• ARC REVIEW •

Release Date: 9/24

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I adored this read from start to finish! It was such a fun swoony rom-com that kept you reading. I was rooting for Sam + Cooper the entire time because how could you not?! They were both lovable characters who I easily related to. This is a perfect book for girlies who love reality dating shows and grew up loving “The Parent Trap.” I must also acknowledge the beautiful slow burn and tension in their relationship = 🧑‍🍳’s 😘🤌🏼

Summary:

“A city girl.
A country boy.
A fake engagement in front of 10 million viewers.
What could possibly go wrong?”

Sam is pretending to be her identical twin sister on the set of a popular reality TV show + her potential fiancé is an annoying cowboy who she can’t seem to settle any argument with. A moment of impulse leaves them accidentally engaged for the whole world to see. This wasn’t their plan.

Their new plan = ride out a week in paradise sharing the same bungalow so the producers don’t catch wind of the truth. Break up as soon as the cameras go down. And live happily never after…

Expect:

-fake engagement
-slow burn
-cowboy MC
-twin swap
-dual POV
-forced proximity
-opposites attract
-terminal illness reference

Thank you NetGalley, the author and Xpresso Reads for this ARC in exchange for my honest review ✨

The beginning of the book was a little slow for me but once I kept going, it was great! The lead characters, Sam and Cooper are fantastic. Who doesn't love an opposites attract, cowboy main character, and a dual POV book! Something that I didn't know I was going to enjoy so much was the twin-swap aspect of the book. It added something different to the story that I am not used to and it was fun!

Thank you so much for allowing me to read this book early!

The Love Lie, by Kay Marie, is a quick-paced, fun novel. I could tell where this story was going from early on, but the trip there was delightful! The characters are very distinct and believable (though not at all like those pictured on the cover with the "real" cowboy being much beefier, and the color of that suit on the leading lady is...well, read and you'll know.  Twin-swapping, fake relationships taking turns, steamy angst... what a fun book! While a light, often laughable read, there are heavier undertones that add complications to the anticipated ending. I wasn't sure how Kay Marie would tie up the ending, but it was perfect! Thanks, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with the ARC ebook I read and reviewed. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book. These opinions are completely my own.


By the second page, I realized I knew and loved all these characters. This is the sequel to The Love Remarch, which is a fantastic book that you should pick up along with this one if you haven't already read it. The Love Lie could be a stand-alone, but you may get confused in the beginning.

I loved this book as much as the first one and look forward to the next Kay Marie novel.

First of all, thank you NetGalley for this ARC copy of The Love Lie by Kay Marie.

This book had several of my favourite tropes, including those of fake engagement, insta love/lust and forced proximity.

I was hooked on the characters and the story that Kay has created for these MCs. There was so much flirty banter between the two and I often found myself going "nawww"

I love me a good cowboy romance and feel as though this book ticked all my boxes

As a dating reality TV show junkie, I am an absolute sucker for this conceit in a book format! As soon as I finished the first book in this series "The Love Match," I was already clamoring for this sequel and I'm so happy that it lived up to the first one. The characters are great. There are a lot of sexy scenes. It's got a semi-enemies to lovers vibe with forced proximity. The only thing I wanted a little more of in this was about Emily's reaction in the ending. The relationship between the twin sister MCs is really special and it felt like a bit of a gap. Overall, a really fun ride from start to finish!

Such a great read! Highly recommend this one.

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Read This Book If…you love The Bachelorette or Shania Twain!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
The Love Lie by Kay Marie

Genre: romance
Series: The Love Match # 2
Spice Level: 2/5🌶, steamy, fade to black
Setting: Maldives, NYC, rural Nebraska
POV: dual, 3rd person, present tense
Tropes: fake engagement, insta lust, forced proximity, opposites attract, twin swap, reality tv, city girl/country boy, cowboy, one jet ski, one horse, “good girl”

My Thoughts:
I loved the first book in this series and was so excited to get the next book! There are so many tropes here that I love and they were all done well.

This book picks up right after the first, so I’d recommend reading them back to back. There’s quite a bit of setup for the second book and IT WAS WORTH IT.

These two were so horny for each other, I was begging for a little bit of spice, but besides one scene, it’s very much off-the-page. They had great chemistry and banter and I enjoyed every moment with them.

There are several parts that made me laugh out loud, so I can’t recommend this read enough!

Memorable Quote:
“What makes you so sure, cowboy?”
“We’re inevitable, darlin’.”

Thank you to the author for my advance copy!

