Thank you Netgalley for the ARC! This book felt promising at first and seemed really sweet. I also tend to like the fake dating trope, so I was hopeful for this fall-themed romance book. First, I will say that I really liked Maisie and Ethan as characters and how the author touched on subjects of grief and depression. However, in the end it ended up falling really flat for me and things didn’t seem to flow well/make sense to me. I could not understand how Lexi’s old high school friends made the assumption that they were engaged out of no where? There was literally no reason for them to assume that so it seemed like a big leap. I also didn’t feel like Lexi and Will had very much chemistry. Everything felt so forced and like it was happening at lightening speed. They both mention being in love with the other at only 3 weeks to a month into fake-and-then-kinda-real dating each other. Then all of the sudden he wants to get married for real to her after only a month? That feels so unrealistic to me. Lastly, I didn’t love how the third-act break up occurred only a few chapters from the end and the makeup occurred in the very last chapter which didn’t give much time to tie things up nicely. Unfortunately, this just missed the mark for me.

Lexi is a struggling waitress and Will is a successful CFO in his family's company. They have an adorable meet-cute and end up pretending to be engaged. There's a lot of discussion of her mom's grief and struggles since her dad passed away. It seemed a bit odd that there wasn't much discussion of Lexi's grief. The side characters were great. Overall, it was a cute story, although some parts felt slow and Lexi's negative self-talk started to get old by the end and didn't seem completely believable.

I love fake dating trope! I'm a sucker for that because it gets me excited every time they start falling for each other. It gets me every time. This book made me want to read more by the author!

This was an all around adorable read. The characters are lovable and I liked fake engagement vibes. It was a bit slow for me but kept me entertained. ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press / St. Martin’s Griffin! A cozy friends to lovers fake engagement romance WITH a adorable meet cute, yes please! Set in the Pacific North West during the fall, Lexi is a waitress trying to make ends meet and comfort her mother after the loss of Lexi's father and Will, a charming stranger and successful businessman. Will happens to save Lexi from an awkward situation with her family and thus the journey begins :)

This was a very relatable and timely read for me. While it was a quick read for me, it was filled with so many nuggets of wisdom concerning grief, love and ones purpose. What a great book!

4 stars out of 5.

What a fun rom com, exactly what I was looking for. I really liked Will's character and thought Lexi was great too. I did find her insecurities a bit annoying and repetitive but I love both of them as a couple. The ending was perfect but a little rushed. Will and Lexi had such cute meet cute and the rest of their relationship was a fun one to read. Overall, a great fall read!

In Can't Help Falling in Love, we meet Lexi and Will. Will is the heir to Grand Babies, a large company while Lexi is struggling to finish her degree while working 2 jobs and caring for her mom. While Lexi was working her waitressing job, she meets Will. After a run in with her old best friends from high school she and Will get invited to one of their engagement parties since her friends think they are a couple. They end up going to the party and somehow it is printed Lexi and Will are engaged. It's a wild ride but Will ends up wanting to date Lexi but does Lexi have the same feelings?

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was on the hunt for my next romcom and Can’t Help Falling in Love fit the bill! It was a fun flirty fall themed romance that was a plain old good time.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this free E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Pub date: September 17, 2024

3.5 ⭐️

Read if you love:
- grief representation
- fake dating
- a strong FMC
- he falls first
- closed door

I really enjoyed Lexi & Will’s romance 💕 but I LOVED the detail in this book! Every part was written in such phenomenal detail that I felt as if I was watching a movie. The mental health representation was also phenomenal and I appreciated the discussion surrounding grief & depression. Overall, an enjoyable book.

Loved the banter and had a great time reading this. It had a perfectly swoony mmc and a relatable and funny fmc. There were a bunch of little plot things that made no sense (e.g. how did we get to fiancés in the first place, why does her mother who lives with her completely buy an engagement when she never leaves the house, why are all her childhood friends uber wealthy when she grew up lower/middle class, and a few timeline issues) BUT if you push all those little inconsistencies out of your mind, I promise you’re in for a good time!

