3.5/5

Lessons in Faking is a charming, character-driven romance that hits all the familiar beats of the fake-dating trope—but with enough heart and humor to keep it enjoyable.

Selina Mae shines when it comes to character chemistry. Dylan and Athalia are instantly likable, and their banter is smart, funny, and full of warmth. Their relationship is the emotional core of the story, and it works beautifully.

Where the book stumbles is in its predictability. The plot feels a little too familiar, and I found my attention wandering at times. It’s the kind of story you enjoy in the moment. That said, it’s still a feel-good, cozy read with a lot of charm. Mae’s voice is promising, and I’ll be curious to see what she does next!

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the ARC!

I was super excited for this book when I read the description, as I love a fake-dating college romance so much.

Jumping straight in, it took me a second to get oriented with the story in chapter one. I felt like I was sort of dropped into a story with no context of where I was. Not only that, but it felt like the plot was lost at times and the story was moving without purpose. Both of the characters were also pretty immature considering they're in college, not high school.

This book is filled with a lot of your typical tropes, which typically I have zero issue with, but they were pretty overdone here. As in, every single chapter. It felt like the author was trying to constantly come up with scenes that could be highlighted and posted online to gain attention for the book.

The characters themselves were fine, I didn't feel myself connecting with either Athalia or Dylan.

The cover is adorable, though, and it's my favorite thing about this book.

Cute book. One of my favorite tropes. Just felt a little childish at times and the chapter sometimes felt choppy.

Super predictable nothing new have right basically the same book multiple times before

i liked the general idea of the book and the whole faking dating plot. however, some details just didn’t make sense. main male character is from the main female character’s brother rival’s team. both characters got together to make this brother angry since apparently both main characters hated him. throughout the book, as they fake dated, brother was mentioned at most 3 times. it felt like this dating thing was just out of nowhere. also i could not figure out the final goal to this “dating”. they just decided to fake date?🤷‍♀️

the writing though was pretty great. the dialogues and scenes were clear, natural and student real. i’ve enjoyed the main female character but had difficult time liking mmc.

2.75 ⭐️

Lessons in Faking is a fluffy, low stakes college sports romance. If you’re looking for a quick read you might find some enjoyment in this.

For me though, it was very evident that this was originally fan fic. It really lacked flow from one chapter to the next. The chapters felt very episodic. This needed some heavy edits to make it feel more like a book.

Aside from that, this just wasn’t very strong as a fake dating romance. Fake dating needs to have a convincing reason and this just didn’t have that. Athalia wanted her brother’s attention and she justified this agreed 2 month long fake dating arrangement because it made her brother mad and he directed that anger at her briefly. He then proceeded to ignore her for almost the entire remainder of the book, which made the fake dating a bit pointless.

This book might work better for a younger reader who is new to reading adult romances, as it was just very juvenile in terms of the characters and the plot overall.

A fresh, funny, and emotionally sincere romance that puts a clever twist on the classic fake-dating trope. With sharp banter, heartfelt moments, and just the right touch of vulnerability, this book delivers on both swoon and substance.

I really enjoyed this book. I'm really delighted to see a US publisher translating romance novels from Germany. I hope to see more international books like this!

I found the writing style disappointingly juvenile, with a tone that felt more suited to a younger YA audience than expected. The fake dating plot between the FMC and her brother’s enemy fell flat.

I was excited to see this book and get a chance to read it. Fake dating is my favorite trope and that is what this book is geared around, what could go wrong?

Well, the writing was... poor. It came across very juvenile and not well edited. The plot was lost halfway through the book, honestly I wasn't even sure what the plot was at that point as it seemed to derail from what was originally established. It had such promise but ended up chaotic and full of spice in a way that wasn't appealing. Not to mention, I understand that this is meant to be a Harry Potter, Dramoinie fanfic but the author could have been more creative with her names. Her brothers name is Henry and his friends are Reuben and Harriet. Professor Simon Shaw? The main characters name is Dylan Mccarthy for crying out loud. Also, the overuse of first and last name when speaking about characters... no one writes like that.

