This trope is one of my top favorite tropes! The fake dating to lovers is so fun, the dialogue was cute. It was a slow burn at the beginning but I really enjoyed it.

Lexi Danby is looking for some no-strings, fall fun. Once a college track star, she was forced to drop out when her father passed away. Now she’s trying to make ends meet while putting herself through school and caring for her grieving mother. When her comically bad waitressing lands her directly in the path of a handsome, charming stranger named Will, Lexi may just have found the distraction she’s been looking for. Their first date looks promising until a misunderstanding at a party thrusts Lexi and Will into a fake engagement they can’t talk themselves out of. And Will turns out to be a member of Seattle royalty.

Will Grand is heir to a major company, and Seattle’s most eligible bachelor. But he’s been placed in charge of an important merger with a company that values family above all else, and needs to show them that he’s settled down. While a fake engagement is advantageous from a business standpoint, it’s not so great for a budding relationship with a woman who’s wary of commitment. With a woman who Will is beginning to care about much more than he could have anticipated.

As Lexi gets a taste of Will’s glamorous world and the pair keeps up the pretense of their fake engagement for the press, they decide to see where a more casual relationship takes them out of the spotlight. And amid apple picking in comfy flannels, outdoor breweries in the crisp air, and fun Halloween preparations, Lexi starts to realize the scariest part of the season might just be taking a chance on love.

Fake dating tropes are my favorite, and these characters, from such different backgrounds, were so much fun to read! This dealt with some big issues, but I found it a light and easy read. Perfect for a summer read or to curl up in the fall with a warm beverage for a great afternoon of entertainment!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced digital reader's copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review!

Ratings:
Overall Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5
Writing: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5
Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5
Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5
Romance: 🌹🌹🌹🌹 4/5

4s all around!

My Thoughts:
I really loved this one! A super sweet and easy romance involving a fake engagement between an heir to a massive company and a (very bad) waitress. While I did think this started a bit slow it really picked up about 25% in and I was hooked. I love Seattle, I love fake relationship tropes, I love a dual POV, and I love a fun light read. This is an easy yes from me!

3 stars. This book felt very average and cliche to me. Not necessarily just the tropes, but all of the plot lines and even specific things the characters said that came off as basic and repetitive. I typically don’t mind a predictable romcom, but this was simply not as interesting as I’d hoped. I was overall underwhelmed by this story. In the author’s note Sullivan says that this is meant to be a story about “learning to see new versions of yourself” and “facing the fear of change”, which I do see in this book. However, I was not able to connect with any of the characters or the story so for me this fell a little flat.
Thank you to NetGalley, the Publisher, and Sophie Sullivan for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Lexi is a 25 year old part-time college student, waitress, and dress shop worker with no intention of falling in love. Will is 30 year old CFO for his family’s successful company Grand Babies whose mother is always trying to set him up on dates. Both are too busy and not looking for a relationship. Yet by some miracle the two get engaged… accidentally.

This book is the embodiment of fake dating (or in this case fake engagement) but real feelings. I loved reading the evolution of Lexi and Will's feelings towards one another and also their stances on the idea of what love is. This is a great easy to read romance with minimal explicit spice. A great book to cozy up with in the fall when it is published. The only reason I didn't rate five stars is the plot itself felt a bit predictable- but it was still comforting and enjoyable to read.

The story is relateable. Things not going as planned. It touches on subjects that are more realistic to life.

This just wasn’t for me. The writing style didn’t work for me. I think it will be well loved for a reader closer to the age group of the characters.

This is a perfect Fall book for a cozy read. It gave me all the Seattle feels! I can't wait for it to be released and to tell all my girlies to pick it up! Thank you Sophie, you did it again! I loved it and it was such a sweet escape!

I’m a huge fan of Sophie Sullivan and I couldn’t wait to read this one.

I find I could relate to Lexi a lot which made me more drawn to this book than her others. I found my Will and he fell for me first just Will did for Lexi.

If you like friends to lovers, fake dating troupes you will really enjoy this one.

I definitely do recommend this one!

Thank you NetGalley, St Martin's Press, and Sophie Sullivan for the early access copy of Can't Help Falling in Love.

Can't Help Falling in Love tells the story of Lexi, a college track star, that due to the passing of her father was forced to drop out of college. Lexi works multiple jobs trying to make ends meet to support herself, her grieving mother, and also is trying to put herself through college again. While working a waitressing job that she is comically terrible at she serves Will, who is a smart, charming customer, that out of sheer luck decides to help Lexi with an unexpected lie. Will is the heir to a major company and is in tabloids for being an eligible bachelor. That is until a misunderstanding causes the world to think that Will and Lexi are engaged.

This is a fake engagement romance that touches on topics of grief and life not going to plan. The story is told in a dual point-of-view, that is also written in third person. I found myself being pulled out of the stories at times with the third person point-of-view writing style.

i LOVED this book. it was absolutely precious. sophie sullivan ate. she not only crushed this fake engagement trope but she truly made it come alive in such a unique way. the way she wrote lexi + wills story through battling grief + familial expectations was heartfelt and pure.

while some of the writing felt awkward at times, overall it was a fun read and i genuinely cannot wait it’s publication. this is going to be the most perfect fall read.

