Harper is just taking a break from driving in this tiny town of Benevolence when she sees a woman getting beaten and jumps to her rescue. When the dust settles and the man is sent to jail, Harper has a few bruises of her own. Luke Garrison takes her home and gives her a bed for the night, a fact which gives his sister ideas. Couldn't this woman be the solution to keep his mother off his back about dating just long enough for him to leave on his next deployment?
Harper wasn't expecting to settle in this town, much less fall into the strong arms of this national guard captain. But he offers her shelter and a job and it's only for a month. What harm could it do? But soon she's accepted by family and friends and it's feeling like the only home she's ever known. But he's afraid to risk his heart after his dark past, and she has secrets that could threaten everyone around her.
Oh this sexy, broody, stubborn man! Harper gives him everything and he's too stubborn to keep it. I just wanted to reach through and shake him just like everybody in town.
I love Lucy Score and I was so excited to get an ARC of this book! I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Lucy Score does small town romance so well 🥺 I love living in the city, but her books really have me debating packing everything up and moving to a small town where everybody knows my name.

Harper Wilde stumbles into Benevolence, MD after a very, VERY bad day. She’s gone through a break up, run out of gas, and gotten knocked out all in the course of a few hours. With no phone and no money, she’s pretty much stranded until local hottie Luke Garrison agrees to let her stay at his place for the night. One night turns into a month as Luke realizes that fake dating Harper is the perfect way to distract his family until he leaves for his deployment to Afghanistan.

There was a lot I really liked about this story. I enjoyed all of the small town side characters and how welcoming they were. I enjoyed (most of) the plot - there were several times when I didn’t really know where the story was going, which kept things interesting. This book was LONG for a romance, but it didn’t really feel like it. I really liked Harper. She was a bit of a mess, but also strong and authentic. Luke, on the other hand, was not my favorite. His communication skills were severely lacking, and I do think that Harper deserved much better.

I’m super excited to read the second book in this series, Gloria and Aldo’s story!

Oh my gosh!!! This book!! Probably the fastest i’ve ever read a book!
Once I started it I can put it down. It had all the emotions!! Although this book definitely could’ve been a two part series, I’m glad it wasn’t because I got their full story and didn’t have to wait for another book.
The story, the people, and the town were all beautifully detailed.

Harper and Luke are a beautiful couple that have ups and downs. Together and with the help of their family, and the town, they over come all the challenges and secrets and heartache that they face.

Thank you, Netgalley and Lucy Score for this ARC
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Lucy Score is a must read for me. Her characters are loveable and have amazing depth. Her love of tacos is unparalleled. When I saw that Protecting what's Mine is getting a new cover, it got bumped up to the top of my tbr. The spice is steamy and had me 🥵. One of my favorite things about LS books is that though they are chunky, they don't feel long. The character and story development is smooth and flawless. Such a talented writer. Harper and Luke are fire. Harper had me crying several times in this story. Her struggle with the past and trying to put down root while Luke is pushing back and fighting it. Ugh. My heart. Love love loved it. All the stars

I did enjoy this book, not quite as much as Things we never got over, but that is a high bar. Lucy Score's writing is accessible and swallows you into the story. Originally I didn't think I would love the concept of the book but it was pretty good.

My main issue would be the pacing, sometimes we had a lot of sex scenes, things that could have been replaced with the characters building a more intimate connection that wasn't centered around sex. Also, some of the sex seemed uncomfortable (Butt play is good but please use lube!)

The characters were likable and I'm looking forward to reading Aldo and Gloria's story.

Pretend You’re Mine

In this story we meet Harper who is a free spirited woman running away without a plan. As Harper is running away from a crummy ex, she leaves without her purse, money, or a phone and rushed off. She stops at a bar, where she notices a huge guy beating on a small woman and without thinking she jumps on him to help her. Harper is saved from the huge guy by the very serious Luke. Luke is a soldier home between deployments. Luke is both fascinated by, and irritated by impulsive and big hearted Harper. Seeing as how Harper finds herself with no money and no place to stay, Luke’s sister suggest that Harper stay with her brother Luke to help Harper and to get his family off his back with their matchmaking. As the two keep getting thrown together their fake relationship starts to feel not so fake. But Luke never wanted a relationship and Harper wants nothing more than to find a home. Can the two of them figure out what they want before it is too late? I loved the town of Benevolence, and all the meddling side characters. So excited this is a series so I can stay with these characters a little longer. I received an ARC, and this is my honest review.

I love the new cover! And I love everything about this book. Lucy Score has become quite well known and popular and I can definitely see why. This book had me laughing, crying, angry, happy, sad, and all the other emotions you can possibly think of. I think only one other book every has actually brought tears to my eyes. And the spice factor in this one is hot!
This is the first book in a series of three and I definitely recommend reading the entire series!

Thanks to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books, Bloom Books for a free digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a copy of this book to read and review. All of these thoughts and comments are my own.

Good stuff first. I really loved Harper’s character. She was strong willed and just a go getter. I love how she brought Luke out of the dark…finally. I love how she made things right with Joni and how caring of a person she was.

