When All-Star NFL player Chris Sterns starts hiding out in Two Harts library, librarian Mae Sampson is not impressed. But not half as shocked as when he asks her to be his fake fiance. But are either of them really pretending?
Sharon M. Peterson has quickly become a one-click author for me. I loved this grumpy/sunshine fake dating rom-com. I like when the grump is the female lead, and Mae has the perfect amount of sass and vulnerability. Trying to solve everyone's problems, she's stretched herself to breaking point. Then she meets Chris. Chris is a cheeky but adorable cinnamon roll, and the story shines when they are together. The pickup lines woven throughout the story are hilariously cheesy, and mix perfectly with the rest of the humour. But The Fake Out also touches on some deeper topics, from absentee fathers to serious illness, and these are dealt with sensitively and compassionately.
The supporting characters were great: Mae's mum and Sue were legends; and I loved Iris and Aidan. I appreciated the sense of community in Two Harts, and I would LOVE this book to become part of a series. I NEED Ali to get her own HEA, plus there is so much potential for more stories after that hint about Ali's brother, plus the Stern sisters (who I absolutely ADORED).
This is a heartwarming small-town fake-dating romance that leaves you smiling from ear to ear.

Overall Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Heat Rating: 🔥
Emotional Rating: 😂💓💔😊😂🥰🙈😬😊😉👏🏻🥰😂🙈😍💓😉😬🥰😍😬🤬💓👏🏻💓🥰

*Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to leave an honest review. The Fake Out is published on 5th July in the UK*

Favourite Quote:
'You suit me just fine.'

I absolutely loved this book. I couldn't put it down. I love small town stories about love at that first glance and the sparks that fly. The big famous football player just hanging out at the library just to rattle the librarian is so much fun watching the push and pull that goes on between them. This is definitely a swoony book that will have you in all the feels. Thank you to NeyGalley for the advanced copy to review.

This was more like a 4 point 9, i had a busy few days and couldn't read it in one sitting but every time my eyes touched the page i couldn't stop reading
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This is my second Sharon Peterson book and I loved it just as much as the first one, my only complaint could be the passage of time in the last few chapters, for me it would have been perfect if it hadn't been so long but it works very well
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Mae grabbed my attention from the first paragraph, she's smart, funny and hardworking. By day she works in the public library of her small town and at night she works in a bar as a waitress to pay the medical bills of her mother who had a stroke and needs therapy to recover.
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And Chris is the perfect cinnamon roll, professional football player staying in a remote town to take a break from the press, until a librarian wakes him up from his nap in the library
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She is a grumpy hard worker and he is the romantic sunshine who has no problem being her friend, starting a book club and waiting for her to notice him but when he needs help to distract the Press with a scheme and needs a fake girlfriend she agree and then all the faking start to bring up real feelings almost forgotten for a love skeptic like Mae
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I really enjoyed this book, its characters and each beginning of the chapter with phrases and anecdotes from other people
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Thanks to Sharon M. Peterson and Bokouture for give me a copy of this Beautiful book in exchange for my honest and voluntary opinion

"The Fake Out" is a delightful fake engagement romcom! I absolutely loved all of the characters (Chris may be the perfect man) and I laughed out loud at all their witty banter and incredibly cheesy pickup lines (it’s definitely worth reading just for these).

I was sold on this book within the first chapter and I could not stop reading it. It’s sweet, lighthearted, fun, and the characters have amazing chemistry. My one wish was for more of their book club content because I would love to be able to be a part of it 🥲

Here’s hoping for more books in this series! (Maybe about Ali or Ellie??)

* Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Fake Out had all my favourite tropes. We had small town, fake dating and grumpy/sunshine. It also made a nice change that it was Mae that was the grump. Chris was the lovable golden retriever sunshine in this story. The pick up lines at the start of each chapter were a nice addition.

This a sweet rom-com that reads smoothly. I felt most invested in the main character’s struggles as a caregiver for her mother and younger sister and how she resisted being loved for so much of the book. I know the trope is “grumpy/sunshine” or something like that, but she felt more realistic than grumpy in my opinion, and that really resonated with me. I was happy to see their happy ending!

So fun!

This book was so hilarious I really did LOL at times! The pickup lines at the beginning of each chapter are so funny, and so are the thoughts running through Mae's head (we can hear them!). The relationship between Mae and Chris is cringy at times, sad at others, but they really do have fun and are really good friends. The fact that Mae gets herself into this situation to cover her Mom's medical bills makes it all the more heartwarming, and there's even two evil "villans" thrown in for good measure!

I will definitely look for future books by this author. Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.

🧐 my thoughts:
The Do-Over was one of the first books I reviewed on NetGalley when I joined. I also posted that review on my newly (at that time) created bookstagram and Sharon commented on it! I felt so welcomed to the bookstagram community, that now Sharon will always hold a special place in my heart!

👌🏻what i liked:
EVERYTHING. No really lol this was really well written. I cannot wait to recommend this to literally everyone I know! The cheesy pickup lines at the beginning of every chapter really got me going! I really need to go out and buy a physical copy because this will be a book that I read over and over again! I felt like the characters were super relatable as well as the banter. This book had all of my favorite tropes. I honestly can’t say enough about this book!

