this was a cute rom com with many laughable moments! the writing style was really enjoyable as well and i found myself flying through the book. thank you to st. martin's press and netgalley for the arc copy!

This one was hard for me to get into but I'm glad I picked it back up. I really enjoyed the tropes and the eventual progress of the characters.

This book was cute and I really enjoyed reading it! Would recommend. I really liked the main character!

I liked this novel! I thought the storyline was cute and the characters were very intriguing with their drama together. Great writing as well!

Libby and her roommate Jean are struggling to make ends meet in Hawaii. Together with a friend, they create online personality Lillibet to showcase their strengths (writing, art and food) and partly for the satirical escape. When one of her followers, a very wealthy, Hildy, comes to Hawaii to meet Lillibet, ridiculous hijinks ensue as Libby and her friends Jean and Keoki attempt to act as Lillibet would. Traveling with Hildy is Jefferson, a wilderness photographer who Libby finds herself instantly drawn to.

The first meeting in Mr.L’s house with the Me Mas tree and the shower had me laughing out loud. Finally the truth comes out and the ‘perfect’ life unravels. Yes, the characters and drama isn’t super relatable but neither is trying to live up to your social media identity. The friendship between Libby and Jean is fabulous. Bonus points for their dialogue being more than just furthering either of their romantic relationships

I read this book through NetGalley and I absolutely loved it . The characters were very relatable and interesting. It is a great book about finding yourself and is very applicable for anyone in their 20’s and 30’s trying to figure out who they are and what they want to do with their life . How online personalities may be quite different from who we actually are and how telling the truth and living truthfully is best practice.

I absolutely loved the setting of this book! There were some funny moments, but the romance didn’t quite do it for me and Libby drives me CRAZY.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the arc!
Pub date: 7/16/24

Everything was there to like and I wanted to like it. While I did enjoy the setting quite a bit, this didn’t otherwise succeed in grabbing my interest - therefore it took me quite a bit of time to finish it. Jean didn’t help this one along, in my opinion.

While others may enjoy this, I wasn’t the right reader for this.



Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for the DRC

i’m thinking maybe this just wasn’t for me. the idea was something interesting and i decided to check it out, but it just didn’t work. i felt more annoyed with the characters, especially libby, more than anything. also didn’t feel any chemistry or connection towards the romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. There was plenty I enjoyed about this book, but I admit I had a bit more hope for it. The Hawaiian backdrop was already a draw as this is a favorite place to visit and I have an upcoming trip there in just a couple weeks. But it was slow to start and took some time for me to really get into it. Once I finally started to make some progress, I could appreciate some heartfelt moments and some funny character dialogue, but the romance between our main characters didn’t quite sizzle for me. There were sweet and romantic moments but I didn’t find myself all that drawn to their connection. I liked them and still wanted to see them end up together, but inevitably, the friendships of the book were more interesting to me.

A waitress masquerading as an influencer and a wildlife photographer are on a collision course with romance.


Its cute and the characters are fine, but i could not connect to them like i do other books. I liked the writing enough. Its a sweet romance and summery vibes . Its a beach read type book too.

3.5 stars. Would still recommend

This book was a struggle for me - the premise was fun & unique but something for me didn’t click. The whole time I was waiting for Libby to realize what she wanted & make choices for herself instead of only acting out of the interests (and pressures) of others. But that character development didn’t happen.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC.

Hate to Fake It to You by Amanda Sellet is a cute RomCom story & Amanda's adult literature debut.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book on #NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own, but do yourself a favor & put this on your TBR list. It's a fun story with a little drama, a bit of romance, not a lot of passion, but some pretty great one-liners from her quirky characters.
Amanda Sellet does an amazing job on writing her female lead character, Libby, to be truly riding the hot mess express. I only gave the story 3 stars because a few times during the story, it actually borderlines on pathetic, and you just can't help but wanna tell Libby to get her act together cause it would solve 95% of the storylines problems. Otherwise, an overall cute story & I look forward to reading more from Amanda Sellet soon.

I wanted to love this book so much, but alas it wasn’t my favorite.

I think that the comedy was definitely there, but I just couldn’t vibe with the romance. Also, I couldn’t get the connection with the characters that I crave.

The setting was 5 stars though. Take me back to Hawaii, please!

Overall, a quick and easy read. But not my style. Would recommend for those looking for a laugh though.

This book was an absolute blast! ! The push and pull between Libby and Jefferson was electric. Overall, this was a really fun book. I really hope to track down similar books in the future because the vibes were awesome.

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The beginning of this story was incredibly hard for me to get into, which in turn made it difficult to get through the book. There were some redeeming qualities, but overall, I just wasn't a fan.

I loved the found family vibe of Libby and her friends, their relationship was definitely my favorite part of this book. Libby’s chemistry with her love interest, Jefferson, just didn’t quite click for me but the overall story was enjoyable!

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC of this one. Unfortunately, it was not for me and I feel like it is just written for a much younger audience. The dialogue felt very silly and young and the concept of the fake influencer felt ridiculous. Other people may like this one but it was not one I enjoyed. Thanks for the opportunity to review it.

ARGH. I really did enjoy Sellet's other books so I went into this one expecting good things. I won't say that I adored her previous books, because they did have parts that I found hard to get through and both took me a while to warm up to the main character. In this book, I did not have the same issue warming up to Libby, and I found that there were no horrible characters (i.e. no one was a bad guy). And maybe that was where it was lacking, because the result of not having anything for Libby to rail against or be contrasted with is that liking the book came down to liking the characters. And despite Libby being likeable, her failure to say "no" to Jean and to agree to catfish Hildy and Jefferson really made me angry with her. Also, even though she and Jean don't have a lot of money, there is no reason for them to be living in squalor. Cockroaches are common in Hawaii so that wasn't the part that got to me. It was the whole didn't wash her clothing and wore her underwear inside out that made me cringe. Sorry, but that is just gross. I also feel like she had some people around her who would have ensured she was able to pay for the laundromat or loan her access to a washing machine. But from start to finish, it was her supposed best friend Jean who irked me. This is the person who essentially set Libby up for this and then hangs her out to dry, and then to add to this, acts like Libby is the one at fault. I think that, as the book progressed, I started to put Jean in the bucket of horrible person and eventual enemy, but (mini spoiler) nope, she stays her BFF no matter how horrible a person she is.


Hildy and Keoki are surprisingly the most decent characters and the two who I was rooting for to make good things come of their respective ventures.

The romance was fine. Felt a little icky because Libby is married or pretending to be married and yet she is pursuing and pursued by someone else. Infidelity, even fake infidelity, gets my back up in any romance novel.

So, I gave this a 3 star because there were some cute moments, goats, and Hawaii. But I was tempted to bring it down to a 2 start for Jean being a jerk alone.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘵. 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯'𝘴 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸!

More comedy than romance, Hate to Fake It With You gave me a few good laughs but personally fell short in the romance department. The plot felt almost frivolous in its eccentricity and ultimately lacked any real depth, making it difficult for me to invest in the relationships here. The first 2/3 of this book was a bit slow but picked up in the last act, I only wish we had a bit more time to sit with the developed and have everything wrapped up.

The standout aspect of this book in my opinion remains the location (Hawaii) which had me yearning for a sun bed and shaved ice in the dead of a North Eastern winter.

The underlying commentary here on social media authenticity is worth noting and a big draw to me originally but proved tricky for me as a reader to take seriously in between the sometimes forced comedic aspects of the story and ultimately left me wanting more.

That being said, although this story didn't resonate with me personally, I think this is a quick, quirky read that works for someone looking to pick up a lighthearted beach or vacation read