Stuff I didn’t like. Luke made me mad about 80 percent of the time. He didn’t deserve Harper. He was immature and said stuff that shouldn’t have been said. Harper should’ve just walked away honest after Luke told her he could never love her. I get that Luke had important people take away from him and past trauma but that’s no excuse. I don’t like the picture of “love” that this book showed for them.

I’m glad that they both had a happy ending and Luke finally got over himself but idk this book just rubbed me the wrong way when it came to Luke’s character. I liked all the other characters though. It was a good book to read but I wouldn’t say I’d ever read it again solely based on the poor excuse of “love” that Luke showed Harper. Verbal abuse just isn’t something that should be promoted to me and Harper stayed with him after all the terrible things he said to her. I understand forgiving but Harper was great and deserved better in my opinion.

3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lucy Score & Sourcebooks Bloom Books for an arc of Finally Mine in exchange for an honest review. This review is wholly my own & may not be reproduced.

I’ve just really gotten into Lucy Score recently and was super happy to receive “arcs” of the first two novels in her Benevolence Series. I say “arc” because this is a book that originally came out in 2015, but it’s getting new covers to re-release this summer and that is what I received advanced copies of.

Not a new trope, but then again, this originally came out in 2015, so maybe Lucy originated it! It’s the trope of the fake girlfriend/boyfriend who actually do fall for each other. I don’t even care that I’ve seen it and read it 100 times before, I love this plotline and will read it every single time.

This story follows Luke who is home from the National Guard awaiting to be deployed again. Then he meets Harper who is just so perfect and beautiful that he thinks it’d be a great idea to have her be his fake girlfriend to keep his friends and family off his back until he gets deployed. Harper was in the process of leaving to start a new life, but now that she’s met Luke, she’s thinking she wants to stay and settle down. One night of debauchery turns this fake relationship into something more, but neither want to share the secrets of their pasts.

This wasn’t just your regular, ditzy romance. Yes, Luke was delicious and yes, Harper was amazing, but this book also hit on a deeper level that just those surface feelings and actions between the characters.

I really loved this story – every single thing about it – the characters, the plot, the writing style, the pacing, the angst, the feelings, the humor, the wit – EVERYTHING!!

4.5/5 Stars (rounded up to 5) – Highly recommend!

2⭐️ because the writing was at least good.

I’m in love with the Knockemout series by Lucy Score so I was really excited to read some of her backlog. The writing itself was still great and I could pick out a lot of elements that are also in Things We Never Got Over, but Pretend You’re Mine lacked the charm that the former book has.

Our love interest Luke had a previous wife who unfortunately died in a car accident that Luke blames himself for. Obviously someone is going to have trauma from that but the way he treated Harper because of that trauma disgusted me. The red flags were jumping off the page. It was giving Tolerate It by Taylor Swift. This woman was doing EVERYTHING for him when it came to the home that they shared AND for his business!! But he continued to treat her like crap & then this man said some of the most hurtful things to her. AND SHE DID NOT STAND UP FOR HERSELF. Luke quite frankly is trash and it would have been a better ending if she moved on from him and found someone who would never even think of treating her that way.

3.5 stars

Pretend You’re Mine by Lucy Score was a cute little romance read, perfect for the reader looking for a bit of fluff that’s an easy read with lots of sexual tension.

I enjoyed the pairing of Luke and Harper as it gave me a bit of grumpy/sunshine vibes with Luke being the standoffish, no attachments, no feelings dude, and Harper being the bright optimistic, bubbly person she is despite her tough background. They were both a highlight and a frustration of the book because there was far too much back and forth on Luke’s part for my liking and his reasoning just seemed so dumb for the most part which made me just want to hit him upside the head. However, when they were together it was great, it was adorable and pure and steamy.

My attention with this read did ebb and flow a bit. I started it and wasn’t sure if I was going to get into it, then I was really flying through it, but eventually I would lose a bit of interest again, and back and forth. For this reason I kind of wonder if it was perhaps a bit longer than it needed to be, because it did feel like a super long book at times, and I think I would have liked it more if it was a quick and simple read like I seem to have grown to expect from fluffier books. Now there was also quite a bit of suspense and tension (and not just the sexual kind) throughout the last bit of the book, but again, it felt a bit prolonged and perhaps a bit repetitive in the events that happened. And also, maybe this is just me, but it felt like the events of the last bit of the book kind of came out of nowhere all of a sudden. It wasn’t something hinted at throughout the entire book, and there wasn’t a whole lot that pointed toward it even becoming a whole thing by the end which left me feeling like it was a bit unnecessary when it did happen.

With all of that said, I did enjoy this book for the most part, and as I said, there were moments I flew through it. I thought it was a cute little contemporary romance and nice for a palate cleanser from other genres. I know I will keep reading more from this author, hands down.

Pretend You're Mine
(Benevolence Book 1)
by Lucy Score
Pub Date 09 May 2023
SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books, Bloom Books
General Fiction (Adult) | Romance
Rating 5/5

Pretend You're Mine's beautiful revised cover delighted me when I received it from NetGalley. This is the first of three books in the Benevolence series. I am a huge Lucy Score fan and true to form this story is endearing, captivating, and passionate. I was rooting for all the charming characters in the small-town romance.

