Thank you to @NetGalley and the publisher for the e-Arc in exchange for an honest review.
Can't Help Falling in Love is a heart warming read that is perfect for the fall season! Lexi is down on her luck and hoping to catch a break. Will is an eligible bachelor that wants his mother to stop match making. In a meet cute situation, Lexi and Will find themselves together and mistakingly engaged! While pretending their engagement, they eventually cannot pretend their feelings for one another.
I really enjoyed this book, and definitely would recommend it for anyone looking for a nice, heartwarming read.

Fake dating, Seattle in autumn, the fall vibes are just immaculate. Once I picked this up, I couldn't put it down. This is definitely the perfect fall romance.

Can't Help Falling in Love is a charming rom com! Will and Lexi are fun characters, it's a fake dating to falling in love trope. There are lots of ups and downs along the way, but I loved that it ended with a happily ever after. It's a perfect easy read for fall!

Thank you so much NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the arc!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a cute read. The plot was interesting and kept me engaged (no pun intended). I liked the characters so much that I just had to know what happened!
I did find the insta love trope to be very on the nose. It was almost too unrealistic for my taste. However, the fake dating <spoiler>- or real dating I guess since they are fake engaged but are still seeing each other in actuality -</spoiler> was done well and lived up to my expectations.
I found FMC Lexi to be kind of annoying at times. She was always so self depricating and MMC Will always had to reassure her that no, she's great, she's EVERYTHING, not nothing (seriously, he tells her this A LOT). I feel like every response he gave her to whatever she said was some uplifting quote and it made me want to gag but also love that he saw her worth.
I absolutely hated Will's parents and would have 100% socked them in the face if they made those kinds of comments to my fiance. I also thought some characters were just so unnecessary and added nothing to the story (*cough* Brett and Carolyn *cough*). We could've had the same minor things play out without their characters.
Having two different storylines - one for Will, one for Lexi - was interesting. It broke the story up and made it feel unique. I especially appreciated how the author handles mental health and shows the ebbs and flows of depression by including scenes with Lexi's mom Gwen. Showing her home life added depth to Lexi's character. Having these two storylines also solidified just how different Lexi and Will's lives are.
Overall, cute read. A romance with some depth that includes family drama, fake dating, and insta love. Highly recommend to my romance lovers!

I liked it. But it felt so slow and hard to get into. It was a typical romance but not enough to keep my attention. Would recommend for people who are interested in started reading for a hobby,

To help her save face in front of high school friends she meets while waitressing at a restaurant, Will tells them Lexi is his girlfriend. One little white lie couldn't hurt, could it? But then one of the women invites them to a party, where a picture is taken and posted on social media. And the poster overheard Will telling a too insistant woman flirting with him that Lexi was his fiancée... But as Will is the heir to a major company, they have to play along with the fake engagement - doing otherwise would be social suicide.
This is a fake dating to fake engagement romance. It was ok. I prefer first person POV in a romance, with alternating POVs from the MCs. By 3%, I was already tired of the author trying to push on us the fact that the FMC is special, quirky and clumsy. We get it. You can't make that her entire personality. Somewhere along the road we even get a "She was different from any of the other women he'd dated." (and that's a straight quote from the book. Really not a fan). The FMC lacked maturity, although I did like the MMC. It was too insta-lovey (although the meet cute was cute), and there was a lack of chemistry. And don't get me started on the extremely stupid third act break up. This was not my favorite by this author. I absolutely adored their other books, especially Ten Rules for Faking It and Love, Naturally)
I received an advance review copy of this book for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I was excited to get approved for Can't Help Falling since the synopsis sounded fun and lighthearted. At first I was wondering how you can get roped into a fake engagement but Sophie Sullivan did a great job of plotting how the problem just kept growing and became inescapable.

Will is the epitome of a perfect book boyfriend and really enjoyed his perspective of the book. I felt Sullivan did a great job of painting the fall setting and vibes including apple picking as a date! I also thought the side characters were amazing in this story, especially Will's sister Kyra and Maise.

However, after a while I found Lexi slightly annoying and repetitive. So much so, that I lost some interest in the book and wasn't looking forward to picking it up like I had been in the beginning. I'm also not a fan of the insta love trope and this felt more like that trope for me. I did like the ending but over all this was a 3.5/5 star read for me.

Fake fiancé / fake dating
Insta love
Dual POV
Fall Vibes

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this book in exchange of an honest review.

I enjoyed this fake relationship, slow burn, closed door romance. Set in Seattle in the fall, it has a bit of a Cinderella vibe, but instead of a wicked stepmother and stepsisters, Lexi has a mother who has been mired in profound grief and depression after losing her soulmate three years before. After her father died, Lexi quit college just a few credits shy of graduation and has been working 2 jobs while taking care of her agoraphobic mom and paying off her father’s debts. On the day that two of her high school friends show up at the restaurant where she does a poor job of waitressing, seeming to be celebrating the success that has eluded Lexi, she sits down at Will’s table to hide. Since Will’s been flirting with her his entire meal, he welcomes the intrusion and plays along when she says that she’s there with “her boyfriend.” When they’re both invited to a party by one of the friends, they’re introduced as being engaged and the lie gets picked up on social media, thanks to Will’s status as one of Seattle’s most eligible business leaders. Of course, as so often happens with this trope, he wants his status-conscious mother to stop her matchmaking, and Lexi doesn’t want to admit what she perceives as her failure to thrive.

