I really struggled to get into this book. The beginning was really slow paced and I kept getting lost in the shuffle of details building up the story.

Once I got about 40% of the way through, it really got good. Character development was on point. This was a relatable book, almost like you are standing on the sidelines watching real, working people discover who they are and what they really need out of life.

Slow starter, lots of descriptions, maybe overkill?

I liked the premise of this book, as it naturally screamed Hallmark to me, or even like a chic flick, but overall it was meh.

Thank you NetGalley and Forever publishing for my E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really fun book. I enjoyed it a lot!

loved this romance and how the characters were able to figure things out and find their way to love. Loved the friends .

I recommend the book Fake it Till You Make It by Siera London. The characters were wonderful in the story. I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and the publisher. This is my honest and personal review. Happy Reading!

If this book is a faithful sample of the author’s writing style, her one-word tag would be “zany”.

On the one hand, we have a heroine who leaves her cheating fiancé by packing most of what she owns in a car and driving up the mountains, whereupon she finds a flyer–excuse me, country paper–adveritising for a job–the one job ad in the country–and decides there’s where she’ll say and that’s what she’ll do for a living. Where will she live? How much does it pay? Irrelevant!

On the other hand, we have a mother of three adult men–youngest is closer to thirty than twenty–who puts together a “bachelor auction”, with said sons being the sum total of available bachelors up for auction, without telling them until after the flyers are out and the website taking bids (don’t get me started on considerations such as legalities, taxes, liability for credit card numbers, etc). Ostensibly, the winning bids will be enough to put the family’s business, the one veterinary clinic in the county, back in the black; if she also gets her sons married off to “good women” (preferably with some money), well, where’s the harm?

And this is just the first two chapters. If you get the impression that I am not particularly onboard with the setup, you’d be right.

Beware: controlling and emotionally abusive father; domestic abuse; death of a spouse; DNF review

Here’s my basic problem: I am having a Tessa Dare-effect moment. The “funny ha-ha” shenanigans just don’t match the characters’ circumstances–which are honestly pretty dire.

Amarie’s ex didn’t just cheat on her, he controlled her entire financial existence. The only thing in her name are her clothes and an old broken down BMW; as her “partner”/employer for the past four years, he gave her a prepaid card instead of a paycheck. When she walked out, he kept her savings. She’s literally destitute, can’t offer references–her cheating asshole ex? please–and doesn’t really have much of a resume otherwise. Her job prospects are very, very limited.

“All Amarie wanted was a do-over away from her parents’ watchful eyes, Russell’s lies, and her friends’ successful adulting. Everyone seemed to rush forward with living their best life while she stumbled one step forward only to twist an ankle and fall two steps behind. She’d never mastered soaring above the crash zone.” (Chapter 1)

Eli’s family house is mortgaged to the hilt–his father having taken out a loan to help Eli buy his house when he got married–to a barracuda who divorced him less than a year later, taking him for half the very-inflated paper value of the property. The family business is busy enough but actually making very little money. His sense of guilt is immense, he’s well in over his head, and the four of them are facing foreclosure, eviction and homelessness within a month.

There is nothing funny about this set up, and the mix of ridiculous shenanigans and anxiety inducing reality just doesn’t work for me; I am old and cranky, and somehow the blurb didn’t prepare me for this flavor of ludicrous.

Then there’s the writing voice, which includes an abundance of similes and metaphors that take some getting used to; for a cranky old curmudgeon, they just make reading more difficult. “Eli’s knuckles were bruised and his kneecaps sore from the recent knockouts surrounding the business. But he’d keep the faith. Keep faighting.” (Chapter 4) has nothing to do with actual fighting. A bit earlier, during what can loosely be called “the job interview”, Amarie’s dignity was “Apollo Creed cornered against the ropes.” (Chapter 3), and so on.

And the phrase “You ain’t never lied.” is uttered with tiresome regularity–as in, twice in the same conversation, in every conversation between the Calvary’s brothers.

And we haven’t even gotten to the social media ridiculousness.

Because Amarie’s very shaky self-confidence depends very much on her Instagram and TikTok follower count.

“Social media had been her constant companion. With tens of thousands of people tuning in for her PerkyLateBloomer InstaG and TikTok videos, she’d found a safe place to share her authentic self.” (Chapter 4)

Meanwhile, Eli’s idea of efficient office communications is…Post-It Notes.

There is, of course, a lot more going on.

