This book sounded really promising with its Bachelorette-style plot, but in the end, I was not a fan of Ten Rules For Faking It. If you are looking for a very long slow burn romance, than this is the book for you. There was too much going on in this book between Everly’s dates, job and anxiety, which I applaud the author for how her anxiety was displayed throughout the book. The inner dialog of Everly and Chris on almost every single page got on my nerves after the first few chapters and with 41 chapters in the book, it was a lot to get through. The chemistry between Everly and Chris to me was not believeable and made it hard for me to root for them. I was actually rooting more for Everly to choose herself with the growth she had in the final few chapters.

This book starts off great and then slows down. Everly catches her boyfriend cheating on her 30th birthday. At her radio producing job she hilariously vents to her best friend and on air talent Stacey. Unfortunately, the mike is hot and they are live on the radio. What may cost them their jobs turns into an opportunity to have Everly do a mini Bachelorette experience dating two men a week with input from radio listeners narrowing to a winner. Station manager Chris pitches the idea and Everly reluctantly agrees. Chris is running the station as the last hoop of many that his millionaire father has him jumping through before getting reigns in the family business. He's been attracted to Everly for months but hasn't made moves since he doesn't plan to stay in California.

An unusual choice is having Everly suffer from social anxiety. So many people have anxiety issues that it was interesting to see her thoughts and reactions in dealing with co-workers, having a surprise party and going on blind dates. The author spends a lot of time on the issue and the sensitivity of her friends that could see it and help her deal with situations.

The book is a slow burn which I don't mind. But it is slowed down by a lot of characters and storylines that aren't needed. For example Rob the gym owner, Noah the brother of Chris. Both are great guys but the time used on them doesn't progress the romance or the anxiety storyline. Everly's relationship with her parent's is important and I like that Everly is brave enough to speak up about how their behavior impacts her life yet another slowdown. For me the romance payoff was more like a firecracker and not fireworks. It wasn't that exciting after such a long build.

Overall this is cute and well written but has too many characters with depth. I appreciate it is a contemporary romance that is clean for steaminess and uses only mild language.

Thank you to Net Galley, St. Martin's Press and the author for a ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Everly Dean is the poster child for social anxiety. She lives a carefully constructed world to keep people out and her emotions in until a series of unfortunate events throw her life into a wild ride. First, she finds her boyfriend inflagrante delicto with his assistant. If that is not bad enough, it is Everly’s birthday so she goes on a rant that ends up on the air of the radio station where she works. The DJ, who also happens to be Everly’s best friend, Stacey, opens the mike to sing happy birthday unbeknownst to her normally very shy producer. Everly is mortified in part because she thinks her boss, Chris, whom she has a secret crush on, hates her already. Disaster becomes the dating game when the station turns the reluctant Everly into a Bachelorette contestant after the station receives a huge ratings boost. This is Everly’s worse nightmare being in such a spotlight. She has so many hang-ups largely because of her wacky parents who continually break-up at inopportune times like her 7th birthday and then makeup with Everly always in the middle of their chaos.

The station manager Chris has his own familial issues being the youngest son of a business mogul who seems to love nothing better than to jerk his progeny around. Chris is very attracted to Everly; however, company policy states no fraternizing with employees. Chris has also kept the fact that his family owns the stations a secret. Chris’s adversarial relationship with his bully of a father keeps things tense because he knows the station could be sold at any time.

While the contest is in play, Everly and Chris spend a lot of time together both of them trying to subvert their mutual attraction. Chris has to stand by and watch Everly date eligible men all the while longing for her. This is a very slow burn romance and while they characters are in their thirties, they seem rather immature. Chris seems to have no backbone when it comes to his overbearing father or his feelings for Everly. Everly needs to grow up and get out of her parents’ emotional clutches and get a handle on her neurotic tendencies. There are some entertaining moments, but on the whole the story lacks the Rom-Com light heartedness feel seeming quite tedious and protracted at times.

Netter, unterhaltsamer Liebesroman

"Ten rules for faking it" ist einer dieser unterhaltsamen, teils wirklich komischen, Liebesromane, die einem beim Lesen viel Spaß machen, die man danach aber auch wieder schnell vergisst. Das muss nichts negatives sein, manchmal will man ja nur eine lockere Lektüre lesen, die einen aus dem Alltagstrott rausholt und für ein paar Stunden in eine andere Welt versetzt.

