I devoured this book! I’m usually a fan of open door romances but Sophie sullivan’s closed door romances still have a way of bringing the tension and creating major payoff! I loved the depth she brought to the FMC and made the side characters intriguing and endearing. I’m really hoping we see a maisie/ethan follow up book!!

Quick and easy read, just what I needed! Loved the character development and will definitely be checking out more from this author.

Sophie Sullivan is a staple in the romance department! This book started a bit slow for me but I really enjoyed it and LOVED seeing how the romance unfolded.

I don’t know if I’m exactly the target audience for this. It felt very insta lovey to me and don’t care for that trope. That being said, the spin on the fake dating trope was kinda nice.

I didn’t really feel the chemistry between the characters. It felt more like telling vs showing.

I found it hard to relate to the FMC (I also don’t understand how you can be THAT bad at waitressing). But I liked some of the side characters.

Lexi and Will are an unlikely match to begin with, and a misunderstanding leads to a fake engagement that’s announced in the newspaper. Despite their different backgrounds and circumstances, the two decide to date while maintaining their public engagement.

Sophie Sullivan writes joyful, sweet, closed door romances that focus on building the relationship between characters. This book has the most adorable meet cute! I loved it. Will is down to earth and falls fast, and Lexi is independent. I enjoyed the fall vibes and their sweet seasonal dates. This book would make the perfect rainy day companion to snuggle up with!

Thank you to Sophie Sullivan and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced digital copy of this book.

Can't Help Falling in Love was an easy, quick read from Sophie Sullivan and I couldn't recommend it enough! I loved reading about Lexi and Will as they went through the rigamarole of a fake engagement and seeing how their characters grew (and grew together!). This is the perfect fall read to have on your radar! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Adorable book! Slow moving at times, but I still really enjoyed it. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy. Publication date September 17, 2024.

Can't Help Falling in Love is another heartfelt and adorable romance from Sophie Sullivan. Fake dating tends to be one of my favorite tropes and Sophie brought it to another level with plenty of humor, vulnerability, and banter. Lexi and Will's meet-cute moment is precious. Will saves Lexi from embarrassment in front of her former high school classmates since she doesn't want to show them that she hasn't reached the high expectations so many had for her considering her track-star status in high school. And Will, despite being CFO of his family's company, just sees Lexi as sunlight breaking through another cloudy day. Her high school friends jump to conclusions and it is leaked to the press that they are engaged. Will wants to date Lexi for real so he is more than interested in playing along with the ruse, which also helps to get his mother to stop setting him up with women that she approves of. And Lexi is willing to see where their attraction takes them. Will is such a sweetheart. He is aware of his privilege in growing up rich and does everything he can to make Lexi feel comfortable. Will definitely falls first and harder - he quickly realizes that nothing about his feelings are fake. But he knows that Lexi will run if she is pushed too soon.

The book deals with with the loss of a parent as Lexi's goals had to change to help her mother to cope after her dad's death. Lexi has had to bear the burden of dealing with her father's debts, deal with selling his company, and pull together income to help her and her mother pay the mortgage on their family home. Lexi is flawed but relatable - she realizes that she needs to stop enabling her mother and little pushes and sometime moments of brutal honesty eventually start to help. And, partially with Will's extra encouragement, Lexi gains confidence in herself to be proud of where she has gotten and to be proud of her future as she finishes of her business and operations degree. Overall this novel was cute, charming, with endearing characters - possibly my favorite so far that I've read from Sophie Sullivan! Would love to see more with Ethan, Maisie, or Kyra!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Griffin for the chance to read this novel.

what a delightful blend of fake dating, meet cute, and friends to lovers set in seattle. i enjoyed the characters and loved how sweet this story was.

Thanks to NetGalley for this arc. Can’t help falling in love was a fun, cute read — good for the summer! Will and Lexi have a fake engagement, but I enjoyed the variation from the usual fake dating tropes in that they were genuinely dating the whole time.

While it was nice to get away from the same story with that trope, I do think it lacked the tension and build up that it could’ve had if they had started out not as interested in each other. But still, this was a cute romance with a little twist, and I enjoyed reading it!

3 ⭐️ spoiler free ARC review

This was my first Sophie Sullivan novel and I was as cute as I thought it would be. The story follows wealthy businessman, Will, and struggling-to-bear-the-load-of-family-trauma, Lexi. Lexi uses a stranger (Will) as scapegoat to avoid letting old friends see how far she’d fallen. Miscommunication leads to everyone thinking the pair are engaged.

