Tashie Bhuiyan has been one of my favorite authors since her debut novel and she definitely did not disappoint with I'll Pretend You're Mine. Her handling of tropes never feels forced to me which I appreciate so much within the modern trends of trope-filled books that are aimed at TikTok success. As always, the relationships and dynamics between all the characters are supportive and beautiful and the casual diversity is admirable. I devoured this book in one day so thank you to Tashie for such a great read and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read it early.

what a cutesy, fun, emotional lil read! also I'm obsessed with the book cover so much.

the characters:
I really loved Summer. she's so brave, strong, and admirable. I loved her growth being able to stand up to her parents and disassociate from them all at the age of 18. we also love our little pop star!

I liked Jules a lot. I really loved his journey to embrace his ethnicity and be his true self. I also loved how much he supported Summer through everything.

I adored Barbie and Zach. they're truly the best friends Summer could've had through everything! we stan them.

I also loved Jana and Safi. They're SO cute!!

Obvi Summer's parents suck. No elaboration needed.

the plot:
okay, so something I loved about this plot was the slow burn of the romance and progression of Summer become independent from her parents. I'm so glad there wasn't any insta-love and everything progressed naturally. The pacing was perfect and the romance was so cute.

the book cover:
I'm OBSESSED with the book cover! idk what it is specifically but the art is so beautiful.

overall, I really enjoyed this book! the reason I gave it 4 stars is because some of the writing was a bit too cheesy and cliché for me.

I’ll Pretend You’re Mine is a perfect combination of some of my favorite tropes, being a fake dating and Hollywood romance book. It took a little bit to fully suck me in because the characters didn’t interact too much at first but once it got there I was so in. Jules and Summer just have such a quietly romantic dynamic that I loved. He’s always so attuned to her anxiety and providing her simple comfort, and it was so special. If you love when romantic leads show “quiet love” you’ll enjoy this book. It was just so sweet and I’d read any fame based book from Tashie Bhuiyan because she does it so well!

Oh my, this book was adorable. I just finished and I’m just sitting here crying because of how great this book was as a whole and also how great the ending was (truly might be my favorite format and execution of an epilogue ever). I have never clicked “request” on NetGalley so fast after checking almost everyday since the cover reveal, and I am so happy to have gotten an advanced copy of this book.

The main characters, Jules and Summer, were so great, and had such a great relationship with each other throughout, building from starting to fake date as a PR stunt through becoming real friends and then so much more. It was also really interesting that they were an actor x singer pair, which I haven’t seen very often in books, and it was so well done here. Their characters felt very real and dealt a lot with the balance between their private lives and what is revealed to the public, and how little control they have over that.

Thank you to HarperCollins Children’s and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have literally been rocking on the edge of my seat ever since I heard about this book. I practically chewed my fingers off in anticipation.

And getting my hands on an ARC made the stress worth the wait. I honestly thought I was going to be a little disappointed. But guess what? I WASNT!!

OH MY GOD was I so happy when I thoroughly enjoyed this. So happy that I was kicking my feet and giggling for most of the time. I couldn’t put it down!

I’d like a copy, now. PLEASE!!!!

I was lucky enough to get an ARC from NetGalley for I’ll Pretend You’re Mine and I’m so thankful!! I am a big fan of all of Tashie’s previous books and was incredibly excited to get my hands on this new one.

First off, the authors note in the beginning literally made me tear up and even more excited to read.

This book is super fast paced and all I wished is I got to have more time with Summer and Jules.

Watching the journey Summer goes on with her sexuality throughout the story is so!!! important!! to!! me!! Even though the main two characters in the story are in a hetero relationship, Summer’s pansexualness was still incredibly vital to her character, and I loved that this was never played down once. Literally loved every part of it. It’s also great to see pansexual representation in a book!!

Since the story was fast pace and there were a decent amount of characters, I will admit that some felt pretty 2D to me. Mainly, I felt like Summer’s parents were incredibly static throughout the story and even though they drove a major plot point, I felt like their actions were repetitive. I would’ve loved to get a touch more detail of their relationship with Summer in the past, whether that was just through a small flashback or something. Mainly, I just wanted to understand the development of their relationship.

