I am definitely a fan and I really enjoyed reading this time. I will definitely be back for more, so keep them coming.

thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley

Farah Heron is one of my favorite writers, and this one was full of high school drama that encapsulates the struggle of being a teenager in love. This was a super quick read with some of my favorite tropes for younger audiences and I think this is the perfect summer read.

Tropes Included:
- Fake Dating
- Gaming
- Baking

Thank you @netgalley for a copy of this book. This was a cute YA book with lots of teenage drama. I am for sure not the target audience and this was too young for me. Samaya was really cute and enjoyed her growth journey. I enjoyed Daniel's character and how sweet he was.

An absolute delight of a read! This was a very healing YA read that one can finish in one sitting. Definitely watching out for the author’s future releases.

This book was a great high school drama read. Our story begins with our MC, Samaya, at the end of summer and about to start school back. At the end of last year, her boyfriend, the most popular guy in school, broke up with her and ruined a lot of things for her. All of which were on the schools mysterious gossip account on Instagram.

There is definitely great character growth in this story. In the beginning, I thought Sam was a little self-serving but throughout the story she gets a little better. There are some good really good friendships in this book as well which I always enjoy.

Overall, this book was a little predictable as far as the mysteries go but it's still very enjoyable. I would definitely read more books by this author. I highly recommend this book for people who enjoy a good high school drama story.

The trope might have been there and done that, but Heron thrives in writing the trope to be an absolutely cute teenage love story. I love the resilience and instant chemistry between the characters, the delicious desserts explicitly described that make me salivate in hunger, and the coming-of-age plot of Samaya to become fully her person instead of a 'sidekick' of her perfect ex-boyfriend.

It's a win and recommended for those who want a light-hearted romance.

How to Win a Breakup is a YA about a girl name Samaya who just broke up with her boyfriend and they were known as the golden smart couple. The book goes through the breakup and them finding themselves and love while being in school.

This book started off slow for me but picked up when it wasn't talking about Devin and Samaya' s Breakup. I disliked Hana and Kavatia as everyone should. Daniel was the sweetest and him and Samaya were perfect for each other. Yasmin was so cute and I love to see kids in books because they make it all seem so pure.

This is my first book from Farah Heron but I am going to read the other book that shares the story about Samaya's Sister.

Overall, I really liked this book and the message it gave.

I absolutely LOVE a fake dating romance trope.

Thank you Farah Heron for delivering. This is very much YA romance. Lots of high school drama, with some character growth from our MC.

I thought that the gossiper's identity reveal could've been handled a little better (it was boring/anti-climatic) but overall, this was a good read. I think teens will enjoy this.

This book ties in characters from Heron's last book, Tahira in Bloom, but is not necessarily a sequel, just a book with the same characters, focused on another story arc. It is a cute read that shows the complications of relationships.

3.5 stars — I had a hard time choosing whether to round up or down. So basically this was a solid 3.5 stars whichever way I land. *snort*

The thing is I haven’t been reading many YA books lately, and I think I forgot about the drama that comes with, you know, young adults. I don’t think it was over the top or unrealistic in this book, it’s just hard to read sometimes you know? I did appreciate that because Samaya is engrossed in all this drama and allows it to take up so much room in her life, we actually get to see her come to some understandings about how harmful that can be, and she does learn and grow a bit as a result. That was nice to see, and something I think teens need to read about. To see how being wrapped up in their own drama can cause them to lose sight of the things happening in other people’s lives, as well as to gain perspective.

Saying all that, the drama was still a bit hard to take. Hence me waffling on the up or down. Samaya has a lot of tunnel vision, and it takes her a bit to get there. But at least she does make strides. In the end I don’t quite know how I feel about Samaya. I appreciated seeing her grow, but I still felt like she wasn’t the most empathetic person towards the people in her school. I do get that Devin was a total tool, but I’m kind of dismayed that she never really got that he probably missed her friendship. Not saying she should be friends with him, but an understanding would have been nice you know? Same with the way she saw Hana. I felt like there was gray there and she never figured that out.

