Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book with no obligation to review.

This is really more of a book for dipping into I think although I did read it all at once. The order in which you read the chapters doesn't really matter either.

These scams have been around forever and a day - I remember the military widower being warned about more than 10 years ago but it seems that the scams are still going strong and i hope this book reaches people who are unaware of what goes on. I didnt know that some of the scammers are unwilling and being exploited themselves. .

The author is quite funny although her language is, shall we say, robust and, unfortunately, there is a lot of repetition in the experiences of the victims but you can always skim these bits.

I hope the book does well and succeeds in its aim.

Favourite Quote: "All I ever think about is Greg Davies, when the next Next sale is going to be on, and how to get rid of my increasingly fat back."

A big thank you to Netgalley, Unbound, and Becky Holmes for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. I know they say never judge a book by its cover, but that's exactly what I did here! How could I resist Keanu Reeves? And I'm glad I made that choice.

I am a huge true crime, scammer, romance-fraud unveiling fan in my every day life (honestly the number of Discovery documentaries I watch should be a crime) and this work did not disappoint. Holmes brings an extremely witty take on this topic, using a great mix of true stories, screenshots of her decimating trolls, and infrormative legal facts. I also enjoyed the deep compassion and understanding she displayed for all those who had gone through a romance fraud and her thoughtful takes on how society typically views this issue. In a world with increasing technological capabilities, it's opening a whole new world up to these fraudsters and seeing someone trying to spread genuine information and facts made for a great read.

An easy 4 stars from me!

The book takes a serious topic that people would benefit from being educated on and educates in a way that is absoutely hilarious. I’ve never laughed out loud so many times while reading a book. I loved getting to read the Twitter message screenshots - it added a fun, unique aspect that kept me turning pages quickly. Though the reality and gravity of what these scammers do to women hits hard, I appreciated the lighthearted approach as I think it succeeds in gripping you from the very beginning. I applaud Becky Holmes for being a champion for women that have found themselves in these situations and showing them they can take their power back. Becky Holmes is genuinely one of the funniest authors I’ve ever encountered. This is a must read!

Thank you Unbound and NetGalley for the ARC!

A great book showing how easy some people are sucked into online romance scams over various social media platforms.
I found the section about Liam Neeson and the Irish accent so funny and Beckys reaction to it.

I found the premise of this book to be intriguing so I had to check it out. Obviously we have all heard stories of people, particularly women, who have been scammed out of a lot of money by someone they met online. It’s very easy to blow them off and think “how stupid are they to fall for that?“ But this book shows how these scammers can really make you believe they are who they say they are. I found the book fascinating reading the different personas that these scammers will take, and I found the personal stories these women shared to be heartbreaking. This was a very eye-opening book, and also terrifying!

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for the advance reader copy. This is my honest review. Publication date April 2, 2024.

Though the subject of this book is quite serious and I feel truly awful for the women that are susceptible to these scams and get burned by it...I will say that I have not laughed out loud at a book as much as I did this one. Scamming the scammers sounds like great fun and I'm actually kind of tempted to give it a go myself. Thank you Becky for raising awareness to these scams and also for making me laugh my ass off. Please write more!

"Keanu Reeves is Not in Love with You" blends comedy with the serious topic of online fraud, delivering laughs and sharp insights courtesy of Becky Holmes. This book strikes a balance between humor and the harsh realities of internet romance, making it a compelling and enjoyable read. With its mix of funny moments and sobering truths, it's a must-read for anyone intrigued by the dynamics of online relationships.

This is funny and an entertaining and interesting read tbh but it just wasn't for me! I obviously requested this ARC because of 1) the title and 2) the cover. I've never heard of the author before, but it's clear they have a robust sense of humour and a lot of empathy for the people they interview throughout this book. Essentially, it's a nonfiction book dealing with romance scams, including people who pretend to be pilots, doctors, even celebrities and target others. There's a lot of pulling from conversations she's had with these scammers which is ludicrously funny to read, because it seems ridiculous that they would fall for <i>her</i> part in it, but I guess that's to me, a person who knows about the internet.

Undoubtedly, this will be a bit of an easy breezy resource for people and it might hit home for a number. It <i>is</i> funny!

