I just adore Lucy Score. Im so excited for this series to be getting new covers and I have loved jumping into this world. Harper and Luke were so fun to read. I will say Lucys books are long but they are worth it!

Loved the cover and the title! The story was really cute and I enjoyed the characters and their development.

"Stay"

UGH Lucy Score - killing me with one word!

Harper is one of my favorite heroines. What a strong character!! Harper has been dealt quite the hand and yet approaches every situation with positivity and optimism. Harper looks for ways to help everyone around her and is so selfless and thoughtful. I loved the found family in this story and that we were able to see Harper's relationships develop with some many characters in this book. I can't wait to return to Benevolence to see some of these characters again because the side characters were so good.

Luke, I struggled with. He obviously was grieving a huge loss and there is no right or wrong way to grieve. I had a lot of grace for him throughout the story (and so did Harper!!) but I feel that he needed to grovel more at the end. While he did make a grand gesture to apologize, considering everything he had said/done to Harper, she deserved even more from him.

Overall, I love Lucy and I love this small town romance. I can't wait to read Aldo and Gloria's story next!

LOVE LOVE LOVE !!!

Lucy Score is the QUEEN of spice and romance. I devoured this book. I couldn't put it down. i fell in love with Harper and Luke's characters, i love how their relationship came to be and how she brought him out of a deep dark hole. Incase you have triggers there is talk about loss, both spouse and child,. This book was beautifully written in every possible way. thank you so much net galley for allowing me to read this one !

I have yet to be disappointed by a Lucy Score book! This was a fast entertaining read that I found myself unable to put down. I loved both of the main characters and found all the side characters just as enjoyable. I loved the small town in Maryland where the store took place and I am looking forward to reading the other stories that take place there. I want to thank NetGalley and Bloom Books for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Ugh, I love Lucy Score and thought I had read all of her books. I don't know how I missed this one when it was originally released. She writes the best small town romances that always have a bit of angst and a lot of heat. Harper and Luke were the perfect match for each other, even if Harper was an accident waiting to happen and it took Luke awhile to admit- it but his major touch her and you die vibes said otherwise. Both suffered terrible losses in their young(er) lives and how they chose to navigate their present varied so greatly. I think Luke could definitely benefit from some therapy (understandably) and this story was a bit long, but I'm so glad I read the re-release. I was not disappointed

Not my heart absolutely shattering into a million pieces at only 45% through!!!!! What a cute book.😭 This series is getting a makeover, but I hadn’t ever heard of it before so I figured I’d give it a try when I saw it on NetGalley. I didn’t know what to expect going into this one and wow, was I surprised by what I found. The characters are not without flaws, but it’s a dang good read if you can look past that.

Where to even begin? Told in third person POV alternating between our main characters, this book follows the spunky character of Harper and her journey to the cozy small town of Benevolence. We start right in the middle of the action with Harper jumping to the rescue of a battered women. She hops right onto the back of an abusive jerk, and ended up getting knocked out in her efforts to save the women. Imagine her surprise when she wakes up and locks eyes with the hottest man she’s ever scene.

Luke is stunned by the wild girl he’s just met. She’s obviously a handful and jumps into danger headfirst. After seeing her get hit by the brute Glenn, he jumps in to rescue both girls from further damage. After a bit of questioning he finds out her car is out of gas, she’s stranded, homeless, has no wallet or phone, and is quite possibly the hottest mess he’s ever met. But something about her draws him in.

One things leads to another and after some meddling from Luke’s sister, Harper ends up staying at Luke’s house where he’s severely lacking in extra furniture. For instance, a guest bedroom set so they wouldn’t have a share a bed. But don’t worry, they’re adults and this cozy sleepover is only going to last for a day (<— Are you getting the famous last words vibe??? Because you should be).

But Harper becomes a project that Luke can’t ignore. he helps her out in her time of need and they come to a deal that mutually benefits them both. As you can imagine, the book becomes an emotional roller coaster from here. Complete with more forced proximity, a bit of fake dating, tons of spicy moments, an underlying mystery past for both of our main characters, and a dash of sexy military men. Our main characters vow to only let whatever this is last until it’s time for Luke to deploy to Afghanistan. That is until Harper digs her way into everyone’s heart.

She’s quite possibly the most lovable character I’ve ever encountered. She’s funny, witty, and wacky in the best way. She’s got a habit of picking up strays, and really sees the best in everyone. Luke on the other hand is constantly brooding and needs someone bubbly like Harper to pull him to the light. The biggest struggle is that like oil and vinegar their differing life styles don’t always mix, but there’s something to be said about opposites going well together. These two need to find a way to commingle. Despite all the forces trying to keep them apart.

