This book was very predictable but it was a fun, cute read to the book I read before it, the patient!

Ten Rules for Faking It by Sophie Sullivan - DNF

I received a free copy of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, I did not connect with this novel at all. I really disliked the main character - and while it is not a requirement for me to like the main character in order to like a book, I honestly just couldn't stand her. She was whiny and selfish and I hated how often she talked to herself out loud.

I was not sucked into this novel at all. It definitely has it's audience, but unfortunately that wasn't me.

It’s been a while since I’ve thought, “this book would have been an easy four stars if it had been 100 pages shorter,” but that’s exactly how I felt about TEN RULE FOR FAKING IT by Sophie Sullivan. At 384 pages, it isn’t THAT much longer than other contemporary romances I’ve read, but it felt really, really long. It took me more than a week to read! The book follows Everly, a 30-year-old radio producer trying to find love while managing her anxiety and Chris, her sexy and caring, yet secretive boss. Everly accidentally blurts out a story about her cheating boyfriend on-air and gets swept into a dating show based around her and aired on her radio show.

Let’s start with the positives. This book has a lot of elements of other contemporary romances or romcoms I’ve read or watched while at the same time being wholly unique. I love that Everly is so darn relatable. I also recently turned 30, and so many of her emotional responses hit a chord for me. Now, I’m not on a radio dating show a la The Bachelorette, but I think if I were, I’d relate to Everly even more. I also enjoyed her love interest, Chris. He is a good guy trying to live up to his family’s expectations and succeed in his career. Too bad he is knocked sideways by his infatuation with Everly, who is absolutely not in his plans. This book also had killer side characters. I enjoyed both Chris and Everly’s BFFs and Chris’s brother. I feel future stories??

What didn’t work for me? As I mentioned, this book is a little too long. What I didn’t mention was that it’s a slow burn. So slow. The slowest slow. I was so irritated just waiting for ANYTHING to happen between Everly and Chris. I liked them both as characters, and I really wanted them to be together! So when they finally, finally kind of figure it out right before the end of the book… there is no steam. Zero. Nada. Nothing. It was such a disappointment. Sure, I’ve read books without love scenes that are fun and satisfying, but I thought Chris and Everly really needed that physical connection for me to believe they were actually in love. They danced around each other so much that I was completely let down by the lack of spark.

The other big problem for me was that as soon as this book started, well, as soon as we got Chris’ POV, we knew he was head over heels for Everly. It doesn’t matter that they haven’t really talked; he’s completely gone for her. All of these emotions happen before the book starts making Chris’ feelings for Everly, who, let’s be honest, is a bit of a mess, seem shallow at best, unbelievable at worst.

Overall, I liked a lot about this book, but it ended up being a “meh” read for me. I wish it had been faster paced and a little shorter. I don’t think I’ll give up on Sullivan’s books, TEN RULES was very well written, but I’ll temper my expectations for my next read.

**I received a free copy of this book in order to provide an honest review**

What a fun read. Unusual characters in a different type of setting. I enjoyed that the guy she ends up with isn’t your typical love interest.

This was ok but not great.

The positive: The book normalizes living with anxiety and affirms the challenges people face who struggle with it as Everly has trouble accepting and standing up for herself.

The less positive: The story went on too long and Chris was a bit too sensitive, to the point where it was unrealistic, which might be why the book dragged. He was such a lovesick puppy, pretty much from page 1.

The Bachelorette plotline was undeveloped and unoriginal. Aside from the treatment of anxiety (which was a big plot point), everything else felt rote and recently done - the whole list thing, the dating contest, the whole “I feel strangely pleased when he looks at me but I don’t know why. No, it can’t be that..”

I don’t think was awful, just mostly unoriginal.

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC copy of this book available to me.

Enjoyable, but it felt like there was a bit too much focus on the main character's anxiety issues, and Chris's father came across a bit one-dimensional.  Some nicely humorous moments were peppered throughout the book.

I loved this debut romcom from Sophie Sullivan! It was well written and I adored the story. I can't wait to read more from Sophie!

