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

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of Pretend You're Mine by Lucy Score. I only recently read my first book(s) by Lucy Score and found that I loved her books. I was so excited to see that this book was in need of a review and that I was accepted to be the person to do it! I am finding mixed reviews as to if it was published in 2015 or will be in May of 2023 but I'm still happy to review it as I do all of the books I read.

I LOVED this book. I was sucked right in from the beginning, as I have been with all of her books that I have read. Harper was in need of a friend, family, and roots. She found them all when she ran out of gas in Benevolence. Luke was living in shadows and despair while shutting everyone out following the death of his first love. The two of them met and there was an instant connection. The first 1/3 of the book was them FINALLY getting together and being a couple before he leaves on tour. I knew something had to happen because there was so much more of the book to go but I couldn't figure out what would happen.

I was surprised that with all of the family that Luke had, no one had figured out what was going on with him and tried to help him with his depression/PTSD from the loss of his wife. They all knew something was up but didn't know how to help him. I wish there had been a little more conversation about Harper's past and also more about Luke's relationship with Karen. Overall, I really enjoyed the story.

#LucyScore #PretendYoureMine #NetGalley #Romance #Fiction #ContemporaryFiction #RealisticFiction #FakeDating #Reserves #NationalGuard #Construction #LoveAtFirstSight #SmallTown #Abuse #Death #Loss#FosterCare #Adoption #Family #FriendsLikeFamily #BestFriends #NewFriends #OldFriends #April #2023

Lucy Score has captured my heart with the quaint little town she's created called Benevolence, and all the fun loving, good hearted people who live there. When Harper gets lost and ends up stopping an assault in a bar parking lot; hometown hero, Luke is there for back up. The attraction between them is instant, and they both agree that this purely physical relationship has an end date, as Luke is scheduled for a deployment overseas in six weeks. As Harper spends time in the small town she never meant to find, she starts making friends, adopting dogs, and generally finding herself not wanting to leave, but they've both agreed that this isn't going anywhere after six weeks.

Not only is this little town full of fun, found family, and gossip but there are some secrets as well. Pretend You're Mine had steamy moments, laughter, and tears all doled out in equal measure. I loved this book, and am so glad that there are more books in my future about the town of Benevolence. Read this one is you like:

-pretend dating trope
-small town romance
-military deployment and long distance relationship
-super chemistry and steamy love scenes
-romance on the angsty side

Thanks so much to Lucy Score and Bloom Books for providing me with a copy of this book for review.

I’ve just read Finally Mine, so it was great reading this story from Luke and Harper’s perspective. I always loved Harper and Gloria’s friendship, and it is more solidified in this book— they are so sweet and good to each other it makes me cry (actually a lot made me cry in this book lol). Luke is a poor, sweet, traumatized soul who has seen more death and destruction than most people in his life. I feel for him realizing that he needs to become a healthier version of himself if he wants his happy ending with Harper. And Harper has her own battles to fight as well as she chooses to stick by his side. As with Finally Mine, there are some very dark moments in this story, as well as plenty of love and humor to counterbalance the tears.
This was a very sweet and tender story; thank you for the ARC!!!

Lucy Score is an automatic buy for me! This one was pretty good! I could take or leave it honestly. I loved other ones of hers much more than this one. If you enjoy her books I would still give it a go!

Thank you to Netgalley, Author and Publishers for the Egalley of this book.
I really have enjoyed Lucy score's other books so I was thrilled to pick this up. I was not disappointed. The romance--- On point as usual. Friends to lover 4 stars. Would def recommend you read this.

Harper is on her way to starting a new life when she finds herself stranded in the small town of Benevolence. There, she meets Luke, hometown hero, about to deploy for the National Guard in about a month. His family is getting antsy for him to settle down and get out of his shell, and she needs a job and a place to live. They strike an arrangement to start fake dating, but soon, he just can't get her off his mind...
I have to admit, I have read and did not like/finish a few books by Lucy Score before. And I don't know why, but I wanted to keep on trying, and when this popped up on NetGalley, the cover was so pretty, I just could not pass it up. And boy am I happy that I did! This was so good! A cute, adorable, sweet, small town, one bed, fake dating, grumpy sunshine romance with amazing banter that gave me all the feelings. I smiled, swooned most of the time, I also laughed and cried. I was only 20% in when I preordered this first book in the Benevolence series, and I was approved for book 2 and will dive right after I'm done writing this! I loved the characters (Harper is so bad ass!) and can't wait to read Gloria and Aldo's story. I almost knocked down half a star for all of Luke's red flags, but I loved this so much that I just couldn't!
I received an advance review copy and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is the small-town romance of Harper and Luke. The story alternates POV's between the two. I didn't find this romantic at all. Luke is downright mean to Harper, and she still stays with him. She is kind and a friend to all, but without giving away too much I could not be so forgiving. Luke has a very tumultuous past that he needs to work through. Their no-strings relationship has its steamy moments, but this book felt like it's trying to be CoHo, and it's just not.