This book does however come with a lot of trigger warnings. There’s underlying themes of loss of a loved one & loss of a child, near death experiences, and multiple abusers. But I will say that amidst the uncomfortable subjects there are plenty of tender moments mixed in. There’s plenty of found family and amazing friendships to help balance it out. All in all, it’s super cute and I feel like it went by fairly quickly. This was a great introduction to the series and I’m very excited to see what happened in the next books.

Thank you again to NetGalley and BloomBooks for the copy. The new discreet covers are super cute!

Harper is passing through town when she becomes involved in a domestic abuse situation. She rushes to help, and in the process she meets Luke. Luke is a soldier with a traumatic past who is unwilling to fall in love again. He and Harper agree to fake date to keep his meddling family satisfied and to help Harper get on her feet with a job and place to stay. However, they soon realize their feelings aren’t fake anymore.

I am a big fan of Lucy Score, but I didn’t enjoy this one as much as many of her other books. I think it came down to a few factors- one being that I am not a big fan of military romances. It’s hard when the two characters spend so much of the book apart. There were also many heavy topics within this book, and though they were handled well, I’d recommend readers look into content warnings before diving in. One trope in particular regarding Luke’s past was hard to read about. I did enjoy the first part of the book, and the spice was excellent. Not every book is for every reader, and I think this one just was too heavy and contained difficult topics that I don’t enjoy reading about. However, if these things don’t bother you, I think you’ll enjoy this book. Lucy Score is a great storyteller and this one is no exception.

Thank you to Lucy Score, Bloom Books, and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

I read a lot of great books this month. Here is Pretend You’re Mine @scorelucy @read_bloom release in May and it’s sooo good !
Harper arrived in a small town by mistake and found herself living with Luke who’s leaving to Afghanistan soon. If they start cohabitation by thinking they’ll both going on their separate way soon, it’s before Harper started to fall in love. But Luke can’t love her, and whhhhhhy ? Why Luke ? Harper is so funny and sweet and strong and everyone love her. What’s Luke hiding from her ?
I loved every characters, the friendship between them is so ♥️, the twists, everyone story and bagage. You can’t help fall in love with this book.

It took a bit for the book to pick up but once it did I was along for the ride. I love Lucy Score's writing so much. She has a way to bring out the laughter and the tears in people.

I love the small town setting and the close-knit community.

Pretend You're Mine by Lucy Score was amazing! A captivating, romantic story that left me wanting more. Thank goodness there are three books in this Benevolence series! Harper and Luke have been some of my favorite characters that I've read in a long time. I also love the beautiful new covers for this series that Bloom Books has put out. Highly recommend this author!

This was a cute story! It followed Harper and Luke. Both had some past trauma that made it difficult for them to fully open up to each other. He’s in the army, and she has come into town running away from a bad breakup. The pacing was a little slow for me at points, and I felt it was a little too long. But overall I enjoyed this story.

Reviewed for NetGalley:

I never got around to reading this one from Score, but have enjoyed many of her books in the last.

Harper gets stuck in a small town while traveling, mildly injured while breaking up a domestic dispute and hours later is sharing a bed with the hometown hero.

As Luke is going to be deployed shortly, a fake dating scheme commences, and they ultimately begin to have feelings for each other.

Sweet, quick read, if not slightly convoluted.

Lucy Score never misses!
“Pretend You’re Mine” ripped my heart out and put it back together again. Tender, heartbreaking and inspiring - this book was an emotional rollercoaster!
We follow Harper and Luke who are both running from their pasts in different ways. Harper is knocking her past to the ground while Luke is walling his pain away from the world. After entering into a mutually beneficial fake dating scheme they quickly realize their emotions didn’t get the memo about their relationship being just for show. Together they must work on their relationships not only with each other but also with themselves.
Full of raw and unfiltered emotion, love, friendship, grief, happiness and courage - “Pretend You’re Mine” was a beautiful read.

Thank you to SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

This one is definitely going to take a while for me to get over, I loved every page, every word, the whole story
Harper and Luke were so much fun to read, you could not help but cheer for them, hope for love to win in the end, and wish only good things for the people of this town
I absolutely love this book, I laughed, I cried, I yelled at Luke ( a lot) lol!
I did not read this book when it first came out, but I am sure glad I read the rereleased!
I am new to this author, and she will forever be on my TBR list… as I say when I open one of her books, no one bother me I’m going to Lucy land!!! Long live Lucy land!!!!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for an ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded down
2.5 chili peppers

I had so much fun reading this book. And for a book of over 400 pages- it was a quick read because it's so fast paced and so much going on. I loved everything Lucy Score does and this book is no exception.