Luke and Harper's pretend relationship was adorable. Harper's compassionate outlook beautifully complemented her strength and determination to improve her life. Even though Luke seemed a bit grumpy at times, I enjoyed the banter between the duo. Drama, sweetness, and heat abound in this story. The fact that Lucy Score often incorporates rescue pets into her plots is one of my many favorite things about her books.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for sharing this stunning novel with me. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down.

As always Lucy Score delivers!! I’ll admit I was a little put off at first by the Army angle because that’s not my typical genre but Luke is such a great character that I got over it. The love story between Luke and Harper is also really well developed which kept me engaged.

I think I would have preferred there be a trigger warning at the beginning for some of the scenes. Not that it would have put me off from reading it but I was a little unprepared for certain scenes.

Still, 4 star read. Lucy Score couldn’t write a bad book if she tried.

This was such a real story. I really liked how deep and dark both of the main character’s backstories were and how the whole book touched on different types of struggles, from domestic abuse to loss, the foster system, PTSD and deployments to name a few.

I loved Harper’s character. She was fierce, tenacious, tough as heck and so dang loving for someone who had been through hell and back.
She lived her life to the fullest no matter what.

I felt for Luke, even before finding out everything about his past. He was a tough, guarded and extremely sexy soldier who was too scared to let good in to his life and it made watching their relationship blossom that much more enjoyable.

The spicy scenes were HOT! This was my first Lucy Score book and I can totally see what all the hype is about because I’ve now added half a dozen of her books to my TBR list! I can’t wait to read the next installment in this series!

Spoilers below!

The “stay” text had me bawling my eyes out. The fact that he couldn’t say I love you back the countless times she said it to him broke me over and over.

Dearest Ms. Lucy Score,

I would like to inform you that I can never forgive you for the rollercoaster of emotions I just experienced courtesy of Pretend You're Mine. It's not often a book makes me literally cry, but I found myself sobbing halfway through the ARC provided by @netgalley and @read_bloom.

I am not okay. I loved this book way more than I intended to love any contemporary romance. Thank you for such an engaging and memorable experience. I appreciate the raw beauty in this book, and I cannot wait to read the rest of the Benevolence series.

Sincerely,
An appreciative reader

Pretend You're Mine earned solid and VERY willing ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lucy Score does not disappoint! This book was absolute perfection.

I adored the small town feel and the second chance romance. I think the characters just grabbed my attention in a completely unique way.

My heart broke for the MMC and the loss he experienced and how he was so closed off because of it.

The FMC is just pure sunshine and I loved every second of her character.

The couple was just sweet and you could tell that they have perfect chemistry. Loved this book so much!

I was excited to receive this from NetGalley as an ARC for a new cover release. I have read many Lucy Score books and this one stays true to her writing style.
Multiple character and couples to quickly get to know and fall in love with. I will say, again in Score fashion, this is a long read. Looking forward to reading the rest of the benevolence series!!!!

Pretend You're Mine By Lucy Score is an amazing read! The first in a series that totally makes you want to learn more about the rest of the family and friends!
Harper and Luke meet totally by accident. Harper is a good, kind, sweet, hardworking lady that you will want to have as a friend. Luke is the emotionally wounded hot guy that you just want to make things better in his world. They meet in the weirdest way but in Harper's world it seems to totally fit. Soon though you wonder if Luke will be able to overcome his personal challenges and heartbreak enough to let Harper in.
Read Pretend You're Mine by Lucy Score and find out for yourself! Happy Reading Everyone!

This is my first Lucy Score book and wow! Naughty, naughty, naughty!
If you like steamy, you’ll love this one.
Along with the steam, was a very good story line that pulled me in. I love Harper and her tough as nails personality. Looking forward to book two.
Thank you NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is an entertaining, emotional roller coaster read. It is a grumpy/sunshine read, but truthfully, it is more than that.

Harper has a lot to be unhappy about. No job, no home, running from her past. Still, she chooses to pursue happiness, and hope for better. I found it easy to connect with her.

Luke has a backstory filled with great loss and pain, and, because of it, he chooses to harden his heart. Again, easy to understand the way he keeps people at arms length. Just so sad.

I sincerely appreciate how this author wrote the military aspects of this story, and the struggles in deployment and military service. The family and friends components are wonderful and very endearing.

While this book was first released years ago, I didn't read it then. I had no idea what I was missing!
When I saw the opportunity to grab this ARC, I did, and I could not stop reading! I love the banter and steamy chemistry between these two characters.
It's just so good... it gives all the emotions:
the high highs, the dangers and drama, the attraction, sizzle, and the lowest lows!
I really enjoyed it.

I recommend this read and this author. She consistently delivers engaging and addictive reads that entertain and take me on emotional journey to the character's HEA. It is my recommendation to read this series in order to have the best reading experience. I thank Netgalley and Sourcebooks for my free ARC and I voluntarily leave my review.