The characters are meant to be college students but they acted more like high schoolers. Our FMC is extremely immature. Instead of having an honest conversation with her brother, she devises a plan to fake date his enemy. Okay, granted, that's the main plot of the book, but the way it was handled was so cheesy and off-putting. She would create drama and drag it out then complain about the drama, It was petty and made it where I couldn't connect with any of the characters. Everything was surface level, no one had any real depth.

The author used the "My female best friend is gay and Is in love with me" plot line to have a "gay" character in her book. This was the main point of conflict in the story and honestly it was extremely disappointing. She pulled away from the friendship the moment our FMC starts her relationship which causes some of the problems. I thought that we were past using gay characters to further our MC's plot lines.

The main conflict with her brother also ended up being mostly a throw away. He forces himself into her life only when it pleases him, namely she needs tutoring by his rival, and ignores her telling him to stay out of it. He proceeds to do this over and over again, and when he finally wises up and apologies, it wasn't even a good apology.

Not every fan-fiction needs to be published, and unfortunately this is one of those instances.

i went into this thinking it’d be a fun fake-dating college romance because the cover is SOOO cute, HOWEVER it was such a letdown ( which really sucked tbh ). the first 40% wasn’t terrible ( like honestly i was really into it!! ), but after the kiss ( 😬 ) the plot completely derailed. it went from kind of promising to just horny and chaotic in the WORST way.

the characters acted like teenagers, NOT college students. the fmc was SO immature and kept dragging out drama SHE caused, and the smut was just… painful. i couldn’t connect with any of the characters, which usually i can do BUT everything felt surface-level. honestly, I’m just mad the pretty cover tricked me!!

This was cute, but I wasn’t obsessed. The setup had so much potential. Twin sibling tension, fake dating, rivals-to-something-more. I really thought I was about to be fed. And in some ways, I was. The banter between Athalia and Dylan was fun, and some of the moments they shared actually gave me a few butterflies.

But I never fully connected with the characters the way I wanted to. Athalia’s motivation made sense, but her inner thoughts dragged a bit. Dylan had all the book boyfriend traits, but he still felt kind of flat to me. And the ending? Way too rushed. It needed more time to breathe.

It’s a quick and sweet read if you want something light with a sprinkle of angst. Not a new favorite, just a solid little in-between read.

This book is character driven, simple point blank. There’s the plot line of them fake dating sure to help Athalia get her “revenge” on her twin brother, Henry. But really, I knew I was in it for the long haul in chapter one because I just loved Athalia and McCarthy’s (I’m sorry I know his name is Dylan but there’s something so funny to me about the way he just gets called by his last name for 90% of the book) banter—it was so so good!! It was witty, sarcastic, and just really well-written. Selina Mae knows how to write good dialogue is all I’m saying!

If I had to say one negative thing about this book (which I don’t want to but it was a random thought I had towards the beginning of the book): I wasn’t completely convinced about the whole premise or motivation behind Athalia fake dating McCarthy because at first, I can’t lie—I found it a bit weird. Fake dating your twin brother’s enemy because it will give you attention that you want and won’t get otherwise; like it sounds odd when written in a sentence but trust me on this, it becomes less awkward. The more you read, the more it just makes sense and it’s just developed very well throughout the whole story until we get to the point where everything is unpacked and explained.

The romance was done perfectly to my taste! The physical and emotional romance was balanced so well. It’s also the little things that kept building up this book like the little nicknames that at first would be subject to an eye roll or groan but overtime makes the character and reader’s heart flutter a bit. The playfulness and teasing that makes you giggle and kick your feet. The tension that hangs in the air when one of the characters is a little too honest with their thoughts and feelings and waiting in anticipation for how the other character will react/respond. I highlighted so, so many moments like these because there were just that many that I highly enjoyed!

Thanks the LYX Book and NetGalley for the eARC op Lessons In Faking.

Tropes:
-He falls first
-Fake dating
-Brothers Rival
-Tutor/mentor
-Loss of Parents

I love a good fake dating trope and this book has all the key elements. It’s cute and light hearted with a touch of underlying emotional themes. This was a 3.75⭐️ for me. There’s a few things I felt could have been touched on the solidify they relationship between the FMC & MMC that would have made them have a stronger relationship. Overall it lives up to a fun romance read.

