Romcom perfection with a Freaky Friday vibe. Portia MacIntosh once again completely charmed me with this story packed with delightful characters and whimsical antics. Ella is in a bit of a rut. She lost her job, destroyed her pride, and burned her apartment down all on the same day. So when her twin sister Emma reaches out asking her to “take her place“ for six weeks Ella jumps at the chance. How hard can it be? They are identical after all. Even though Ella has not seen her niece and nephew in over a decade and has no experience at motherhood, she is certain this will go well. That is Until Ella ends up pulling in the wrong carpool drop off line, has no idea how to operate the coffee machine, and thought chicken nuggets was a good dinner choice. OK perhaps this is harder than Ella thought, but she can do this.

   So much laugh out loud fun! Ella was great! Even though she got herself into some trouble she always seem to get out of it in her own way. Her relationships with the kids was great. I liked her different perspective, I think sometimes as moms we get fixated on the wrong things and this was kind of like a fresh reset. There is also a delightful love interest in the Story, Marco. We would all be lucky to find a Marco, he was so supportive, understanding, and oh yeah hot. Another stellar book from this fabulous author!

This book in emojis  🚙 🕷 🍭 🧃 🕶 

*** Big thank you to Boldwood for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

As if losing your job having your house on fire and then becoming homeless isn’t enough for one day, Ella is then tasked with the job of stepping into her twin sister Emma’s shoes for 6 weeks so nobody knows she’s in jail.  Emma’s life is vastly different from the one Ella lives and it’s going to take a lot to convince people.  Can Ella fake being Emma and learn to navigate the world of yummy mummies, money and the PTA whilst avoiding the hunky dads of the school gates?
Witty writing, laugh out loud moments and a heart-warming story is the standard I have come to expect from Portia Macintosh and Faking It does not disappoint.  
Ella has had terrible luck but, in a way, she really doesn’t help herself.  She’s such an endearing character but there are times when I want to give her a boot up the backside and a big hug.  She puts on a brave face and bravado but there’s a vulnerability at play underneath it all.  Emma is the same.  On the surface she has it all – she’s the perfect wife, mother and community member.  But Ella soon begins to discover that Emma’s life is not so easy and glamourous.  Also, meeting the dishy Marco is all well and good, unless you’re pretending to be you happily married sister.  I loved Marco and his easy-going ways.  He was a perfect romantic match for Emma and shared a lot of her traits. 
The plot is light and humorous although there are some emotional events and some thought provoking questions around relationships and dealing with the past.  For those who have the time – it’s easily a one sitting read although it’s nice to spread the joy over several days too.  
This is a delightful read, guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

I’ll admit it, I thought this was going to be a fluffy sweet book. I was wrong!! It was a sweet book but it was so much more. I enjoyed this book a lot. I was pleasantly surprised by the whole story. I didn’t want it to end!

5☆ A Laugh out Loud, Fun, Uplifting, Rom Com. A Must Read!


Faking It is the perfect name for this laugh out loud Rom Com. I thoroughly enjoyed every single bit of it. 

Emma and Ella are identical Twins but oh so very different in personalities.
So when Emma rings Ella saying she's in desperate need of her help, because she's going to have to go away for a while.
Ella can't believe her oh so perfect sister has been so stupid. 

But down on her luck, out of a job and pretty much homeless, she doesn't really have a choice but accept Emma's offer. 

You see Emma lives the perfectly happy and wealthy life. Two children, a loving hubby, a gorgeous fur baby and a good social network, and she can't bare the shame of the neighbours or her friends finding out what's happened to her! 

So she persuades Ella to impersonate her until she gets out of jail.
No one can know apart from her hubby Rich. 
Easy right?.... I mean they are identical what could possibly go wrong?
Lol but judging by the fact Ella hasn't even seen her Nephew or her Niece in years, and has never been to the family home, she most certainly has got her work cut out for her... with some hilarious consequences! 

Oh and watch out for Marco! He and Ella become increasingly close, he's handsome, Smart, Fun, and a bit of a Con Artist, but all is not as it seems! Will he suss out Ella's secret? 

I'm a huge fan of Portia MacIntosh's books and once again she has written an absolute Gem of a Book! 
She is such a super talented Author and her books just keep getting better and better!
Faking It was the perfect tonic I needed to cheer myself up. 

Faking It is a Highly Entertaining, Fun, Laugh out Loud, Uplifting, Feel-good read, but at times Tender and Emotional. 
The Characters are superbly written, the plot flowed along seamlessly, I loved all the drama, mishaps, mayhem and lil twists it kept the book exciting and fun.
This book is jam packed with so much it was impossible not to love it.
Would I recommend reading this book?...... without a Doubt.....100% YES!!

