So I read the second book in this series first. Which seemed to be happening at the same time as this one. So i knew what would eventually happen.
I wanted to love the story of Harper and Luke but Luke...was on my last nerve.
LIKE OMG DUDE!
But the chemistry between our two characters was great and it was a quick read.

Thank you to net Galley for the arc. All opinions are my own.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was originally published in 2015 but is being re-relased on May 9th.  It was a really sweet, quick read, and I highly recommend for romance lovers.  The story was a bit different for me since it told the story before, during, and after Luke's deployment, but the story still flowed, and there were still other events taking place.  It kept my interest the entire time, and I wanted to keep reading.  It had a few similarities to her more recent story, Things We Never Got Over.  In terms of an overprotective MMC, the FMC rolling into town down on her luck, the town's people becoming her friends and rallying behind her. With that being said, Lucy Score has a knack for creating quaint small towns that you wish you could visit along with a cast of quirky characters you wish were your friends. They have their own sub-plots and contribute to the overall charm of the story.

Harper is a little unconventional but strong and tough. I was rooting for her to get through to the hard-headed Luke. The characters were interesting. The plot moved along at a good pace, and it was something I didn't want to put down. I highly recommend picking this up, and I look forward to checking out other books in this series.

Luke Garrison is a baby back turd. Yes, he redeems himself, but I still wanted to punch him at the end of the book. I’d give it 4.25 stars, the loss from Luke. The rest of the story is really good. Easy to read. Easy language. Good twists and turns. Good love story. Excellent smut. Excellent back story. Lived the FMC and her "we only have today" mindset, even after so much tragedy in her life. I enjoyed it.

**I was provided this book as an ARC with the expectation of an unbiased review, which I'm giving now voluntarily.

I have recently started to read Lucy Score books and was excited to read Pretend You're Mine. The story of Harper and Luke gave me all the heart eye emoji feels and played my emotions. Two wounded souls crossing paths, two people with good hearts. She wants a new start while keeping her past a secret. He needs an office manager and someone to help keep his family off his back until he deploys in a month. And he also has a secret he's keeping from Harper. How could this plan possibly be flawed? I could not have adored this book more!

Cannot wait to read Aldo's and Gloria's story in Finally Mine.

Pretend Your Mine sucked me in from the very beginning and didn’t let go until the end. This is the story of Harper who comes home from work to find her boyfriend of two years sleeping with the delivery girl. She leaves so fast that she doesn't take anything except her keys. She is headed to her friend Hannah's place, who lives two hours away. Without her phone she is hoping she is headed in the right direction.
About when she should be close to her place, she is running out of gas and takes the next exit. She pulls into the nearest place as she runs out of gas. When she gets out she sees a huge man yelling at a woman. Then he grabs the woman by her throat and lifts her off the ground. Harper doesn't think, she jumps on the guys back and fights him off her. Then the guy punches her right in the face. She blacks out.
When she comes to she is staring into beautiful eyes that draw her in. They belong to Luke who she begins to talk to and he informs her she drove two hours in the wrong direction. He allows her to stay in his house that night since she has no way to pay to stay anywhere else and doesn't know anyone. His home is big and beautiful but has no real furniture other than his grandmother's old lumpy couch and one bed. They share the bed and what follows is a story of grief, triumph, growth, friendship, family, and love. The story is very well told has the perfect amount of heart and heat. I cannot recommend this one enough!

Pretend Your Mine by Lucy Score is yet another charming, small town romance, and it’s every bit as good as her others. In general, I’m a Lucy Score fan, so this one was a no-brainer. Originally published a few years ago, it’s the first of three books set in the town of Benevolence MD. It follows Harper and Luke as they navigate a fake relationship (seriously, there is nothing better than a fake dating trope), which leads to… more. Adorable and cute, with a few surprises I didn’t anticipate. Definitely worth it!

Special thanks to Net Galley and Sourcebooks/ Bloom Book for providing an advanced reviewer copy to me in exchange for my honest review and opinion!

