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.

Luke and Harper are in a relationship or are they? This is the first book in the series and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Harper has gone through loss and trauma but doesn't let that impact her life views. Luke has shut down since his loss and doesn't let any relationship go to far because he needs to protect himself. A solid 3.75 star read.



**********************************I received an ARC for my honest opinion from NetGalley.******************************

* I received an e-copy of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and Bloom Booms for this book. All thoughts are my own.

I really liked Harper, and look forward to Aldo and Gloria’s book, but Luke just really got on my nerves. And I don’t think it was necessarily that he was healing from the past but just his character in general. There was such a lack of communication in this book but also an insta-love vibe that felt real odd. Luke let’s Harper stay at his house because she’s lost and can’t make it to her friends house that night, and then immediately they start this friends with benefits-esque relationship thing that just all sounds like a bad idea. With that comes a LOT of spicy scenes! Of course she falls in love with him after a month, he’s definitely in love with her but won’t admit it, and the plan was to break off their relationship when he leaves for deployment but then at the last second he decides not to break it off. Then the ending was so incredibly rushed that it made my head spin, with a surprise twist that only sort of made sense to the story.

I’d recommend other Lucy Score books, just not this one. The cover is also really cheesy looking and keeps reminding me of a YA novel and throws me off each time I see it.

"Pretend You're Mine" by Lucy Score is a heartwarming romance novel that will leave readers swooning. Luke Garrison, a hometown hero and member of the National Guard, is ready to deploy again. But when he meets the beautiful Harper, he realizes she is the perfect decoy to keep his family off his back until he deploys. Harper is on her way to starting a new life when she stumbles into Luke's life. Soon, one night of sharing a bed turns into something much more, and Luke can't keep his mind or his hands off of Harper.

The chemistry between Luke and Harper is undeniable, and their love story is heartwarming. Luke's dark past and Harper's secret add to the tension, making the story even more captivating. The author does an excellent job of creating believable characters with relatable issues that readers will connect with.

The small-town setting adds to the charm of the story, and the military aspect brings a unique angle to the romance. The writing is engaging, and the pacing is perfect, making it a quick and enjoyable read. Overall, "Pretend You're Mine" is a must-read for fans of romance, military fiction, and contemporary fiction.

The pacing of this book was wild and the third act twist was VERY random but sigh, I do love a Lucy Score book! I loved the town and the events and the characters and the main couple. So sweet, I’m glad I read! 3.5/5, rounded up.

I should have known better when I only “kinda” liked the first Knockemout book. I didn’t love the cheesy lines and toxic relationships in that one and they definitely continue in this one.

Okay so I have a lot of feelings about this book. I will start by saying, I think I love Lucy Score’s romances. Admittedly, this is only the third one that I’ve read but, despite my mixed feelings about the content, I’ve been immediately drawn into every fictional relationship I’ve read so far. She has a rare of talent of good writing, a solid love story and A+ spice.

That being said, there was a lot going on in this book. You can tell she’s really honed her writing and voice since this came out. Even some of her spicy language has changed since this published (it was the “feeding” and “heavy sack” that gave me the ick). The pacing wasn’t great, and truly I think insta-love is hard to write and make it feel believable and get the reader invested in the relationship to see it through a third act breakup.

I struggled with the military aspect at first, but I found as the story went on it became less of a thing for me.

Until Luke’s unchecked PTSD and shoved-down grief legit made me want to shake him. He’s repeatedly called a dumbass through the last part of the book and that is 100% accurate. Just because you say you can’t let yourself love someone and can’t say the actual words while you’re simultaneously saying you can’t breathe without them and then borderline stalking them to make sure they’re okay… buddy, you’re in love. He strung Harper along for the majority of the book and fucked with hers (and tbh the reader’s) feelings.

I genuinely liked Harper and I didn’t find she was overly (annoyingly) sunshiny to Luke’s grump. She knew her worth, she was resilient and she was able to stay optimistic without falling into the toxic positivity camp. And while there was half a moment where I wanted to shake her for taking Luke back so quickly, she knew what she wanted and I also felt like she wouldn’t stand for less than what she knew she deserved.

Tropes included: insta-love, one bed, fake dating (tbh I kinda forgot the book started as fake dating by the end)

Oh and spice in the first 30%? Heck yes.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 🌶️🌶️

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for honest review.