I actually read book 2 of this series first which runs on a parallel timeline with the MCs' best friends, so I pretty much knew the entire sequence of events as well as the third act breakup and final hea.. so I didn't expect things to pain this much, but it did. I spent the entire second half crying. Overall I did like the book, and I really liked the intermittent wholesome scenes (esp the dogs!!), but I guess ultimately this book was too painful/angsty for me. I mean, I love a good amount of angst, but this book was pretty much 90% unexplained angst and a lot of cruel words and pushing away and past trauma, and idk, it was too much. I understand the nature of the MMC's past which leads to this, but I would've appreciated more lighter moments in the book (atleast at the end, after everything was sorted??)

TWs - death of a pregnant spouse in a road accident (past), MC blaming himself for the aforementioned accident, mentions of injuries in war (secondary character), domestic assault of young children (past), stalking and harassment by aforementioned person years into the future, general violence and assault

-- ty to the author, published and Netgalley for an advanced copies!

Pretend you’re mine
Thanks to author Lucy Score &
Sourcebooks Bloom Books
Re-release May 9
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
🌶️🌶️🌶️

Pretend you’re mine

“What am I supposed to do to be all ‘woe is me’ for the rest of my life? I still get access to the same sunrises everyone else does, the same 24 hours in a day, and if I don’t take advantage of those things, it’s my own fault.”

Harper is a bright light and has sunny approach to life despite her past struggles. Luke is a private person and loyal member of the National Guard. Together they make an adorable Grumpy Sunshine combo.

Pretend you’re Mine is a re-release of Lucy Score’s Benevolence series with a beautiful new cover. It is filled with all kinds of romance goodies: one bed, grumpy sunshine, small town, family trauma and new beginnings. If you have read and loved Lucy Score’s TWNGO and TWHFTL, you will definitely want to dive into this series.

other woman drama... yawn

not my cup of tea. i cant deal with the main characters being hung up on other people while the romance is "building"

Get transported to the small town of Benevolence where everyone in town knows your business and nothing goes by unnoticed. Harper pulls into town and is the talk of the town by stepping into a domestic dispute between Gloria and Glenn. This was hilarious as she is a small woman but doesn't stop her from hitting Glenn and trying to help a complete stranger.

Harper was my favorite character as she is is flawed and has been through so many awful things but she is feisty, trouble follows her, she wears her heart on her sleeve and she is just longing to be loved and accepted. The way the town welcomes her in as one of its own and she finds a family, love and a home for the herself is beautiful. I like that she was a positive influence on so many people.

Luke and Harper started fake dating but it soon became something real. The heat between these two was off the charts and it was great to watch them navigate how to be in a relationship and put their lives together.

This is one of those feel good, small town romance books that make you long to live in a small town.

Can Lucy Score do any wrong?

This book was absolutely amazing from start to finish. I am so thankful that I was able to get my hands on this early. This is a one click purchase. I mean Lucy always is a never disappoints.


I don’t want to give too much away but you will not regret this purchase.

not my favorite… i love lucy score but i just didn’t like this at all, i think it’s just because i don’t feel any sort of connection to the story line but i truly think that if you love small towns this would be for you.

- Meet cute
- Strangers to lovers
- Loss of loved one
- Childhood trauma
- Healing/self growth

Plot: After everything goes wrong for Harper, she ends in a little town with no gas. She automatically gets into a fight with a monster of a man and wakes up with a gorgeous soldier in her face. By an even stranger turn of events she ends up moving in with this handsome/emotionally unavailable GI Joe. Really feelings start to grow as Harper heals. But Luke (GI Joe) keeps holding back. Can they find love together or will both their past traumas tear them apart!

This book was great. I loved Harper! She was a mess in the best way. Each character brought so much to the table. The growth alone and together was beautiful. Love Lucy Score books

I loved Harper as a heroine. She was fun, took risks, and kept things real. I like how she called Luke out on things. Luke was harder to love. His resistance to moving on from previous tragedy had him not treating Harper the way she deserved. Especially after everything she has been through. I loved all the side characters, the small town setting, the dogs she fostered and pretty much everything else in the story. I'm looking forward to reading Also and Gloria's book next.

Could not get enough of this book and the story between Luke and Harper. The whine thing was beautiful written about the baggage we bring into relationships from our past. Loved the side characters from this little town and how they added extra flavor to the story. Thank goodness there are two more books!

Harper is not having a great day. After finding her boss/boyfriend cheating on her, she hightails it with nothing but her car and phone. When she runs out of gas in a small town she hopes she can find someone who will help her reach her friend, instead she finds the town bully hitting his girlfriend. When she jumps in to break it up and ends up knocked out, she definitely thinks she's having a bad day. Opening her eyes to the handsome form of Luke, however, makes up for it.
Luke has a month before he's shipping out for six months. His mother is determined to find him a woman before then. So when his sister suggests he and Harper help each other out-pretend to date for a month and give Harper some breathing room to get back on her feet- it seems like a great idea.
Living and working together, though, quickly starts to feel a little too real, but their month passes quickly, and then it'll be time to say goodbye.