This was a perfect read for right after Christmas. This read was fun, had a few steamy scenes, and was just a great light hearted read. The characters were likeable, kept you engaged, and were well developed by the author. I don't re-read books often, but I'll be re-reading this one!

Synopsis: As birthdays go, this year’s for radio producer Everly Dean hit rock-bottom.

Worse than the “tonsillectomy birthday.” Worse than the birthday her parents decided to split (the first time). But catching your boyfriend cheating on you with his assistant?

Even clichés sting.

But this is Everly’s year! She won’t let her anxiety hold her back. She’ll pitch her podcast idea to her boss.

There’s just one problem.

Her boss, Chris, is very cute. (Of course). Also, he's extremely distant (which means he hates her, right? Or is that the anxiety talking)?

And, Stacey the DJ didn’t mute the mic during Everly’s rant about Simon the Snake (syn: Cheating Ex).

That’s three problems.

Suddenly, people are lining up to date her, Bachelorette-style, fans are voting (Reminder: never leave house again), and her interest in Chris might be a two-way street. It’s a lot for a woman who could gold medal in people-avoidance. She’s going to have to fake it ‘till she makes it to get through all of this.

Perhaps she’ll make a list: The Ten Rules for Faking It.

Because sometimes making the rules can find you happiness when you least expect it.

Review: I was pretty excited to read this book after it's illustrated cover caught my attention and the synopsis had me intrigued. Luckily this book was as enjoyable as I hoped. If you love romcoms as much as I do, you'll want to grab a copy of this one for yourself.

What I loved:

1. I loved how the author represented social anxiety in this book. Everly's struggles were very accurately portrayed imo and the author painted a vivid picture for those who don't struggle with social anxiety.

2. This book has a fun storyline that's easy to get invested in. Even though it's a slow burn romance, I thought it was sweet and entertaining.

3. I enjoyed the radio station setting and I thought the characters were well devopled. While I really liked the main characters, I did dislike some of the secondary characters though (*cough* Everly's parents *cough*).

Overall I found this to be an enjoyable quick read.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫

I thought this one was pretty good. I really liked the premise of the book and I thought it was really easy to run through, however I just feel like something was missing overall. The story didn't feel FULL, you know? The characters were likable and I found myself connecting to a lot of what the story offered, so I was really surprised to have felt this way in the end. 

Definitely not a bad read by any means, I expect this will not be the last I read of Sophie's work. I just hope next time I feel like it is satisfying as an ending.

Ten Rules for Faking It by Sophie Sullivan was a delightful romance concerning a radio talk show and the famous fake to real lovers trope (no real surprise). I greatly enjoyed this work as a fast paced read, but it was not my favorite over al due to some of the present stereotypes and cliches.

Poor Everly started another birthday terribly. This is nothing new for her, she has been through this many times before. But, darn, Stacy didn't have to make it worse. All of the bad birthdays she's been through and her parents crazy relationship really set her up to find love, finally. Had she not had this awful on air experience, Chris and her would have never broke out of their shell and become friendly, especially not flirty. Her past experiences threaten to end her new friendship. It was fun to go through the ups and downs with her. Recommend this fun read.

The main character of this book, Everly, suffers from anxiety and at times it was hard for me to read because it felt so similar to being in my own head. Absolutely loved how patient and thoughtful Chris was. And everyone needs a Stacey (the steadfast best friend of Everly) in their lives. Overall very mild steam but big on heart!

While I enjoyed this book, and i really appreciated having a main character with social anxiety, i couldn’t seem to be invested in the romance. I really loved the concept of “the bachelor” but over the radio, except that isn’t really what this was. This turned out to be a workplace romance. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I really wanted more from the radio part of the story. The main character goes on all these dates and we barely get to know about them (which i understand because they’re not the love interest, but i wanted one of them to be).

Ten Rules for Faking It is a sweet, slow burn office romance with great anxiety rep, but it fell a little flat for me.