4⭐️/2.5🌶️
This was a fun quick read. It took me a bit to warm up to Harper and her personality. It was a little much in the beginning but she seemed to mellow out as the book went along.
Loved the instant chemistry between Luke and Harper, it came off the page, you can feel the heat.
Luke is very possessive hero but has had some tragic loss in his life that stops him from fully letting his walls down.
This book made me laugh, cry and go what did they just say?
This book has close proximity, fake dating and opposites attract. Both characters has what the other has been missing in their life.
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Only in small town books this will make complete sense. Luke has some emotional trauma he won’t allow himself to move on from. Harper a heroic sweet character. Fake dating, my favorite of all tropes because they Always have to end up loving each other. Both are dealing with their respective past trauma.

This book gave me so many emotions due to the tough subjects addressed in the book but there was also some really great fun and heartfelt times.
Harper was such a great character, I love how strong she was and how she was a strong support for the people around her who needed her. It seemed like she was dropped into Benevolence at the perfect time for the healing of many in the town who needed it. I kinda had a hard time with Luke because I don’t like when people don’t communicate and that causes issues but he grew on me as the story progressed.
One thing was the book was a little long for my preference otherwise I would recommend it as long as the trauma spoken about in the book isn’t a problem to read for the reader.

Previous Domestic abuse
Previous Child abuse
Previous family death
PTSD and dealing with active service
Violent opening scene

Four stars. Destroyed me. Highly recommend.

It’s like Nicholas Sparks and CoHo wrote a small town romance and they called Tessa Bailey to write the love scenes.

Harper grew up in the foster system so she’s always ready to pivot. Like, for example, finding your boyfriend with the pizza delivery girl. She packs a quick bag and heads to the next town - except she has no money, no phone and oops, she ran out of gas. Enter - the Town of Benevolence (think Hart of Dixie or Gilmore Girls). Harper is about to head into a bar to beg someone to use their phone when she sees Glenn hitting his girlfriend Gloria in the parking lot. Harper intervenes, gets knocked out in the process and wakes up to Luke Garrison standing over her. She’s sure she's dead.

Luke is about to be deployed again for another stint in the National Guard. He’s closed off and not at all ready to let someone into his life because he has so many things to keep locked up. But he feels protective over Harper and can’t get her out of his mind so he will just help her get back on her feet again and she’ll be on her way. Right?

Fake dating, small town, deployment, spicy, this book has everything. It also should come with a trigger warning about domestic and child abuse.

This book has everything I love when getting lost in a story.

Harper was such a fun heroine. She had some dark secrets but it didn’t stop her from being carefree and fun. I loved everything about her and I especially loved that she found a place to belong in Benevolence. Her story filled my heart with so much joy. Well, until things went south. And then my heart was wrecked.

While Harper has some past issues, Luke does as well. And we’re talking some heavy duty weight on his shoulders. Harper was just what he needed but his stubborn brain wouldn’t allow him to take hold of the beauty in his life. I wanted to force him to wake up and see what was in front of him.

This story is filled with some amazing characters. I loved how well the author developed this small town and all the wacky individuals who live there. Along with the fun, rambunctious friends and family, this also had some dark moments that were accented even more by the fact that, leading up to them, this had such a lighthearted feel to it. And holy heck, there was one part where my heart was literally shredded and I could not turn off the water works. Thank goodness this gave me the most perfect ending, even if I then shed tears of happiness.

I received an arc from NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

Harper flees a dangerous situation only to end up in another dangerous situation. When she comes to, she opens her eyes to Luke, a hunk in her mind. As Luke helps Harper, their pretending turns into a lot more than a friend helping a friend. Is Luke ready for this? With a deployment coming up can he ask Harper to wait for him?

This is one emotional story and I found myself very emotional through the book with Luke’s struggling to move past grief and guilt. I finished this in one day and can’t wait to read the next in the series.

