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.

Lucy Score and Bloom Books are re-releasing Pretend Your Mine on May 9!

Luke is a member of the National Guard and home-town hero. When not deployed her runs a successful construction company in his small town. Everyone in town, including his mother, is always trying to set him up with someone, but he enjoys his solitude. Enter Harper. She finds herself in town after finding her boyfriend (who is also her boss) in bed with someone else. She takes off and starts driving the direction of her best friends home. The only problem, in her anger she forgot her keys and phone and ends up going the complete opposite direction. She runs out of gas in a small town. Stuck without money, or gas she becomes somewhat of a hero taking down an abusive boyfriend in the parking lot. Luke tries to help her by offering her a place to stay for the night. They get a long right away and strike up a deal. Luke can offer her a job and place to stay in the month before he deploys, and she will be his fake girlfriend. Both start to confuse themselves and maybe have feelings for each other, but is that something they can do?

I know this sounds like a really contrived set-up, and it is. That said, I really liked these two together. Luke is hiding things from Harper, and the thing he is hiding is one of those tropes I hate. If I were able to set that aside I think I could have rated this higher. I really liked Harper. I found her to be a good character that really loved the town she lived in. I loved watching her connect with all these people in the town, making friends, and even creating her family.

I really wasn't a fan of how Luke treated Harper at some parts. She knew she loved him, and I think we all knew he loved her, but he just hadn't dealt with his past trauma and stuff to say that he could love her. I did however like the Harper story line, the discussion of her being in foster care and her history coming completely to light. I also loved the ending and the HEA!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloom Books for a copy of this book. All opinions are 100% mine.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloom Books for the opportunity to read this book to give an honest review.

only wanted to protect you…

Luke Garrison is a hometown hero, a member of the National Guard ready to deploy again. He’s strong, sexy, broody. The last thing he’s looking for is a woman to ruin his solitude. When the wildly beautiful Harper stumbles into his life, though, he realizes that she’s the perfect decoy. A fake girlfriend to keep his family off his back until he’s deployed.

So what if kissing her sends his mind to wicked places? He can control himself. Can’t he?

Harper was on her way to starting a new life… again. But something about Luke makes her want to settle down in this small town and make his house a home. When she’s in his arms, she finally knows what it’s like to feel safe. Protected.

One night of sharing a bed turns into something much, much more… and soon Luke can’t keep his mind off Harper’s wide gray eyes or his hands off her luscious curves. He never thought he’d feel this way about a woman again. But he knows that he can’t tell her the truth about his dark past. And she can’t reveal what she’s running from.

At least this isn’t a real relationship. It’s only for a month. It’s only pretend. Until it isn’t…

Honestly, this is a re-read for me. I read it years ago when it first came out. I love the new covers, they’re beautiful.

I love the small town of Benevolence. The mystery/suspense story that’s going on along side the love story. I love the main characters and side characters. Each unique in their own ways.
It has so many tropes:
Military
One bed
Small town
Fake dating
Alpha/possessive

It’s heartfelt, heartbreaking and so so spicy. I’m so glad I got to re-read Harper and Luke’s story!

Thank you NetGalley and Lucy Score for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

I LOVE Lucy Score's writing. It is no secret that the Benevolence series has been out for some time now, and was honestly my first exposure to Lucy Score. I love her spicy, heartfelt writing - and her storylines are amazing.

Harper and Luke both have a lot of pain and loss in their pasts. A chance encounter leads these two into a whirlwind arrangement that changes everything.

This book covers SO MANY tropes - it is easily readable in 1 day!

Read if you love:
-Military Homecomings
-Touch her and die vibes
-Small Towns
-Second Chance Romance
-Found Family
-Mental Health Journey
-Happy Endings
-Forced Proximity
-Fake Dating
-Boss/Employee
-Opposites Attract

Favorite Quotes:

“That’s what I want. I want you to take all the dark, all the pain, and turn it into something beautiful. I want to fill you, hurt you, please you. Give you everything. I want it so bad I can’t think of anything else. The thought of never touching you again—”

"Life is too short not to grab on to the good times while they last.”

Thank you to Sourcebooks Bloom Books for sending me an e-arc of the re-release of this book through Netgalley.

I really enjoyed this book, as I do of all of Lucy Score's book. I did find the conflict got resolved too quickly at the end but it didn't ruin the story for me.

2 Stars I really like Lucy Score and have LOVED her other books, but I couldn’t love this one. The main characters felt unbelievable and unlikeable. The FMC, Harper, has lived through multiple traumas but always has a smile on her face, is bubbly, and a bit overly optimistic. Like, unbelievably so, given her past. She explains it as not wasting the time wallowing, but it’s still hard to believe. Then there’s the MMC, Luke, who for 95% of the book, is still in love with his dead wife and swears that he can never love Harper. He says some awful things to her regarding how he could never love her and how being with her feels like cheating on his late wife. It’s extremely unlikeable and I can’t believe that Harper would stick around and let Luke treat her this way. I just couldn’t get past this to enjoy the book. Unfortunately, 2 stars is generous.

Everything about this story made for a good read. There was mystery, chemistry, and lovable qualities. But I did find the storyline predictable. I didn’t love the character arcs, or the conflict. But sometimes that happens with the genre. This is a good book, not a great book.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC.

The pacing for this one was a bit too quick for me to feel fully invested, but there were a handful of times I actually gasped out loud at the twist and turns! Not my favorite of Lucy Score's books, but I did love the cast of characters she created!