If you have loved other Lucy Score books, definitely pick this up. It was a really fun read with interesting characters and a cool spin on the classic romance. I did find that the beginning was a little fast-paced since a girl just agrees to stay at a stranger’s place as soon as they meet but, once I got into it, I enjoyed it. It had a fun small town energy and a fake dating trope as well as having the main male character be in the military. I was especially interested in the romantic plot of the side characters but that’s a good sign for the sequel that I plan to read next

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloom Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Pretend You’re Mine captivated me from the start. Harper’s lovable personality drew me in and made me want all the best things in life for her. Luke was the perfect, angsty hero who doesn’t feel he is worthy of Harper’s love. This book had the best plot, amazing characters development, yummy steam and was all around entertaining.

this book hurts so good. I was screaming at Harper to leave luke and learn a lesson. But sometimes when you love someone so fiercely you can’t see their flaws.

This was my first Lucy Score book, and I do think it was well written. But as it is not my favorite troupe it was really hard for me to get into it. I do look forward to reading more of her books in the future.

This one was 3.5 for me so I'm gonna go ahead and round up since i devoured it and it made me cry lol.

Harper Wilde rolls into Benevolence on fumes after catching her boyfriend cheating and immediately ends up involved in trouble. (Story of her life honestly) and she is introduced to Luke Garrison, the sexy yet emotionally unavailable marine. The two end up deciding to pretend to date to give Harper a place to stay and to keep Luke's family off his back. What neither of them are expecting is the undeniable sparks that fly everytime they're together.

Overall, I enjoyed the read but there were definitely several occasions I wanted to slap Luke in the head and beg Harper to demand better for herself. At the end they pulled it together though and I ended up loving their story.

This was so, so good! I adored Luke and Harper. Their chemistry was off the charts, and the spice was amazing. I straight up melted every single time Luke called Harper “baby”. I fell so hard for all the character in this book, it was the perfect amount of angsty and romantic. The HEA made me ugly cry in the best way, and I loved how everything came full circle. Amazing read! *I received a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Wow just Wow Pretend You're Mine is a laugh out loud feel good rom-com that makes want to reach out and grab what you want from life. Harper and Luke are as different as any two people can be both have tragic past and deal with life in totally different ways but they work as a couple and their journey to this realization is filled with laughter and a few really sad moments that adds a depth to the storytelling that gives you all the feels with the addition of great family and a few really good friends as a support system and a off the charts chemistry between Luke and Harper and this author has given us a really great first book in this series with high expectations for Gloria and Aldo's book.
I received a ARC of this book and I am voluntarily leaving this review.

Pretend You’re Mine was a very mixed bag for me.

On the one hand, the banter would make me smile so big, and the small town charm was perfectly on point, and there were some emotional twists that had my heart twisting and aching and fluttering like crazy. I really liked Harper and her indomitable spirit. I loved her approach to potentially difficult/uncomfortable encounters. I was afraid, at first, that she was going to be too quirky/flighty for me – but that wasn’t the case at all. She had a big, pure heart and an innate goodness that made her impossible not to love.

And so, it felt wrong to see her settle for the crumbs Luke had to give her for so much of the book. This guy. While I loved the whole growly alpha protective thing (because I always love the growly alpha protective thing) I did not love how he had one foot out the door for most of their romance. I did not love how he went 2/3 of the way in while Harper went all-in. It wasn’t good enough for Harper and I wasn’t sure how I felt about her willingness to be okay with the crumbs.

I also felt like the explanation for their connection relied, heavily, on their physical connection. There are a lot of spicy scenes. And my personal opinion is that I could have done without about 1/3 of them in favor of some…swoon. Some real, solid, emotional connection. So while I loved parts of this story, overall – it didn’t offer what I wanted it to offer me.

This was a big story. Like, there was a LOT packed into it and it maybe could have been pared down a little to give more focus on the connection between Harper and Luke. In the end, it was entertaining, and showed hints of greatness, it just was an okay read for me.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this arc! This is my 4th Lucy score book and even though it wasn't my favorite it was enjoyable. I found Luke's indecisiveness to be annoying but I understand where he's coming from. Harpers chaotic mess was a fun treat! I thought the foster dad twist could have been left out and their relationship be the main focus of the book. As a military spouse I really felt and understood their dynamic in that regard. Def would recommend!

Another incredible book by Lucy Score!!!

After hastily leaving her cheating boyfriend, Harper finds herself in small town Benevolence. Being the fierce woman she is, she springs into action to defend Gloria who is in a physical altercation with her boyfriend in the parking lot of a bar. After taking a rough punch from Glenn she is taken into the bar to be nursed back to health by the Garrison crew. With no gas, money or place to stay for the night Harper needs to figure out how to get back on her feet.

Luke Garrison hasn't been on a date in many years and now has his mother meddling in his love life. His sister Sophie comes up with the idea for Luke and Harper to start fake dating to get his mom off of his back. This quickly go from fake to real but with Luke's upcoming deployment (and secret from his past) both he and Harper know this cant get to serious. Both Luke and Harper have to figure out who they are and what they want from life and each other.

