Libby is a broke waitress who, with her friends Jean (the artist) and Keoki (the cook), posts as Lillibet, a style guru trying to become an influencer. Jefferson is the mountain man who saves Hildy, the niece of a publishing tycoon from an avalanche. Hildy and Jefferson wind up scheduling a visit with Lillibet in her super swank home in Hawaii. Which she does not have. So the friends work with a contact of Keoki's and borrow the space of a rich dude. The thing is, they're not the only ones lying, because Hildy and Jefferson are faking a relationship for the benefit of the tabloid coverage for Hildy. Hooray, everyone is liars!

Honestly, I wasn't all that impressed with this. I felt like there was some disjointedness to the story. And everybody starting their relationships with each other lying is a GREAT way to meet each other. I absolutely did not like the angle of EVERYONE lying to EVERYONE. And Libby says she wants to be a journalist, and write about people's stories, but then can't even be bothered to tell her own story.

Jefferson is a decent character, but still hooked up with a woman he knew was married.

I think I was hoping for a more romance-y romance.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy via NetGalley in return for sharing my thoughts on this book. Thanks to the author and publisher for this opportunity!

Hate to Fake It to You is lighthearted with a fairly silly storyline. Some of the things that occurred were not very realistic. At times, while reading it reminded me of a reality TV show. It was a nice palate cleanser and something fun to read. That being said, I really didn't care for Libby's friends. They didn't behave like a true friend would, they manipulated and pushed Libby into pretending to be Lillibet in the flesh. Even when things were getting more complicated, they would still urge her to keep up the ruse and even encourage her to do things that, while may make all of their lives better short term, wouldn't be in Libby's best interest. They were the book's worst characters, and I wish Libby would have dropped them. Regarding Lillibet, I don't see how anyone couldn't see her as satire. Her posts were so over the top and cringe-worthy. I was getting secondhand embarrassment. In addition, the fake husband guy is very creepy and cringy.

I'm honestly not sure what I expected before reading this one, but ultimately I was let down. For me, I could not connect with the characters at all. Yes, there are some elements in romance books that you know and accept are going to be unrealistic. But this whole thing felt so far-fetched the entire time.

Libby often comes across as more frustrating than funny, especially as her increasingly convoluted lies pile up. The interactions between Libby and Jefferson lacked depth to me which made their fast-falling romance hard to buy into. But just because it didn't work for me doesn't mean it won't work for you!

I really like the cover of this book. It's cute and fun which is what attracted me in the first place.
The book's setting is Hawaii, which I love. The mentions of the native food, culture, and beautiful scenery were the best parts of the book.
... And that's about where the good things ended.
Libby wants to be a writer so badly that her and her "friends" create a fake social media profile essentially making fun of social media influencers. If that isn't bad enough, her supposed bestie Jean decides to get in contact with a big media producer family, practically pimping Libby out. So Libby's two friends try to parade her around and have her fake her lifestyle to make THEIR lives better. And when she wants to do the right thing by telling the truth, they guilt her into keeping up the charade. And when she finally tells everyone the truth, they get MAD AT HER. Because SHE ruined THEIR chances at making money and living their dreams. Like. Wow. Libby could not find two worse friends. I really just wanted to whack Jean. The Me-Mas tree??? What part of her thought painting a naked picture of her friend FOR GUESTS was a fantastic idea? I cringed so hard.
Jean was THE WORST character in this book. Mr. L and Uncle Richard - the misogynist - were better than her.
Keoki was just there to cook, guilt trip Libby with his girlfriend and baby on the way, and bring goats.
Hildy was okay. She was eccentric and often made out of pocket comments, especially regarding Jefferson's age.
Jefferson was just there to be a love interest. I felt nothing for him, and I don't know how Libby did either. He was a generically "handsome, rugged, strong man" with zero substance.
The relationship, if you can call it that, was pretty bland. It was insta-love, but it wasn't done in a convincing way. Jefferson was getting hot and bothered in her presence, and Libby practically drooled every time he appeared. But there were no emotions. At least, we weren't shown any. The so-called chemistry was more awkward than swoony.