BUT! I started to find it grating and a bit samey after a way. This is very Millenial Humour (TM). It's an easy read and I think makes a number of points about how it's unfair that there isn't more well-rounded and impactful education on romance scams, for the people who are more likely to fall for it. I think that's a good point and maybe the tone will hit well with them because it's very nonjudgmental. For me, personally, I ended up rolling my eyes a few times but I think that's because this kind of tone would work for me in an essay, maybe, or something shorter. This isn't even a long book (the ARC ebook I got is 194 pages) but it was too sustained for me. I also think I was a bit uncomfortable with the section where she specifically talks about the prolific scams that are apparently from Nigeria or South East Asia. Tbh, I hadn't heard about the pigbutchering scams so I Learned Something. In this section particularly, the tone struck an odd edge with me and I really didn't like it.

I do think this is an interesting book, I think it'll probably do decently well, and I think the tone will make it an easy and entertaining read for a lot of people. It wasn't really for me and I thought it was too repetitive but I think it's more a case of picking up something I maybe shouldn't have.

Like I say, I got this as an ARC from Netgally so ty ty ty. I think this comes out in April and I think a lot of people might enjoy it more.

I gotta be real, all I knew about romance scams before reading this book was through my various forays down 90 Day Fiancé rabbit holes. But the world of romance scams is a lot more dark and sinister than it may appear. And while parts of this book were truly, deeply disturbing and horrifying, author Becky Holmes delivers this information with a very calming and comedic voice, paired with nothing but empathy and gentleness towards the victims of these schemes. At one point she breaks from the narrative to talk about a subject’s cat which honestly, I respect. A very informative and chilling read with wonderful moments of comic relief.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Keanu Reeves is Not in Love With You.

If you're into true crime documentaries, there's a good chance that you have seen circumstances of dating fraud, like The Tinder Swindler. People posing as your future spouse, only to be left broke, heartbroken, and utterly scammed.

Becky Holmes deep dives into dating fraud in the most HILARIOUS way possible, often by putting one over on the scammer. I can't say this enough, she is so funny, so clever, and had me reading parts to my half asleep husband at 1am. But she's also very informative and provides a giant warning to anyone who is dating online. No one is exempt from this, and we live in a world where we have to put a modicum of trust into people being who they say they are. The bottom line is, don't give anyone online money, not gift cards, not bitcoin. And if they ask, give them your middle finger.

With a title like Keanu Reeves is Not in Love with You you would expect this to be a really funny comedic novel about the perils of online fraud and Becky Holmes definitely delivered on that front. There were moments of this book that I laughed out loud. Becky Holmes really has got the funniest comebacks.

The best way I can describe this book is a bit of a sad sandwich. When you are holding your stomach giggling Becky Holmes blindsides you with the harsh realities by showing you the true devastation with real life stories.

Keanu Reeves is Not in Love with You is a funny book with a serious message and is definitely worth a read.

Keanu Reeves is Not in Love with You - The Murky World of Online Romance by Becky Holmes is available now.

For more information regarding Becky Holmes (@deathtospinach) please visit her Twitter page.

For more information regarding Unbound (@unbounders) please visit www.unbound.com.

This book covers such an important subject, and raises awareness about the impact of romance fraud. But it is very frustrating. I will say, I am not familiar with the author's Twitter, and so perhaps I am not the target audience here.

The humorous tone is pretty grating, and not particularly funny, and the author is self-effacing to the point I'm not sure I trusted her expertise. She isn't an investigative journalist, or psychologist and her research, beyond directly engaging with scammers, is limited. She puts forward a psychological theory with no qualifications. Finally, there is a frequent objectification of men throughout the book that verges on the uncomfortable; had the genders been reversed, it would have been unacceptable to publish.

Ultimately, this is an important topic, and I can see the author penning a series of articles to raise awareness with the approachable tone. But it does not really work well as a book.

Becky Holmes' "Keanu Reeves is Not in Love With You" is precisely what the title says on the front cover - Keanu isn't in love with you, regardless of what your DMs may say. A look into the scams we all seem to deal with now, it's at times funny as Holmes details the various slides into her own DMs and sometimes tragic as she recounts the stories of other people who have fallen for the scams, some to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

My one wish is that this book was more of either - either solely funny scam baits (shout out to r/scambait) or a serious look at the processes and real life victims. The balance between the two leaves a little to be desired but it is worth a laugh. My thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy to read and review.