This was my first Lucy Score book and I enjoyed it so much. It has a little bit of everything and had loveable characters, even when sometimes they were screwing everything up. I'm looking forward to reading the next book.

Publication date is May 9th

Good god the drama. There was some top tier Lucy score banter and funny moments, and definitely good for those who love a grumpy sunshine. But ultimately there was too much going on imo. I think I’ve read a few too many books where the guy basically just needs to go to therapy. I understand the conflict but did not like how much was projected onto Harper and she just took it.

How could you not love this book ! Harper , spunky and strong. She puts herself in between her and a domestic, to save someone she never met . When she wakes she sees handsome Luke .
Harper agrees to help Luke out by pretending to be his girlfriend before he deploys with his troops. What they don’t expect is to need each other !

This book is amazing it’s everything you expect out of Lucy score! Can’t wait for book 2 !

I feel like I have to review this book in two parts… Chapters 1-25 (aka before deployment) and 26-55/epilogue (aka during/after deployment). SPOILERS AHEAD!
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The first half of the book, up until the last word of chapter 25 “stay” (when I felt ALL the feels) I was 100% invested. The forced proximity, fake dating, “I promise I won’t fall in love with you, oops I fell in love with you” were 🔥. I loved the energy, the storyline, the SPICE, the all of it. We got to the hood stuff early so I genuinely thought to myself, we still have half a book, where do we go from here, how can it get better. I absolutely loved Luke and Harper and was excited to see how they resolved the “I can’t love you back” situation even though their attraction was undeniable! I give the first half a solid 4 out of 5!
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Then comes the second half. Where we spend countless chapters with them separated by a deployment (too much time apart!!), weird vibes with Luke’s deceased wife’s mom striking up a friendship with Harper, both Luke and Harper straight up violating each others privacy and NEVER addressing it, Luke acting like a d!ck and “resolving” that by telling Harper “I’ll always love my wife but I guess I can love you too”, to which she basically swoons. Not to mention a murderous former foster dad subplot. The characters were almost unrecognizable from the first half of the book to the second and all the feelings I started with, I did not end with. Second half gets a 2 out of 5 for me, cause let’s be honest, the SPICE is on point no matter what else is going on lolll
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So I’d average out the first and second half and go with a 3 out of 5 for the whole thing.

I enjoyed this very spicy romance. It really had everything: drama, trauma, dogs, found family! Lots of swoon worthy moments, a likable cast of characters and some suspenseful themes made this a quick read!

I can’t do it. Lucy Score’s books are getting so repetitive. Alpha males, damsels in distress, vulgar romances. DNF

Solid 4.5 star rating!!

Idk if she revamped this book to be rereleased or what, but I applied for the arc on NetGalley and got approved! Came here to add it, saw it’s been out and has very mixed reviews.

But I’m happy to report that I thoroughly enjoyed this story!!

Now let it be known; in real life, the behavior of these two would not fly. They both need therapy. Especially him. 🤣 there was a lot of toxic behavior in this book. But you also know what? That’s what made this book so ENTERTAINING!! Because it’s ✨ fiction ✨

I don’t read a lot of contemporary, but I did for this and I had a lot of fun!!

Now please check CW/TW because while this book sounds sweet and lighthearted, it has a lot of heavy themes.

Did this book make me cry more than once? Yes. It did. It was an emotional roller coaster, that’s for sure.

Some tropes we had were: fake dating, military MMC, spontaneous and eternal optimistic FMC, second chance romance, instalust, healing journey for both parties, small town romance, etc.

The spice was hot and the tension was fun to read.

The only reason I didn’t put this as a five star was because I felt at times it just kinda had too much fluff. Trim some of the filler away, and you got a solid five star read!

This was my first Lucy Score book. And I adored it!! I’ll definitely be reading more of her stories one day. Thank you so much for the arc!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an ARC of "Pretend You're Mine" in exchange for my honest review! I discovered Lucy Score through her popular Knockabout Series so I jumped at the chance to read her other series! There are some moments where the writing may feel a bit underdeveloped but the story and pacing kept me going and overall it was a cute story with some deep moments.

This was a fast read and I would recommend to any romance lovers!

I had some eye rolls and it felt way too long, but I did enjoy this one! Now I’m into small towns and military men, or so it seems. Lots of steam here, which worked for me!

I absolutely loved this book! I could not put it down, brought my kindle with me everywhere to finish it!

Book Name: Pretend You're Mine
Author: Luc Score

ARC
Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books, for and ARC of Lucy Score’s Pretend Your Mine

Stars: 4
Spice: 2.75

Book 1 of duology ”Anthology”
Standalone Character Story
Fast Paced
Equally Plot and Character-Centric
Dual POV
Contemporary Romance
Lucy Score is Brilliant (beyond brilliant really)

- Topics
- Overcoming Your Past
- Greif
- Healing
- Family

- Tropes
- Who Hurt You?
- One Bed
- She Falls First
- Small Town
- Fake Dating
- Military Romance
- Grumpy Sunshine
- Insta-Love (one-sided)
- Fighting My Feelings

- Thoughts.
- Luke’s Character Arc is Awesome
- Too Neatly Wrapped
- Harper was not “Confident”
- Felt Disjointed
- Wanted More Groveling and Growing