ALSO Maisie might lowkey be the best best friend in any book ever! I hope she gets her own book, I’d love to see a happy ending for her.

One thing that makes me livid is the way things went with her mom. I don’t think her mom really reckoned with or apologized for how her actions impacted her daughter. Lexi dropped out of school and was working multiple jobs to pay back her parents debt. She lived at home because her mom wouldn’t cook or remember to eat. Near the end of the book she says they did alright and survived without acknowledging that all of that was Lexi. As a parent putting all that on your child for years while Lexi was also grieving deserved a way bigger apology IMO.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

What a nice story! I loved the two main characters and enjoyed their developing attraction to each other. I also liked the supporting characters. There's some gentle humor, navigating family relationships, and a satisfying HEA. This is the first book I've read by this author and I'm looking forward to reading more by her.

I liked how the author handled some tough subjects like grief, co-dependency, and depression with grace. I also liked how human both of her main characters were even as I was on and off frustrated by their reactions to certain situations.

Bottomline a very enjoyable story and worth a read!

Profanity and PG-13 love scenes.

Lexi is chronically exhausted due to her two jobs and trying to finish her degree. She also spend a lot of time trying to get her mom to leave the house.
Will is an heir to a big company who stops at a cafe, for lunch, and is immediately attracted to his waitress who is having a bad day..
The comedy of errors starts with these two, .deciding to fake an engagement, and the story is a charming summer read that you won't want to put down!

The chemistry between Lexi Danny and Will Grand is undeniable. I love the witty banter between them that played into the slow undeniable burn 🔥 They had such fun playing their “roles” until they realized they both truly felt the same about eachother.
This was a great story for the poor struggling girl/ rich love interest trope. I love how the other really did include each stage of the buildup, it’s like you’re building up with them.
The only negative thing I had to say, which isn’t really negative about the book, but more of a personal interest, was that is stayed “too good” between them for too long before there was any conflict. Usually you get some type of climax around the middle, which makes you grip your chest and not be able to put down the book, but I read this only happened in the last 40 pages of so. For me personally it cause me to get a little bored 3/4 way through. But like I said my personal feeling about book!
I would not take anything away from this authors writing style, she was fabulous, the character background and buildup really was executed beautifully, and I connected with them. If a simple , love story is what your after, than this is a good book for you!

I will post the same about review on our instagram closer to the release date.

4.5 stars! Okay, this book was adorable. I don’t always reach for rom-com books, or closed door romances for that matter. But once I started, I couldn’t put this book down!

Will is Seattle “royalty” and is trying to escape from the stressful life as a CFO and avoid his mom’s scrutiny when he sits down for lunch where Lexi is “waitressing”. Waitressing is in quotes for reasons. Mainly because she’s terrible at it. Lexi is waitressing to try to get by after her life fell apart at the seams a few years ago. All of a sudden, Lexi and Will are swept up into a fake engagement that might not be so fake anymore!

I love both Lexi and Will for different reasons. Lexi is resilient but she just needs someone to lean on every so often and Will wants to be that person. Lexi is stubborn to a fault but she just wants the best for everyone she loves. Will is the sweetest golden retriever of a man that becomes so obsessed with Lexi and her family and I just loved every moment. He was supportive and helpful without being forceful or judgmental. He defended Lexi to his family immediately and had her back the whole time.

As in any good rom-com there were ups and downs, people being stubborn, and lies turned truths that required everyone to face different things about themselves!

All in all, this book was super sweet and very enjoyable. Would totally read again!

3.5 stars

A fauxmance in my favourite city to visit? Yes please

Will was amazing, I want one of them lol.

Lexi's insecurity and inner dialogue got a bit annoying, but I did like the way the story did go, about where she i getting to in her life.

I enjoyed the secondary characters, Will's family are great

It was a bit hit and miss, but I enjoyed it enough.