I was a bit confused about where the plot was going a lot of time. I had one idea of how the story was going to go with her gamer friend and Daniel, and then it all went in weird other ways. I did figure some stuff out before the end, but not everything. It was kind of complicated, almost a bit too much going on in the plot.

The absolute highlight in this book was Daniel. He was total book boyfriend material, and I adored him from moment one, even as I was confused about who he was. I loved how dorky he was, how passionate about the things he loved, how compassionate, how kind. He was an absolute star, and I could have read 10 books about him.

So yeah. A solid YA, probably a bit too much drama for this adult reader, but still enjoyed my time with these two.

ps — a super smart nerd in Canada can love hockey too…just saying.

I enjoyed this one. Daniel and Samaya were pretty cute together. Althouuugh at times I did want to shake some sense into Samaya >.> but eh we all get a bit caught up in what others think of us. And I did like that she was a complicated individual with flaws like we all have. But whew her so called friends were not it!! Except Cass, they were cool.

Samaya is a better person than me cuz after everything her ex Devin did??? no sir we were not speaking again.

I also will say that i expected the elusive Earl Whispers reveal to be a bit more dramatic. But overall i enjoyed the book.

A solid pick for the right reader. I am not in high school anymore and I felt it, but the style is charming and it had moments. I will be keeping an eye on it for our YA section. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity with the title.

Farah Heron is one of my favorite authors but I realized that young adult books are just not for me. I didn’t review this on any sites as I didn’t want the rating to affect it.

This is very much a YA romance so keep that in mind before you read it! I thoroughly enjoyed this fake dating trope!

I am so sorry I waited so long to read this amazingly sweet and poignant YA fake dating romance story because it was Samaya's growth and love that truly blossomed. As the description states Samaya is dumped by the IT guy at school and there is a bunch of negativity thrown her way. What she does in response is create a fake boyfriend using her gamer friends photo.

On a volunteer gig at the bake sale she meets the one an only gamer guy (who is as cute in person as he is in his photo). With the help of her friends and Daniel (the hot gamer guy) they make take the romance to school. Of course they make waves along the way. Daniel learns some calculus, bakes some treats and shows Samaya a new side of a gamer-Jock. And Samaya grows up, learns to respect herself and others as well as not to judge a book buy it cover. She also might just realize that the IT guy for her is her gamer guy, Daniel.

Farah Heron is one of my favorite authors and her YA novel is just as well done as her regular work. I am most impressed with her writing style for this novel, her YA themes, the plot and the way in which she was able to develop such interesting and complex characters for a YA romance novel. Well done.

Super cute YA Fake dating troupe. Wasn’t sure if I was “too old”to read this book as the book was set in high school. But I ended up really enjoying this one and cheering for the FMC to get her happiness that she deserved. There was some hiccups through out the book but all it took was a bit of “growing up” and all was good in the end. This was my first read by this author and I do look forward to reading more from her. Recommend this book if YA is your thing!!

Gosh, this was so adorable and fun! I’ve loved Farah Heron’s adult books and I’m a complete sucker for fake dating, so when I saw this I knew I needed to read it. Samaya’s growth over the course of the book was especially good, helped along by her bestie Cass, who isn’t afraid to tell her when she’s being elitist or being selfish in a way that’s harming their friendship. Daniel is such a sweet, sweet guy and I loved his joy in baking and sharing baked goods. Just, all around this was a delightful story and I love these characters, and I’m looking forward to going backwards to read Tahira’s story~

Samaya returns for the new year of school post-breakup from golden boy, Devin. She’s the topic of gossip specifically by the social media account devoted to all the juicy happening at school. Since the breakup, Samaya had a rough time, but found kinship with a fellow online gamer. They’d become somewhat friends, and curb the gossip at school, she and her friends concoct a story that they’re together and post an edited photo of them together. She ends up meeting the guy in the photo through a volunteer gig. She and Daniel, a hockey player and pretty amazing baker, get along, and they agree to fake date to help her image. In return she helps him with math.

