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

I was not anticipating this one to be as heavy as it was. For the first 50% we get Harper and Luke constantly having sex, I’m honestly not sure how they ended up being in love, lust for sure, but love seemed like a stretch. Then in the next half we learn more about each of their pasts and these two have been through it. Luke needs therapy, that man is obviously not processing his grief. Spoilerish warning: The storyline with Clive seemed unnecessary. Harper losing both parents at a young age and bouncing around through the foster system would have been trauma enough, the child abuse was excessive. I found myself doing a lot of skimming through this one. I would recommend for readers who love lengthy detailed sex scenes and emotional trauma.

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stephanief04's review against another edition

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emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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

4.25

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nickypizarro's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I'm not ashamed to say that I've happily joined the Lucy Score hype/bandwagon.

Luke Garrison may be the hometown hero but even the best of us can't get away from our parent's nagging and concerns. In comes Harper, knocking him and the small town off-kilter... almost quite literally. He's only got a few more weeks left before deploying and his scheming sister suggests he fake dates the new firecracker in town to ease his parents and hold them at bay.

If I'm honest, I think I wanted to throttle Luke more times than I can count while reading this book. He was soo in denial and it was staring him right in the face. I'm usually good at figuring out what's holding some characters back but I wasn't expecting Luke's dark past. Let alone throwing Harper's in the mix as well. The way things ended up connecting was smart and I enjoyed the way the book's timeline is so easily intertwined with the second book in the series Finally Mine.

4.5/5 stars
3/5 Twice Level
TWs: Mind to moderate mentions of domestic abuse, physical abuse, death, war, miscarriage, medical trauma, medical content, injury/injury details, car accident, blood, child death, and grief
While I have received an arc of this book, my thoughts are all my own.

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kb33's review against another edition

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lighthearted tense fast-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I’m not sure how to feel about this book. Luke needed therapy. And it felt like Harper forgave him too easily. The third act breakup dragged on and felt more heart wrenching than necessary. She wanted to leave town, but she decided to drag it out a few weeks to torture herself some more?

I liked the characters (mostly. Luke pissed me off too frequently, and the rest of the time was sex scenes). Yeah, this one wasn’t my favorite.

Additional TW/CW:
Graphic: Separation during deployment (if you don’t think this could be a trigger then you’ve never been with someone who was away on a rough deployment).
Moderate: Grief over death of spouse; the grief isn’t written in a very graphic way, but it is a frequent topic/main theme. IED explosion, loss of limb and recovery, unrealistic journey adjusting to prosthetic.

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nicoleolander's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

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inkiereads's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was such an emotional rollercoaster! It’s about living your life after loss, it’s about finding your home, it’s about opening up your heart. Dealing with grief is different for anyone, and I felt Luke’s struggles in my toes. I can’t even imagine going through his loss. Harper and Luke are amazing together, and I’m happy to have read their story!

Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥

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brittanyrader13's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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