Lucy Score can do no wrong. This was a reread for me for the release and I loved it just as much this time around! Highly highly recommend.

Personally, I didn't love the book. A lot of the chemistry that was supposed to be between the characters just wasn't there. Like, it was extremely strained. And to be honest, she seemed way to good for him. For instance, he got mad at her for everything, and was hypocritical about secrets when he had a very important one, too. It just didn't seem that put together to me. The ending was a bit rushed, in my opinion. This just didn't have the same power to it that Lucy Score usually has. I love her books, read them almost religiously, and this one was a let down to me.

I do enjoy this author but compared to some of her other books (like Things We Hide from the Light and Things We Never Got Over), I just wasn't as excited about this read.

Lucy Score books have deep stories and this one is included in that! The characters are complex and the plot is engaging. I'm so glad I got to read her two new books!

Thank you NetGalley and Lucy Score!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this Advanced Copy of Pretend You're Mine by Lucy Score.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for the ARC of Pretend You're Mine by Lucy Score.

Pretend You're Mine tells the story of Harper Wilde who after a truly terrible day discovers that she has been driving for hours in the wrong direction and has run out of gas. She gets out of her car in the middle of a domestic dispute and without a second though launches herself at the guy. Harper gets in a few hits before the guy lays her out. Harper comes to with the most gorgeous guy ever leaning over her. He takes her into the bar whose parking lot they're in to get cleaned up. His name is Luke Garrison and his sister, Sophie, happens to be tending the bar. It comes out that Harper is homeless and has no money for gas so Sophie suggests Harper crash with Luke for the night. Luke begrudgingly agrees. Despite living in a gorgeous huge house, he only owns one bed and a crappy couch so they end up sharing the bed. They eventually decide to be in a pretend relationship for the month until Luke deploys to give Harper time to get on her feet and Luke a chance to get his family off his back. Of course, the two have a huge attraction to each other and the fake relationship line is continually tested.

Pretend You're Mine is a perfectly fine romance. It is longer than a typical romance novel so the characters are well-developed and there are plenty of opportunities for growth. I didn't find anything groundbreaking in the story but enjoyed reading it.

I really enjoyed the writing style of the book but I found the romance was borderline insta-love. Aside from that I loved the small town aspect and the characters.

Loved this book! Enjoyed getting to learn about the National Guard & reading about the impact it has on families when their son/daughter deploy. I loved that there connection was strong enough to make it through everything & he was there to save her in the end even though she didn't know what was going on. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends/audience!

3 stars.

Are you looking for a book featuring fake dating and insta-love that's set in a small town with forced proximity, raucous and fun side characters, with a hefty dose of "I'm the only one allowed to touch you" possessive alpha energy? Then "Pretend You're Mine" by Lucy Score is the book for you. In fact, most of Lucy Score's books are probably for you because she loves making books that have these same plot devices and tropes. When Harper and Luke meet, sparks fly super fast, but he doesn't want to get attached because he's about to deploy again and has *~emotional damage*~ aplenty. Harper and Luke start fake dating so he can save face with his family who have been nagging him about dating again, but their desire burns for one another quickly and brightly despite the practicalities of their situation. One thing Lucy Score knows how to do well is banter. There is some good, funny dialogue here. I really enjoyed getting to know Harper and Luke and the respective stories, but Luke was such an grumpy idiot that I wanted to smack the crap out of him. I also thought Harper was a little too perfect and it got on my nerves. Typically, I don't like books involving the military, but this one didn't bother me as much because it doesn't focus on American jingoism. Unfortunately, I found this book to be way, way too long at times. It's slow to start and it drags quite a bit in the middle. At one point, I felt myself losing interest at times. Also, the ending wraps up shockingly quickly, which is strange since this book is over 400 pages long! It almost feels like a very loose plot written around a lot of spicy scenes... and I mean A LOT of spicy scenes (not a complaint!). Speaking of such, Lucy Score loves to talk about the heft and heaviness of b4LLs and milking waaaay too much. 😂 Overall, this book is fine, but it's not Score's best. I wasn't ever bored, but I likely won't remember this come year's end.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lucy Score, and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for my review.

I really enjoy Lucy Score's books, her romance and sense of humor. Pretend You're Mine reminded me a bit too much of Things We Never Got Over though with the small town romance, the overprotective male character, the badass female lead who finds a new family. Still fun and cute!

