I enjoyed the premise of this book of two single parents meeting in the pick-up line at their children’s pre-school. They agree to fake a relationship for rather unbelievable reasons, but hey! It’s hard to come up with a plausible reason for fake relationships in contemporary life. What makes the book enjoyable is the sweet relationship each has with their children. Both kids are super cute, and I’m a sucker for male heroes who are so invested in their child.

The MFC was a bit irritating in how she was so very positive that she never wanted to have a romantic relationship ever again after a painful divorce. She meets this wonderful guy with whom she enjoys spending time and their kids become great friends. She thinks of him as her best friend. She’s super attracted to him and we get a bit too much interior monologue about how sexy she finds him. He clearly is interested in her and is straight-forward about wanting to explore a more serious relationship. So after a while, the reader is just hanging around waiting for the lightbulb to go off for her.

The dialog between the two main characters and the amusing side characters help save the book from just being a standard fake relationship story.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

The Pick Up-a standalone

by Hannah Doyle-new to me author

Rating: 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Publication 5/9/24, Read 5/8/24

Format: e-book, 352 pgs. kindle

Thanks to NetGalley and HQ for this ARC🩷! I voluntarily give an honest review and all opinions expressed are my own.

✔️ Adult Fic/Women's Fic
✔️ Rom-Com
✔️ fake dating
✔️ single parents
✔️slow burn romance
✔️cover lover
✔️found family
✔️reverse grumpy/sunshine
✔️toxic ex

Summary-Sophie Rogers (33) is a divorced single mother to 4 year old Lila. At her daughter's school, the "Class Moms" are the cool moms and Sophie wants to become apart of their clique. She also wants Lila to have playdates and get to know her classmates. Joe (35) is a widower and single father to Sidney. The Class Moms hound him and call him the "Hot Single Dad." He meets Sophie and proposes they fake a relationship so Sophie can get into the "in crowd" of moms, and Joe can be left alone by all the women looking for a date.

The plot was the typical fake dating trope. Sophie and Joe didn't want to be set up on dates, and use each other as cover. I loved Sophie's sister Poppy. She was the comic relief along with the "yummy mummies." Sophie's inner monologues also lighten the mood. The toxic ex husband also makes Sophie's life a little difficult, but is quickly resolved.

Overall, The Pick Up reminds me of the movie Mr. Mom where Michael Keaton is a stay-at-home father. He experienced the same issues Sophie and Joe face from flirty moms to dealing with the car park. This was a cute, light rom-com about two people who needed a little help and a found family.

I really enjoyed this book! It was so much fun to read. It's a sweet rom-com with single parents, fake dating, funny moments, and closed door romance.

It's an easy read, perfect if you want to have a good time and laugh. I read it almost in one sitting; I couldn't put the book down after a few chapters. It's very cute, with one point of view and little drama, which I like, it's just like watching a rom com movie. The plot is simple: two single parents fake dating in order to get different things.

Sophie is a strong, independent character. I loved the relationship she has with her daughter and how she is willing to do anything for her happiness. Some scenes made me really want to scream at her and tell her, 'Please! Come on!' I have to mention her sister; I think it gives a lot more fresh air and funny moments to the book.

Joe is so sweet and clever. An Irish man, the 'hot dad' as all the moms call him. I like how he takes care of his son. I also wanted to scream at him in so many moments. I would have loved to read his point of view to see what he was thinking.

The chemistry between them was great. Like I said, it's a closed-door romance, so we only have a couple of kissing scenes, but what scenes they are! I really enjoyed them. The mothers' club was so funny. The atmosphere was great; I could imagine everything, I liked the descriptions.

We have a miscommunication trope that made me nervous. I think the ending was a little bit too fast; I would have preferred more or perhaps an epilogue. But I really loved the book.

If you are looking for a sweet rom com with so many funny moments and to have a good time, I highly recommend it!

Thank you HQ and NetGalley for the eARC. All thoughts are my own, and I’m leaving this review voluntarily.

This fake dating romance was such a sweet read full of banter and chemistry between these two single parents! All the side characters just added to the wonderful story, and I was truly so sad to reach the end.

Sophie is such a great mom to Lila, working hard to juggle everything and support her daughter. She reminded me of my own mom, who was a single parent for many years, and was the absolute best parent. Both of them stretched theirselves thin to be there for their kids and even when it was hard, they knew it was the right thing to do. Ugh, it was just so great to read her POV!

Joe was such an adorable MMC, I would have loved to see a peek into his mind with chapters in his POV (but that’s just my personal preference bc I’m greedy lol). He’s a great dad to Sidney and making the best of his situation, even when it’s awkward. His relationship with his mom is also so cute, we love to see it. He just cared so deeply for Sophie and put her needs first despite his own happiness, what a sweetheart.

I would have loved an epilogue, but I also think it ended in a great way based on the story. I just didn’t want it to end 😭

I read this in one sitting and enjoyed it more than her previous A to Z book! I loved Sophie and Joe and their two kids. As a mom, I had mixed feelings about the beginning of the book because it described a lot of the crappy parts of motherhood and I read to forget that stuff! But it didn’t take long for the story to progress into the fun bit.

Fake dating, lots of fun banter, a charming MMC, lots of 🌶️ tension while still closed door. Great read!

4.5 stars!! This was such a fun, laugh out loud read! I read it in pretty much one sitting, I was enjoying it so much! A single mom who's sister keeps trying to set her up on blind dates and a single dad who's tired of being seen as the 'sad dad' decide to fake date in order to solve both their problems. Full of super fun banter and a great cast of characters, this was a very enjoyable romcom!

