hard time with feelings and emotions and knowing what he wants.

Harper Wilde lost her parents when she was young and had to go through the foster system. She makes her own family. Harper just had a bad situation coming home to her boyfriend getting freaky with the delivery girl. She grabbed her phone and ran out the door. Not paying attention of course to her gas and ends up in Benevolence. Of course with no money, no gas, and feeling down she finds a quaint look bar Reno’s. Harper is clumsy, a blonde, makes rash decisions, has lived a hard life, and just wanting someone who loves her for her and that she can trust.

I don’t want to give away all the secrets. Trust me you will want to get this book,
Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for the ARC Copy.

It’s a suspenseful romance with twists and turns. Spice is also very strong but so good. It’s a grumpy to sunshine. It’s forced proximity. It’s fake dating. All of my favorites wrapped up in a fantastically written book. Happy surprises and some sad moments too. I will definitely say there were some tears and also very happy feelings too. The chemistry is OFF. THE. CHARTS!!

A good quote:
“I can still be sad. But I don’t have to wallow or completely ignore the good that is still waiting for me. That’s careless and wasteful.”

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

First, how amazing is the cover? It caught my eye immediately. Second, I don't know how I feel about this book. I am not Luke's biggest fan at all but feel for him. He suffered a huge loss. But I feel like he will never love Harper like she deserves to be loved. She will always come second. Its like he wanted his cake and to eat it too. Like Buddy, you cant want someone but tell her in the same sentence you'll never love her. Take a step back and see how that makes her feel. But of course that didn't happen. When he says:

"Harper wasn't Karen. And that was the problem."

I wanted to punch him. Of course she will never be her! I will admit, I do not know what he's going through. I have never lost my spouse. But there is someone standing in front of you that loves you, that is willing to give you her all, and all you say is "I can't love you?" But then he realizes his mistake and tells her he's loved her all along. He's never not loved her. Umm yeah, he did. He told her that multiple times.

And Harper, my dear sweet Harper, you deserve to be someone's first choice.

What do you do when one of your favorite series has new covers? Request the new eARC and enjoy it all over again like it’s the first time!
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No one familiar with my page is shocked when I say that Lucy Score is one of my all time favorite, auto-read, auto-buy authors! Her books consistently grip me from beginning to end, and Pretend You’re Mine is no exception!
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This book made me feel wrapped in a warm hug at times and gutted me at others (which is how I like my books…give me all the feelings…through fiction…see what I did there?).
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Our MMC, Luke, is a hometown hero getting ready to deploy and FMC Harper is embarking on a new life. After a MEMORABLE first encounter, two agree to a fake relationship to relive the pressure his parents are putting on him to settle down.
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What was meant to be an easy, no strings decoy relationship begins to feel like a lot more and the lines between playing pretend and truly falling get blurry!
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Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
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Read if you like:
🛌 One bed
🤫 Fake Dating
💪🏼Strong FMC
👿 Broody MMC
🏘️ Small Town Romance
❤️‍🩹 Love After Heartache
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Pretend You’re Mine is available on KU, but don’t kis out on adding these BEAUTIFUL new covers to your shelf 🥰
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Thank you NetGalley, Lucy Score, and Sourcebooks Bloom books for this eArc!

Thank you to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest feedback. While this book was slow to start, I really enjoyed the ending. This book excelled in creating the dynamics of a small town and understanding a bunch of character's point of view. Overall, it was a sweet read and I will be getting the second book!

I absolutely loved By a Thread, so I was excited to read Pretend You’re Mine, but it reads like it was written by someone else entirely. The writing comes across as juvenile and Harper feels like a caricature of a real person. Unfortunately this was not a win for me.

This book was amazing! I spent my entire day reading this because I couldn’t put it down. Lucy Score sure knows what she’s doing. I loved loved loved Luke and Harper. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

Pretend You're Mine by Lucy Score - Luke and Harper are just two people whose dark secrets and lies from their families and friends connect the bond of two souls! This was one of my favorite books I've read so far and honestly, it's just emotional in so many places. I won't spoil the entire book, but go out and grab this book! I actually went out and got two copies.

I just reviewed Pretend You're Mine by Lucy Score. #NetGalley
[https://www.netgalley.com/member/book/283441/review]

4.5⭐️

Loved this story of Harper and Luke fake dating to really dating to finding out secrets. The drama in the last 20% was so good!

