2.5 rating. this was... not very good. it read like a short story but in the worst way. there was so much telling and not enough showing. they hadnt even went on one date and they were confessing their love to each other, I just... didnt understand it. no clear chemistry, no personality. I wish I liked it more. thank you to netgalley for the arc.

Sweet romcom with a Hallmark feel. Big city vs small town. Grumpy/sunshine. Fake dating.

Harper returns home after a break-up and wants everyone to stop looking at her with pity and trying to set her up with random guys. So she decides to “fake date” the new guy in town to get them to leave her alone. And Christopher is fine with the arrangement because it will help him fit in better with the locals for the 3 months he’s in town on business.

Enjoyed the main characters and the quirky family, friends and coworkers. Seriously, check this out if you like Hallmark movies!

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. Watch for Faking It with the Grump to come out March 14, 2023.

Faking it with the Grump is the first novel I have read by Kate O'Keefe. I loved the premise of the book and I really enjoyed the first half of this novel. For me it started to feel REALLY Hallmark Movie the longer it went on. I don't hate Hallmark movies by any means but they are badly predictable and a little cookie cutter. For me this book had the potential to be a solid romance novel but it veered off into way too many classic tropes without any new imagination on them. Which is a bummer because both Harper and Christopher were likeable and started strong. Ultimately it was literally big city guy going to close down small town saw mill but falls in love. It was just a little too generic for me. If you ARE a Hallmark Movie superfan then definitely grab this. It's wholesome and you will probably love it. For me it had a lot of potential it just felt like it lacked a little imagination.

Thank you to NetGalley and publishing house Wild Lime Books for allowing me to read an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for a copy of this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Harper gets dump by her actor boyfriend Dex which is all caught on video and decides to move back come to Hunter Creek.

Christopher is a big time lawyer in New York who is sent to Hunter Creek to see if it's worth his company buying out the local lumber mill.

What starts as a fake relationship to help from the local towns people trying to set people up with Harper and to help Christopher to fit into town more becomes the real thing.

This is a very predictable, clean romance, very similar to a Hallmark type movie.

Honestly I feel the characters were a little boring and I was more interested in getting to to know the side characters than the main characters. I dont believe I will follow up with the next book in the series.

Faking It With the Grump had two of my favorite tropes, grumpy x sunshine and fake dating. This read also had a small town romance trope and was a slow burn.

Although it did have a grumpy sunshine trope, Christopher was more reserved and quiet then grumpy.

I absolutely loved the characters journeys throughout the book and Christopher’s character grew so much. I loved the dual POV and can’t wait to read Ryn and Gabe’s story next.

I received a free arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Harper is dumped by a huge Hollywood star and everyone in the small town feels sorry for her. Christopher wants to buy the town's lumber mill and is surprised when Harper wants to pretend to date him.... They fall in love of course...

An grumpy/sunshine and fake relationship romance. Love both Christopher and Harper. It's funny and love their chemistry.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

The quality of the writing in this book wasn’t bad, but it was so extremely predictable. It was textbook Hallmark movie plot (including the cleanliness level-kissing only). I knew from basically the beginning that Dec would try to get Harper back, that something would go south with the sale of the mill and that Christopher would take over as lawyer for the town. I also didn’t love that even after listing all sorts of activities the two main characters did together like brunch, hiking, watching movies, etc….they claim they don’t have a “real date” until the end because it’s not a formal sit down dinner with flowers. That is just silly. I like the two main characters fine, but it’s never a good sign when I can’t remember their names immediately after finishing the book.
I didn’t love that Christopher repeatedly mentioned how Harper is “not like other girls” and also that “she’s beautiful, but not just beautiful”. I also felt like the timing at the end just didn’t seem at all realistic. Christopher is in town for months for his company to decide whether or not to purchase the mill, but this other business makes the decision in what seems to be hours to do the same?
Continuity errors: The owner of the mill earlier on is said to two kids in their 40s then towards the end has three kids in their 50s. Also, Christopher finds out about the changes to the plans for the mill in an email where it says the owner of the mill has verbally agreed to the change. Later, the mill owner says he found out about the change from Christopher. Both of these are easy fixes.
Overall, I was left kind of disappointed by the predictability and lack of romantic tension in the story.