DNF at 50%

Unfortunately, this one just isn't for me.

While the concept and blurb had me excited for a sweet fall romance, the execution left a bit to be desired.

The fake engagement isn't really what you expect from from that trope, which is okay but I didn't understand how it even became a mixup. It was so easily correctable. I'm getting more insta love with an awkward meet cute than anything.

The fall vibes are definitely there but in a very odd way. Will says he's taking Lexi apple picking and they wind up back at his friends brewery which happens to have an unmentioned fall festival happening full of various craft activities (including wreath making of all things) and a random apple orchard out back. It just felt so strange and weirdly convenient.

Last, I just wanted more for Lexi. She's a late 20's woman who's acting like she's 21 and helpless. All she cares about is impressing some girls from highschool that she hasn't seen in years. Girl, you are better than that.

I received an arc from Netgally for review. All opinions are my own

Took me a few days to really get into this but really loved the way the story unfolded. I always like when a romance has a bit more depth and this one definitely did with Lexi’s background (dad passing away, mom dealing with grief/depression). I found parts of it to be too predictable but overall very much enjoyed. If you’re looking for a cute romance, add this to your list.

Sophie Sullivan’s *Can’t Help Falling in Love* is the quintessential fall rom-com, blending humor, heart, and a dash of fake-engagement chaos to create a lighthearted, swoon-worthy read. With the Pacific Northwest as its backdrop and the irresistible promise of flirty fall fun, this novel delivers on all fronts, offering readers a perfect mix of romance, wit, and emotional depth.

At the center of the story is Lexi Danby, a former college track star turned struggling waitress, who’s juggling the weight of personal loss and family responsibility. With her father’s death forcing her to leave college, Lexi is now trying to put herself through school while taking care of her grieving mother. It’s a heavy burden, but Sullivan ensures Lexi is more than just her struggles—she’s smart, funny, and determined to find some no-strings-attached fun in the midst of her hectic life. Enter Will Grand, the handsome and charming stranger who seemingly falls into her life due to a comically bad waitressing accident.

Will Grand is Seattle’s golden boy—an heir to a major company, known for his charm, good looks, and bachelor status. But Will isn’t just the typical romantic hero; he’s under pressure to prove his readiness to settle down in order to secure an important business merger. It’s this business imperative that leads to the hilarious misunderstanding that forms the crux of the plot: a high-profile party, a snap decision, and suddenly Will and Lexi find themselves pretending to be engaged. Sullivan handles the setup with a light touch, making the fake engagement trope feel fresh and fun, especially as Lexi and Will are forced to maintain their pretense under the watchful eyes of Seattle’s high society and the ever-prying press.

What makes *Can’t Help Falling in Love* particularly engaging is the chemistry between Lexi and Will. Their dynamic is built on a believable progression from attraction to something deeper, and while their fake engagement may have started as a convenience, their real feelings quickly begin to complicate things. Will, who initially sees the fake relationship as a business necessity, soon finds himself falling for Lexi in ways he never anticipated. And Lexi, despite her wariness of commitment—especially given her family situation—starts to reconsider what she really wants out of life and love.

Sullivan crafts their relationship with all the delightful hallmarks of a rom-com: from pumpkin patches and apple-picking dates to cozy flannel-clad moments and playful Halloween preparations. The crisp autumn setting feels like a character in itself, perfectly enhancing the warmth and coziness of the developing romance. As Will introduces Lexi to his glamorous world, complete with high-society events and a lifestyle far removed from her own, she remains grounded, bringing her own authenticity to the relationship.

Yet, it’s not all just fun and games. Lexi’s personal struggles—balancing school, work, and caring for her mother—add emotional weight to the story. Her vulnerability and hesitation to open up make her a relatable and well-rounded character. Will, too, has his own complexities as he grapples with the expectations of his family and his growing desire to follow his heart instead of just his head. Sullivan strikes a balance between lighthearted rom-com moments and more serious emotional beats, making the stakes feel real without ever losing the novel’s fun, breezy vibe.