This was a good romance. Sophie is divorced, and her sister LOVES to try to set her up on dates. Sophie has a daughter in school, and she wants more than anything to fit in with the other moms so that her daughter will have a good school life. Joe is single dad, and the other mothers at the school think he is eye candy. But Sophie and Joe don’t really know each other. They go out for pizza with their kids, and decide to fake date. Sophie is determined to keep this professional – she is using him to get in with the moms and have her sister stop setting her up. He’s using her so that the other women leave him alone. It’s the perfect setup, right?

This book has some of my favorite tropes: single parents and fake dating. However, I struggled a bit to feel any chemistry between Sophie and Joe. I thought Joe could have been the most amazing cinnamon roll MMC. However, Sophie was so cold and closed off, that it made it difficult for his character to flourish. It was also a really slow burn romance. It felt like it dragged out way too long before Sophie had her “a-ha’ moment. Then when she did, the book was nearly over so as the reader, I never got to enjoy them together fully.

There were some very sweet moments during the book where Sophie did let her guard down, but she so quickly raised it up again the next day and talked herself out of anything. Honestly, it was rather annoying.

The other school moms were hilarious! Some were annoying, Frankie was fantastic. They really did bring some laugh out loud comedic relief to the book!

Overall, this was decent. I would recommend this book to those that love the slow burn romance with the fake dating, and single parent tropes.

Single mum Sophie just wants both herself and her daughter to fit in with the school crowd. But she's barely being recognized by the other mums. Cue Joe, a single dad at the school who seems to be getting all the attention from the other mums. When Joe suggests they fake a relationship to get the mums off his back and more onto hers, Sophie is quick to agree. I'm sure you know what happens next.

This was such a fun romcom! If you know me, then you know I love a good fake dating storyline. It was lovely having two single parents come together especially with children the same age who got along too. If you're after a sweet story with plenty of laugh out loud moments, you'll like this one.

A fake relationship to gain entry to the parents' club, and to avoid the thirsty playground mums....what could go wrong?

This book made me giggle, made me grin, and had me willing the main characters to admit their feelings! Two single parents, two adorable children, and a gaggle of unique characters make this a really enjoyable read! Many one-liners had me chuckling to myself, and there more than enough addictive tropes to add to the storyline.

A laid-back Irishman, and an organisationally addicted businesswoman combine to make the perfect "fake" couple.

I loved reading The A to Z of Us. So I was very excited for the chance to read and review The Pick Up by Hannah Doyle.
This was such a fun slow-burn romance that had me hooked from the first page.
The characters felt so real and it all tied up so well.
It was warm, fun, light & fluffy, funny and comforting all in one.

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

I received this as an arc from NetGalley and I’m voluntarily leaving my honest review.

This was a really good fake relationship romance. The story follows Sophie and Joe, two single parents whose children are in the same class. It
was told exclusively from Sophie’s POV and sometimes I would have liked to see things from Joe’s POV. But I really enjoyed Sophie’s inner monologues and also her banter with Joe. The story was well written and I could definitely see myself picking up another book by this author in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hannah Doyle for this eARC.

This was a cute and easy read about something as hard as parenthood and ones own expectations to oneself.
And while a lot of the tropes made me swoon (golden retriever energy/ fake dating/ single parents) the ending was quite disappointing and with a miscommunication trope added into the pile, this book won’t get more than 3 stars from me. Thank you for letting me read this book

The beginning of this book was a snooze. It got significantly better when we met Joe. There are moments in this that are laugh out loud funny. Honestly the main character’s humor and internal dialogue is good throughout, but the banter between her and Joe is the best part. I wanted to see more of their relationship rather than some of the other plot points, as I felt I was being told the emotion of the conflict rather than feeling it. The ending was a tad too insta love to be believable.

I received an advance review copy for free via Netgalley and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Hannah Doyle does top notch banter and low spice. I love that the characters in this one are in their thirties—a nice change from reading about those finding love in their early twenties, which isn’t relatable for me. Great little single mom x single dad fake dating read!

4⭐️ what a beautiful fun read! I love that this wasn’t the traditional romance and love to add it aspect of having some older main characters who were single parents. The banter in this book was so good and I was dying for more constantly. This is going to be one of those great romances that I’m going to all my friends!

I totally enjoyed this book. This was such a cute book and the slow burn kept me waiting, but it was so worth it. Fake dating is always a favorite trope of mine and this did not disappoint. Joe and Sophie were both so likable, they had me rooting for them very quickly!
Thank you netgalley for the ARC;

This book had its good moments and qualities. The children behaving like actual children instead of emotional support dogs for their parents. The messiness of friend groups. It just didn’t hit quite right for me. Some of the banter was funny, but this was a fake dating romance I just felt annoyed by. They had the absolute worst communication skills and very limited self awareness. I also felt like I read the whole book and barely knew Joe as a person. Like…. he’s a dad that’s a lit professor that doesn’t know how to extricate himself from flirty situations he has no interest in. That’s about all I’ve got. Sophie had some potential and some personal growth that I appreciated, although she had the most abysmal communication skills.
I don’t think the book is bad per se, it just wasn’t amazing.

spice: closed door

Triggers: cheating (previous spouse, off page), divorce (off page), spouse death (off page), drinking

Thank you, NetGalley and HQ!
I absolutely loved this witty, laugh out loud, swoon worthy romance, between two single parents who just want people to leave them alone and out of the romance arena. I was totally rooting for Sophie and Joe the entire time!

Ended up DNFing this the writing is really good but the story line just wasn’t for me to be honest but if this is your kind of book it would be perfect, I think because the characters were a lot older than myself I couldn’t fully connect with them and the storyline

Such a funny romcom! I love the idea of two single parents ganging up against the cool kids! Does anyone ever grow up when playground friendship groups are involved ?