2 stars

[thankyou netgalley for the arc !!!! ]
(publishing september 2nd 2025 )

so this was a really anticipated but i felt really let down

so why did i feel let down ?

* i felt the story shoudlve been set in a diffrent place as its very americanised for brighton
* i felt there was no chemistry between the fmcs ( were we supposed to ve rooting for the realationship or not ?!!)
* i also felt the plot lacked a bit it was a good concept but im more confused than anything what was supposed to be happening

now on the good .....

* the representation was very well done
* i did like the friendships found within the book ( maddi , collin etc )
* i loved the charctor of esther
* i loved how to fmcs met it was very unique !!

and now for a bonus

* i loved circe so much more books need to have cats in asap !!!

so thats my review !!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC. As a fan of Raegan Revord, I eagerly requested this book and got accepted to read this ARC. I am happily able to say that this book did not disappoint! It showed both diversity and had some of the perfect tropes. The found family and friends to lovers trope was perfectly executed and at the end of the book, I felt attached to the characters. I do feel the ending was a bit rushed and there were some issues with repeating sentences and using the wrong pronouns which I do wish the editors and writer will be able to fix before publication. Otherwise, it was an amazing book that showed the development of grief, the importance of therapy and coming to terms with the loss. It also shows complex friendships as a result of going off the college and honestly as a book shone light on some really important topics.

This charming queer rom-com hits all the right notes with its blend of romance, self-discovery, and a heartfelt mother-daughter journey. Avery Blackwell is a lovable protagonist who is romantic, a little awkward, and deeply relatable as she navigates grief, identity, and a new chapter in a picturesque English seaside town.

The fake-dating setup with Charlie is fun and flirty, but the story’s emotional depth is what really shines (we know I love this in a story). The scavenger hunt left behind by Avery’s late mother adds a beautiful layer of mystery and meaning, leading to moments of real connection and growth.

The Brighton setting is vibrant, and the story balances humor and emotion with ease. I've loved the idea of Brighton (I've never been despite my dreams) since the days of Zoella vlogs (iykyk) and it always gets me excited to see it as a setting in a book. While a few plot points felt slightly rushed or overly convenient, the overall journey is heartfelt and satisfying.

Perfect for fans of sapphic romance, coming-of-age stories, and anyone who believes in love with a touch of serendipity. A warm, thoughtful read that will be on my "feel good" shelf for when I need a little lift.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of the Heartstopper series. This book captured the joy of the queer community and had the most beautiful found family elements, which is one of my favorite aspects of books. I loved Avery and Charlie and I would love for their story to be continued.

I love the idea of a real teenager writing YA — it definitely felt authentic and young, but was very well done and handled mature topics like grief well. Overall this was a cute, sweet sapphic romance. The main characters pulled me in quickly and I was charmed by their romance. While the book was really sweet, it did explore heavier topics like the grief of losing a parent, but I think there was a good emotional balance to the story overall.

New author alert!

Thank you NetGalley for giving me an opportunity to read this ARC before publishing.

Raegan Revord, debut author and one with a way of words. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book because it wasn't like anything I have ever read before, except the fake girlfriend plot. But behind the fake girlfriend plot, the scavenger hunt and the rules for fake girlfriends was really enjoyable to read.

Avery, a rom-com obsessed freshman in college decides to de-rail her plans of going to college in the states and go to university in England because she got a clue for a scavenger hunt that her mom had left her right before she passed. Avery, a heartbroken teen who feels lost, feels as if she needs to follow her moms clues and that will lead her to a different path.

Charlie, still hung up on her ex, meets Avery on the train ride to university and asks her to be her fake girlfriend because her ex was on the same train ride. Avery, being nice, pretends. But as things progress, Avery doesn't think this relationship is fake after all. and with Charlie not responding to her texts or cancelling plans with Avery, Avery feels as if they aren't even together. But what Charlie doesn't tell Avery won't hurt her in the end will it? Leaving Avery to do the scavenger hunt all by herself. A chronic disease sets the two apart but when Avery finds out the truth, she wants to be as close to Charlie as she can get.

Will this disease set them apart or will it bring the two teens together in the end? This was a solid 4 star book about grief, found family and finding your truest self.

Rules for Fake Girlfriends, by Raegan Revord, pulled me in quickly, but then it fell flat. The titles for each chapter were my favorite part. The story was cute, but the action moved too slowly for me.
I appreciate NetGalley and the publisher for providing the ARC ebook that I read and reviewed. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book and was a solid 4 star read for me. I saw it on NetGalley and thought it was interesting and then once I started reading it I was shocked to learn that the author was actually my favorite character from young Sheldon. For a 17 year old who wrote this debut I was really impressed and would definitely read more of their books in the future. I loved the back to school vibes overseas and it was a good balance between emotional and cute romance.