I cannot tell you the number of times I picked up this book just to set it back down after a chapter or two. It was a struggle to read. The characters made me mad. The plot was confusing and utter nonsense most of the time. The romance was boring. The writing was monotonous and basic.
I did read a few other reviews, thinking maybe it was just me, but I guess this is considered a screwball comedy and dumb humor just doesn't do it for me. The characters, dialogue, and plot were cringey, ridiculous, and annoying more than it was funny.

I couldn't finish this one could barely get through the first few chapters, just not for me but am sure it will find its audience.

DNF @ 31 %

THE GOATS ON THE COVER. Immediate five stars for the goats.

I won’t lie, it was hard for me to get attached to this book. When I was about a third in, I wasn’t motivated or interested enough to continue this book.

Thank you, Netgalley and SMP, for the ARC!

I really wanted to love it but I found myself getting more and more annoyed with the characters. It was getting more and more outlandish as it went on.

It wasn't even the writing, it was just how ridiculous all the characters were and I usually love characters that are different and ditzy but I just couldn't with these people!

The story was fine, I just couldn't connect

3 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. Libby Lane and her friends develop an online social media account - Love, Lillibet - in which Lillibet offers up ridiculous advice and “wisdom” to her followers. Hildy Johnson is an affluent member of a media family and decides that Lillibet is the key to launching her own magazine. She brings Jefferson Jones, a wildlife photographer, along with her to Hawaii to convince Lillibet to team up with her to start the magazine.
I really struggled with the writing style of this story - I kept having to take long breaks from the book multiple times to finish it. I don’t find the story all that humorous, felt like Libby and Jefferson did not have great chemistry, and really disliked Lillibet’s fake persona. Overall, 3/5 stars.

I admire Sellet's vision in this book. I am not a connoisseur of old movies, and so it took a lot of digging for me to figure out which movie this book was based upon. Once I found that information, so many of the pieces fell together and honestly elevated my initial feelings of the book.

The elements in the novel felt very disjointed. There were two fake relationships, and one was far more believable than the other. There was also a secondary romance that just didn't get well-developed. Being a romance reader, I knew that this particular couple would fall for each other and end up together, but it wasn't developed great. I can't decide how detrimental that really was though, because again you know it's going to happen, so the author spending more time on other elements seemed almost okay. This was what I would call a slow burn, because the tension was palpable. But I also don’t think it felt like a true slow burn.

I almost DNF'ed this book at ~20%. Ultimately, I wanted to write a review, and have that review be good and thorough so I stuck it out. And I am so glad I did because it honestly got better. The characters started as insufferable, but the character development was great. I still ultimately don't think there was any character in the novel that was truly enjoyable, however.

The author notes that she wanted to pay homage to the island of Oahu, and I loved that premise. I have been to Oahu once and have another trip planned and I loved both the tourist aspect and getting to talk to locals about what they love about their island. That said, it almost felt like Sellet was still writing this as an outsider of the island. It was as if she was an admirer of the natives, rather than truly capturing the native spirit. Her concept was still brilliant, I just wished there had been a bit more.

Things that didn't work for me:
-Some of the terminology was outdated, which was irksome.
-The story is written with an omnipresent voice, but there are times I felt like one character was driving the story and thoughts. I think a dual POV may have been more effective for this one.

Thank you St. Martin's Griffin for the eARC of Hate to Fake it to You. All opinions in this review are my own.

Unfortunately, Hate to Fake it to You was a DNF at 33% for me. I usually love fake dating so I thought the double fake would be great, but it just made it awkward and cringey because everyone was lying to each other. The main character was barely trying to be her fake persona which made the whole thing way less believable.

Hate to Fake it to You….I think I am too old to really appreciate this book. I’m all about fake it til you make it but there are limits. Especially with so many influencers getting a bad name because they don’t post honest/ true photos. I was very close to not finishing about halfway through because it felt like I needed a board like Criminal Minds to keep up with lies/embellishments/misdirections.

Ok that’s a little extreme but there was a lot of fake content that it made it hard for me to want to finish Hate to Fake it to You.

Thankfully, this book did redeem itself a little. Usually I want more drama but I am glad that for once there was a little less drama when all the dirty laundry was aired. We do get a happy ending but I was close to not seeing that happen.