Everly war mir als Charakter von Beginn an sympathisch. Sie hat mit ihren Geburtstagen in der Vergangenheit und auch dieses Jahr (das Buch startet an ihrem Geburtstag) nicht viel Glück gehabt. Dieses Jahr hat sie ihren Freund beim Seitensprung überrascht und ihr reicht es. Als sie sich darüber gerade bei einer Kollegin auslässt, ahnt sie nicht, das alles im Radio übertragen wird (nicht aus Absicht!). Das setzt eine Flut an Entwicklungen in gang und wie Everly damit umgeht, war sehr unterhaltsam.

Da ich das Buch gerne gelesen habe, es mich gut unterhalten hat, ich es nach dem Lesen aber wieder schnell vergessen habe, gebe ich dem Buch 3,5 Sterne.

One thing I will say is that I put too much weight on my expectation of getting a fun rom-com book. When it became evident that fun, sort of silly or even laugh out loud moments we get from other rom-coms was not going to be in this book, I was really disappointed.

I was also disappointed to know exactly how this book was going to end by the time I read the first sentence of the second chapter. The second chapter was in the POV of the (real) love interest and how he started his chapter, it became obvious where this story would go. And yes, romances tend to make it fairly easy, so I’m trying to hold it against this book a lot.

It terms of the actual romance, it’s a slow burn, HUGE emphasis on the slow. And I’m not talking just the romance. The whole book felt way too slow and unnecessarily dragged out.

And there wasn’t any realistic drama that created obstacles to keep the story going. I thought the whole bachelorette radio style plot was going to be fun. However, the author used it as a way to showcase our MC Everly’s constant battle with major anxiety.

Which is great! I love the anxiety rep in this book. I’ve dealt with anxiety in the past and still have very mild social anxiety from time to time even now. And I know I’m not alone, so seeing this kind of rep is great. However, after a while, it felt like the author was just using Everly’s anxiety has a plot device to keep the story going. Time after time, Everly always used her anxiety and her fears to push people away or simply not let them in. It really comes down to her having a fear of trusting people.

But there were many times where Everly came off bitchy; she throws several things back into her main love interest’s face even when the internal thoughts we get from Everly show her acknowledging that she’s being unfair to the other person. I got frustrated because, while there are small developments in Everly (besides moments like above), nothing really major happens until the last 15-20% of the book.

It isn’t it until towards the end that Everly’s best friend finally has a conversation with her that even with Everly’s anxiety and whatever else, Stacey isn’t leaving and wishes Everly would let her in. Honestly, Stacey was my favorite character. I wish the author had Everly make some of the changes she made all right at the end over time in the book, I think it would have more realistic.

What also wasn’t very realistic was the romance. I didn’t see any chemistry and Everly was written to act like so many heroines that have thoughts like “he has a great, he’s so handsome .. wait, why I am suddenly thinking this”. Things like this in romance stories have become irritating to me. It would have been more believable if she objectively saw that he was handsome, but left it at that. I will say that I really liked the love interest’s response to her anxiety, I thought that that was well done.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of "Ten Rules for Faking It" by Sophie Sullivan. This book was so lovely, I'm not over it. I just love Chris and Everly as characters and they fit together so perfectly. Chris's adoration of Everly was heart-melting and their professional relationship keeping them apart was heart-rending and the slow burn of this novel nearly killed me. But it was gooood. I also really related to Everly's anxiety, even if I don't experience it in exactly the same way, I still understood her and her struggles and neuroses and how she has to fight past them everyday. The part where her and Chris were arguing about whether people should ever get a divorce is a conversation I had almost word for word with my husband when we were dating and it just hit me, it was so real. I love it when a book can do that, just get right at the heart of what we all worry about, what makes every relationship scary. This book was so enjoyable from start to finish while also being so emotionally real. Go read it everyone!

3 stars, it was an alright book but nothing particularly great. This book is lighthearted and fun but I found it to be just ok and it didn't stand out to me in a sea of romance novels. In Ten Rules for Faking It the main character Everly is struggling in her love life so the radio station she works at decides to hold a Bachelorette style contest for her to find the one. But Everly is secretly crushing on her boss and the book shows how this all plays out.