This was a heartwarming love story.... a great read that I absolutely needed in my life! Lexi and Will had such a fun meet-cute and then began the journey of ups and downs to get to their H.E.A. I also liked following the story of Gwen and how she was rebuilding and finding her new self after her loss.....and how that paralleled with Lexi also finding her footing.

Lexie has got to be the world’s worst waitress. Of course, waitressing was not in her life plan, but she’s determined to get better at it. Will is trying to relax and read a book at a café, but he’s too entertained by the beautiful, clumsy waitress in the room. The meet cute that ensues is nothing short of enchanting and hilarious. By the end of the day, they find themselves in a fake engagement that makes the newspapers. Apparently, Will is one of Seattle’s finest, and richest, bachelors.

This book is about knowing your individual worth regardless of societal measures of success, being willing to love and accept being loved, and understanding that life's experiences are going to change us. We can always change for the better.

I was captivated by the story of Lexi and Will. I loved the fall vibes and the 70’s music references. This is my first Sophie Sullivan read, and I can wait to read more of her soul-stirring writing.

Some Favorite Quotes
She seemed vulnerable with a steel spine, funny but self-deprecating, smart but slightly unsure.... Those dualities pulled him in even as all that hair, that long lithe body, and her expressive face squeezed his lungs.

Though she tried to guard her expressions and responses, her eyes spoke like pages of beautiful literature.

There was a lot of space between alone and never falling in love. Perhaps she could dabble in the middle.

Will pressed a finger to Lexi’s lips, and she resisted the urge to bite it. “We love our moms. We don’t have to explain them.”

“Are you magic, Will Grand? Some sort of sorcerer?”
Will laughed, lowered his head so the tip of his nose brushed along the bridge of hers. “No, but I’m happy to let you think so.”

i can’t help falling in love with this book!!! this book was such a tender and emotional read. it highlighted the feelings of love and loss and grief and growth all in one with so much romantic, platonic, and familial love. it felt like a warm hug and the chemistry between will and lexi was off the charts!

thank you to netgally and the publisher for the arc!!!

this was my first rom com and i am not sure if this genre is for me. there were a lot of things about this book that fell flat for me. for one, the whole "rich guy poor girl" trope where in the end she miraculously finds out he is not perfect despite having money his entire life. secondly, lexi's mom was very triggering for me. daughter taking care of emotionally vulnerable/immature parents is a sore spot for many and instead of making me feel for lexi, it just made her feel like a pushover. the book was not terrible, just not for me.

Things didn’t go as planned for Lexi, she was a track star in college but had to leave her dreams behind after her fathers tragic passing. Now she’s waitressing trying to keep her and her grieving mother afloat while putting herself thru school. Little does she know one of Seattles most eligible bachelors Will is about to walk into her life and change her life. After a huge misunderstanding Lexi and Will are thrown into a fake engagement they cant talk themselves out of. This arrangement might be mutually beneficial but amid the dinner dates, apple picking, Halloween preparations real feelings start developing. The question is are they ready to take a chance on love?

TW: grief, mental health, death of a parent

I was really looking forward to this one after loving Sophie Sullivans earlier 2024 release. She’s an outstanding romance author but unfortunately this one didn’t quite live up to my expectations. It starts off really slow and I found the storyline to be a bit unclear. The main reason for that is the amount of characters, I struggled with all the names and keep track of who’s who. Which makes it difficult to connect to the characters although by the end of it I really connected with Lexi. She’s been thru so much and has been able to adapt and make the best of her situation. I’m so glad she got her HEA.

The romance is good, the tropes are enjoyable except I’m not a big fan of insta love. While they fall fast that doesn’t mean they act on their emotions immediately so its a good mix. The cover is super cute, love the fall vibes it goes so well with the book. Its a really sweet fall read and I hope others will enjoy it even more then I did.

Read this if you like
🚪Closed door romance
💋Fake dating
😍Love at first sight
🍁Fall vibes
🧡HEA