**ARC Review: *Lessons in Faking* by Selina Mae**

*Lessons in Faking* by Selina Mae offers an enjoyable read with lovable characters and genuinely entertaining banter—but ultimately, it treads familiar ground.

There’s no denying Mae’s talent for writing character dynamics. The leads are charming and endearing, and their chemistry is one of the book’s strongest points. Their banter feels fresh and funny, with moments that had me smiling throughout. It’s easy to root for them individually and as a couple, and their interactions carry a lot of the story’s emotional weight.

Where the book falters, however, is in the plot. The storyline—centered around a fake relationship—feels a bit too well-worn and predictable. While there are sweet and heartfelt moments, the narrative doesn’t quite bring anything new to the trope. It left me wishing for more originality or unexpected turns to help it stand apart from similar books in the genre.

That said, *Lessons in Faking* still has its appeal. Fans of character-driven romance will likely enjoy the emotional connections and lighthearted humor. It may not break new ground, but Selina Mae’s voice shows promise, and I’m curious to see how she evolves in future work.

The pacing or maybe the “flow” was a little choppy. It felt like driving a stick shift without fully knowing how, but you still got to your destination…

With that being said, overall it was cutesy. I think the initial conflict with the FMC should have been consistent throughout the entire book but instead it just evaporated and she ended up being annoyingly immature. Also, when the spice hit it felt like our MMC turned into a completely different person. I wish he’d kept some of his relaxed nature instead of turning into some sort of love beast.

When Athalia finds herself struggling in her Statistics class, she's assigned a tutor to help her out. To her surprise, her tutor turns out to be Dylan—her brother's long-time rival. Things get even more complicated when her brother discovers the arrangement and, despite Athalia's insistence to stay out of it, he oversteps by going straight to her professor. Furious with her brother's interference, Athalia decides to strike back in the most unexpected way: by fake dating Dylan to get under his skin.

Some parts were super cute and funny. Sometimes the book felt a little slow in pacing. But overall I think it was a cute read.

Okay but Lessons in Faking had me in my feelings! We’ve got fake dating, rival energy, twin drama, and of course… butterflies. Athalia is just trying to fix things with her twin brother (cue the emotional damage), but instead she ends up fake dating his sworn enemy slash infuriatingly hot golden boy, Dylan McCarthy. The banter?? The tension?? The contracted fake dates that spiral into real feelings?? I was HERE for it.

If you love:
• Enemies-to-lovers-but-make-it-fake-dating
• A morally conflicted golden boy
• Girls who just want to feel seen
• And boys who fall first, hard, and forever

…then give this one a shot! It’s messy, a little chaotic, but still hits that sweet spot of angsty fluff and tension you didn’t know you needed.

Thank you to Netgallet and Lyx for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

i liked this book. it was enjoyable. cute moments between the main character and the love interest. however I found the main character to be immature in some scenes and a little selfish. I still enjoyed it and I will continue on the series

3.5 stars

I received an advanced reader copy. Thank you to NetGalley and LYC Books for the opportunity to read this book.

He falls first
Fake dating
Brothers Rival
Tutor/mentor
Loss of Parents

Athalia wants nothing more than her twin brother to treat her like he did before their lives changed when their parents died. So she comes up with the idea to date her brother’s teammate and rival Dylan.

Dylan agrees to fake date her with no questions. Because he’s been keeping a secret about his teammates sister.

Perfect rom-com style book. I enjoyed the overall story and recommend to anyone needing a cute and quick love story.

Dylan and Athalia had good dialogue and chemistry throughout which I enjoyed. Definetly do appreciate a yearning man in a romance book, so loved that. Plot left something to be desired of.

The faking dating trope was nice but I was confused as to why it was a needed trope given the role of her brother in it. They’re faking dating to make her brother mad but he’s only mentioned briefly a few times throughout the story? Just felt as they could have gone another direction instead of this. Good easy and fairly fast paced read.

Thank you Netgalley and LYX Books for the arc in exchange for an honest review!