Thank you so much @netgalley for this arc.
I absolutely thoroughly enjoyed this book.
The humor brought to the table had me chuckling a few times.
When Ella's twin sister emma calls to ask a favor,  mind you they haven't talked in 10 years 🙄 
Ella's finds herself in a situation trying to take over her sisters life; to the world, her friends, even her children, for 6 weeks!! 
Yup thats the favor she's going to jail and wants to keep up appearances. Mmm hmm was my first thoughts.
Aaand to top this off her sister is wham bam rich!
This was the perfect light read and recommend.

Being a twin myself (although not an identical twin), I completely loved the idea of the story of Faking it! Emma and Ella are identical twins, but whose lives couldn’t be any more different. They have barely seen each other in 18 years, but when Emma calls upon Ella out of the blue, and asks her for a huge favour, Ella reluctantly agrees.

With Emma having to go way for 6 weeks, she asks Ella to swap ‘places’ with her, so as her reputation is not ruined. No-one knows she has a twin sister, so no-one will be any the wiser that Ella is not actually Emma! Things don’t go quite to plan, as Ella has to learn all about her new life. And that includes getting to know her new ‘husband’ and ‘children and a whole new family life.

With twists and turns along the way, Faking It is a funny, heartwarming and uplifting story, which I can totally recommend if you are a fan of romantic comedy stories, and especially Portia Macintosh.

What a fantastic, moving and fun read this book is - hilarious and totally packed with laugh out loud incidents! 

Identical twins don't necessarily have identical personalities or lives. That is particularly true for Emma and Ella. As a teen, Emma married her childhood sweetheart, had her first child, inherited a fortune from her Mum and kicked her twin sister out of their home. Ella was always the rebellious twin, the one who kicked back against authority and got into mischief. Now they're approaching their thirty-fifth birthday and Emma calls to request Ella's help . . . . she wants Ella to pretend to be her, living her life, looking after her two children who don't know Ella - whilst Emma goes to prison for six weeks. What will it be like pretending to be her wealthy twin? Definitely a shock to the system - especially with Emma's rebellious daughter to care for and handsome men around to tempt Ella! 

This is a great read, showing how life can be so different to that you expect when moving to live in someone else's place. The story is definitely a great romcom but that ending is so emotional! Ella trying to fit in with Emma's rich, gossiping friends, taking over organising tasks, dealing with strangers who assume she knows them, trying to cater for the children who assume she's their Mum . . . a fabulous fun read that I thoroughly enjoyed!

Thanks to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for my copy of this book which I have voluntarily read and honestly reviewed.

I have yet to meet a Portia MacIntosh book I don't love.

I had feared before going in that, as the twins have very similar names, it would be confusing to tell who was who. This is not then, as I had pictured, a dual narrative. I would have loved to see Emma a little more in the speaking role, though. 

I loved seeing Ella's relationship with her niblings, and also the romance in this book was very sweet.

This was such a good read! Seemed like an impossible task - to fake being someone else, even if you are a twin. 
I enjoyed all the characters in this book and loved that becoming someone else helped Ella to discover herself in a way that she may not have done otherwise. 
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC to review.

Faking It by Portia MacIntosh is a fun love story about identical twins.  Ella the poor sister agrees to take Emma, the rich sister, place for a few weeks.  Emma is going to jail for unpaid parking tickets.  Emma's husband knows all about the swap.  The sisters have not seen each other in years, but Ella has nothing to lose, so why not.  This was a fun book that I really enjoyed.  A lot of twists and turns, which kept my interest.  Plus the reader knows the truth, which kept us rooting for Ella.  I highly recommend this book.  
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

What a lovely, heartwarming, emotional story. When Ella finds herself suddenly homeless and jobless, an unexpected call from her estranged twin sister gives her aimless life purpose—for a few weeks at least. How hard can it be to pretend to be Emma for six weeks while her otherwise perfect sister does time at a country-club prison for her unpaid parking tickets? 

What Ella doesn't expect is to lose her heart to her teenage niece and nine-year-old nephew. She's never been responsible for another person before, and it brings out parts of her she didn't know existed. But things start to get complicated when her friendship with a sexy neighbor turns into something more. After all, she's supposed to be a married woman, and the gossips are starting to talk. 

This book is so much fun. Ella is a free spirit who can't seem to get her life sorted. And Marco…well, he's a bit of a mess, too, yet super smart and capable. Together, they're delightful. If you like romantic comedy, this book is a must-read.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received.