The description of this book sounded like something I would really enjoy but I found this book to be a slow burn romance and it was too slow for me. I thought this book could be shorter or spend less time working up to the romance. In parts I was getting bored and kept reading just to see when Everly and her boss would finally get together, it seemed to take forever. The characters were likeable and it was a cute book but I think I'll forget it quickly. It's a perfectly good book but there are so many great romance novels coming out all the time that this one is easily forgettable and didn't really stand out for me.

Overall, it's a cute romance but wasn't for me. Just too slow but I could see anyone who loves a slow burn romance enjoying this. If that's your favourite trope give this book a read!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Griffin for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book, it started a little slow but really picked up. Once I got to that part, I couldn’t put it down. The plot is interesting and different than most of the other romance books I’ve read, which makes it a real winner in my mind.
The main character, Everly, has severe social anxiety. I like how the author address this, she shows how supportive friends can make a big difference to people with this disorder. All in all, a solid romance with compelling characters and a great plot . I highly recommend this book. 4 stars.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, thank you so much Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for this arc!

Both the cover and synopsis for this book were super cute and I was really excited to read it. However, it unfortunately did not live up to my expectations. The first thing I struggled with it was being a super slow burn, closed-door romance. I typically prefer a steamy romance, and often get bored with closed-door. However, I had some other issues. Story wise the characters were frustrating me a little with their inconsistent characteristics, and often immature-seeming behaviors. I did really love the relationship between Everly and Stacey, but Everly and Chris’s relationship seemed very surface level and random to me.

On a more technical level, I’ve read quite a few arcs, and most of them are pretty much ready to be published. This arc felt like it still needed a good round of heavy editing. Lots of typos, awkward wording, and inconsistencies in small details - such as positions of characters or times oof day, ect that kept changing from moment to moment. One little issue wouldn’t have thrown me off, but the fact that it kept happening pulled me out of the story.

Overall, a very cute and sweet romance, but I personally like stories with a little more depth, and a little more steam.

I wasn't really sure about this book at the beginning. However, it grew on me and I ended up really enjoying it. I found the concept pretty interesting and appreciated how Everly's social anxiety was handled. It didn't strike me as the start to a series, but who knows! The romance was definitely a slow burn and some of the obstacles weren't the most impactful for me. But I adored the relationship between Stephanie and Everly, which excused some failings. I also liked the radio station setting and Everly's dynamics with her parents. There was a particular scene that had me cackling.

Ten Rules for Faking It by Sophie Sullivan
Source: NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin
Rating: 4/5 stars

As far as birthdays go, Everly would be perfectly content to ignore hers. Every. Single. Year. As an anxiety-riddled introvert, Everly doesn’t like being in the spotlight, and every year, without fail, something awful seems to happen on her birthday that draws her firmly into the spotlight.

This year is no exception.

On the morning of her birthday, Everly catches her D-bag of a boyfriend in bed with his assistant. Though she isn’t overly heartbroken, she is very angry, and that anger comes out to her best friend as they are starting work. Unfortunately, Everly isn’t aware, until it is way too late that her whole story comes tumbling out over the airwaves of the local radio station. Yet again, a disastrous birthday that puts Everly in the spotlight.

Within hours, Everly finds that her story totally resonates with listeners and a scheme to help save the radio station is hatched. Shy, introverted, anxiety-riddled Everly is going to become her own Bachelorette program and over the course of several weeks, she and the station’s listeners will work through a list of eligible bachelors to find Everly her own happily ever after. Everly is completely freaked out by the prospect of multiple dates with multiple men, but she wants to keep her job more, so she agrees to the madness.

Standing on the sidelines is the one man who truly cares for and appreciates Everly. Even with all her issues, Chris sees Everly for who she really is and wants nothing more than to care for her openly and honestly. The trouble is Chris is Everly’s boss and he has never given her the slightest indication he has anything but professional feelings towards her. In the weeks of the dating competition, Chris is by Everly’s side and always available should she have any trouble. Chris becomes a source of support and friendship that eventually, at least for Everly, grows into something far more intense and real. Obviously, neither are going to confess their true feelings until they have too 😊

The Bottom Line: I guess I’m reading books incorrectly again, because I quite liked this book. Never once did I feel sorry for Everly, but compassion and support for her as she struggled through her own issues to try and help others. Everly is a character I couldn’t help but root for and I especially appreciated her best friend and her boss, Chris. Neither enabled Everly but sought to help her overcome and accomplish. In all, I found this to be a rather uplifting book with a load of feels thrown in for good measure.