The fake-engagement trope is one that’s been done before, but Sullivan breathes new life into it with her endearing characters and playful writing. The evolution of Lexi and Will’s relationship from casual flings to something much more meaningful is handled with just the right amount of tension and tenderness. Watching them navigate the line between what’s real and what’s for show is both fun and frustrating in the best way—after all, what’s a rom-com without a little will-they-won’t-they drama?

*Can’t Help Falling in Love* is a delightful, feel-good read that’s perfect for anyone craving a cozy romance with a healthy dose of humor and heart. Sullivan’s charming writing and lovable characters make this a standout in the rom-com genre, and the fall setting adds a layer of warmth that’s impossible to resist. If you’re a fan of fake relationships that turn all too real, this one will leave you smiling long after you’ve turned the last page.

I honestly really loved this book. The MMC is a dream and helps the FMC realize her potential. I love them together!

3.5/5 Stars

eARC provided by Net Galley!

This book started off so strong! This is my first Sophie Sullivan book, even though I own many due to her amazing covers! I Will definitely being reading more of her books sooner then later. I really enjoyed reading this book! Like just had fun and laughed out loud at many moments in this book. The Banter was top tier and man obsessed is what I am here for lol! However, there is a third-act break-up. That I felt like was unnecessary for our characters to go through. It just felt like our main girl was not really listen to our man guy who had fantastic communications skills! He was always building her up and telling her not to talk bad about her self. But she could not get past her own self image. I wish the mom and her had more talks as they had a lot things left unsaid that I felt like could have really helped the main girl be a better communicator in her relationship. All in all the third-act break up brough this down to 3.5 stars as until that point it was 4. I def recommend if you want a quick, fun, fall-vibes, happy read! This was also a closed-door romance.

The most romantic, alluring, and sweet read. This was a love story that was the best type: genuine and earned.

I love a good fake dating trope, so was pretty quick to pick this up.

This was a super cute, butterflies in your stomach romance.

This is a cute romance between two people who came from completely different social statuses. Lexi Danby is a cute, clumsy waitress taking care of her grieving mother. Will is an heir to a thriving, successful, major Seattle company, although he doesn't act like it. Will saves Lexi from some old high school chums that come to the restaurant Lexi is working at, and he tells them that they are boyfriend and girlfriend when they've only just met. The social scene gets wind of their "secret" relationship and, it evolves quickly into everyone believing they are engaged. They play along with the fake engagement because it serves them both well. What happens when Will's socialite mother, family, and friends find out and their coteries collide?
A great, light-hearted read that focuses on overcoming by choosing the best qualities in each other.
Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Griffin, for the advanced reader's copy. All thought and opinions are my own.
#NetGalley #StMartinsPress #CantHelpFallingInLove # Romance

Thank You netGalley for the ARC of Can't Help Falling in Love
Sophie Sullivan

I love Sophie Sullivan Rock Bottom Love series, so I went in excited to see a stand alone come out by her.

Meet cute gone wrong turns into a Fake engagement Fake dating is my favorite troupe, and while it can be over done and predictable I think she did an awesome job! I resonated with Lexi lol Slow at times, but overall I enjoyed Will & Lexi story

This is a cute fall read! If you want fake engagement without the spice, this is it for you! I would have preferred more spice, but that's not for everyone. I do love the character growth and healing this book had. I would definitely recommend this to a YA or closed door book lover who wants some fall vibes. It has some humor too.

Perfect Fall read! Super cute! Gave me all the feels!

Thank you NetGalley, Sophie Sullivan St. Martin's Press and St. Martin's Griffin for giving me an ARC of this book!

This was a 4.5⭐️ for me! Thank you to Net Galley and Sophie Sullivan for allowing me to be an ARC reader!

Super cute book! Lexi and Will meet while Lexi is working as a waitress. One thing leads to another and they tell people they're dating when they really aren't. Before they know it, things snowball into a fake engagement. Lexi and Will are so sweet and I absolutely adored Will's character. I'm always a sucker for the fake dating trope, ha!

A super sweet fall romance! 🍂 I'll miss Will and Lexi!

I did read Can’t Help Falling in Love by Sophie Sullivan last week. Another adorable romcom by her. This one was about a woman who starts fake dating a guy who she met while working at a diner and well, you know what happens. There were family dynamics and grief mixed into this one to add some depth. It was sweet and heartwarming with very likable characters, just trying to be good people and do the right thing. One of those warm fuzzy books.

