TBR Challenge May 2009

"Pretend You Love Me" by Stacia Wolf
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Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Comedy
ISBN: 1-59998-177-7
Price: $5.50
Length: Novel
Publication Date: December 12th, 2006
Cover art by Stacia Wolf and Scott Carpenter

It's one thing to deceive your meddling family, it's quite another to fool yourself.

Cassie Delistraty is one tough woman. A brilliant attorney, well-schooled in self defense, she's quite capable of taking care of herself. But can she face down her own mama? Heck, no!

Nursing a bruised heart from her failed marriage, Cassie has returned to Seattle to decide the next chapter in her life. But she's stalled – she spends all her time remodeling her new home, playing with her dogs, and flirting outrageously with her former crush, Mike Ashford, whenever they come into contact. She thinks it's working, but her mother has other ideas. She stages a dance contest to find a suitable man to date her hermit daughter.

Enter her knight in shining armor – or rather, a bar apron. Rescuing girl-next-door Cassie Delistraty has been a habit throughout Mike's life. The headstrong don't-rescue-me-I-can-handle-it female always finds some sort of trouble – from helping the downtrodden to protesting wrongdoings. And despite her protestations, she does need someone to watch over her. But could this be one rescue too many? Because who's going to save Mike from Cassie?

The fake relationship Mike springs on Cassie presents her with a tempting new possibility – use the farce to finally eradicate this crush Cassie's labored under for over a decade. But what to do when the flames she fans to life threaten to burn out of control?

When I was looking for a book in my TBR that was a novel about friends to lovers I realized I'd read them all, then when I looked a little more I found this book in my Samhain bookshelf. So I dove right in.

 

But now I find myself struggling to write this review, so much so that it's late for the TBR Challenge, but since I read it and liked it enough to give it a 7 I feel like I need to come through here. PRETEND YOU LOVE ME fits all the Friends to Lovers points that I for one expect to see. Mike is Cassie's brother's best friend, he promised Cal to never get involved with Cassie, yet he's attracted to her. Cassie who is no dummy still manages to get herself into situations she needs to be saved from and Mike is her "Knight in Shining Armor". There chemistry is off the charts and the story is one that left me smiling in the end.

 

The only part that I struggled with and why this is a 7 and not higher is Cassie and Cal's parents storyline, it was complicated and deep and without spoiling it riddled with deception and mistrust. They went for Thirty years unmarried and yet still in love with each other. I found myself scratching my head over this, they never once talked about what kept them apart. Cassie dad would propose every year and every year her mother would refuse. So why oh why doesn't anyone try to get to the bottom of why? It was quite frustrating to me. Then when the truth was revealed we find Mike's mom had something to do with keeping Cassie and cal's parents apart. I was shocked and well amazed at how easily this deceit was forgiven not only by Cassie's parents, but by Cassie and Mike as well. It pushed the boundaries of just how much I am willing to believe. granted this is based on how I feel I would react to the situation, but I don't think I could have forgiven Mike's mom and it would have definitely derailded any chance of Me staying with Mike. Cassie is a better woman than I.

 

So that being said PRETEND YOU LOVE ME is a solid 7.