I have never laughed with a book as much as I did with this one! I’m so glad I was accepted to read this as an arc! I truly felt like I read this one at the right time!

Super cute predicable rom com. 0/5 spice. Typical independent successful mom fall for good looking sweet single dad. The families and their banter is overall SWEET.

✨ARC Review✨

The Pick Up by Hannah Doyle
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖 Read if you like:
- Single Parent MCs
- Fake Dating
- Slow Burn
- Rom-coms


📅 May 9, 2024

💭 I loved seeing Sophie’s POV on motherhood and all of the 4yr old anecdotes from little Lila. This book was really funny and I loved the banter between Sophie and Joe (also a single parent).

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Enjoyed this book so much! I didn’t knew this author before and I’m so happy I do now. Love her writing style.

Okay so... We have two parents, one divorced and one widowed. The friendship between them felt so effortless, they just fitted so well. They’re so funny I literally couldn’t stop laughing sometimes! The development of their relationship was so sweet and you can also see the personal development of each.

And don’t even get me started with the kids! Lila is such a sweet funny little girl. Sophie’s sister is one of the best!

The fake dating was so good!!! And it was excacly what i WANT!! It really is a rom-com on full mode 😂🫣

Thank you Netgalley, author and publisher for this ARC.

This book was super enjoyable. I love fake dating, and the banter between the two characters was really realistic and fun. I liked that the children were involved as I feel like a lot of books where the MC's have children, they are kind of forgotten about or just used to further the plot.

I would definitely recommend this to friends who enjoy rom-com books!

Single parent fauxmance? Yes please!

You can feel the pull between Sophie and Joe from the first meeting, and you know they are going to fall hard.

But I didn't really fee the com of the rom com. Sure, there are some funny moments, but to me it was more about the facade we show others, and how we perceive those around us.

I did adore their kids and those around them.

I got frustrated at Sophie, wanted to yell at both of them to communicate.

So, while it was a good read, it just fell a bit flat for me.

I would read more by the author in the future though.

First thing you should know about me, I love a fake dating trope. This book was just perfect. Lots of fluffy romance and a good helping of angst as the faux-mance develops into real feelings and our poor couple can’t see the forest for the trees. This book is funny and a fast read. Perfect to pick up on a lazy afternoon when you want something light and sweet.

Cute book with some great humor and banter. But the fake dating just didnt hit it out of the park for me.

Sophie is a single mom of a 4 years old girl. She lived in Bristol where she’s a business mum full time, taking care of her daughter Lila and organized all the moments of her life. Her sister insists on arranging dates for her convinced that she have to find the true love after a bad divorce but Sophie’s not in the same idea. So one day, after meeting Joe at school, the hot single dad of her daughter’s class, they mutual made a pact: they’ll fake a relationship so Sophie could’ve stop dating with strangers and be invited to the events of the chic moms of Lila’s class ad Joe doesn’t have to deal with the moms who’s always flirting with him. Sophie and Joe are such a good characters,two single parents who love their children and would do anything for them. This book was a pleasant read full of laughs, sweet moments and a lot of misunderstanding. The cliché finale still left me with a smile on my lips and I recommend this book that will be released on May 9th! Thanks Netgalley for send me this book💕
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/2

This was a funny cute rom com. This was supposed to be fake dating but it didn’t have the aspects of fake dating.

4 stars⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ Digital for the e-arc of this book. This was one of the most funniest Rom-com books I've ever read, the slow burn was the best bit. But also, I loved the fact that there was fake dating in there which made it even more funny

Unfortunately this book wasn’t for me, any book that contains the fake dating trope needs to be fake dating in public but only being out in public once or twice in my opinion does not class as fake dating. Other people may enjoy it however, I unfortunately did not.

This was a cute quick read, fake dating friends to lovers but I spent the whole book waiting for the chemistry and the feels to heat up and found thst aspect of the story to be a little lacking.

Both single parents, Sophie and Joe meet in the school pick up line, and wouldn't you know, he's the dad of her daughters best friend. He's also the eye candy of all the other mom's in line and in trying to figure out how to avoid their glances, Joe and Sophie decide to fake a relationship. Getting them of his back and to help her daughter fit in more in school.

As the story goes on, their friendship continues to grow. And it is so so sweet. They have amazing people in their corners and they were two characters that were easy to root for from the get go. But I was missing the feels, and the longing glances and the sneaking a moment or two when the kids weren't looking and the oh my gosh feelings realization that never came.

A beautiful setting, an amazing friendship and this was a quick afternoon read!


Thank you Netgalley and HQ | HQ Digital for the ARC in exchange for my review!

Thank you so much NetGalley for this arc!!!

This was unfortunately a DNF for me because I felt it was silly to do a fake dating romance where they don’t actually fake date in public!! What’s the point?

Apart from that I loved the characters and the humour sprinkled throughout. And the plot was fun just was a miss for me!

Thanks so much!

This is a sweet and fun fake dating love story. It was a very relaxed and easy read. I had a lot fun reading it.
Joe and Sophie are both single parents who meet at their kid's school during the Pick Up time, and to help each other they decide to star a fauxmance. All the other characters, the moms, are a lot of fun as well, and you can see how they all deal and manage their professional careers with parenthood or how they give up their own dreams for their families.
If you like cute love stories this is the book for you.

A very interesting concept of a single mother, her eccentric daughter and the mysterious single dad at pick up. Sophie is a a wonderful female lead and an inspiration to all women. She is the perfect example of a strong individual who can be a girl boss, while being a great mother. Her character was multi dimensional and her relationships with her sister and her family were wholesome.

The way that Joe and Sophie got together seed a little abrupt at first, with no well established chemistry. But as we read about their interactions and see them get comfortable around each other, their banter becomes that much more full of passion and chemistry.

The children were not written about and forgotten, as is common in such a trope. Rather, they had their fair share of page time and contributed to the story as well though out characters.

This was my first Hannah Doyle read, and I loved it!

Two single parents, Sophie and Joe, plot to fake date their way into the parent group at their children's school. Through the story and humorous banter, you fall in love with both main characters. It’s a refreshing twist on friends-to-lovers and fake dating with two mature, parents. As a parent in my 30s, I loved these characters, which are rarely highlighted in romcoms.

My only complaint was the ending felt a bit abrupt, and I would have loved a long epilogue. Regardless, this book comes highly recommended by me.

Thank you to Netgally and HarperCollins for the ARC!

I wanted to give this novel 5 stars, and absolutely love it, but, I didn’t. I did like the storyline and the emotion vibes this book gives you, The ending was the best; such a cute way to end it!

this was such a silly book and sometimes that’s exactly what you need in life.

i loved sophie and joe as characters and i loved them together even more. their chemistry with each other was so clear from the start and it made the book that much more enjoyable. i loved every second of it.

fake dating and single parent are two of my favorite tropes and this one did both of them properly and i had so much fun reading it.

thank you to HQ and netgalley for the arc!

I loved this one so much! Fake dating is my absolute favourite trope and this one was done really well. I enjoyed all the characters and the storyline, I just wish it had been a dual pov.

I enjoy the fake dating trope and I thought it will be enough to help me through the story as I don’t like reading books that have even a slight form of reality in them. Having a child is a form or reality to me but unfortunately it wasn’t enough for me.

If you like books that have discussions that apply to real life then this book will be for you