First, while the Amarie/Eli romance thread is the center of the story, there’s a lot of page space devoted to the small town quirkiness and a dozen (or more) secondary and minor characters; there are subplots for Eli’s brother’s own relationship woes (though as this is “first in trilogy”, these are mostly sequel setups), the fact that his father died just a few months prior and his mother is still grieving, plus the whole “big cartoonishly-evil investors want to buy land and price the locals out of housing”, starting with the Calvary’s land. And there’s Amarie’s backstory, including her father’s emotional and financial abuse of her mother, let alone the whole cheating ex stealing her savings thing.

The way the “wholesome small town life” and “big city corruption” trope is played made me twitch; I really wish authors who write small town stories didn’t feel the burning need to demonize cities as the one and only way to make their chosen setting appealing. Also, I’ve yet to meet adult men (people, really, but men in particular) who never swear, let alone a full town of people; that alone usually enervates the feeling of artificiality in a story for me.

At any rate, I made it to 33% on the ARC (that’s the end of chapter 8 of 31), peeked at the ending, and bailed. 340+ pages of this writing style may be some readers’ catnip, and a bit too much for others (me, it’s seriously too much for me, is what I’m saying). I hope this book finds its readers-.

Fake It ‘Till You Make It is a DNF for me.

City girl finds her small town romance, but not without drama

Amarie Walker leaves her emotionally abusive fiancé and the DC metro area only to be stranded in West Virginia, when her car breaks down in the town of Service.

Amarie encounters Eli Calvary, the town veterinarian when she notices the only help wanted sign. Amarie and Eli are oil and water, yet she earns her way by working in his clinic.

Amarie also helps his entire family save their homestead from foreclosure. But not without the drama of exes, his and hers.

It’s a cute small town romance, with a decent amount of heat. And sub characters who you want to learn more about as they hopefully get their HEAs in the near future.

I enjoyed reading this book so much! It had so many swoon worthy moments. I enjoyed the slow burn and the build up to the couple journey to love. The author did an amazing job with this book. Looking forward to book 2 of the series.

A fun rom-com story featuring grumpy Veterinarian Eli, trying to save his family legacy and Amarie, a runaway from her cheating ex-fiancé. Looking for work and to hide from her ex, Amarie answers a help wanted in small town Service. Unfortunately bad luck follows her when Prince her beloved BMW breaks down on the outskirts of town. Then she needs to convince the grumpy man of her worth, plus keep her dream alive of getting her RN license. They make a pact to fake their relationship to save the Calvary lands and he will help her pass her exams. Of course things don’t always go as planned.
A hilarious story with wonderful characters. That takes a different approach to find their HEA. Thank you NetGalley for this eARC. I am voluntarily posting an honest review after reading an Advance Reader Copy of this story. #NetGalley #FakeItTillYouMakeIt

This was such a wonderful read. I loved the Grumpy/Sunshine theme in the story. From the moment the hero Eli, and the heroine, Amarie meet I loved their banter. Amarie was such a ray of sunshine. She was so quirky but it complimented Eli’s grumpy personality. They were both dealing with their share of troubles but the author balanced it beautifully with great lighthearted moments. I loved Eli’s family and the small mountain town residents. I also loved how Amarie touched the lives of those she met for the better. This book made me smile! Well done.

DNF @ 51%. Wanted to love this book SO BAD but even for a slow burn romance I felt the pacing to be too slow :( Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free advance copy.

I love a good small town romance and this one reminded me of a Hallmark movie in the best way! An easy read with likable characters (grumpy/sunshine) and a slow burn that isn't too slow - just how I like it! Good clean fun.

Thank you to Siera London, Forever, and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my opinion.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It gave me all of the feels from beginning to end. Amarie was exactly who Eli needed and Eli was who Amarie needed. Both of them had gone through a lot of turmoil with their exes but once they came into each other's lives and Eli stopped being stubborn, they knew they had found their person. This is a slow burn story but I didn't mind that at all because both of them needed to build their relationship slowly so they could get to the real person underneath. Eli is a grumpy hero but it added to his charm. I loved the way Amarie called him "grumpy pants" and he never denied it. 😂😂😂 There were so many laugh out loud moments between Amarie and Eli as well as the people in town. The way the Calvary family and the whole town treated Amarie like family and accepted her as one of their own from the very beginning was so heartwarming. Ms. London did a wonderful job writing Eli and Amarie’s story and I can't wait for the next brother's book.