I picked this book based on:

1. Title! I lol'd. I love Keanu!
2. Cover! Such a fun bold cover!
3. I always complain about online scammers with my friends and I figured it would be fun!

The book has a lot of introductory pages and random blabbing. I skipped over most of it and was 100% annoyed before the author began the "story". It is nonfiction and based on trolling the author did during the pandemic shutdown, what is why I used "story" the way I did.

I tried, I really tried to like it, I did. But I did not enjoy it. I couldn't finish it, heck, I couldn't hardly start it. I am sure the author is an awesome person. They are funny (kinda) and witty (kinda?). The concept was intriguing but I feel like it's something we would read on buzzfeed, laugh because we know all about the scammers because we deal with too ans move on. No way I could finish 280 pages of this!

So for the record, I did not finish, I will not finish and I don't recommend. You might like it and I feel bad for my review but it just wasn't for me. Try again, Becky!

Many of us found ourselves getting bored during the Covid lockdown. Becky Holmes was no exception. Moved to join Twitter for the first time, Becky soon became curious about the large volume of scam messages, she quickly started to receive as a matter of routine, particularly those which attempted to use some sort of romantic approach as a means to attempt to extract money from her. You've probably seen the same sort of thing. Some of the messages were from people claiming to be soldiers or oil rig workers, some claimed to actually be celebrities like the Hollywood film stars, Liam Neeson or Keanu Reeves. For a laugh, Becky started responding to these messages. She would often pretend to react entirely sincerely, as if she believed every single unlikely word which was being written to her. The results which she quickly posted on her live feed for everyone to see, proved hilarious. Some of the scammers were clearly completely baffled by Becky's increasingly eccentric responses. Her tweets soon became a social media sensation.
The opening stages of the book are thus often very funny. But the book grows more serious in tone as Becky explores the dark world of online romance scams more deeply. It is a serious business which has ruined many lives and as Becky discovers, the provisions available to anyone who has been scammed out of a sum of money are often woefully inadequate. One simple fact: fraud accounts for over 50% of all crime reported but anti-fraud measures only account for 1% of the overall police spending budget.
Ultimately, Becky Holmes deserves full credit for tackling this complex and potentially awkward subject in such a readable and thoroughly accessible way.

An interesting look at online romance fraud. Its sad how many people think they can scam potential paramours out of money, and equally sad that so many people are loving enough to give these scammers said money. I enjoyed how the author messed with the scammers (how some of the scammers didn't realize she was messing with them within the first response is beyond me) but also appreciated the way she spoke about victims and how to move forward. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'Keanu Reeves is Not in Love With You' by Becky Holmes.

'Keanu Reeves is Not In Love With You' is a non-fiction by Becky Holmes detailing online fraud - specifically in the romance sector. I've read a book by Holmes before and I knew of her due to her Twitter convos with 'Keanu Reeves' so hearing more of her tales mixed in with other people's stories about romance fraud and the sad endings it caused was really a wake up call to how scary the Internet can be and how we need to protect people from fraud more. It was a fascinating read.

Online romance scams in all their gory details here. I must admit, I thought all romance fraud was pretty much the same, that is not the case. Full of facts, information and the author’s humour shines through. It really did have me laughing as well as nearly crying with sad stories of victims. So much information - I really learnt a lot from this as well. Written with such honesty and I am glad that Action Fraud was dealt with in this way too. A must read! #KeanuReevesIsNotInLoveWithYou #BeckyHolmes

#ukbookreviewer #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #onlineromancescammers #romancefraud #internetscam #yahooboys #sakawaboys #yahooplusboys #scammers #fraudsters #netgalley #unbound #ebook

The author is hilarious. Very well written and easy to read. I loved the inclusion of the direct messages between her and these catfishers. It made it so much more humorous. Definitely one you want to check out if you've ever been a fan of the show Catfish or wondered how these people end up on Dr. Phil because they got scammed.

Enjoyable self help book with lots of examples on the romance scams. Good writing and fun stories. The writer was entertaining and made the subject enjoyable