This was a fun book to read but with a great motive behind it.  The truth comes out in the end after all the hard work that has to be gone through. Very enjoyable and well written 5 stars for this and I recommend it. You will find this a good book to curl up with. Well thought out and different.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher for the ARC

The concept of this book was really good and I did enjoy and finish it.  It was funny in places and I did enjoy the characters, they were really well written, we could have heard from some of them a lot more and the "padding" would not have been needed.

There was pages and pages of "thought" and a great deal of "description", which wasn't needed, but then again had it not been there it would have been a Novella.  

If these characters were re-visited I would probably get the book so its not all bad.

“Now isn’t the time to worry, it’s the time to be proactive.” Faking It by Portia Macintosh

3.5 stars. This was a fun book to read. 

Ella’s life has just become complicated - she lost her job and she has not much in her bank account. And out of the blue, her twin Emma calls her and asks for her help...to pretend to be her for a few weeks. What?

Ella is a hoot and her fitting into her sister’s shoes...was a bit of a challenge.  Funny how Emma’s kids didn’t notice that their “mom” is someone else already.  Makes me wonder if my kids would notice if someone else masqueraded as me.

It’s a nice, light read with a happy ending for all and will look forward to reading this author’s other works. 

Thank you NetGalley  and Boldwood Books for this arc!

Love, loss, sisterhood and family dynamics drive this small town romance with a twist.

Suspend your disbelief for a few hours and dive into the world of wife and mother Emma who asks her sister Ella to take her place in a small town while she spends time in prison for traffic offences.
Like any fish out of water story, homeless and jobless Ella is not prepared to return to the lovely home where she grew up with her later mother and sister and even less prepared to act out the role of perfect mum and member of the local clique of bored witless wealthy woman who live in her town, who are desperate to feed on any hint of gossip. 
What Ella discovers is that Emma had been living a lie. This is no perfect life. Far from it. Otherwise why on earth would Emma want to keep her absence a secret?
The emotional twist at the end of the book is well signalled in the text and the character of Emma, so does not come as a complete surprise.

This book throws you straight into the drama. The engaging opening shows Ella in an extremely vulnerable state – her flat is on fire, and as a result she loses her home and her job. I was immediately engrossed and wishing for some good fortune to come Ella’s way.

The narrative is laced with soft humour throughout. Portia’s lively and humorous description brings the narrative, characters and settings to life. For example, one character is described as: “floating around the room like an over-caffeinated butterfly.” These descriptions are just another of my favourite features of this book.

The far-fetched plot line of Ella acting as her sister for a number of weeks, also develops a humorous, light-hearted stance to this novel. However, Portia delicately touches upon a number of important issues such as: the role of women, society’s expectations of women, the importance of maintaining communication with difficult adolescents and family values.

As is a regular feature of Portia’s books, Ella goes on quite a journey of self-discovery and growth throughout the book. The ending had elements of predictability, and also surprise, but was genuinely completely heart warming.

Another wonderful novel by one of my favourite romantic fiction of all times. I highly recommend this book, and others by this author to fans of Mary Jayne Baker, Lindsey Kelk and Jessica Redland.

Ella Copper’s day is not off to a great start. First her flat is partially burned, and then she gets evicted. Then she gets in trouble with her boss (again) and, well, yes, is fired. And then her car refuses to work as well. Ella is 35 years old and at a crossroad as what to do next. This is when she receives a call from her twin sister Emma. Emma has a huge favour to ask: could Ella, pretty please, step into her shoes and take her place for few weeks, as she doesn’t want other people to know that she’s away. She has her reasons. Those people who shouldn’t know that Ella is Emma are not only her friends but also her kids…
Actually, Ella has nothing to lose, right? Faking being a married woman, with two kids, must be a walk in the park, right?

I loved the idea of this book. The story is exploring „how the other half lives“, this time in the person of a twin sister who did better in life – but really? Is it really always how we see it or are there other things that we have no idea about? Well, Ella is about to learn, and learn does she, being thrown in at the deep end, and I loved to see how she’s coping – or not. How she’s slowly opening her eyes and seeing what it is she misses in her life, but also what Emma is missing, realising the most important points in life. There is really much more depth hidden between the pages than we could think at first glance, but Portia Macintosh brilliantly mixed seriousness with humour, delivering a lovely, uplifting read with some hilarious moments.

