I rarely read non fiction but I’ve seen quite a few of Becky’s posts on social media so was really interested in reading this, she has a really approachable writing style which made a huge impact on my enjoyment of this, she’s witty but also self depreciating and has clearly spent a lot of time investigating the different aspects of relationship fraud. Whilst there’s a nice mix of her own experiences there’s some brilliant individual stories and professional input. The lack of help and support is highly depressing but this is a fantastic way of highlighting the issue to help prevent more people suffering in the first place.

Apart from being incredibly informative regarding the many variety of scams that can affect people, this book manages to be both laugh out loud funny (Becky is incredibly witty and her responses will have you howling) as well as being really sad reading the stories of those who have been personally affected by these types of scams.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this digital copy.

This is one of the funniest books I’ve ever read, even while dealing with something so infuriating and heartbreaking as romance scams. Becky Holmes joined Twitter to fight the loneliness of the pandemic lockdown and soon started finding love in all the wrong places. From pilots, military men, oil rig workers and even celebrities such as Keanu, Liam Neeson and even Prince William. This book is her hilarious account of her efforts to expose these evil fraudsters. From the distressing stories of the victims to laugh-out-loud funny screenshots of her exchanges with scammers, this book offers an illuminating account of this recent phenomenon. Becky dives deep, trying to find out how it works and why. She talks to psychologists, law-enforcement officers, people who have been subjected to this abuse, and even to the human scum behind these schemes. A close family member was a victim of this, and the implications were not as bad financially, but caused a lot of strife that’s still felt to this day. This read helped me put it in perspective, understand my loved one better and how it was not a question of being stupid, but a good person. I recommend this book to everyone who uses social media, because of the scary fact that we are all targets, and it doesn’t take much to be manipulated.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Unbound.

Have been following Becky's escapades with romance scammers and the infamous coke can Greg on Twitter for an age and whilst this has many elements of the humour of her Tweets, it also has some serious research on romance fraud which blends seamlessly into a funny, moving, thoughtful and impassioned call to arms. Highly recommended

The book is about romance fraud, and many of the different types of scams, and what can be done about it.
The first couple of chapters, and Becky's replies to the scammers are so funny. The stories about the ladies who were scammed are very moving, and show that it could happen to anybody, The stories about the double-scammers were eye-opening.
Some of the chapters were more informative, and gave lots of helpful advice. I found it shocking that social media companies, dating websites and governments aren't taking this type of fraud seriously.
Very timely.

funny, fabulous book about romance fraud. stuffed full of comedy while at the same time being deeply informative. thanks for the arc.

Keanu Reeves is Not in Love With You by Becky Holmes

This book is amusing yet also full of stories of women who have been conned into parting with sums of money in the hope that the person they are sending it to is genuine and wants to be in a relationship with them.
I like the way Becky plays the scammers at their own game often replying with preposterous text that goes completely over the head of the ( often ) non English speaking scammer who is pretends to be a hollywood star or having a well respected profession.
The book goes someway in exposing the many ways the scammers use be they after cash , or product gift cards.
An excellent read.

This book has everything, It is both absolutely hilarious as well as quite sad. Reading the stories of those who were scammed broke my heart. I hope more awareness of romance scams happens as a result of this book.

An eye-opening look inside the world of online romance scammers, who frequently pretend to be celebrities...hence the title. (You wouldn't think people would fall for it, but a quick peek at the scams subreddit proves otherwise.) It's often hysterically funny, because the author loves to mess with the scammers and provides screenshots of her conversations with them, but it's also deeply empathetic towards the victims. Highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Becky Holmes knows a lot about romance scams. She's communicated with numerous handsome so-called pilots, oil rig workers, military men and celebrities on social media, effectively turning the tables and leading them up the garden path. But she's also delved much deeper, talking to women (of course men also get scammed, but this book focuses on women) who've been victims, finding out the tactics used, the support available (not much) and the often frightening reality behind the scammers. She's angry, and so will you be after reading this book.

Personally, I've never been approached by a romance scammer (should I be offended?) but then I'm not on social media very much. (I have had quite a few of those "Hi Mum, I've lost my phone, use this number" WhatsApp messages - another particularly nasty attempted con - and even replied to a few to string them along before it all went mysteriously quiet. Can't claim to have reached Becky's levels of creativity, though.)

Becky is a seriously funny writer and there are numerous laugh out loud moments here (the General Mark Milley stuff was one of my favourites), but it's also a sad and serious business for those who have suffered at the hands of these utter scumbags. It's easy to write victims off as foolish or naïve, but clearly some of the scammers (probably not the Keanu Reeves ones, in general) are very convincing and know exactly how to target their interactions to build trust and allay suspicion. She includes some in-depth interviews with women who've been taken in - one of whom was a police detective. It makes for sobering reading.

Not many people, I suspect, are really likely to believe that Keanu Reeves (or Brad Pitt or Liam Neeson) has fallen in love with them over Twitter and is therefore asking in poor English for Amazon vouchers or Steam cards. I feel that most people are not taken in by this. More alarming are the large scale, sophisticated operations in certain countries where scamming is a lucrative way of life for many, causing untold misery. And actually, it gets even worse than that, but that's all I'm saying. You'll have to read it yourself.

What comes over powerfully is the contempt directed at women who are victims of this - not only from the scammers themselves (although very much from them, they really are the scum of the earth) but from the general public who'd rather see people, especially women, as idiots than think it could happen to them. I think Becky's right in that we're all potentially more vulnerable than we think we are to a clever approach at a weak moment.

Actually, come to think of it, I did once get a message from Prince William, but my overly suspicious mind stopped our budding romance in its tracks. Who knows where that one might have ended up? 👑

This book is so good! What a fantastic book about a serious and awful matter but this book set it all in such a hilarious way that you feel ashamed to laugh when you read. I love the sense of humor the author put on it and I would love to read anything about her soon.

This book is fantastic. It’s almost shameful how funny it is, given it is about such an important and serious matter, but I was in absolute stitches the whole time. The Maine Coon description was spot on. Hidden amongst all the chuckles is some well researched, deeply analysed, serious stuff. The author has made a nasty, pervasive topic so accessible and entertaining that I hope it will reach its mark and save a lot of people from heartache and financial ruin. The case studies also added a great deal of useful content.

I’ve followed Becky on Twitter for the last year and she is doing invaluable work in raising awareness of romance scams (and raising a much-needed laugh too!). This book collects together my favourite DMs of hers, but goes further than that: it’s also a serious, well-researched exposé of the tactics that scammers use to hook their prey online. These important insights are communicated in Becky’s approachable, hilarious voice. This book will help many of us spot fraud before it goes on to cause harm - so it’s a big 5 stars from me!

This is a laugh out loud book although there are plenty of true stories of people who have been taken in by these people who spend days trying to con people out of their money. I loved the replies the author was sending to all these fakes though and wish I had thought of some of these.