I absolutely adore Lucy Scores' ability to write well-rounded characters. This book was great and had me sucked in from the very beginning.

This is the first book I read by Lucy and I enjoyed it. Harper takes off after finding out her boyfriend cheats on her. She gets to town looking for a pay phone and that’s when she meets Luke. They hit it off and decide to fake date until they decide they really want to date. Harper was a great character, I really enjoyed her and her personality. Unfortunately Luke wasn’t my favorite. But I did like them two together. I couldn’t put the book down because there was so much going on. I always wondering what was coming next! I’m looking forward to reading more books by Lucy! Thank you NetGalley, Lucy and Source bloom Books for the ARC!

I loved By A Thread, so I keep searching for another Lucy Score book that is similar. This felt very, very drawn out to me, and the characters seemed to have instant love, which is always a struggle for me in romance books.

I really loved 50% of this book. It was the first ever Lucy score book I have read. However, I felt like the story wrapped itself up at 50% and with that being said I just couldn’t read the other half of it for boredom. I know Lucy score is a really popular booktok author and I have one of her other books by a thread. I am hoping to pick that one up as I just think that this specific book wasn’t perfect for me. However, I would love to still receive some marks from Lucy score and I think that her new cover designs are beautiful.

Let me start off by saying that I love the characters in this book. Lucy Score does such a good job of creating relatable and likable characters that each have their own chants and quirks. Even though this book had a lot of main players, I think Score did a great job of keeping track of everyone and giving each person their own time to shine. This is not often an easy task.

I also enjoyed the general story line and the way that the book touched on deeper topics. This wasn’t just a light-hearted romance. There is definitely some depth to the characters and their lives.

I did feel that the chemistry between Harper and Luke was too much too soon, making it a little unrealistic. Also, the plot of this book is almost identical to Score’s other novel, ‘Things We Never Got Over’. The characters and location are different, but the premise remains much the same.

This was still an enjoyable read and I fell in love with all of Luke’s family and friends just like Harper did.

Lucy Score never seizes to amaze me! From her sweet writing of her characters and down to the sexy, smutty sex scenes, she is a fantastic writer and I never grow tired of her stories she blesses us with.

Pretend You're Mine is filled with too many feels, heart-wrenching moments and some pretty hot, spicy and sexy moments!

DNF'd this as well as the other book in the series that I received from NetGalley.

I did not enjoy the MMC and felt that the emotional trauma was too much. The relationship was incredibly hot and cold and I don't feel like there were any redeeming qualities.

Lucy Score needs to consider writing shorter romance books. There is no reason this should have been 400+ pages long.

DNF @ 70% - but shannon, you got to 70% why didn’t you just keep going and finish this one? thank you for asking - I will answer honestly. this book was a toxic relationship all wrapped into one. the FMC was clingy and desperate to move on with her life that she was willing to do whatever was possible to convince herself of that fact - which fair, it is relatable. but luke, our MMC, oh boy … he spends the majority of this book telling the FMC that he in fact will never love her because the only person he will ever love is his dead wife. talk about a mood killer 😭 I mean, you couldn’t just lie and say that you’ll always miss your spouse but it’s nice to move on again? nope, no room for any embellishment here. I just really couldn’t get past that and so, I’m done with this series v sorry netgalley

Luke and Harper’s story was an emotional rollercoaster! I laughed out loud, wanted to throw my phone and had tears streaming down my face - sometimes all at the same time!

No one writes a small town romance with a cast of wild and hilarious side characters like Lucy Score. Pretend You’re Mine did not disappoint. I loved Harper’s no nonsense attitude. After the first chapter I knew she was an FMC after my own heart.

Luke was just ok for me. Sexy? Sure. Funny and caring? You bet. But his emotional trauma/PTSD prevented him from seeing what was right in front of him, which led to a third-act breakup. A necessary writing device but not my fave.

I also didn’t think this needed the extra criminal activity in the third act, it kind of felt like it came from nowhere. Having read the Knockemout series though, I get where Lucy was coming from as this is part of her style. I do, however, absolutely adore that her HEA’s don’t need to equal pregnancy. There are other ways to have a family and I think it’s so important that Lucy showcases this in her books.

Overall, I’ll be sure to recommend this series and can’t wait to see what’s in store for Gloria and Aldo in book two!

Thank you to NetGalley, Bloom Books and Lucy Score for the advanced copy. These are my honest thoughts.