🥰 special thanks
Thank you to NetGalley, Sharon M. Peterson, and Bookouture for granting me this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was an entertaining, well-written book. It was sweet, fun and I didn't want to put it down. I enjoyed this book and will look for other books by this author.

I loved it! Such a fun read! Fake dating, witty banter, small town charm, and great supporting characters make this a romcom that you don’t want to miss!

The Fake Out is a cute fake engagement, Grumpy /Sunshine romance. It involves Maebell and Chris. Chris is a NFL star who is in town for a much needed break. He needs to clean up his reputation in the news. Mae needs money to pay off her mother's medical bills. It's a fake match made in heaven.

I did enjoy this one. I loved Chris. He came across as genuine and you could really see how he much liked Mae. Mae however, was a little harder to like in the beginning. She is the grumpy one in this scenario. At times, I wanted to yell at her for her pity partiness. She could be kind of a jerk. Thankfully Mae grew on me. I enjoyed watching these two fall for each other. I thought the grand declaration at the end was perfect for the tone of the book.

It's a light and funny read. I loved the banter between Mae and her friend Ali. The town is full of quirky and fun characters. One of the things that also made the book were the cheesy pick-up lines at the beginning of each chapter. They were hilariously bad. It's a cute story. Mae grows on you. Give it a try.

The library element and fake romance trope were what drew me to this book. The characterisation and chemistry are what made me stay.

Both Chris and Mae were likeable in their own right, with personalities that leapt off the page and gave the book it's heart. What really stood out for me was how they interacted with one another - the banter, respect and admiration of each other was evident pretty much from the start. My favourite part of their relationship was the back-and-forth text messages full of cheesy chat-up lines.

What made this book extra special for me was the vital role that both Chris and Mae's families played in the development of the story. It gave the narrative a depth that I wasn't expected.

This book has all the tropes I enjoy most: small town romance, grumpy/sunshine, fake dating. And what a wonderful surprise, it’s so well done! I love the cosy small town, the characters are so cute and have great banter. I just finished it, and I just want to read it again.

Thank you to the publisher who provided me with an e-copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Fake Out is the story of Mae, a small town librarian and how she ends up in a fake engagement to football star Chris.

Fake dating. Grumpy/Sunshine. Small town love story. The Fake Out has EVERYTHING a good romance read should have. I 100% recommend!

Thank you Netgalley, Sharon M. Peterson and Bookouture for the advanced copy of this book.

Sharon Peterson writes wonderfully complex characters and puts them into a really enjoyable story in this novel! If you like small town romances, celebrity romances, fake dating, lots of pining, and books about book lovers - this book is for you!

A really cute and hilarious friends-to-lovers story about a librarian (Mae) and a famous NFL player (Chris) faking an engagement to save Chris public image and for Mae to help pay her mother's medical bills.
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I absolutely enjoyed the atmosphere in this book. It was really cozy small town vibes. The cute moments and jokes between Mae and Chris got me giggling. I also really liked how each chapter started with a corny pick up line. 4 strong stars for me.

So grateful to have received an arc from Netgalley for this book!

This book was everything I thought it would be and more, I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. The connection between Mae and Chris was great, sort of like opposites attract, and the way their relationship grew over the course of the book showed the character development of Mae when she finally let all of her guards down.

The plot twist at the end was a shocker, however I did have my suspicions and it was interesting to see how it played out and the revelation of it too.

I loved the strong community of Two Hearts and how they banded together constantly to support Mae along the way and the fact that they are all like one big family.

"I’ve heard the way he talks about you. And now, I’ve seen the way he looks at you.” “How does he look at me?” “Like you’re his favorite thing in the whole world,”

this! book! oh! my! god!
i thoroughly enjoyed this book. like A LOT.

one thing that immediately grabbed my attention was that at the beginning of every chapter, there is a pick-up line. You'll understand the significance once you read the book (and you HAVE to read it), but I was flying through chapters just curious to see what the next pick-up line would be.
and CHRIS :) he was absolutely the cutest golden retriever mmc I've seen recently. i loved him so much.
The dynamic between the two main characters was also, UGH, totally swoon-worthy.

i also really liked Mae. her comebacks are top tier and she was just a very relatable character.

"I didn’t have one favorite book and I didn’t trust people who did."

Imagine grumpy-sunshine, but he's the sunshine. Imagine a marriage of convenience, but an engagement of convenience. If you love these tropes, then definitely pick this book up!

I can honestly say that this was one of my favorite books of the year. I adore Chris! He is so sweet and what he does for everyone... ughh I love him. I love that our FMC is a grumpy librarian. Reverse grumpy sunshine is one of my favorite tropes and I was not disappointed in this at all. The characters had great growth and everything they did in the story felt genuine. I am a reader who loves spice and this book did not have any. I was shocked to find out how much that didn't bother me.

Mae is the only librarian left in her small hometown of Two Harts. She also works a second job at a diner to help pay for her mother’s medical bills. One day in the library she comes across a sleeping guy, who turns out to be NFL player Chris Sterns who is escaping a photo scandal of him in Las Vegas with a scantily clad woman.
Wanting the story to go away, his PR team suggests another one to distract – that Chris gets engaged. And Mae seems like perfect fake fiancee material.
This was an adorable romance with some revenge pranks, a bit of blackmail and plenty of cheesy pick-up lines. The chemistry and banter between Mae and Chris totally worked.