An excellent romcom to read in the sun and auch a fun and kind book to relax the soul. If it wasn’t for life getting in the way, I wouldn’t have put it down!

Tropes: single mom/single dad, fake dating, meddling sister, clean romance, PTA Moms, reverse grumpy/sunshine

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC of this book. I was excited to get it.

Single Mom Sophie is struggling to keep her bussiness running, her daughter taken care of and getting the other mom’s at school to like her. On top of all that, Sophie’s sister Poppy is setting her up on terrible dates and signing her up for dating sites. Joe is a single dad who wishes the school mom’s (minus Sophie) would leave him alone. The two hatch a plan to fake date and solve both their problems.

The British terms in this book took me a few chapters to get use to being an American. I still have no idea what “‘Phwoar,’ means. However I really enjoyed this book. The title is witty as the MMC/FMC meet at their kid’s school pick up. Another character actually makes a joke about this fact. This is a clean romance meaning there’s no spicy and I liked that as I value romance over sex in books. The MMC has an Irish accent, the sexiest of the accents. He was a textbook amazing book boyfriend. The banter was good minus when Sophie was just being flat out rude.

Sophie’s character was the only part of this I didn’t love. She was so immature. She was rude to Joe when they met.Then she would just say to him whatever she was thinking with no regard to him. I enjoyed it when Sophie was calling 4 years a douche in her mind or thinking Joe was a tosser because he brought candy to pick up. But the outright rude, I didn’t like.

For fans of fake dating, enemies to lovers, and slow burn romance! Pick this up for a quick and fun read that will have you falling in love with these characters as they fall in love with each other.

The Pick Up by Hannah Doyle

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this budding romance with two single parents; it was a refreshingly clean romcom and a nice change of pace. Since the main characters are a bit older, it made this read feel distinct, endearing and heartfelt. Overall it will give you all the happy vibes while putting a smile on your face throughout. Definitely recommend for a weekend Pick me Up.

In The Pick Up, the reader finds themselves in the hilarious point of view of Sophie, a single parent who is trying desperately to get in with the fellow moms at her young daughters school. In a turn of events, she enlists the help of fellow single parent Joe in a fake dating scenario because all the school moms seem to love him. As they spend more time together, they become friends and suddenly might become something more.

I enjoyed this book! I found the single parent dating to be a fun new troupe for me, and I enjoyed the side characters of this book so much. Sophie was truly quite hilarious, and there were times I definitely laughed out loud while reading it. I enjoyed the growth that Sophie went through, and her daughter Lila seemed like such a cutie. Overall, a fun new take on fake dating troupe with people who were age appropriate and already had kids. I recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions within this review are my own.

Thank you to HQ Digital and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. This was a quick read with a different premise than I usually see for romance novels in focusing on parents. This is not to say that non-parents will not enjoy it but you can feel the reality of parenthood being displayed with no filter. It hit a lot of the tropes I would expect but did so in a sweet manner. Sophie and Joe are very sweet and it was actually nice to see it not have an epilogue that occurs after the resolution but instead a last chapter that still is in the smaller timeframe. 3 stars.

I generally don’t love a miscommunication trope but it was impossible not to like Sophie and Joe. The author did a good job allowing the characters to be parents while also people who fall in love who have strong support systems and clear careers/goals. There were a few too many gaps in communication between the characters for my preferences (they went weeks without speaking a few times) but it was clear they built a solid friendship first.

This was a fun story! I enjoyed the fake dating to avoid problems with the other parents. It was fun to see Sophie and Joe bond over being single parents.

I really enjoyed the set up for the book and the first half but I got annoyed with Sophie later on. I wished she had been clearer on her own feelings and I felt like she ended up seeming indecisive and flip-floppy.

I think this one will be good for fans of a closed-door single-parent romcom!

This book was okay, it was an overall easy read. Sophie and Joe didn't actually seem to have much chemistry or even particularly like each other, so the romance fell flat. The entire fake dating premise was far-fetched and sort of unnecessary to me. The kiddos were super cute and added much levity. Unfortunately, this ended up being a sort of forgettable story and nothing stayed with me at the end. If you like a British romance with parents with kids, you might give this a try. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to provide my honest review.