On her 30th birthday, radio producer Everly catches her boyfriend cheating and then accidentally spills the story on air. Listeners rally around Everly and want to help her to find love, so her boss, Chris, suggests a dating show a-la the bachelorette to boost ratings and help Everly find happily ever after.

What I loved: The portrayal of Everly’s anxiety was (hand signal). When we’re in her head, we see her triggers and the thoughts going through her mind that occasionally lead to panic attacks. I really enjoyed this representation and discussion around mental health. Chris is sweet and supportive as can be. He really accepts Everly and her anxiety and is there for her without trying to change her. He’s a great match for her.

Which leads me to what I didn’t love: Everly’s best friend and her parents have NO IDEA how to be there for her. I really disliked her friend Stacey who was either pushing Everly into uncomfortable situations or getting annoyed with her when she had panic attacks. Like, really? Phrases such as “you’re fine” and “why do you do this?” had me super angry. She was honestly a terrible friend and her parents were pretty bad too.

SO! While these side characters pulled me out of the story and made me upset, I did enjoy the romance between Everly and Chris. I know lots of people loved this, so if you enjoy sweet, slow burn romances you may love this too!

🌟🌟🌟.5

Ten Rules For Faking It is a slow paced story. I don't feel excited to finish this book but I did it anyway. It was a cute love story. 

Everly has a bad luck when it comes to her birthday. But the latest one is the shittiest birthday ever because she found her boyfriend hooked up with his assistant. Goshh that suck!! 

Her bestfriend, Stacey who is a DJ wanted to surprise Everly so she wanted to wish her birthday while she was on air without Everly knowing but opsssss Everly accidently told Stacey bout what that fucker did. Everyone is listening lol But it turns out cool because everyone wanted her to have a happy ending.
Her boss, Chris got an idea to make a dating contest on the radio to help Everly found her love and to help their radio station. 

Thank you Netgalley, publisher and author for this ARC!

rating: 3.5/5

Things I liked: I'm a sucker for a dual POV! I also appreciated how anxiety was portrayed in this book; I think it was handled with class and dignity. As someone who has anxiety, there were many moments throughout the book that I thought, "YES! That's exactly how it feels!" And I think the relationship between Everly and Chris was really sweet and easy to love. 

Things that I didn't love: this was a slowwwww burn. I wanted a bit more romance between Everly and Chris. 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and would recommend to anyone who likes office romances, or The Bachelorette!

I enjoyed this romance about Everly who writes a list of ten things she wants to change about her life on her 30th birthday.  I liked her list and how she actively strove to stick to her goals to improve her life.  I was so inspired by her list that I created my own list of ten rules for 2021! I loved the characters and found them to be likable.  I related well with Everly because we have similar personalities and I, too suffer from anxiety. I loved that she had her best friend, Stacey, and her boss/love interest, Guy, there to give her the support she needed.  I would recommend this book to readers that enjoy a fun, light, romantic book!
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

3.5 stars

Everly celebrated her birthday by learning that her boyfriend was cheating on her. In order to get ratings up, radio station manager Chris suggested a Bachelor-themed radio show segment in which Everly would find her Mr. Right with the help of the audience. Except Chris had been in love with Everly since he stepped into the station.

Ten Rules for Faking It was a cute read with the love interest stealing the show. Everly suffered from social anxiety; however, her anxiety mostly served as a foil to her dating challenges. As someone who only has mild social anxiety, I can’t speak to the authenticity of Sullivan’s portrayal, but I was expecting a bit more introspection regarding Everly’s anxiety.

Chris was a sweet and supportive love interest. Chris came from a large family and I liked his relationship with his brothers. I’m somewhat hopeful that Sullivan explores all of Chris’ siblings in future books.

One aspect I enjoyed was that Everly and Chris had to address how much their families had negatively impacted them. From that slow realization, they were able to begin the healing journey.

Sophie Sullivan’s debut novel was sweet and will attract readers who enjoy a slow burn romance with low heat.

Ten Rules for Faking It is one of those novels that is nothing like you expect it to be and that’s not a bad thing. Exploring how a young woman lives with debilitating anxiety and panic attacks within the setting of a romantic comedy about a radio producer’s 30th birthday and the changes she decides to make to improve her life, the novel is sweet, emotional, humorous, angsty, and entertaining.