Lexi is working part time as a waitress to pay for her classes, after her life fell apart. When her “successful” old friends from high school come into the restaurant, Lexi sits down and pretends to be on a date with one of her customers.

This snowballs and through a series of accidents and miscommunication, people think Lexi and Will are engaged. Backed into a corner, they go along with it.

It’s dual POV, fake engagement, and the cover art is so pretty. It’s cute and fun. I laughed a lot!

In terms of spice level, it’s technically open door but the scenes are vague.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my advanced digital copy!

Alexandria Danby, better known as Lexi, has three more colleges classes to complete before she graduates with a business degree. Her dad died a few years ago and her mother, who she lives with hasn’t fully recovered from the loss. He left a great debt to be paid which Lexi has been chipping away at by working several jobs.
Lexie has worked at the same dress shop since high school and recently took on a waitressing job that she is terrible at. To make matters worse, while at her waitress job, three of her best girlfriends from high school, come into the restaurant. She hadn’t seen them in years. They are all highly successful. She was horrified to have them find her as a waitress and immediately sat down at the table of a friendly customer who had been enjoying his lunch while reading a book. Who knew it was Will Grand, one of the most sought-after, wealthy, eligible bachelors in Seattle. Her friends assumed she was with Will, and Will played right along with that assumption and after a friendly exchange, both she and Will were invited to an engagement party that evening for one of her friends, that they attended. The next day pictures from the party went viral, and one even appeared in a Seattle newspaper announcing an engagement between Will and a mystery woman who is non-other than Alexandria Danby.
This is a well-written delightful, heartwarming and humorous story of rising above difficult circumstances, working hard to achieve goals and acceptance of ourselves. The characters are relatable, loveable and not easily forgotten. I gave it 4 starts instead of 5, which the actual story deserves. The profanity, and the frequent use of the F word throughout, diminishes, for me, the potential prominence of this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. All comments and opinions are my own.

Lexi is down on her pick and takes a part time job as a waitress but is really really bad at it. Will is a CFO for the family business and one of Seattle's most eligible bachelors. After a miscommunication Lexi and Will end up fake engaged and have to somehow prove it.

This meet cute story was original and hilarious. Lexi was my favorite protagonist in a while. Sophie Sullivan is a phenomenal writer and I loved this book!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this opportunity in exchange for an honest and thoughtful review. This book was rather slow, which is what took my review so long, but it was an enjoyable read in spite of that. The characters were quirky and refreshing. It also had the fake dating/fake engagement trope. It is not my favorite trope but I do enjoy it from time to time.

This was a cute read with tropes of fake dating and friends-to-lovers. I enjoyed the story and found myself rooting for Lexi and Will. I would have liked Will’s personality to be a little more developed but otherwise this was a very enjoyable read. Fans of Sophie Sullivan’s other books will definitely love this one!

It was almost a disadvantage to get an eARC of this book: the fall setting really shone through! This was a well done fake-dating-to-real-love trope and I was HERE for it. Sophie Sullivan is one of my favorites for lighthearted reads that keep me turning the pages. Thank you to the Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the ARC!

I want to start off by saying that I have read previous Sophie Sullivan books and I can definitely tell how much stronger her writing has become. With that said, I didn't entirely enjoy this book. I went into this book blind as I usually do, so I was a bit shellshocked to find that this was a fake engagement romance. Normally, I wouldn't mind it, but in this case their fake engagement ended up on the news and the whole time we could read Lexi's inner monologue, she was adamant that their whole thing was temporary and that it would end; so it was very much just me waiting for this to blow up in their faces and it was STRESSFUL and made me want to DNF multiple times and had me skimming the book from around 20% & onward.

Lexi was fine? It was really frustrating to read Lexi's POV because of how much she would tell herself that her and WIll's "relationship" was temporary, and how could he ever fall for someone like her when he's so different. At some point it just started getting on my nerves. I actually really liked WIll's character, much to my surprise. (In my past experience with Sophie Sullivan books, I loved her FMC and hated her MMC) Can I mention a specific thing I liked? No but I know i enjoyed reading his few (too few in my humble opinion) POV chapters. I also really liked that the romance was very much there and I didn't feel like I was scrambling to find little pieces of their relationship, if that makes sense.

Would I read this again? Absolutely not, this had me stressed like crazy. But I do think that this is a book that people will like. It just wasn't for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
Another enjoyable Sophie Sullivan read!
I quite liked both characters in this book and their adorable wholesome budding relationship. The elements of struggle particularly for Lexi with her mom and career were relatable.
Fluffy, not much to it, but entertained.

Not my favorite Sullivan novel 🙈🙈🙈 But I did enjoy reading it. Probably a perfect beach read, to be honest.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.