My other big complaint is Jefferson and Libby’s arc. I can see why they had an instant infatuation with each other but with BOTH of them in fake relationships not knowing they’re both in fake relationships but still willing to follow the spark is icky to me. It just seems a little crazy that after one short conversation they couldn’t stop staring at each other even when their fake SO was nearby.

Overall this was a miss for me. Even with the second half being MUCH better than the first half it isn’t enough to make up for it, especially with how close I got to not finishing the book.

This was such a fun and exciting g summer read. The characters were relatable and well developed. It was light. It was fun.

DNF @ 30%. I ended up listening to this on audio after release date. But I couldn't get into it at all.

I was really not a fan of this one. The characters being fake about being influencers was kinda annoying but it did lead to some funny parts. I did not really feel like there was much romance in the overall story, just a little thrown in here and there. I know some people that have really liked this story so I am wondering if I just read it at the wrong time.

Did Not Finish. So sorry to do this but this book was so silly and off-putting to me. Lillibet comes across as a twit. In addition, in light of the late Queen Elizabeth's nickname of Lillibet, I just felt this was inappropriate.

2.5 stars - I had to sit on this one for a couple days before writing the review to figure out what my thoughts actually were.

I had high hopes for this one, but it was so all over the place. There was so much and nothing happening at the same time. I thought I could get on board with it being a little on the unrealistic and chaotic side of things, but then the FMC's best friend was probably the worst best friend of all time?

I found that most of my attention and concern was not focused on the romance and entirely on how terrible the friendship was between the FMC and her bff.

The romance was also strange to me. I can more often than not get on board with an insta-lust/love romance if the connection is easy to determine. These characters had an immediate connection, but when the FMC was playing the role of someone else, that person was entirely different from who she was and the complete opposite of the MMC's type. She it was hard to believe he saw the real her through the persona she was playing.

Thank you to NetGalley, Amanda Sellet and St. Martin's Press for the eARC.

I really liked this! I loved the characters and the setting, who wouldnt want a book set in Hawaii! The adventures and situations they find themselves in.. I loved it. I give this 5 stars.

Libby meets Jefferson when she is pretending to be an Instagram persona. Both are supposedly with other people but there is a connection between them so what will happen next? I liked how it was told from both points of view.

This was cute and I loved the side characters. Overall it was ok for me. It was missing something, maybe more background for the main character? The pacing also felt uneven. 3.5 rounded to 4

Hate to Fake It to You is the third book by author Amanda Sellet. Part character study, part farce, and all heart this is a fun read about first chances, second chances, and seeking one’s own place in the universe.

As a lark, Libby Lane, encouraged by her avant-garde best friend Jean, begins her online presence as Love, Lillibet portraying the wealthy, pampered, woman with a wealthy husband and an unrealistic lifestyle raising goats, making goat cheese, and being the perfect hostess all while giving pearls of wisdom. Socialite Hildegarde “Hildy” Johnson is a rabid follower unbeknownst to Libby and Jean until after her great salvation when wildlife photographer Jefferson Jones saved Hildy from avalanche and certain winter doom. Once back to civilization, Hildy contacts the online site and Jean makes all the arrangements in a well orchestrated sham.

Before Libby, aspiring writer, knows it’s been arranged, Jean is ushering her to a new life in a lavish home with a make believe husband that is an international plumbing magnate in search of a green card, a best friend acting as an Irish housekeeper, a cousin with a pregnant wife who wants to open a restaurant serving as the personal chef, and a pair of rambunctious, naughty goats for good measure.

Taken aback, once installed in her fake life Libby takes a walk on the beach just as Hildy’s hired car lets Jefferson Jones, who is her supposed significant other, out to walk the beach, setting up the first meeting of Libby and Jefferson where there is an instant connection. And then the story unfolds with such a fun and haunting tale to be told.

This is such an interesting book, humorously told yet with heart and compassion. The characters are quirky and flawed. The North Coast of Oahu makes for a beautiful setting, and the story lends itself to a fun sequel. I did enjoy this book and I do recommend it.