Overall this book was cute but lacked a lot of back story and depth I prefer in a story. If you’re a Hallmark fan this is for you. Nothing wrong with enjoying that type of romance story, it’s just not necessarily something I would pick up normally! However, it was a fun light read. I wish we got a little more insight into what Will and Lexi were thinking during their initial meeting, but the story was easy to digest.

I would recommend to anyone looking for something light and easy to read with a sweet storyline. Tropes include: fake engagement, fake dating, friends to lovers, closed door

Such a cute story! Sophie Sullivan never disappoints! For a story that feels so sweet and lighthearted it did teach some pretty important lessons. The biggest one being love is the most important thing in the world! I definitely recommend this very happy happily-ever-after!

Thanks to Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for access to this E-ARC! This was so cute! Loved the characters & the setting. Also really enjoyed the writing style. New favorite.

I enjoyed the writing and the plot and characters. More than I’d expected to. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the gifted arc.

Dual POV, Closed Door Romance, Fake Engagement, He Falls First & Harder, Rich MMC x POOR FMC

Lexi and Will have a wild cute meet which transforms into a fake engagement. Lexi having her life plan altered after the death of her father is trying to put the pieces of her life back together while still caring for her grief stricken/depressed mother. Will one of Seattle's most eligible bachelor's is tired of his mother's match making can't wrap his mind around the strong pull he feels towards Lexi. While this book has plenty of light hearted moments, Sullivan has skillfully intertwined the themes of grief, depression, self confidence, and the way we often compare ourselves to our peers. Laugh out loud funny, tender, emotional, and full of yearning Can't Help But Falling is the ultimate romcom.

“Can't Help Falling in Love” by Sophie Sullivan
When things get tough, dig a little deeper
I fell in love with this story. If you like a really good emotion filled love story then you definitely want to read this story. And, be sure to read the author’s acknowledgements. I did, and yes, she for certain sure did achieve her goal for this story. Thank you Sophie for the chuckles and the tears and the HOPE for tomorrows when today is way too tough. Happy Reading ! !

I don't know what Sophie Sullivan has been doing with her most recent books because I am absolutely obsessed with them. This book was so much fun to read about and I loved that our MMC had such healthy emotional intelligence. I thought that the whole story was so much fun and of course unrealistic, but that's what makes the best romance book in my humble opinion. I love that her books are closed door romance, as I find it adds an element of tension and sweetness to all of her books. Easiest 5 stars I've given this year!

Can’t Help Falling in Love, the latest from Sophie Sullivan, is a fake engagement tale that hinges on the slimmest of pretexts. If you can get past the fact that there is no reason why Will (Grand) and Lexi (Danby) could not have cleared up the misunderstanding about their relationship as soon as it happened, you’ll find an enjoyable story with a blend of humorous and serious moments.

Lexi is a former high school track star who feels like she has fallen behind since her father died a few years ago and left her and her mother, Gwen, in a financially challenging situation. Lexi lost her track scholarship and left school before finishing her degree. She’s working several jobs while taking online classes part-time. She’s back home living with her mother, who is depressed and still working through the grieving process.

Will is the CFO and public face of Grand’s Babies, a successful local family business started by his grandfather (who remains CEO). Despite his mother’s attempts to find him a wife from “the right kind of family,” he’s focused on work, and, to a lesser degree, his family, which also includes his grandmother, his father, two sisters, a sister-in-law and a couple of nephews.

Will and Lexi meet when Will steps in to help Lexi out of an embarrassing situation at the restaurant where she’s an inexpert waitress. When they go to a party given by former friends of Lexi’s from high school on their first date, their relationship status is misinterpreted as engaged, and after that they are caught in an ever-widening net of lies. Despite this shaky start, they are both actually interested in seeing each other, and agree to maintain the engagement fiction while they see where the relationship goes.

Will and Lexi are both sweet, caring people so, in spite of their different backgrounds, it’s easy to believe them as a couple. It’s a cute story, and although there are some conflicts to be worked out, it’s a fairly light read.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #StMartinsPress for the ARC.

This cover is so cute! The writing style was hard for me to follow. I can see how people would enjoy this story though! A sweet romance. The writing style and characters just weren’t my favorite.

I loved the way the fake-dating trope was given a fresh twist in this sweet, fun and emotional romance. The chemistry between the main characters is there from the get go and the way it builds as they spend more time together gave me all the warm, fuzzy feelings. There are plenty of cosy autumn vibes and a lovely bunch of supporting characters too, who help the MC’s learn more about themselves alongside their deepening feelings for each other. I think the emotional journey Lexi goes on with her mother as they face the depth of her grief and the way it’s impacted them both is threaded alongside the romance really well, so it is heartfelt without becoming too heavy or maudlin. I will definitely check out more by this author in the future!