Thank you to Kay Marie, the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 ⭐️

Although I didn’t like this book as much as the first one I still enjoyed it! It did take me a little bit to get into it but once I did I loved Cooper. I wasn’t that big of a fan of Sam but I can appreciate her tenacity.

I love that they stuck to the whole aspect of the live show with a little bit of a twist. If you’re a fan of Love Island, the Bachelor/Bachelorette, etc. - this series is for you!

I’m super excited for the next book!

I absolutely adored this cute cowboy romance. Not only was there an interesting storyline keeping me engaged throughout the whole book, there was also banter which I think is a huge winner. I love the whole TV dating show plot and appreciate how the author was able to make it work without it feeling forced from a readers perspective. Not like anything I've read before but will definitely be adding more of her work to my growing tbr!

Fake dating! Well should I say fake engagement! One of my favourite tropes when done correctly, and believe me Kay Marie has done it correctly. When city girl meets country boy, their world’s collide in this romantic comedy where it’s not only the engagement that’s fake, But the FMC is also faking her identity!!!

This is my first book by Kay Marie and when I first picked it up I did not know that it was a part of a series. Because of this I was not aware that there was a book that came before this one. I am glad that this one could be read as a standalone but I will still be going back to read the book that came before this one. While the beginning of this book was slow and it took me a while to get into the book I really enjoyed the plot. I can not wait to read more books by this author.

This was my first book by Kay Mariee, but I'm looking forward to reading more of her books and the rest of this series. Set in a reality show where the two main characters find themselves with a fake engagement and a plan to fool the producers until they can go their separate ways. A forced proximity, opposites attract romantic comedy.

This book picks up right where "The Love Rematch" ends. It can be read as a standalone—you will be told everything you need to know—but it will also spoil "The Love Rematch" if you wanted to read that.

This book has fake engagement, insta-lust, forced proximity, and a cowboy.

It took me some time to get into this book. The first part felt a bit slow, but as soon as we got to the next part of the story, I really enjoyed it. I wish we got to see more of Sam's healing, but all in all, it's a lovely and fun story.

I have mixed feelings because the book just felt so lusty for the first like 70% and then it got really good. I loved seeing their relationship evolve once they were home and not just read about them trying to stay away from each other every single day. Sam reminds me a lot of my younger sister and I loved that about her character.

As someone who loves cowboys, I blame Elsie Silver for that one, I was drawn immediately to *The Love Lie*. Add a fake engagement between a city girl and a country boy and I was ready for it.

However I could not stay engaged enough to finish it. The story started out too slow for my liking and while I can appreciate a gradual build-up I didn't work with this one. Additionally, the writing style did not mesh well with me which again made it hard to stay engaged with the plot and characters. It wasn’t bad, but there was something about it that kept me from fully immersing myself in the story. Perhaps it was the slow start of pace or some other aspect of the book but I found it difficult to connect with the characters. Quite frankly I found them a bit annoying and repetitive it felt like every few pages, we were reminded of their attraction and desire which made it less believable to me and more annoying.

Overall, while *The Love Lie* has elements that some readers might enjoy, like the opposites attract, twin swap, fake engagement, cowboy mc, dual POV... but it just didn’t hit the mark for me.

I cannot believe kay marie has caught my heart again. This romcom picks up right after "the love rematch", and follows emily's sister, Sam, as she falls in love. I never expected to love this one as much as i did, but its perfect. It has all the feels, so much depth, loveable characters, and a promise for a part 3 (;

Thank you to netgalley and the author for sending me the book in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to NetGalley and Independently published for the ARC

I really liked The Love Lie and the unique voices. Both the main characters were fleshed out and strong. It had great dialoge and banter, excellent humor. A love story that started of unconvensionally, but evolved into something more and the struggle of navigating this new reality. Sweet and easy to read.

This book was a complete dream to read. I think the characters were great, the story was unique (something difficult to achieve in romance fiction nowadays) and the read was easy. I do think the narrative was slightly repetitive in some parts and there was moments where I didn't feel like I was completely following, but I can put that down to not reading the first book in this universe, so perhaps I didn't have all the context and information I needed to read this. Despite that, I would recommend this and would be happy to promote the book to wide audiences. Kay Marie is extremely talented in her writing and storytelling and I look forward to reading more of her work.

Swapping identity with your twinn love story. And for me, it is the best. I loved it OMG Cooper my new favorite book boyfriend. I loved the humor, tenderness sparks and all that was in this story, it warmed my heart and made my summer more beautiful.
I volunteered to review an ARC of this book for Netgalley