Scan barcode
cmab's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
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
Graphic: Pregnancy, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, War, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder
arwenaardbeienstruik's review
sad
1.0
The whole book is basicly the mmc saying he doesn't love the fmc and getting mad at her for 'taking over his life'. While the fmc just accepts that without groveling one bit from the mmc.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Violence, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Sexual content
Moderate: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, War, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
hopecobblepotworld's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
"...it’s not easy to be friends with someone who keeps making the wrong decision over and over again. Eventually everyone has to decide whether it’s worth it to keep trying.” ~ Gloria
New to me author Lucy Score wrote Pretend Your Mine in 2015. Bloom Books, an imprint of Source Books, re-released it with a new cover. Lucy Score has made quite a name for herself and gathered loyal fans in Bookstagram and Booktok.
Pretend You're Mine focuses on brokenness in individuals and how that effects relationships. Some of the tropes in this books includes:
-Fake Dating
-One Bed
-Abuse
-Violence
-Psychological Abuse
-Dead Spouse
Harper Lee Wilde cruises into Benevolence on fumes and immediately launches into action when she sees a man choking his girlfriend in the parking lot she landed in. Even though she gets knock around pretty good, she finds herself staring into the eyes of a handsome stranger, Luke Garrison. And that is how the story starts.
What did I like about this story?
First, I loved the town of Benevolence itself. It reminded me so much of the town I grew up in. Everyone knows everyone. For the good, the bad, and the ugly. Benevolence may have been the setting but it many ways it was a character in and of itself.
The strong, healing relationships between the women. Harper is a stranger in Benevolence and she immediately comes to the aid of Gloria. Sophie comes to her aid. The whole town welcomes her. But she has a group of women who cluster around her to gird her up.
Harper's relationship with Mrs. Agosta, Robbie, Henry, and Ava. As a former foster kid, she understands what it is like and she is able to connect with them on a level that is unique because of her experiences.
Claire and Joni - I loved their relationship to Harper. It was absolutely beautiful. Especially Joni. She really was able to overtime so much.
Luke standing up to Harper's abuser. I'm not going to elaborate on this so it isn't a spoiler.
What was OK.
I liked that Luke gave Harper a job in his office. It sounds like it was right up her alley and she was truly able to help him and Beth with updating his systems.
Luke's doing things to show he cares for Harper. Luke maintains he isn't in love with Harper. But he does things to make sure she is cared for. Fixing her car. Making sure she is OK after the attack. Furnishing the house.
What didn't float my boat.
Luke. Luke Garrison is so flawed I cannot believe Harper didn't get the heck out of Benevolence. Then again she is flawed. But his flaws are horrid. The way he treats Harper - a sex object to be used, an office manager to be praised, but let anyone else touch her and they are trounced immediately. She is his property.
The sex scenes - I don't know if these are just Lucy Score learning to write sex scenes or if this is what she thought was good. It wasn't. In fact, the scenes described talk about the violence of the act and it was a turn off. I began skipping over them because after you've read it 6 times, it becomes the same. And I didn't need to read acts of sex making in violence again. It started to feel like this author was trying to write kink without calling it kink.
Overall, I'm giving this book a 3 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bloom Books for an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review of this book.
New to me author Lucy Score wrote Pretend Your Mine in 2015. Bloom Books, an imprint of Source Books, re-released it with a new cover. Lucy Score has made quite a name for herself and gathered loyal fans in Bookstagram and Booktok.
Pretend You're Mine focuses on brokenness in individuals and how that effects relationships. Some of the tropes in this books includes:
-Fake Dating
-One Bed
-Abuse
-Violence
-Psychological Abuse
-Dead Spouse
Harper Lee Wilde cruises into Benevolence on fumes and immediately launches into action when she sees a man choking his girlfriend in the parking lot she landed in. Even though she gets knock around pretty good, she finds herself staring into the eyes of a handsome stranger, Luke Garrison. And that is how the story starts.
What did I like about this story?
First, I loved the town of Benevolence itself. It reminded me so much of the town I grew up in. Everyone knows everyone. For the good, the bad, and the ugly. Benevolence may have been the setting but it many ways it was a character in and of itself.
The strong, healing relationships between the women. Harper is a stranger in Benevolence and she immediately comes to the aid of Gloria. Sophie comes to her aid. The whole town welcomes her. But she has a group of women who cluster around her to gird her up.
Harper's relationship with Mrs. Agosta, Robbie, Henry, and Ava. As a former foster kid, she understands what it is like and she is able to connect with them on a level that is unique because of her experiences.
Claire and Joni - I loved their relationship to Harper. It was absolutely beautiful. Especially Joni. She really was able to overtime so much.
Luke standing up to Harper's abuser. I'm not going to elaborate on this so it isn't a spoiler.
What was OK.
I liked that Luke gave Harper a job in his office. It sounds like it was right up her alley and she was truly able to help him and Beth with updating his systems.
Luke's doing things to show he cares for Harper. Luke maintains he isn't in love with Harper. But he does things to make sure she is cared for. Fixing her car. Making sure she is OK after the attack. Furnishing the house.
What didn't float my boat.
Luke. Luke Garrison is so flawed I cannot believe Harper didn't get the heck out of Benevolence. Then again she is flawed. But his flaws are horrid. The way he treats Harper - a sex object to be used, an office manager to be praised, but let anyone else touch her and they are trounced immediately. She is his property.
The sex scenes - I don't know if these are just Lucy Score learning to write sex scenes or if this is what she thought was good. It wasn't. In fact, the scenes described talk about the violence of the act and it was a turn off. I began skipping over them because after you've read it 6 times, it becomes the same. And I didn't need to read acts of sex making in violence again. It started to feel like this author was trying to write kink without calling it kink.
Overall, I'm giving this book a 3 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bloom Books for an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review of this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Physical abuse
Minor: Car accident and War
More...