This book gave me so many warm and fuzzy feelings. Joe and Sophie are single parents who meet at school pick up. The decide to fake date so the other parents will stop making Joe casseroles and start inviting Sophie to things. The story is funny and heartwarming. Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for allowing me to reading this in exchange for an honest review.
Highly recommend

I received this book from NetGalley as an ALC. This is the first book I have read from this author, and I really enjoyed her writing style. The main characters were likable, and the side characters added to the fullness of the story. There were a couple of moments that made me laugh out loud. I found myself invested in their relationship and outcome. I do think the lead to the ending could have been shorter, it felt like it was longer just to create more drama. However, it felt like how someone would handle that. I really enjoyed the banter between the characters. For anyone looking for spice, this is very closed door. It is still a super cute romance read, and I highly recommend.

*4.5

This was adorable. The fact that Joe and Sophie thought that fake dating would work is so funny. There is no reason that they couldn't have dated but I loved it. Sophie was so focused on herself and Lila that she didn't even think about dating. Her and Joe became best friends and just spent their days with each other. She was so stubborn and I just wanted her to admit that she loved Joe.

I received an arc through netgalley.

this was a cute and easy read. a bit boring at times but overall it was okay!

˗ˋˏ ୨୧ thank you to NetGalley and Hannah Doyle for the digital arc in exchange for an honest review! ୨୧ ˎˊ˗

Special thanks to NetGalley, Hannah Doyle and HQ Digital for an advance reader copy of “The Pick Up.”

I laughed out loud reading this book! Although I am not usually a fan of a “fauxmance” this book made me eat my words. Hannah Doyle is a highly entertaining writer. She writes women, mothers, professionals with expertise and levity that is both relatable and fun.

I want to be friends with Sophie, the main character. She is a single mom who has been through it and thinks she can’t rely on anyone else because she has been let down big time. Can anyone else relate? 🙋‍♀️

Sophie is strong, funny, but worries about her daughter making friends in her first year of school. Joe, the “hot single dad” who is lusted over by the married yummy mummy group, is tired of unwanted advances. Sophie also has her sister trying to pair her off with abhorrent (but hilarious) blind dates and a dating app. They agree to have a fauxmance to solve their combined issues. And you know by the end, in any good romance, there will be a HEA.

However, the road to get to that HEA is a circuitous one, filled with friendship, humorous dialogue, misunderstandings, awkward kisses, and an awful ex. The kids in the book, Lila and Sid are written so well. The words and sentences they come up with are classic precocious four and five year olds.

I loved this story and every single character. I am looking forward to order Hannah Doyle’s other books-I am a fan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

This looked cute, the cover was appealing and it was a new to me author but unfortunately I got bored pretty quickly listening to this single parent British romcom. The main characters didn't seem to have much of a spark and there also wasn't a compelling conflict to carry along the plot. Okay on audio but this was a DNF for me around 40%. Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a chance to read an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review. Recommended for fans of authors like Porita MacIntosh.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!
Love Hannah’s writing, and this didn’t disappoint as a quick and fun read. I wish it had been fleshed out a little bit more, but I would recommend to a friend.

3.5, rounded down.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

I liked the story, I enjoyed the British humor and reading a story about characters in their 30s and navigating a new romance when there are kids and trauma involved. That said, the pay off for the slow burn fell flat. The resolution at the end felt rushed and a little bit like a sudden 180 on Sophie’s character. And I would’ve liked to see a little more fight from Joe.

This was a fake dating, slow romance, romcom book.
I loved the concept of this book and really enjoyed the banter and the characters. The mums were hilarious but annoying at some parts.
This is a proper slow burn romance. I think Sophie look way to long to have her aha moment, I like Joe. It was the end of the book by the time they got together and just felt too long to me, I wanted to see their proper relationship flourish more.
I loved Joe as a character and felt he was the best book boyfriend but Sophie didn't realise what she was missing out on due to her past, her guard was constantly up which I found kind of annoying.

Oh my goodness. This was a delight of a romance book.

Joe was everything you could want in a partner.
He was definitely a golden retriever man.

Sophie was a pretty badass single mom, who wanted to fit in with the other moms.
Enter Joe's plan -- fake dating. {one of my FAVE tropes, btw.}

These two were adorable throughout the whole book.
Joe was so selfless and Sophie was letting her walls down, little by little.

Cute HEA ✨

I could not put this book down, It is a cute, quirky, heartwarming, clean closed door, single parent romcom that was super easy and fun to read with lots of british banter and fake dating angst that comes with battling the other PTA parents at their kids’ school. This was the first book I've ever read by Hannah Doyle and her writing style was absolutely great and the story is fast paced and flows well, If you are looking for a clean, funny, lighthearted and fast read this book is for you.