Reviews with content warning for Car accident - 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

vettechmama3's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

I love a story that takes me on a rollercoaster of emotions. Between the back stories, romance, and supporting characters, I felt everything from sadness to giddiness to laughing out loud and even some anxiety. Harper is a pure ray of light that Luke needed in his dark world. The ending of this was such a beautiful touch, and as a whole, this book made my heart happy.

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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

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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

lyshbish's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.5

I was surprised how much I liked this book! I found Harper very lovable. Don't let the G-rated cover fool you, this is one of the filfthiest books I've ever read.

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arwenaardbeienstruik's review

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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.

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ecravens's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

3.0

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sammykay's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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