Fake it like you mean it by Megan Murphy is a perfect book for a sweet romance reader.

Adam
✅ live in nurse/ caregiver

Elle
✅ podcaster
✅ Lovie’s grandchild

✅ Forced proximity
✅ fake dating
✅ enemies to lovers
✅ a lot of bickering
✅ tear jerker ( I’ve cried a lot for the last chapter in the book and I cried more for Lovie and Elle)
✅ high sexual tension
✅ plenty of spicy scene: intense and explicit 🔥🔥🔥

I’ll definitely need to read another book from Megan Murphy

I really enjoyed this novel. It was full of all of my favorite things: banter, enemies (or dislike) to lovers, slow burn romance, and of course humor. This book explores so many complex dynamics and feelings about love and loss. I truly enjoyed every moment of it.

This was such a beautifully written and emotional Al read, really gives you a look into caring for someone with Alzheimer’s. It’s was also a very sweet and romantic love story ❤️

Elle’s grandma has Alzheimer’s, she goes back to her hometown to help care for her. Adam is Lovie’s life in nurse, Lovie sees the two of them and is convinced they’re in love. Not wanting for confuse her further, they go along with it, but are the feelings as fake as they’re telling themselves they are?

This is such a lovely spin on a fake dating trope, bring awareness to Alzheimer’s while also keeping a story fun and romantic. I absolutely adored this book and these characters, this was such a well written book. I absolutely recommend this book!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I adored this book so much. I read this book on the same weekend as the 10th anniversary of my grandpa's death. This hit all the heartstrings. All the laughter, all the tears. I love that it was both a slow burn, but also not. I would read this again.

All I wanted was a cute romcom, but did I get that from this book? Yes, and so much more.

Don't be fooled by the cartoon cover because this book packed a lot of emotions.

Elle's grandmother, Lovie have Alzheimer so she went home to take care of her. She didn't anticipate the live-in nurse, Adam. Lovie thought they were a couple and remembered it, so Elle and Adam perpetuate a ruse as to not tip Lovie's emotions off.

For a debut novel, this book really hits the spot. You got some romance to balance all the emotional stuff of being a caregiver. The banter and tension was great. I love how as we go along the story, we explored more Elle's emotions and Adam's story.

My grandmother had Alzheimer and as someone who knows exactly how Elle's feels, it just made me a blubbering mess because it was captured so thoroughly in the book.

Not a fan of the third-act conflict nearing the end, but I just love how the story resolved that I can forgive that part. Mostly.

Overall, I love my reading experience even though it made me cry so much.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher. I did not understand why these two didn't like each other. That plot point made no sense...

"Fake It Like You Mean It" follows Elle and Adam as they care for Lovie, Elle’s grandmother who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. The story features a unique dynamic with Elle as Adam’s boss and Lovie mistaking Adam for her late husband. Throughout the story, Elle’s podcast offers an emotional outlet for her grief. The emotional weight of Alzheimer’s resonated with me, and while the romance felt secondary, I still found the novel enjoyable.

I’d recommend it to fans of heartfelt contemporary romance, like works by Ali Hazelwood or "The Dead Romantics."

Thank you to NetGalley and Megan Murphy for the ARC of Fake It Like You Mean It! If you’re in need of a warm, cozy romance, this book is a perfect winter read. Watching the characters fall in love despite their own challenges was heartwarming, and I was rooting for them as a couple all the way to their well-deserved happy ending. I also loved the storyline with the grandmother; it was a sensitive topic handled with such care and love, making it even more personal and resonant. This book truly left me with all the warm, fuzzy feelings!

I really enjoyed this book! The podcast idea is so smart. I loved how Elle used it to raise awareness about the disease and what she was going through while taking care of Lovie. My heart definitely ached for her throughout the book. It's so tough to watch someone who raised you go through a disease like Alzheimer's.

Elle and Adam's romance was so cute and heartwarming. Their chemistry was crazy good. The tension between them was so intense that I couldn't stop reading. It was hilarious to see them trying not to fall for each other but failing miserably. Some of their decisions were a bit questionable, though, given their situation.