The main characters, Everly and Chris, are sensitive to other people and tortured by their difficult parents. However, they are less sensitive to their own needs and strengths. Luckily they discover more about themselves as they fall in love. This is a romance without the usual passionate scenes. There is more tingling in their touching pinkies than there often is in the sex scenes of other books. I kept reading because I wanted to know how they would deal with their difficulties. There is room of a sequel between Rob and Stacey which is always fun.

Ten Rules for Faking It by Sophie Sullivan is a light-hearted rom com with an interesting premise and likeable characters. I really appreciated the care Sophie Sullivan took to showcase the reality of living with social anxiety.

However, the slow burn romance was too slow for my liking. I also felt the novel was often bogged down by overly descriptive writing and too many scenes focusing on plotlines for side characters.

Radio producer Everly isn't fond of birthdays, but her thirtieth birthday is turning out to be the worst one yet. First she walks in on her boyfriend cheating on her, next she accidentally airs the entire experience on air and then she's sent home from work because her on air rant lead to dead air the station can't afford to have. Luckily for Everly, thousands of listeners who heard her rant share their support for her online and some are even offering to date her, which gives her boss Chris the idea to create a Bachelor-style promotion for Everly to find the happily ever after she deserves. The promotion will boost ratings and attract new advertisers which will give Chris the opportunity to finally move up in his career and it will hopefully help him get over his year long crush on Everly. As the promotion gets underway, Everly and Chris begin to spend more time together and both Everly and Chris find themselves struggling to fight the growing connection between them.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Griffin and the author for the chance to read this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a cute book! I liked seeing both the narratives and the chemistry between them. It was a very slow book, I wish it wouldnt have been so dragged out.

On my god, my heart!!!

Honestly, I feel like this is one of the books the world needs. This is a book that represents a completely relatable female character with social anxiety that readers can understand, and some, can identify with on a personal level. Social anxiety is more prevalent than most people can guess. Many people with social anxiety feel the need to try and hide it because they are under the impression that they should be ashamed. This book basically says "no, it's okay. You are fine just the way you are and you shouldn't be afraid or ashamed to be who you are." It also shows that if you want to change yourself, you can do that too.

If you don't have social anxiety, it provides some insight to what is going on in the heads of people with social anxiety. Thankfully the author cuts down on the fast, constantly running dialogue of what ifs that seem to run through the heads of most socially anxious people because this books would be at least twice as long as it already is. But it does get the general point across.

This book spoke to me. Like, directly to me. At first I was like "yeah okay, this is pretty good" but as it went on I started thinking "that's me. That's me. That's me. Oh my god, that's me too!" How often is it that you read a book that is so incredibly cute and sweet that completely speaks to you as a person?

Everly has severe social anxiety, while I would say mine is more of ' general' social anxiety in comparison. I haven't had true, full blown attack since I was twelve. I've gotten pretty good at recognizing my signs and extracting myself from situations to go have a private chat with myself either in a bathroom or my car to wind myself back down. Poor Everly seems to be on social terms with her anxiety attacks and gets hit so fast and hard she doesn't have much of an opportunity. Plus, she's actively trying to push herself because she wants to be different so the anxiety striking back isn't such a surprise really.

She puts herself in all sorts of situations she's not comfortable with, including restaurants and surprise parties because she wants to be different. She wants to make friends and hang out. I identified SO HARD with Everly. The dislike of restaurants, the dislike of being the center of attention, of having people too close that you feel like it's getting hard to breathe. I get those things. I don't like restaurants where people are close and can totally see everything you're doing (booths for life folks). I don't like taking the LRT or the bus and being crammed in near strangers. I hate bars and clubs where everyone is in my space (this is where my car trick came into play. And like Everly, I totally left). I HATE parties. Slightly less so if I know everyone there. BUT you take me to a party, you better not leave me alone and there had BETTER be a dog I can go pet in a quiet corner while you pee.

Everly is terrified to speak in front of her colleagues and pitch them her ideas. She does it, because it's an necessary evil. I get that. Public speaking in front of strangers or friends puts the fear of god in me. But I do it. Part of the job, part of having friends sometimes.

