Reviews with content warning for Death - Pretend You're Mine

So many parts of this book were 5* moments and you can definitely see how this book informs the Knockemout series! Her writing was a little clunkier in this, lots of info dumping and it felt like she started setting the scene all over again about a 3rd of the way through, which was noticeable enough to be jarring. The cast of background characters and setting are immersive and there are beautiful moments of connection throughout. However, at first I felt unconnected to the main relationship

which actually fits perfectly with Luke distancing himself from Harper

And then there’s the deployment and you fall in love with Harper’s near perfect character!

But Luke is just so frustrating and is such a dick throughout the majority of the book - he uses Harper, leaves her, blames her for his emotional immaturity and grief, threatens and shouts at her and then blames her for him using her!

All of this is more realistic to men than most men written by women are, so from the perspective of character realism, it worked, but it made the ending unsatisfactory. Whilst the HEA was expected in a book like this,

Singing a song and saying - sorry, I do love you actually, I just put you through hell and in danger because I couldn’t have a grown up conversation, please marry me- doesn’t really meet the necessary level of grovelling

The family, friendship and sub-plot were great, the FMC was too sweet and perfect to be true but definitely loveable. I will 100% be reading Aldo and Gloria’s story but also felt this book told a lot of their story too, so we’ll see how that impacts the enjoyment of the next book.

Content Warnings

kdscolley's review

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This book came out swinging. I wavered between what rating to give this since I don't really do half star ratings, but ultimately settled on a 5 star because there's no alternative for this book. Lucy Score knew what she was doing when she wrote Luke and Harper.

I truly love this book the more I talk about it, so buckle up.

Luke's past and his own trauma means he's shut off and scared. His reactions directly reflect that of someone who is terrified of what's right in front of them and will do anything to keep it away.

Harper's past, while also terrifying and tragic, gave her an open heart and some extreme compassion. Her desire to have a place to belong was felt. She was a perfect character and I loved every minute. I felt her happiness and wallowed in her sadness right along with her.

*possible slight spoilers ahead*
-I do really wish that he'd groveled more, but I know that's from personal preference. With the kind of person Harper is, it makes sense that what happened was enough for her.
-I cannot wait to read more about this town/characters in the series because oh my word they all tugged on my heart.
-Harp finding what's inside the room and not resorting to anger is honestly the most mature thing a person can do. Her visiting with flowers and talking and being genuinely the most loving, caring, and kind humans made me want to be friends with her too.

Content Warnings

cwetzz's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

sami_leigh's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
🌶️🌶️🌶️.5/5

She had called a lot of places home, but it was for the lack of a better word. She never really felt at home anywhere.

She laughed a lot. It was a sound that warmed him up. A sound that made him realise how quiet his life had become before. A sound that made him wonder why he had valued the silence so much.

“Fact is, I just don’t have room in my life for her.”
“You’ve got the room; you’re just too chickenshit to make it.”

“I wanted to be memorable.”
“Baby, it would take more than all the time in the world for me to forget you.”

“You can’t put your worth in someone else’s hands like that . . . Whether you mean something to him or not has nothing to do with how inherently valuable you are.”

🌅 Third person
🌅 Meet-disaster
🌅 Fake dating
🌅 Friends with benefits
🌅 National Guard; he deploys in a month
🌅 She’s starting fresh…again
🌅 Protective MMC
🌅 He has secrets
🌅 FMC who understands her worth makes the most of every day 🙌🏻
🌅 Insta-chemistry
🌅 Small town
🌅 Meddling townsfolk
🌅 Tension 🔥
🌅 Found family
🌅 Representation of foster care
🌅 Well established secondary characters: Claire & Charles, Sophie & Ty, Gloria, Aldo (Book 2), Linc (Book 3), Josh, James, Joni, Angry Frank.
🌅 MC growth: grief, communication, guilt, overcoming past trauma.
🌅 Epilogue
• MMC’s perception of the FMC is a klutz who need supervision isn’t fully resolved.

⚠️ Death of a parent (past), car accident (past), death (past), injury/injury detail (explicit), medical trauma (explicit), active duty (MMC deploys in National Guard), child abuse (past, moderate), domestic abuse (not MCs, explicit), violence (moderate), stalking (moderate).

Content Warnings