This book is emotional in a lot of ways and had me crying through most of it--both happy and sad tears. I would advise a trigger warning for loss of a parent. The mother is already gone at the beginning of the book, but grief and overcoming it are a huge part of the story. Mixed in with that is a fun little rom com that the main character continuously tries to avoid falling into--the question is, can she keep her heart out of it?

Unfortunately I had to DNF this read. Raegan Revord posted some content on Instagram about being pro JK Rowling. In this political climate praising someone who has been so harmful to the LGBTQ+ community, especially to trans people gives me the ick and no longer allowed me to enjoy reading this. Especially as someone who uses they/them pronouns, I'd expect them to do and know better.

I finished reading Rules for Fake Girlfriends by Raegan Revord, which was an ARC provided by Wednesday Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5 stars
0 / 5 spice level

The story follows Avery, who goes abroad to college after her mom dies just before her high school graduation. It tells her journey of following a scavenger hunt her mom put together back in college, and also how she starts finding out who she is and what she wants in life.

I thought this one was cute, just not particularly my taste. I did enjoy the chapter titles, which outlined the whole book by different “rom-com rules.” There’s also a LGBTQ+ identities represented, which i thought was great.

I will say, the lack of communication between characters in the book bothers me a bit. There’s just an immaturity level to the characters, which I guess makes sense for the characters age. But I think it’s just not for me and is probably better for a younger audience. The transitions are also a bit choppy as well, which makes tracking how much time has passed between chapters a bit difficult.

Overall, it was cute and I liked the overall outline of the book, I just think this would be better for a younger audience.

I went into this really looking forward to reading it. I follow Raegan on IG and watched her on TV. I think it is fabulous that she has written a book at such a young age. However, this book was not for me. I think I am too old for it. There are YA that I can still really enjoy but this was a little more juvenile. Her premise and storyline were good but it was just not enough to keep me wanting to read. This will be perfect for the demographic she is writing for, aka teens. Hopefully she keeps with it and continues to build her skills.

Huge thanks to the publisher and NetGally for providing this e-arc for an unbiased review.

*DNF @ 44%*

This was really unfortunate. I was so excited to read this because I admire Raegan tremendously for publishing at such a young age. I'm also 17 and she is such an inspiration to me.

This started out as a coming of age story that could have had so much potential. Unfortunately the characters (especially Avery, the main character) lacked any of the depth that makes me invested and excited for their love story. I also think the start of the book could have moved faster because I struggled even just reading the book. I couldn't bring myself to finish this book right now because Avery's grief over her late mom didn't click with me. I know that sounds bad but I don't think I had the emotional capacity to empathize with her and it felt right to continue this book up when I'm in the right headspace.

One thing that I love and I think other teens will adore as well is that the scavenger hunt vibe and mystery and discovery about her late mom reminds me a lot of the Netflix series XO Kitty.

I definitely think I will read this book later when it comes out.

Watching Raegan play her role as Missy Cooper on Young Sheldon was remarkable. When I found out she wrote her first debut, I knew I had to read it.

Riles for Fake Girlfriends was a masterpiece. The characters - even the minor characters took a major role in this book. It talks about love, loss and everything in between. I really enjoyed this book! I could even feel Missy Cooper in the story.

I found this book very difficult to get into and too rushed with the story. I wish it was better because I do love this author as an actress but this was a miss for me and it took way too long to get through. The main character, Avery, was very self conscious and I get that in a YA book but this was just too much angst. What I loved was the different rules / chapters, that was an awesome idea that honestly got me through the book. I would definitely recommend this for young readers. 3 stars.

Thank you NetGalley for the e-arc!

Ahhh I really wanted to like this, so I'm going to start off with the pros.

Firstly, I really liked the rom-com rules as titles for the chapters, I thought that was a fun touch. Secondly, the setting was so cute and cozy, I liked the university vibe and the descriptions and details of passersby and everything were really good. Also, I think the writing was mostly great. Some parts were a bit abrupt, but mostly really good.

However, my main issue was just with the plot. I had higher expectations but honestly the plot was boring and I didn't care for the romance at all. I thought Avery and Charlie had no chemistry and there were not really any exciting scenes with them. Plus, the fake dating trope is unrealistic in and of itself, but here it was beyond unrealistic and fast. So, I think the pacing was odd like that, it felt like the two girls met and they were immediately fake dating and best friends. Lastly, one detail that I thought was handled weirdly was one of the characters' mental health. I don't know, it just felt like the other characters were a little pressuring and the whole situation felt odd to me.

Overall, this book had potential as a debut but the execution could have been so much better.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the arc.