I get the wanting to go home, the wanting to go hide in the corner, the sheer exhaustion of putting yourself out there. The not wanting even your friends to know how much something has bothered you because you're sure it's just you being a freak 'thing'. The need to feel in control by BEING in control. I totally get her. I totally get IT.

She clenches her hands till her fingernails impale her palms, I clench my shoulders muscles so hard I spent the majority of my time with a mild headache. She taps her fingers, I bounce my foot. The more stress she's under the faster and more methodical she taps, I can bounce my foot so fast my chair actually can be seen vibrating. Cold sweats, feeling sick, wanting to die when the social spotlight is cast upon her...I feel you, Everly. I feel you.

But Everly is simply amazing. She takes up the challenge issued mostly by herself, and a bit by her best friend, and DOES it to the best of her abilities. She goes on these dates with multiple men. She DOES things she's not comfortable with. She pushes herself. My Heart, Everly. I mean, Chris is great too...

Seriously, Chris is great. He's hot, kind and most importantly, understanding. Chris is practically the perfect guy for someone with social anxiety. He gets it. He instinctively knows where the limits are for Everly's comfort zone. Of course he did a slightly more colourful background story than perfect should have, in order to get the 'drama' part, but he's honestly just an all round nice guy. Who is hot. But he wasn't what got me committed to this book. Team Everly!

In Conclusion

This book is funny. This books is relatable. This book gives people with anxiety someone they can completely relate to and people who are more...relaxed with themselves a valuable look into the psyche of someone who has rather severe anxiety. This book tells people that they are okay just the way they are, but if they want to change, even just a little bit, that's okay too.

I really enjoyed this book and I hope to god there will be many more like it!

This was a really fun read. I think it could have been more tightly edited because at some points it went on a little too much. I loved Everly and Chris and Everly's bff Stacey. The backdrop of the radio station was a lot of fun too.

Honestly, this is... fine. Not amazing, but not terrible either. I would recommend for fans of SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE because of the radio premise.

This is a really cute book. It's really different than most romances because it concentrates on Everly, her lists and her social anxiety. So many romances are just he said/she said and sex scenes. I liked the actual story and the fun friendship between Everly and Stacey. It is every girls dream to have a bff as kind as Stacey. I am looking forward to reading other books from Sophie Sullivan!

Bachelor Nation assemble! (don't mind me as I wait on the sidelines because I don't actually watch the Bachelor/Bachelorette 👀 )

We have Everly, radio show producer, taking part in a Bachelorette-style dating competition to boost up her radio show ratings. She will narrow down her contestants to one lucky man by 5 weeks. Only things is, she has the hots for Chris, her boss.

➽ Forbidden love (boss/employee)
➽ Radio show setting
➽ Bachelorette style dating
➽ Slow burn
➽ Social anxiety

➽ Great banter! Who doesn't love some good banter?
➽ There was a back and forth "I like you but wait I can't like you" between Everly and Chris. Another case where communication could've solved everything 🤷🏻‍♀️
➽ A LOT of angst mixed in with a slow burn. To be honest, I couldn't handle the pace. It was a sloooow slowww burn. It was killing me! And yes, I got frustrated lol.

➽ Everly's parents. Too much emphasis on the drama between her parents. Pretty unnecessary and I began to skim the pages.
➽ Clean romance. The farthest they get is kissing. (whomp whomp)
➽ Overall, it felt more like YA than adult romance? Because of the angst and clean romance which were unexpected. Still an adorable read with great humor!
➽ I'm sensing a book two? Hmmm 🤔🤔

It's cute and lighthearted. The main characters definitely had chemistry and the romance is a slow burn. The problem is that it's way too much of a slow burn. About halfway through I was thinking....ok they're so close to finally kissing and admitting feelings where else is there to go? But go on it did. The plot really got stretched here. I also had a problem with how Everly has some pretty severe anxiety to the point where it interferes with her life. Only once it was mentioned to her that she should get some help (and that's never explicitly stated as help from a therapist), but she never does and it's never mentioned again. I did like how her anxiety isn't treated as a turn off or something to be annoyed about, but she really should have seen a therapist.

Along with being a slow burn, this definitely is not an explicit sort of book. It's probably the most tame romance book I've read in a long time.