I appreciated how the author managed to find the humor in such a tough subject as Alzheimer's, which is no easy feat. But what makes it even better is that it never feels forced or disrespectful to the reality of the disease. You can tell they truly understand the struggles, both big and small, that come with it. It's a delicate balance, but they handled it beautifully. This is a must-read for anyone who has been in a similar situation as Elle or has witnessed someone go through it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for providing the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Read this if you want to cry as much as laugh at your rom coms! Enemies to lovers and fake dating blend compassionately with losing a loved one to Alzheimer's.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this arc!!

What a good book! I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I loved the main characters! They had great chemistry and worked so well together. I loved how the book just flowed. My first by this author but will not be my last!!!

Cute romance book between a nurse and the granddaughter of the woman he takes care of. It’s emotional and did make me almost cry once or twice, but very sweet!! 3.5 ⭐️

4.25-4.5 rounded up.
This was a cute romance with a whole lot of emotions!!
I loved the grumpy sunshine.
The Alzheimer’s aspect was super emotional and definitely had me on a roller coaster. There were couple of parts on the romance side that I didn’t love towards the end but overall I really enjoyed it.
Thank you NetGalley and Alcove Press for the early copy!

Such a sweet sweet story! Having a grandparent with Alzheimer’s and the struggles that come with it hits really close to home for me and the way it was portrayed in this book was amazing. It was considerate, respectful, and done in a way that didn’t negate the condition as a whole. I also enjoyed watching Elle and Adam fall in love, it was such a sweet love story from day one, fake dating, forced proximity, kind of enemies to lovers. This had it all and more. I would HIGHLY recommend this book!

Sadly I couldn't download the book, because it's not an epub. I can't download acsm's. Would have loved to read the book.

I wish I had more stars to give! I absolutely ADORED this book. I thought it might be a bit too sad for me at first, but it had the perfect balance of heartache and happiness.

The book revolves around Elle, a podcaster who comes home to help care for her grandmother Lovie who has Alzheimer’s. Immediately, she clashes with Adam, Lovie’s home health aide worker. But of course the dislike doesn’t last for too long.

I couldn’t recommend this book enough. It was hard having to put it down to do other things like go to work.

Thanks as always to NetGalley for the ARC.

There were some beautiful moments in this book, but I was also unhappy about parts of it. It's hard for me to put a finger on just what bothered me, but I didn't always like the main characters and found it a bit hard to connect with them. Overall it was a good book and well written, if not quite to my taste.

This was actually more like a 3.5 star for me but I rounded up. It took awhile for me to get through even though it is a shorter read. It only started to pick up after about 65% of the way through. Although it was a cute and happy ending it took awhile to get there and the story didn’t feel as romance to me as just contemporary with the main component of the story being about Lovie and her struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. It was an okay read for me but nothing too exciting and it did take me over a week to get through.

There were a lot of things in this book that worked well. Unfortunately the romance was not one of them.

Elle moves back to her childhood home to care for her grandmother who has Alzheimer. As it turns out, there’s a hot nurse living in her bedroom.

I couldn’t understand why Elle was so hostile towards Adam. Especially since she kept on objectifying him and dropping the vibrator in his presence, (which was a little cringe tbh). He was also a little rude and it was all so unnecessary, I hate forced enemies to lovers! They did have some chemistry, and I liked them, but I didn’t love them together.

What I really appreciated in this book was the part about caring for Elle’s grandmother Lovie. Elle’s struggles with accepting her situation were the most interesting, even if heartbreaking parts of this book. I liked Adam’s part in it too, he was supportive, understanding and very book-boyfriendy. They could have been friends all along, there was no need to create a fake conflict at the beginning.

There were a few plot holes and some not quite thought through bits, but overall it’s a solid debut and I might give this author another chance one day.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I thought at first I wasn't going to be able to finish this book. The similarities to my own grandmother's journey seemed too much to handle but then the author started to pivot away from that relationship after wrapping up the exposition of it. After getting past that point, I loved the book. The relationship between the FMC and MMC was cute and perfectly paced and damnit if that consent scene wasn't hot. I love that she touched on the mental aspect that comes from caring for a sick loved one as much as the physical of it.