I loved Summer and Jules and I love that this story combined fake dating but also turned into friends into lovers!!

Overall I really really enjoyed, and I will absolutely be picking this up again once it’s published! 4.5/5

i thought about just saying there will be no explanation (as to why i keep reading tashie bhuiyan’s books) there will just be reputation etc. as a bit. but i suppose i do have things to say about this one.

i’ll start kindly. the relationship was nice. they actually like each other but not so much as they have no edge. miss summer felt dimensional to me. certainly the lead with the most built-out conflict with her parents. her sisters were sweet. jules felt like a real character! and uh. i guess that’s what we’ve got.

madame authoress, i know that most authors don’t read reviews of their books but if somehow this manages to reach you, i beg you. please get your entertainment industry jargon right. olease. i can’t take it. a film IN PRODUCTION simply couldn’t host multi round auditions to replace their LEAD ACTOR. preproduction maybe they can get away with this. perhaps that’s what was meant.

there hasn’t been a teenaged best actor nominee since 1939. the youngest best director winners were both 32, and the first won in 1931, holding the record for over 80 years. that there’s an actor out there of age to play the parent of a teenager with “close to a half dozen oscars” when the single performer with the most AA wins is katharine hepburn (who won four over 50 years, the first when she was 27, her final when she was 74) is PREPOSTEROUS.

there are only TWO directors whose projects “[guarantee] oscar nominations” and they are steven spielberg and martin scorsese, who have been working since the 1970s. they are old, they are white, they are the original vanguard. nominations and wins do happen for a debt director’s first feature, but everything else is dependent on the film’s critical reception, distributor, release strategy, studio campaign, talent campaign etc etc etc etc. none of which is really explored in this book.

the academy doesn’t reveal a nominee shortlist for the performance awards. the academy has a luncheon for all nominees before the ceremony so they could not have avoided each other for that long. the academy has historically (until two weeks ago reportedly because of the wildfires but i think because of emilia perez) invited every original song nominee to perform and it’s a rare occasion when a performer declines (hi kendrick, hope you bring out sza for all the stars at halftime tomorrow).

one of my big hair-ripping problems with a show for two (bhuiyan’s other movie-based book) was that it was inauthentic to how people who like film talk. this is just inauthentic to the inner workings of the entire film industry. this stuff is all common knowledge among movie dorks and very easily researched. it reflects bad on editorial that it’s all so inaccurate.

all this being said. the book reads very quickly. as long as you don’t care what’s going on in their professional lives, you’ll probably enjoy it. thanks netgalley and harper for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

4.25 stars!

I devoured this book the moment I got accepted for the eARC! Fake dating and by Tashie Bhuiyan? I was immediately hooked. I always love how Tashie weaves themes of identity into her romances, and the anxiety rep in her books is great too. IPYM is no exception!

The singer-actor pairing was so cute and it was so interesting to delve into the world of celebrities since I don't read many books with this setting very often. We get to follow Summer as she goes on tour, attends New York Fashion Week, goes on pap walks with Jules as part of their fake dating PR stunt, and attends award shows.

The progression from strangers to friends to lovers felt so natural, especially since the book takes place over the course of a few months (each part gets its own seasonal playlist!). I was giggling when they would call each other friends while acting the way they did and calling each other endearment terms even when there was nobody around! Also, I love the forehead kisses in Tashie's books <3

Summer's journey of finding herself was well-written, as she learns who she is away from her emotionally abusive parents. I truly felt for her when she would ignore her parents' calls but listen to their harsh voicemails anyway, and when she worried about coming out publicly, mostly fearing how her parents would react. They were so, so awful, but I'm glad Summer had the support of her friends, her sisters, and Jules. Especially Jules, since they both helped each other regarding similar situations.

Other things I loved: the references to other characters in the Tashie-verse (I miss Third Eye!), the chapter titles being news/tabloid headlines, and Jules's family!

Anyway, Tashie Bhuiyan in one of my auto-buy/read authors and I can't wait for everything she writes next!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.