The main character was a typical Portia McIntosh’s heroine – cool, strong – headed, independent and who doesn’t give a shit about what others think about her. And I liked her for being like this and jumping into her sister’s shoes even though the relationship between them was not so perfect. The way she tried to find herself as a suddenly wife and mum was hilarious and her interactions with the children were brilliant. As well as with the Yummy Mummy Mafia, oh god, what an apt description it is for this. I think she has never lost her true identity, her true self, and I really admired this in her. Although I wasn’t so sure about Ella at the very beginning, to be very honest. I mean, she was a total mess, right, losing an apartment, job and car in a single day and actually not bothering about this so much. I am not sure what would happen with Ella is Emma hasn’t asked her fort his huge favour. But I also liked how she stayed true to herself. She gave her best in trying to be Emma, for the love of her sister and her family, but there were moments that she couldn’t help acting like herself which only added lots of humour to the story and made Ella even more authentic in my eyes.
Emma’s husband Rich was a nice guy though, till the very end, I really wasn’t sure if he’s not playing somewhere else, and the children were optimally written, the lovely Henry and Millie the teenager. It’s good though that Ella and Emma didn’t have much scenes together because well, it wouldn’t be too easy with those names, I think.

To be honest, I also thought that there will be much more things going wrong during this short arrangement between the sisters and what with some people already knowing about Ella faking Emma – it was a bit dangerous, don’t you think? If I were to pretend to be my sister I think I wouldn’t be able to persevere for so long. Nevertheless, some things went really well and some things went hilariously wrong and there are some truly funny situations.

It was a light – hearted, funny and also thought – provoking read with some hidden messages in it. It’s was fast – paced and engaging, a truly enjoyable read for those snowy days. A story about families, relationships and friendship, about second chances and not forgetting what is really important in life – not holding grudges but creating memories and being honest. A lovely read, truly recommended!

Ella has always felt like the Cinderella,  but no fairy godmother in sight!  Ella has a identical twin who seems to have the fairytale life, but does she really? Emma has had no contact with her sister and nobody even knows she exists. Then Emma reaches out and needs her help. She wants Ella to step into her life and pretend that she is her and don’t let anyone know to include her own children! 

What could possibly go wrong? Oh, plenty! This book is a humorous book that you will not be able to keep from giggling and turning the pages for more!

The author has a flair with a great storyline and the characters are believable. I personally would have liked just a little more interaction between the sisters. 

I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley and these are my willingly given thoughts and opinions.

I found myself laughing so hard during this at some points! 

This Animal Crossing wave is everywhere.

34-year-old Ella has had the Worst Week™. She’s already working a job that doesn’t pay her enough, but salt to the wound, the new employee who she gallantly lets stay on her couch burns her whole apartment down...alongside a restaurant. (The damage a cigarette can cause.)

Being fired and evicted sets a series of events in motion that leads to Ella posing as her twin for a few weeks. The only problem? They live very different lives. Ella’s twin Emma is miles more successful, on paper. She’s got the better job, a husband, and two kids that put Ella in a “less successful” light. 

Ella’s not the one in jail for parking infractions though, so there’s that!

Ella steps into Emma’s shoes, and by that, she steps in all of Emma’s shoes. The model housewife, the mom, the one navigating PTA moms and all the while, deal with her own urges and desires on the side.

It was an easy read, and for once, I found myself reading a romance book where I didn’t care at all about the romance - though it was definitely sweet. I was so much more invested in the anxious drama of Ella’s life, where she’s learning that what’s perfect almost never actually is. I was expecting that this wasn’t going to feel real to me but it did. She’s been estranged from her sister for a hot minute too, and this allows her to learn more about Emma’s life (and her own) and there’s an insight in this book that I didn’t expect at all.

I loved Ella getting through to her sister’s kids, Henry and Millie, and I absolutely loved the underlying message of perfection being super overrated. Ella’s assimilating into a stage of life that she’s not familiar with, that is associated with “perfection”, that she, wittingly or unwittingly, compares herself to. But there’s drama, gossip, sharks and amazing quips throughout, complete with a twist that made me cry just a little bit. You know what I’d like to see? A movie adaptation of this. That’s it.

I haven’t read anything by this author but I’m definitely going to be looking them up now! This was a great, light read that stays with you for a while, and it’s got those plot points you won’t even see coming.

[Thank you Boldwood Books and NetGalley for providing this book to me in exchange for an honest review!]

This is such a delightful little rom-com!  I loved Ella's growth throughout the book, she was such a strong, independent, and fun character. There were times there was maybe a bit too much going on- I think a couple of the side characters could have gone, but all in all, I enjoyed the story and it made me smile. There are a few twists I didn't see coming, and they gave me all sorts of warm fuzzies. I would definitely recommend this one!