Lessons in Faking is everything you want from a fake dating romance: witty banter, slow-burn tension, emotional payoff, and a happily-ever-after that feels 100% earned. If you're a fan of tropes done right, this one deserves a spot on your shelf.
What makes this book shine is the chemistry. The characters click—not just physically, but emotionally. As their fake relationship plays out in front of friends, family, or the public eye, little moments start to blur the lines: a lingering look, an unplanned act of kindness, a kiss that feels just a little too real.
The author balances humor, heart, and heat perfectly. There are laugh-out-loud moments (thanks, awkward fake couple shenanigans), but also surprising depth as both characters confront what real love means—and what they’re afraid to lose. Watching them slowly realize what’s been obvious to everyone else is a delicious kind of torture.

You know what, we love a rich girl with some baggage. Wealthy baddies need a love story too.
Loved this fun, flirty but still very real romance from Selina. A great read and can’t wait for the next book in the Hall Beck University series!

This book was cute, fun but fell a little short for me, especially in the first part i found hard to connect with the story and wasn't too captured by it.

★★★½
This is Book one in the Hell Beck University Series. I received this as an ARC from Net Galley, thank you to NG, the publisher and author for this. I am leaving my review voluntarily with my honest opinion.

Fake dating, college angst, rivalry. Its a set up for a light-hearted emotional romp that brings a bit of humor and hope.

After everything, all Athalia really wants is for her twin brother to be a part of her life again and maybe not fail statistics. Enter here: Tutor and Brothers Rival, what could go wrong?

Immediately there's sparks, and awkward bickering. Just being in his presence has her brother's focus coming back. So they form this plan. I love a fake dating trope, so I was excited for this. This had its moments but it felt like there was a lot more that was just "this is actually dating". Like the only thing that made it fake was the want to not admit feelings, it very quickly and very clearly stopped being about her brother and became about their attraction.

The rivalry between Dylan and Henry honestly felt a bit forced and lacked a depth that I feel like weakened the tension the story was aiming for. That said! Their chemistry is charming, the banter is what kept me going. The way grief was handled was very gentle. While for me it didn't fully deliver what I was hoping for its still a cute and satisfying college romance. Perfect for readers in the mood for a character driven feel good story with flaws, humor and heart.

This fake dating her brother’s rival story was entertaining. Athalia was decently characterized, though her actions and thoughts often felt very immature. Dylan made me root for him. The rivalry or hatred with her brother felt like such a weak reason. Generally the story read very New Adult, which maybe just isn’t the genre for me.
This book started off slow; even at 30% in I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy it. It really turned a corner and I flew through the remainder of it. The beginning lacked the internal motivations and narrative I was hoping for, but it filled in later in the story. There were a couple plot twists that didn’t detract from the story, but also felt a little clunky. The grief piece was handled decently, if very lightly. Overall it was an entertaining read, with some weak points.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC; all opinions are my own.

First off I want to say that I really appreciate NetGalley and the author for allowing me an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The premise of this book was right up my alley - hate to love, academia, brothers nemesis, and secrets, but unfortunately something just missed for me.
I’m not sure whether it was the pacing or just that I could tell that this was a translation (English not being the OG language) Sometimes it was just very wordy and explained every aspect and other times it just skipped over details.
I did enjoy getting to know the characters & learning the secrets they were hiding , but I just never was able to get sucked in.
This was not the dark hate to love academia book I thought it was going to be, but it was still an enjoyable read!

Brother's rival and Forbidden romance meets academia, tutoring, and fake dating.

"I was sure of exactly three things. 1. Revenge is just another word for justice. 2. Money does buy happiness. 3. Stay away from Dylan McCarthy Williams or my brother will have me murdered in my sleep."

SUMMARY
Athalia wants her twin brother's attention and affection and has been desiring it since their parents died. Failing at statistics, when expectations of her last name demand the opposite, Athalia needs a tutor and gets one in her Teacher's Assistant: Dylan McCarthy William. The problem? That's her brother's rival. But will dating him get her brother's attention back? And what if the feelings evolve beyond fake?

"A few things were going through my mind. 1. Where did men get the audacity? 2. How could I be sharing the same genes with that particular man? 3. What... the fuck?"

THOUGHTS
This was a fun, light read. The descriptions of mental health and grief spoke to me. It was exactly what it was marketed to be: a cute, academic, fake-dating, forbidden romance. The breaking of the fourth wall of Athalia to the reader took me out of the story sometimes.

I liked Dylan and his family. Wren was my favorite character. She was unexpected, funny, and brought more life to the story. What didn't click for me was the resolutions as well as Athalia as a character overall.

3.75/5

When I was reading this book, I kept thinking: there's something about the vibe of this book that is just so familiar, but I can't put my finger on it. Then I found out that it was originally a Wattpad book and suddenly the way the characters and the plot was written made perfect sense.

This book is the definition of Wattpad core. Just to clarify, I'm not hating on Wattpad. I myself spend way too much time on Wattpad. That said, I think I would have enjoyed myself way more if I had adjusted my expectations. For instance, the half-baked faking-dating plot. The whole reason for the fake dating scheme was very flimsy. She wanted her twin-brother's attention and she decided by dating his teammate and arch nemesis, he would finally care about her enough to pull his head out of his ass. But alas, her brother was only mentions a handful of times, which made their faking-dating plan very redundant.