It’s a cute story where Samaya goes through a long and uneasy character growth. She’s a bit immature at the start and eventually gets that she’s been self-centered to the point of neglectful of her friends, and inconsiderate towards Daniel. Differentiating between what’s important, loosening up on her judgmental tendencies, standing up to bullies, accepting people as they are, gaining awareness of other people’s lives … so much packed into this amazing story.

There were things that bugged me like her overbearing mother. Also her ex Devin, his snobby parents. They were unpleasant. Who wasn’t? Daniel! He was a joy.

A bonus of reading this story are all the treats that Daniel teaches Samaya to bake at their volunteer assignment - cookies, pies, tarts. It’s all yummy! He challenges her perception that all jocks are macho and dumb.

This book reminded me of why YA can be a delight to read as an adult. Heron tackled so many topics, and wonderfully, too. She allowed her heroine to be flawed and to grow, and I love everything about that in this coming of age story.

Thanks to @netgalley & #skyscape an imprint of @amazonpublishing for my ARC. This is my honest review.

This was a good book. The relationship between Samaya and Daniel was fun to read about. Sometimes I thought Samaya was a little bit annoying, but she showed growth and by the end I liked her. I enjoyed seeing stereotypes being broken with Daniel being a jock who enjoys baking and seeing a girl who is a giant nerd and loves gaming.

3/5 stars, there was so much teenage drama lol

Thank you to Skyscape for the arc through netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

This was a really intense book for a young adult contemporary, and that was really because of some of the themes present as well as the unnecessary high school drama haha. While I did expect a bit of this, especially as the main character, Samaya, is fake-dating a boy to get back at her ex-boyfriend, it wasn't ultimately what I wanted from the story. This is okay, as I think this book will be a lot more entertaining for people, there were just some things that were not my favorite but in total I think it was still interesting.

One of the biggest parts that was a turn-off for me was the petty and selfish drama that happened at the main character's high school. Being someone who recently left high school behind and was very happy to not have to deal with that sort of drama anymore (in theory) I just didn't love reading about the gossip account, rumors, and how everyone wanted a certain "status". I understand that this is how it is in high school, but I think there can also be successful young adult books without all of this being "normalized", though I do understand that was part of the point of the story. I think I was just expecting something a little different.

The plot was alright, I really enjoy the fake dating trope so getting to see that present here was super fun! I love seeing people slowly fall for each other. But because the drama was such a big part of this plot, it really affected how the characters acted, and I was SO annoyed at Samaya's supposed friends. They were all acting so shitty to her, both to her face and behind her back, and I got so frustrated with this book. Don't even get me started on her ex-boyfriend, he was so annoying, and especially how this book ended with him I would honestly have gone insane if he was real in my life. But, this drama did get the anticipated reaction out of me so I have to give the book that, the writing style just wasn't anything super unique so while I got the feelings that were intended, I just didn't connect very deeply.

That being said, I think Samaya as a main character had a lot to learn and isn't perfect, but she is pretty realistic and over the course of the book comes to realize some of her faults that are harming other people. This was great character growth, more than I can say for most people in this story. And the main love interest, Daniel was the star of the show for me. He was so sweet to everyone all the time even if they didn't deserve it, loved baking and playing hockey, and volunteered at a shelter for people. He just really deserved better than what he went through in this book haha. I also loved Samaya's best friend, Cass, they were also really sweet and willing to acknowledge and tell Samaya when she was wrong or being rude without being rude themselves.

Overall, this wasn't a bad book as I really enjoyed seeing how the character learned her lesson and became a better person but there was just way too much petty drama for me to enjoy it fully. But Daniel was an amazing main love interest and while most of the characters were mean in this book, there were a few good ones that stood out. Also, I definitely need more books with baking and hockey in them.

[TW: breakup with a partner, rumors and gossip, racist slurs mentioned, harassment and cyberbullying, abusive stepfather mentioned, catfishing, homelessness mentioned, controlling family figures, missing child]