Getting swept up in another wonderful Score book is my kind of day. Harper and Luke are great together and I love Benevolence. Great cast of characters, and the dogs! This really hits hard on the deployment and grieving chords so have some tissues ready. I love her writing--it's near impossible to start her books and do anything else! Thank you to NetGalley for a digital copy

Small town military romance. Harper finds her boyfriend/boss cheating on her and makes a run for it, she jumps in in car and goes. She realizes she didnt bring her phone/purse when her car runs out of gas in a parking lot of a small bar. drama proceeds and she meets Luke. Luke, Small town hero in the national guard is strong, broody and emotionally unavailable due to past trauma. We follow their story where they fight past traumas in order to realize they need each other.

I thought the story was fine, however I found Luke to be TOO over protective, making it a little cringy.

Received a copy from Netgalley

This is a Romantic Suspense, and this is the first book in the Benevolence series. I loved Harper's character, and her character connected with Luke's character right away. I loved the beginning, and the book keeps me wanting to not put it down. I really loved getting to know the characters in this book series, and I loved getting to uncover the dark secrets of the main characters. I loved the ending so much. I am so glad I picked this book up. I loved this book so much. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (That's What She Said Publishing) or author (Lucy Score) via NetGalley, so I can give an honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

I absolutely loved this book. It was for sure a 5 star book for me. It made me feel all the feels. Some adult fiction romance books have characters that seem more YA but I loved Harper and Luke and all of the family and friends. As I was reading I was surprised that half way through there was still quite a bit of story left and was thinking it didn't need to be longer but I'm so glad it was!

This book is another reason I've come to love Lucy Score. The main characters were so multi-layered and it made me love them. Harper from the start grabbed my attention when she jumped on top of Glenn to get him to stop hurting Gloria and ends up getting punched. Then in comes Luke to her rescue. He was the perfect sexy, brooding hero. They both had very traumatic things happen to them and they were moving through life, seemingly coping well. It took their love for each other to truly heal each other. I loved the angst between the two and the fireworks.

This was ok but it really didn’t do much for me, it wasn’t really the style of writing I usually read and just wasn’t for me.

~This was given to me by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lucy Score, and the publisher for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

Pretend You’re Mine follows Harper Wilde, a vivacious, rebellious, and charismatic woman who just walked in on her boyfriend cheating on her. Harper leaves and ends up in Benevolence, Maryland. She gets into a fight with a man because he was being aggressive towards a woman. She ends up staying with a super hot military man, Luke Garrison. Luke and Harper start fake dating to get his family off of his back. However, both of them start to catch feelings. What happens when Luke leaves for deployment for 6 months and comes back to a new life that Harper has made for them?
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I love Lucy Score’s writing. I really enjoyed this book. I think Harper is so fun and is a girl’s girl for sure!! I did not like Luke as much as Harper, well, until the end. I felt that he didn’t treat Harper the way she deserved through the majority of the book. Yes, he was grieving. Yes, he was hurt. Yes, he was dealing with PTSD. He had a huge point of development at the end after making up with Joni and coming to terms with Karen’s death. I thought this was quite accurate in the sense of grieving someone you loved. I just wish that he wasn’t such a hot head throughout the book (his coping skills and aggression made me sad for Harper and him of course), especially with Harper’s past. However, I ended up liking him and his swoon worthy ending. Plus, they just had a great epilogue and if there’s one thing I love, it’s a sappy epilogue.

Characters aside, I really liked this story. It was so heartfelt and I just loved it. I love crying while reading (idk if that’s weird) but it is true. I just like when a book makes me feel multiple emotions on one page. Also, love crying happy tears more than sad tears (which I did in this book). I liked the idea of Harper grieving Karen, even though she didn’t know her. It showed how kind, loving, and caring she is. I think she created such beautiful relationships with the people of Benevolence and I just love that. I liked the healing that this book had. The characters had healing to do and I loved reading about it.

I am SO excited to read the next book 🥰

Ebook received for free through NetGalley

Book was sweet and a perfect fluff read. Love the characters and can’t wait to read more about them.