I was provided a free copy of this book from @NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Harper cruises into small town Benevolence on literal fumes after a really hard day. As she's trying to figure out what to do in a bar parking lot she jumps in to help out a woman being attacked and ends up knocked out herself. But when she wakes up staring into the eyes of Luke, her day turns around. Since he's leaving in a month on a deployment, and she has no place to go, she accepts his offer of help while agreeing to be his girlfriend until he leaves. What could go wrong?
While on one level this is your typical romance story, I appreciated where it strayed from the expected. I was a bit surprised when all discussed on the back happened within the first 40ish% of the book! I liked that it continued, that we got more than the superficial love story and got into the characters deeper struggles. They were flawed, made poor choices, grew, made better choices, and dealt with a lot of their difficulties!
There were a lot of bedroom scenes! 🫣 And a few trigger warnings for domestic violence, grief, and PTSD.
This is a republished in May (and was provided to me after that date), so it's available now if you'd like to pick it up! It is also part of a series, and the next book's review is quick to follow!
#NetGalley #PretendYoureMine

Harper catches her boyfriend cheating on her. She runs out of the house with no phone, no cash, and her car runs out of gas. After getting in the middle of a very public domestic disturbance She Mets Luke, an unavailable captian in the national guard set to deploy in a month. Harper needs a job and a place to stay, Luke needs his family to stop trying to set him up. So in comes fake dating at its best. Through the book we learn they both have some big issues they need to work through. Will they or won't they that is the question.

This book was a cute and fun romcam. Harper is a all in no plan kind of girl. While Luke is a natural protector not wanting anything serious but can't stay away from Harper kind of guy. My only issue is with the baby nickname. It was just annoying. But overvall I enjoyed the story. And cannot wait to read more of Lucy Scores work.

I really did not enjoy this book. It was predictable. The savior male with the helpless girl was not for me.

I want to preface this by saying I absolutely adored Things We Never Got Over and Things We Hide From The Light. That being said, I did have high hopes for this story and for me it just fell a bit flat. This book was not bad by any means, I just feel like I did not connect with the main characters and as a result it felt drawn out.

What starts out as a fake romance to keep Luke Garrison's family from nagging him turns into so much more! In another one of Lucy Score's steamy novels she tells the story of Luke and Harper. After meeting under very rowdy circumstances, they really hit it off in the romance department but Luke has too much past baggage to commit to a relationship even though he knows he loves Harper. Turns out both of them have a lot of baggage to sort through before they can finally be together long term. I loved their story and you might too if you can overlook the steamy details. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

This is a great start to an awesome series! Pretend Your Mine is a great for those who love a military hero trope. I loved Luke and Harper! Harper is running away from her life and needs a place to stay. Luke can’t help himself but be drawn to Harper and offers her his place. The two of them agree to help each other out by fake dating. Harper will have a job thanks to Luke and Luke will get everyone to stop trying to set him up. I loved how at first they set a boundary for no sex. Obviously that didn’t work. I loved the chemistry that the two of them shared! Luke was so protective of Harper! It was fun reading how they would play house. They even get two adorable dogs! I don’t think I’ve read any books where the hero goes back to the military. It was sweet reading how Harper and Luke still maintained their relationship. Luke had to deal with some tough things thrown to him in life and that made it hard for him to have a relationship with Harper. I loved reading how he worked through them for Harper!
I really enjoyed this book and I cannot wait for the second!

Read if you like:
3rd person dual POVs
Fake dating
Forced proximity
Workplace romance
Military hero
Protective hero
Open door romance

I had a hard time getting into this book in beginning. But the pace did pick up and I really enjoyed it. I loved the plot and characters and didn't want the book to end

I think I’ve said this before. Lucy Score is probably one of my top two favorite new authors.

So far I’ve read the first two in the Benevolence series; I read #2 first but you don’t need to really read them in order to enjoy the story. It’s just that people appear in subsequent books whose relationships evolved in previous books.

That said, this was a great book. I’ve always loved the friends to lovers trope, and that’s sort of how Harper and Luke started. Very quickly, though, their mutual attraction took over, and it became a romantic relationship. But it was doomed from the start: Harper was leaving, and Luke was going back to Afghanistan for another tour of duty. They agreed she would leave when he left; without giving away too much of the story, she was already moved into his house, lol.

After he leaves, however, he reaches out to Harper and tells her to stay. So she does. For six months. Their relationship develops by video chat, and Harper falls more and more in love with Luke, and with this very small town in Maryland, Benevolence.

Of course, there’s a secret that Luke is keeping and Harper finds out about it while he’s gone. Life goes on, though, and she comes to terms with what she learned but she’s still struggling with how to let Luke know that she knows. When he comes home from the front, their relationship blows up because of the secret, and because he has a mild case of the jealousies, lol.

What I love about Lucy Score’s books is that she develops these relationships so vividly, and we know how each of the characters is thinking and feeling, almost as if we’ve become the characters themselves.

I can’t wait to read the rest of her books and I’m really looking forward to Benevolence #3!

Thanks to Sourcebooks for this ARC, all opinions are my own.

Wooooow! This book totally blew me away and took me on an emotional roller coaster and I loved it! The love story of Luke and Harper. A love story that developed through happenstance but the chemistry could withstand the test of time. Luke a grieving husband and Harper a misplaced woman(former foster child) end up faking a relationship that became real before they could settle previous issues in their lives. This book was a page turner! A must read! My first read from Lucy Score, and this book is ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I loved it!

I really enjoyed this story. Harper and Luke Net under strange circumstances, but they both needed help in one way or another so they decided to work together. Of course, then it turned into much more. A great story. Thanks to Net Galley and Lucy Score for the ARC of this book.