So, although there’s no new ground broken here, it’s just a lovely book with a perfect book boyfriend - handsome, kind, successful, and a man who sees the best in Lexi, propping her up when she doesn’t believe in herself. Other than Will’s classist parents, everyone else is delightful, from Lexi’s best friend Maisie to Will’s supportive and friendly sisters and best friend, Ethan. If you’re looking for a sweet romance low on the angst, check this one out. Recommended.

This was a very cute and charming rom com! Will and Lexi are such lovable characters and it was fun seeing them fall in love! There are lots of ups and downs along the way, but I loved that it ended with a happily ever after.

Thank you so much NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the arc!

I absolutely loved this book! The meet cute was adorable and it helped kick start the book in the perfect way. I felt like I truly connected with all of the characters in this book. It was heart felt, sweet, and swoon worthy. I truly felt like I could feel the love that Will had for Lexi!

I have yet to meet a Sophie Sullivan book that I do not like. This book was wonderful and adorable and fun, but also dealt with some heavy topics.

I highly recommend giving this one a shot if you like romcoms, fake dating, or the guy falls first tropes.

TW for death of a parent (past but mentioned a lot).

Fine! A cute and cliche super light read. I think what I enjoyed most about this book was all the fun and coy autumn vibes, I wish I had saved it to read for october! Other than that it was about what you'd expect for a light romcom, but certainly not the best to do it. I would have loved a little more character development and maybe a little more plot development, but overall you'll get what you came for when you pick up this book!

This is a perfect fall romance and being set in the PNW didn’t hurt one bit! One of the the best fake dating/engagements I’ve read!

Definitely a cute rom com but nothing that really kept pulling me in to keep reading. I do love a fake engagement / marriage of convenience trope and it was done well in this. Great growth with Lexi that was also relatable, as an adult who feels ' behind' sometimes, and the growth with her mom was really sweet as well. Banter between the couple was cute! It was a nice, easy overall read but nothing super special about it or will stick out to me from other rom coms. Love the fall theme though.

Thank you to Net Galley and Sophie Sullivan for the chance to read this book early. I loved this book and both main characters. The fall setting in Seattle is great and the author makes sure to throw in a bunch of fall themed activities for the characters to do which is something I always plan to do every fall but I usually just stick to getting a PSL. The love story was cute and relatable. I love the tropes of mistaken identity and fake dating. Overall I enjoyed reading this book.

A charming, cozy fall rom-com read that you could easily see playing out as a movie. I’ve really enjoyed each read I’ve tried by Sophie Sullivan, so when I saw she had a new romcom set in my favorite season (fall) and featuring a fake relationship trope I knew this was for me.

This was a fun, easy read that will grab you for the afternoon. Lexi and Will have an awkward meet cute, Will is charmed by Lexi and they somehow find themselves going from a fake relationship to a fake engagement in a blink. For various reasons the two decide to continue the ruse. But nothing is simple when meddling family and friends get involved. Classic romcom fare ensues.

In addition to the cute romcom vibes, Sophie’s books typically deliver a thoughtful side to other issues as well. In this case the story also tackled long term grief and the loss of a close loved one. It was nicely balanced in a way that felt true to the grief element while still maintaining a light enough vibe for this type of story.

I enjoyed the story and characters (mains and secondary), a fun world to get swept up in for the afternoon. I look forward to more from this author. Thank you to St Martins Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy.

Personally I love the title of this book alone because I think of Elvis Presley!

You also had me at fake engagement I mean let’s me honest they’ll fall in love and I’m sucker for it! It’s such a beautiful romantic story!

Fake Dating is my favorite Trope in RomComs and this book was fantastic! I loved both of the characters! This book takes place in Seattle which is a city I LOVE reading about. Lexi is a character I connected with and felt for. Will is a good person and I loved how he was portrayed and we read his perspective too (even though his family made things challenging)! Overall everything worked for me in this book with the Fall/Autumn setting. This is a RomCom I will recommend for people in the mood for a great book! Thank you SMP romance for an early copy on Netgalley. This book will be out Sept 17th 2024 and I highly recommend it!

Can’t Help Falling in Love was my first Sophie Sullivan book, and I’m happy to say I really enjoyed it! This book was really cute and Will and Lexi’s chemistry was great.
Will was such a sweet and genuine guy and I loved how he saw Lexi for who she was, even when she couldn’t see it for herself. I loved how he always defended Lexi and was there for her to lean on.
Lexi was such a strong and resilient character even though she often discredited herself. and i loved all the side characters, especially kyra and maisie. all the different family dynamics and conflicts were interesting too.
i love the theme that your profession or social status does not determine who you are as a person!

3/5 ⭐️
Why do I keep reading books where they start off interesting enough, only to jump off a cliff? This book was fine, but it definitely could’ve been better. I love fake dating. But I couldn’t care less about these characters. I could see the author trying but it just wasn’t sticking the landing for me. And because of that, I really struggled to not skim the page. I think Alexandria’s chapters were better than Will’s. But both still were slightly cringe.
Overall, this book was fine. It’s short, has an interesting concept, and I think can be a good like quick beach read. Unfortunately, I think I could’ve liked it more of the characters were more developed.
Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.