Also can we just stop and appreciate how Wattpad core the names of the characters are. Athalia. Wren Inkwood. On the topic of names, I would like to point out that throughout the entire novel, the fmc exclusively called the mmc by his last name. I get that he's a sports guy and everybody calls him by his last name, but I think the author missed an opportunity to add a layer of intimacy to their relationship by only using last names. That was one of my biggest problems with this book. It kept things almost detached and this book desperately needed more intimacy.

Despite all that, this book was FUN. It was giving Wattpad left and right but that wasn't a bad thing. The writing was easy to digest and I was able to turn off my brain and just enjoy it.

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

3/5 STARS

⚠️TW: Death of a parent, Grief, Plane crashes, Panic attacks (on page)

Objectively, this is a good book. The aspects of fake dating, enemies to lovers lovers, etc. were there for sure. However, I found this book to be a bit predicatable, repetitive, and slightly annoying. The main characters honestly had no real reason to hate each other which made the enemies to lovers feel super forced. This book also could have been about 250 pages and still gotten the point across. If you are looking for an easy, predictable book then this is for sure the one. Again, it wasn't bad at all, maybe just not for me.

I wanted to really love Lessons in Faking. I would not label this book as an enemies to lovers story but more of.a fake dating one. I found the pacing of the story was pretty slow in the first half and improved in the second. I don't know if it's just me, but I didn't feel any sort of connection to the characters. if anything, Athalia frustrated me. I found it really frustrating that every time something happens, her first thought is that the other person owes her an apology even when it's her fault. Dylan honestly upped the rating of this book to a 3 for me. He was just the perfect book bf. Although, I don't know that it's realistic haha. I did really enjoy the banter between the MCs.

This was a fun book fake dating book. I usually love this troupe. This wasn’t a fun book but it was missing something to push it to a 5 star. Enjoyable overall but not outstanding

Thank you to the author and publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The cover of this book is beautiful. It’s what drew me in. Unfortunately I just couldn’t get into the book itself. I felt out of loop with where the book started and just couldn’t connect to the main characters and storyline. I also wasn’t necessarily fond of the writing style with the numerous amounts of parentheses that added quips that didn’t feel necessary. It disrupted the flow everytime I started to get into it. I know sometimes books just don’t match up with and work out and that’s okay. I believe that in the right hands this book can be cherished and enjoyed.

ahhhh this book was everything!!!! there is nothing i love more than an enemies to lovers story but then mix in hockey?! i LOVED THIS one. as a wattpad girlie myself i hold a special place in my heart for the chaotic and romance packed storylines.

i had such a good time with this one, i would definitely be ready to shed some tears, feel giddy 70% of the book and adore every second of banter that i think only selina mae can bring to a book!!!!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Originally I had some doubts about how this would turn out because I don't think former fan fiction books turn out well when they get traditionally published but this was one of the very few times that it was done well. I read the original book so I know what things are actually supposed to be but I thought all the changes still made a very good story and this continues to be one of my favorite reads. It's a fast read with lots of tension and I can't wait to get an official copy when it comes out.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a review copy via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

First and foremost, the hate for Dylan just didn’t make sense from any of the characters. I didn’t find the dialogue/banter between the characters to be witty or enjoyable. The characters themselves also seem very immature. Henry is overbearing and bizarre; for example, skipping class because you saw your sister on a date is just really absurd.

Very random critique, but a college soccer team literally cannot have 13 people, it’s far too few. That was a detail that simply didn’t make sense. Another thing - the full first-middle-last naming was really a lot for me.

Pros: The cover and new special edition that I got to review is beautiful. The cover and sprayed edges drew me in and made me want to pick up the book. I’ll also always tend towards soccer books.

In sum, I really just didn’t enjoy this book. That being said, I enjoyed the last 30% substantially more than the rest of the book and the writing quality and entertainment seemed to jump up a ton. There’s a lot of potential but this book wasn’t for me.

This book definitely met my expectations!
This book follows the fmc as she starts a fake dating relationship with her tutor aka her brothers archenemies. The tension between them was so good, especially after a few chapters the way their romance started to develop was so sweet.
My one comment, I think is just how easy it was to go into the fake dating agreement, (obviously later on we find out why) but for those first few chapters it just felt too easy, it didn't really make sense to me why McCarthy (the tutor) would simply accept especially when the "enemies" was being pushed.

Overall, it was a solid 4 star read that had me giggling and kicking my feet, it was just a slow start with moments where you definitely had to suspend your belief to fully buy into the story.

Amazing book loved the characters and plot. I couldn't stop reading I stayed up all night. I loved the book so much thank you for the arc.

I was drawn to Lessons in Faking by the adorable cover and hoped I’d love it, but unfortunately, it just wasn’t for me. The writing style is easy to read, which I appreciated, but I struggled to stay engaged.

The characters felt younger than their stated ages, which made it hard for me to connect with them. I’m a big fan of fake dating and enemies-to-lovers tropes, but here the fake dating started so suddenly that it felt a bit rushed and out of place though I understood the reason behind it.

If you take away the spice, this could be a cute story for a younger audience who enjoys light, fast romances. Sadly, it just didn’t hold my interest the way I hoped.

This book was soooo good it was the perfect mix of banter and love I feel most enemy to lover books they fall in love way too quickly but that was definitely not the case with this book it was a slow burn and made me yearn for the love please make this your next read !!

Cute romcom type novel. Loved the characters though I wish Henry and Wren were a bit more fleshed out (though hopefully they are given more depth in the other books in the series). Main complaint though was that the characters constantly referred to each other by their first, middle, and last names… it did not feel natural.