Minor spoilers ahead

This was a sweet and fun summer read that I've been highly anticipating. When I saw Revord announce their book, I knew I had to get my hands on it. It checks a lot of boxes for me: fake-dating, British accents, cute cats, and a good mystery to top it off.

We follow Avery as she heads off to college in London, the school her recently deceased mother attended. Her father is wary -- and struggling to cope with his grief. In London, Avery meets a girl named Charlie who, in an effort to win back her ex, enlists Avery to pretend to be her girlfriend. All the while, Avery is trying to solve a scavenger hunt her mom left for her while also not being the biggest cliche in the rom-com world and falling for the girl she's pretending to date.

I did like this book, but I ended up feeling just a little disappointed. I just wanted more of... everything. There's a lot going on, which means some aspects just fall flat. The romance, while sweet, was one area that, unfortunately, I didn't fully love. I felt it was very insta-lovey and didn't get fleshed out as much as I would've liked. I also didn't really care for the "twist" they went for in regards to Charlie, and by the end of the book, I just wanted them to communicate with each other for once!!

I did like the cute chapter titles and how Avery's work in her creative writing class, as she attempts to break the rules of rom-coms, starts to mirror her own real life. There was also a very diverse cast of characters -- several LGBTQ+, nonbinary, disabled, and POC characters. One minor note on that that doesn't affect my rating, but I just wanted to mention: there are quite a few instances throughout when the wrong pronouns are used for a nonbinary character. Just wanted to point that out and hopefully it's fixed in the final publication.

I thought the scavenger hunt was fun, though it also lacked depth. It also doesn't really reveal anything to Avery that she didn't already know? It essentially takes her through her parents' love story, but to the reader, it doesn't feel particularly relevant. (When she found the rock with H+E carved into it, I really thought the twist was going to be that Halle and Charlie's mom, Esther, dated LOL, and I would've been so here for it)

I actually liked the storyline with Amira. It felt realistic to the way friendships change and evolve during major life transitions, and I was happy with the resolution that it was given. I felt it was the right balance of angst and realism.

This was a good by-the-pool read for me. It was mainly light and breezy, easy for me to pick up, read a little, then continue later. For a debut novel, Revord does a good job. The writing is strong, and the characters feel real. I just had a few issues with the pacing and development of certain plotlines. I'm excited to see what they do next, though!

3 stars

I love the concept of this book and found it to be a great read for vacation! When I saw the book took place in London I knew I had to read it on my trip. While I thoroughly enjoyed it there were small plot holes in the book leaving out minor details.
Avery Blackwell has given up her dream of going to Columbia to go to the college her mother went to. After receiving a post card from her mother before her death she set off for London to find one last scavenger hunt from her mom to feel her connection.

Thanks for the review copy. I think a younger audience will enjoy this more than I did. I liked the scavenger hunt parts the best.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, St. Martin’s press | Wednesday Books and author Raegan Revord for providing me with the eARC of “Rules for Fake Girlfriends”, in exchange for my honest review.
Publication date: September 2nd, 2025
Reviewed on Goodreads: June 28th, 2025

This is one of my most anticipated releases of 2025! I am so thrilled to have gotten the opportunity to read and review it early!

“Rules for Fake Girlfriends” is/has:
- Young Adult romance
- Sapphic romance
- Trans representation
- Nonbinary representation
- Mental health representation
- Fake-dating Trope
- Grief/trauma healing
- Found Family

Avery is a college freshman who has recently lost her mother. After her mother’s passing, she decides to move from New York to Brighton, England, to attend University. She is also searching for something she believes her mother left for her.
Charlie is a girl also attending the same university. When Charlie and Avery under awkward circumstances, they have to pretend to be girlfriends.

As the two work together to solve the scavenger hunt, and connect with new people along the way, the lines between real and fake girlfriends start to blur, and they find themselves falling for each other. That is, until things get secretive, and trust starts to fade.

This was a pretty fun read.
Each chapter is based on a different “rule” of a rom-com, and those rules guide the storyline, which I thought was a cool idea.
I liked hearing about Avery’s struggle with grief after losing her mother, and how it affected her family relationships. I think it was nice to see different forms of grieving/trauma response showcased.
I also really liked Avery’s friend group, and the way that she was able to find her people and make a little family, even after moving to a new country. I thought each of the side characters were pretty well developed and had an important place in the story.
Finally, I thought Avery and Charlie had a cute relationship. I wish that it was a bit more developed, and that we saw a bit more romance between the two, but the story was more focused towards Avery and the scavenger hunt + healing from her recent loss (which is not a bad thing, I just was expecting more romance).

Overall, it is quite a nice book! I wouldn’t call it a very lighthearted read, since it deals with some serious things- but certainly would recommend it.