REVIEW: Pretend You're Mine by Lucy Score

 

OUR REVIEW:

This is only the second Lucy Score novel I've read and just like the first one, I was immediately hooked and entertained. In Pretend You're Mine we meet a spitfire named Harper and Mr. Reticent to feel anything, Luke. Their meet cute is amusing, despite the seriousness of the incident that causes their meeting, and Harper's filterless mouth and general outlook on life made it so that not only could Luke not resist her charms, I couldn't either. She's just got this kind and sunny disposition; she can take any crappy situation and somehow find the silver lining. Given her personal history, some may find her outlook on things to be surprising but I find it refreshing. In so many contemporary romances our main characters who've suffered through tragedies can't seem to get through them to a happier place and somehow Harper does. It's not that she doesn't see that bad things happen or exist, and she definitely doesn't try to minimize the hurts or pain of a situation, she just seems to have a knack for looking at alternative ways to see the situation and somehow comes to the conclusion that life is for living and embracing, not for hiding and eschewing. Her polar opposite, Luke, is the perfect example of allowing a truly horrific event determine his emotional availability and not only does he suffer for it, but everyone who cares about him suffers as well. She manages to sneak in past his defenses, though, and begins to show him how to live again. Their relationship isn't without its rough spots--mainly Luke's inability to articulate what was going on in his head and Harper's plowing right ahead, head first, into everything-- but there are plenty of sweet and funny spots too.

There were a few things that I had to just kind of accept--that his mom would buy into him meeting a girl and quickly moving her in after years of no real relationship, or how quickly some other things happened, or how a subplot just cropped up toward the end--but none of those things distracted me from the pure entertainment of this story. While there are some heavier issues, they never really are delved into and while some may find the exploration of those issues shallow or dismissive, I guess I saw them more as a vehicle to push the plot along, not as the main focus. Whether that's a good thing or not is for other more thorough reviewers to tackle; this reviewer has much more serious life things happening right now and escaping into this sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking, sweet romance was exactly the thing I needed this weekend.

SYNOPSIS:

I only wanted to protect you…

Luke Garrison is a hometown hero, a member of the National Guard ready to deploy again. He’s strong, sexy, broody. The last thing he’s looking for is a woman to ruin his solitude. When the wildly beautiful Harper stumbles into his life, though, he realizes that she’s the perfect decoy. A fake girlfriend to keep his family off his back until he’s deployed.

So what if kissing her sends his mind to wicked places? He can control himself. Can’t he?

Harper was on her way to starting a new life… again. But something about Luke makes her want to settle down in this small town and make his house a home. When she’s in his arms, she finally knows what it’s like to feel safe. Protected.

One night of sharing a bed turns into something much, much more… and soon Luke can’t keep his mind off Harper’s wide gray eyes or his hands off her luscious curves. He never thought he’d feel this way about a woman again. But he knows that he can’t tell her the truth about his dark past. And she can’t reveal what she’s running from.

At least this isn’t a real relationship. It’s only for a month. It’s only pretend. Until it isn’t…

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/3pfxVu2