Unfortunately, things seem to always go disastrously wrong on radio producer Everly Dean’s birthdays, which is why she probably should have been prepared for her 30th of all birthdays to really suck worse than any of the other’s. There’s a whole list, notably her parents’ first split and the year she had to have her tonsils out. Somehow, however, she found herself woefully unprepared. First, she finds out with her very own eyes that her boyfriend is cheating on her with his assistant. To deal with this disastrous start to her 3Os she comes up with some rules/guidelines to help her make it through with her sanity intact and without becoming bitter. Then, her DJ best friend, Stacy, fails to mute her mic while Everly rants on air about her cheating ex for all the world to hear to her complete embarrassment. 

That would be bad enough but then her boss at the radio station, Chris, who she finds cute and might be attracted to feels sorry for her and starts talking to her today of all days – after ignoring her very existence the entire time that he has worked at the station and being so standoffish with her that she’s convinced he must hate her. After Everly’s rant about her ex and the listeners’ response and some chatting between Everly and Stacy on air, Chris comes up with a promotion to find Everly a better boyfriend like the Bachelorette.

I love the way the novel starts off. It draws you into the story and into Everly’s world immediately, making you care about her. Sullivan’s description is vivid and her development of Everly’s character is fitting. Everly suffers from debilitating anxiety, a lot of which seemed to be worsened by her parents on again/off again relationship and the stress from playing middleman and the grown up in her dealings with their immature antics. It wouldn’t surprise me if it didn’t stem from her parent’s relationship all together. Everly’s self-soothing/calming measures are a nice touch to add to her character development and enrich her character.  While some of the situations in which she finds herself because of her parents are humorous, it’s mostly not cool and very frustrating. Initially, I thought the novel would be more humorous throughout based on the beginning. There is humor sprinkled in places but for the most part, it’s more angsty and emotional, to me it read like more of a romantic drama with bits of humor. The dates along with Everly’s list increase her anxiety, but they also broaden her horizons and help her to grow over the course of the novel. 

I loved the interactions between Chris and Everly. You can see Everly begin to step outside her comfort zone when she is with him and that’s nice development for her character. You also can see Chris softening and not hiding as much of his emotions and personality as they spend more time together. Although the story is told in both Everly’s and Chris’ viewpoints, it seems like we get more of a view of Everly’s emotions for most of the story, which impacts how we see Chris and limits how we can connect to his character emotionally. 

I felt like Stacy’s character was underdeveloped, aside from being the reliable best friend who was ride or die and always there for Everly. Her life was missing on its own, which was unfortunate, because from what we learned about her she seemed very cool and crucial to Stacy’s well-being. She also holds her accountable, which is so important. Clearly, Everly’s emotional issues and anxiety are something that she is not able to control most of the time. Still, she seems to sometimes take Stacy for granted and not consider her feelings when she becomes overwhelmed or has a panic attack. Maybe it’s a product of how most of her relationships come off as one-sided because she is so closed off and self-protective, understandably so.  

Ten Rule for Faking It has some nicely written scenes that totally draw you in and those moments are a joy to read. The story flows and the pages fly by, including moments where Everly is overwhelmed by her anxiety. However, other times when Everly’s anxiety becomes the monster that consumes the story and keeps you from being able to learn about the other characters important to the story and their viewpoints the pacing slows, and it becomes a frustrating read. Perhaps, that is authorial intent to show the all-consuming nature of this disease, but this is clear from Everly’s story, her character development, and interactions with Stacy and Chris, as well as other characters. So, it’s not necessary. A more balanced approach in developing all three characters I think would have resolved this issue. 

Although Ten Rules for Faking it falls short on the full-on humor of the average romantic comedy and has some character and pacing issues, it is a heartfelt, evocative, introspective, sweet, angsty, and humorous romantic drama about first learning to accept yourself as you are and then taking responsibility for your own happiness to begin making changes to grow as a person and to improve your life.