When Amarie Walker found her now ex-boyfriend with his secretary in bed, she walked out. Amarie heads out of town with just about nothing. With DC in her rear view mirror, it immediately got worse when her car broke down in small town Service, West Virginia. With only one job opening that she could find, she walks into the Calvary Veterinary Clinic knowing it’s her only chance at a new start. However, the owner, Eli Calvary, has other ideas and is one certified grump who doesn’t like the idea of Amarie sticking around, let alone being his employee. Facing foreclosure, Eli has no choice but to bring on Amarie to let her work some magic on trying to build up the business as his new fake business partner. It’s pretty quick that there might be more than business between them as the sparks immediately begin to fly.

This one gave a lot of Lizzie Shane vibes with the tie into so many animals. A very solid 3.5 cat rounded up. Very quick read with lots of laughs. While this wasn’t mentioned as a series book, I would absolutely love it if the author took on the other brothers stories through love. I think it would be fun to keep following the Calvary family through their journey.

I loved this sweet small-town romance. Amarie is a sunshine heroine who is starting over in life. She, of course, ends up working with the grump in town, Eli. However, hilarity ensues as does romance. Loved it!

Fake It Till You Make It by Siera London was a cute romp through the small mountain town of Service, West Virginia. There were laugh-out-loud moments, several animals and exes, secrets, small town life, gossips, and businesses. There were also money troubles, lies, doubts, insecurities, social media posts many of which go viral, romance, love, hopes and dreams, families, and friends who are like family.

This book is Amarie and Eli’s story, which is front and center throughout until things fall apart. She comes into Eli’s vet clinic looking for a job like a breath of fresh air to his family, but not so much to Eli. Amarie lives by the motto, “Fake it till you make it,” and it is voiced several times throughout. They are good together and balance each other until they have a major falling out. Everyone sees they belong together, but once Eli breaks Amarie’s trust, can their love and relationship survive, especially with others plotting against them?

Many stories were told, and there was a good flow for the most part. Things often get heated, especially when their exes come around wanting them back. There’s also another kind of heat, and it’s not just the weather and humidity. The epilogue takes place fourteen months later and gives some closure and the happily ever after I root for, but Eli’s brothers both need their stories to be told, so I’m hoping we’ll get back in Service at least a couple more times.

Fake It Till You Make It is a small town romance with many townsfolk having big hearts. Sit back and relax and see how the town gets back on track in more ways than one.

Also reviewed on NovelsAlive.

this was a super cute small town romance! it got a little complicated given both characters relationship history & the mystery guest pop ups, but i live for the drama! on top of that, it was interesting to see how the business aspect came into play to bring the MCs together. could definitely see this playing on Hallmark one day haha that’s how cozy it was!

Let me begin by saying I simply love the cover of this book; it is bright lively and an eyecatcher and pulled me inside the pages of “Fake It Til You Make It.” This is a great romantic comedy that had me on the edge of my seat laughing, enjoying the camaraderie between Amarie and her grumpy veterinarian boss Eli. Eli, who recently divorced has just taken over his father’s vet business, and he had no idea that the business was on the brinks of foreclosure. Amarie is off and running fleeing DC and her cheating ex. She finds herself in the small town of West Virginia with her broken down car that she has named Prince, with no job, no money and homeless while readying herself for a new start on life. Amarie gets Eli to hire her at his vet clinic. Amarie and Eli embark on a fake investor relationship and find themselves getting more than they bargained for when they go fake to real when their feelings get the best of them. These two are awesome along with Eli’s adorable golden retriever and Eli’s mom. I do, looking to reading more this authors books. I surely hope that she has more in store with books like “Fake It Til You Make” romantic comedy. Great Job and well-done Siera London.

Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing; I received an ARC, and I am leaving my review voluntarily.

Fake It Till You Make It by Sierra London is a sweet starting over romance staring Amarie Walker who has left her old life behind and finds herself in a small town jobless and homeless. She finds herself a job with the local grumpy veterinarian Eli Calvary. Eli is grumpy for a good reason- he is at risk of losing his practice and his father's legacy.

When Eli took over his late father’s practice, he quickly discovered the clinic was facing foreclosure. He doesn't have time to be pleasant, even to his new, gorgeous and intelligent employee. Yet he pulls her into the business and a bit of a lie. However, together they work to save the practice and their furry clients. They both also notice and vehemently deny sparks..But will they save the clinic and maybe accept their fate and the sparks between them?

Ms. London has written a sweet beautiful story with fun, quirky, likeable characters. The storyline is interesting, fun, and the ending is perfect.

This was really cute, it felt just like a hallmark movie. They were both broken from their last relationships and they helped build each other back up. I loved seeing their love.


I received an arc through netgalley.