Can’t Help Falling in Love is my second novel by Sophie Sullivian and she once again hit it out of the ballpark with this one. She is the queen of closed door romance that gets just the right amount of chemistry, tension, and desire that leaves the reader hungry for more. Get it Sophie!

The two main characters, Lexi and Will, bring depth and dynamic to the story with a fake dating to fake engagement Their meet cute story was so sweet and their connection to each other was immediate without feeling like insta-lusty or over the top. Not only did I love reading Will and Lexi’s relationship bloom on page, but I loved the relationship between Lexi and her mother. Grief is so hard to write, but Sullivian did so eloquently and with care.
There are so many moments in the story where I found myself LOLing, crying, and just smiling like a goofball. I do hope there is a second series for this novel because I would like to know what the future holds for Lexi’s bestie, Maisie. Who knows? Sophie Sullivian sure does!
Can’t Help Falling In Love is a sweet, opposites-attract romance set in Seattle that will just warm your fall loving heart to pieces.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the chance to read/review an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Working as a waitress trying to support her grieving mother while making her own dreams come true, Alexandra (Lexi) meets Will - the CFO of his family’s business. After a meet-cute gone wrong, they end up accidentally engaged.

Sophie Sullivan does it again! While I’m not a huge fan of the Insta-lust trope, Sullivan writes with extreme charm and writes such lovely characters, it was so easy to be caught up in Lexi and Will’s romance as it was clear these two were meant to be.

I also really enjoyed that Sullivan explored the different family dynamics, as well as topics of grief and personal growth - all of which added additional layers to the story

**Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC and the chance to read and review. All opinions are my own**

This book really gave an inside of how grief can have different effects on people and I really loved that. It felt very authentic and real. Loved the romance as well and would totally read a second book about Will and Lexi.

What starts as a fake-engagement (one of my favorite troupes) turns serious - but there is always a complication to overcome first. I love that this mixes the fake-engagement with a billionaire-type troupe too! I love that Lexi isn't exactly "down on her luck" even thought she's trying to make ends meet. This isn't a new story, but it warmed my heart just the same.

Just finished reading an advanced copy of a book that was just released on September 17th called, Can't Help Falling in Love. This was such a a sweet, cozy fall read! It covers some difficult topics, losing people you love, being afraid of change, accepting yourself and where you are in life, as well as loving yourself and being kind to yourself even if your life hasn't turned out how you intended it to. These characters were beautiful, the life lessons were beautiful, this story was just beautiful. And it was a fun read too! I read this in less than a day, I really enjoyed it! 🧡📚

“It’s okay to live your life. You don’t have to feel guilty about letting things go and moving forward. Sometimes the next step means leaving a few things behind. That doesn’t mean they’re gone. Everything you go through is part of you. Makes you who you are. But you can’t become who you’re meant to be if you stand still." -Bitsy talking to the main character, Lexi. 🫶

Thank you to the author and to the publisher for this ARC of Can't Help Falling in Love, in exchange for an honest review.

𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐟𝐮𝐧, 𝐚𝐰𝐤𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭-𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞, 𝑪𝒂𝒏’𝒕 𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦! 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐫𝐨𝐦-𝐜𝐨𝐦: 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐚 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐨𝐦-𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐬 𝐠𝐨 (𝐧𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐝, 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫).

𝐀𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐞𝐱𝐢 (𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝟐𝟎-𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐣𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐛𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫) 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 (𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞’𝐬 “𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐬”) 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥.

𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝒮𝑜𝓅𝒽𝒾𝑒 𝒮𝓊𝓁𝓁𝒾𝓋𝒶𝓃, 𝒮𝓉. 𝑀𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒾𝓃’𝓈 𝒫𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓈, & 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.

Can't Help Falling in Love is an engagement-of-convenience story. Lexi and Will have a meet cute and then stay in each other's orbit as they each navigate personal and professional bumps in the road. I enjoyed the story but the pacing felt slow and I struggled to stay in the story. The concept of this book was really interesting and I think it will be a winner with people who enjoy fall vibes, celebrity-ish stories, and endearing characters you feel good rooting for.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for gifting me with an ARC to review! All opinions are my own.