Pretend You're Mine features Harper- a plucky, very positive former foster kid- just having recently ended a relationship and while trying to get to her friend she happens upon the cute little town of Benevolence. Harper finds herself in even more trouble and after the local bartender decides to take Harper under her wings Harper ends up staying with the local builder- Luke.

I think when you write a book of 400 pages you really have to make sure that all 400 pages are full of plot and action or the reader will grow resentful and it can taint the rest of the book but I loved the length of this book. I also know that Lucy Score tends to err on the side of the longer book. What I will say is that the book had very strange pacing for me. There is a span of time when the main characters spend 6 months apart which I had never seen happen in a romance book before. I think the separation had it's place (this was how Harper secured herself in the town and not just through a connection to Luke) but it should have been shorter and shown more character growth. During that time Harper grows, finds hobbies and put down roots while Luke seems to be even more conflicted after.

Luke was the counterpart to everything lovable about Harper and I have to say that was a struggle for me in the book. Luke was borderline emotionally abusive. I found myself a little less interested in them as a couple every time he told her he could never lover her or pushed Harper away to serve himself.

I'm already not the biggest fan of the third act break up but this one was even more enraging. I was hoping that Harper would separate herself and grown her roots to the town even more while Luke got some much needed therapy. If you are going to make the separation horrible then you have to make the reconciliation realistic and this one was not. I hate to say it but Harper and Luke remain in my 'main characters that for sure get divorced' list. One night was not enough to redeem himself but the way Harper accepted it just solidified herself in the list of some of my favorite heroines.

Harper's time spent in foster care also felt very realistic which I think it's important to note. As a former foster kid myself, this plot point being abused to create broken characters drives me nuts so I'm happy Lucy executed it so well and made Harper the more emotionally intelligent one.

I also loved that Benevolence is basically a character with how much personality and charm it has. This book nails the 'small town' trope.

Final thoughts- it was a fun read but Luke needs to get to therapy ASAP.

There is something about a military love story that reels us all in. I loved every single character in this book and even though there was a lot, it felt easy to remember who they were because they were all relatable. Thank you Net Gallery and Bloom books for the opportunity to reads this early in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed this small-town romance! The storyline was enjoyable with some added suspense, and I fell in love with ALL of the characters. And let's not forget the dogs! I felt like I was a part of this big happy family and now I just want to move to Benevolence. (I do live pretty close being in Delaware) I have to admit, I am not a big fan of steamy romance novels. You know, the ones that are filled with cheesy, eye-rolling, smut scenes that serve as nothing but a "gag me" filler to a nonexistent story. Ok, so this book had a few scenes that were not to my taste, but it is a romance novel so I figured that I would have to deal with this coming in to play. No big deal! I just skimmed and kept on reading. But after falling in love with her recent books, Things We Never Got Over and Things We Hide from the Light, I couldn't wait to get my hands on another one. I'm really glad that I did! I flew through the pages and finished in less than a day. Pretend You're Mine is Book #1 in the Benevolence trilogy and I can't wait to start reading Book #2.

Thank you to the author, SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books, and NetGalley for allowing me digital access in exchange for my honest opinion!

Harper has lived a lifetime of tragedy and heartache. She carries many secrets but remains strong and so loveable I want to be her friend.

Luke has secrets of his own, some even touch home for me so deep down.

The most loveable and relatable characters in this small town. Romance, love, death, heartache, heartbreaking stories of tragedy, past and present.

When you read a book and feel connected to both main characters, it’s hard to believe it’s fiction, because you can’t stop thinking about it. , I had some crazy laughs and a box of tissues while I savored every minute of it.

It’s my first Lucy Score book and it will never be my last. A must read!
I will never forget this book, it’s all that’s been on my mind for the past few days while reading it.

Lucy scores quickly becoming one of my favorite authors and is most definitely the queen of small-town romance. There were so many things that I loved about this book and there were also things that I didn’t but the good far outweighs the bad.

I’m not the biggest fan of the insta love in stories but somehow Lucy did it in a way that didn’t make me cringe. I really also wanted to hate Luke but she made him so vulnerable and likable. It was hard to do. I did absolutely love the representation of two amazing brave men who chose to serve their country. I also loved the story around Aldo and I’m super excited that the second book in the series is his story! His journey in this book has a special place in my heart working in the field of prosthetics!

This was a very well done heartfelt story about healing through trauma, and found family.