I loved this book, it made me laugh, it made me cry. If you loved things we never got over then this book will be a winner for you.

Trope: Small town romance, Fake Dating, Forced Proximity

ARC provided by NetGalley and Bloom Books in exchange for an honest review.

I loved reading things we never got over, things we hide from the light, by a thread, and forever never by Lucy Score. I was screaming in excitement when I got an ARC for Pretend You're Mine and and Finally Mine from NetGalley. Harper and Luke love story is one to be known, I was reading this while waiting at the airport and it had me giggling, crying, and screaming because it was that good. I loved that we didn't get to know what Luke story was till the end, I loved that he got a second shot at love despite what happened to him. I loved that Harper didn't give up and was head strong on what she wanted. This was such a beautiful book and a fast pace reading at the airport.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc of this rerelease! I love Lucy Scores writing and how she has you not only rooting for Luke and Harper, but for the whole town. Super excited to read her other books!

This small town romance book gave me mixed feelings as Luke was not my favorite main character Lucy had written. Harper was a saint and I loved her growth throughout the book. Some parts I felt could have been cut/not so dragged out while others felt rushed.

All in all this was a good read but not one of my favorites by the author

okay, as always, gotta start my review with a little disclaimer – i'm here for a good time, not a long time, and i can only become so impassioned about so many things in life. i definitely see and understand why some people would absolutely hate this book, but i feel like in most small town settings, you're getting some insular, scratch-your-head-wtf-ery, no? that's just to be expected with a small town setting, imo, so i'm fine with it.

i haven't read this previously (the original publishing date is 2015), but enjoyed my first time through! did the fmc depend on the mmc in like five seconds? were there a bunch of side characters with interwoven stories? lots of small town tropes? yes to all of those but i truly don't care, i liked it as a whole! solid 3.5 stars for me.

I want to preface this by saying that I love Lucy Score. But this book was full of contradictions for me. The heroine was likable and strong as a person/friend at the same time she wasn't strong enough in the relationship. She made some questionable decisions and actions that were honestly quite annoying.

I didn't love the story but I didn't exactly hate it. The heroine's relationship with side characters was phenomenal but her relationship with the "hero" was just 'meh'. I like the author's writing style and all her books. THere is always a deep meaning and a good message and that's the beauty of her books.

3/5 stars

The whole my dead wife thing was beating a dead horse. Like come on we get it. The way Luke treated Harper was just disgusting and I feel so bad for her to keep going back. I just can’t with this book.

3.5⭐️ rounded up to 4!

I have loved diving into Lucy Score’s backlist, so when I saw this was being republished with Bloom I knew I wanted to read it! I enjoyed both Harper and Luke as characters. I felt like the relationship went from 0-100 and I would have liked to see more development from them platonically and romantically! I loved the humor this story was written with! The banter, the wit, the jokes were all great! One of my favorite scenes was Luke and Joni at the cemetery. I would have appreciated some more moments like this to break up the light-hearted ones, as well as some more plot development with the events from Harper’s past. I loved all the side characters, especially Gloria, Aldo, and Frank! Overall, a solid and easy read!

I love a lot of Lucy Score’s books, so I was excited to read this. This was a nice romance, but it wasn’t my favorite of hers. I think overall, it was a little too long and a lot going on. I enjoyed the first and last thirds of the book, though!

At first I really enjoyed this book, but as it kept going on I got annoyed by it. The drama seemed…dramatic. The characters (especially the guy) was so unlikeable. And yet Harper is described as an absolute angel (“…what, Harper didn’t tell you that last month she pulled three people out of a burning building???” “No, she only told me there was a small fire!” Like really? That just felt so stupid to me.) It was definitely a spicy read at some parts but even that got old. I’m also not sure why it looks like it was previously published on Goodreads but a newly published book on NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the eARC.

Wow, this book was heart wrenching. Luke, learning to love and accept love after his tragic past. And Harper finding her friends who become her “found family”. They both are fiercely protective of each other and their family. I cried and laughed throughout, and just loved this entire book!

I'm not ashamed to say that I've happily joined the Lucy Score hype/bandwagon.

Luke Garrison may be the hometown hero but even the best of us can't get away from our parent's nagging and concerns. In comes Harper, knocking him and the small town off-kilter... almost quite literally. He's only got a few more weeks left before deploying and his scheming sister suggests he fake dates the new firecracker in town to ease his parents and hold them at bay.

If I'm honest, I think I wanted to throttle Luke more times than I can count while reading this book. He was soo in denial and it was staring him right in the face. I'm usually good at figuring out what's holding some characters back but I wasn't expecting Luke's dark past. Let alone throwing Harper's in the mix as well. The way things ended up connecting was smart and I enjoyed the way the book's timeline is so easily intertwined with the second book in the series Finally Mine.

4.5/5 stars
3/5 Twice Level
TWs: Mind to moderate mentions of domestic abuse, physical abuse, death, war, miscarriage, medical trauma, medical content, injury/injury details, car accident, blood, child death, and grief
While I have received an arc of this book, my thoughts are all my own.