Not Pretending Anymore

Vi Keeland, Penelope Ward — 2021

Finding a good roommate through a classified ad isn't as easy as it sounds. I was starting to lose hope. Until a knock at my door came and God answered my prayers. Except...uh...wrong prayer, God. I'd definitely requested the big guy find me a drop-dead gorgeous man on more than one occasion...just not as my roommate. Declan Tate talked me into interviewing him anyway. While he was amusing and charismatic, I wouldn't have been comfortable living with a man, so I regretfully declined. Then cupcakes showed up at my door-freshly baked by Declan and just as sinfully delicious as he was. You could say he was persistent. I eventually folded. It wasn't like I had another viable candidate anyway. Plus, I was interested in someone else. And Declan was into another woman. So it wasn't like anything would happen romantically. After he moved in, the two of us became the best of friends. We even started to give each other advice on getting our crushes to notice us. Eventually, Declan concocted an idea: we should pretend to be a couple to make our love interests jealous. I was hesitant, but went along with it anyway. To my utter shock, his crazy plan worked. Now I was dating the supposed man of my dreams, and my best friend had the woman of his. But there was one problem. I couldn't stop thinking about Declan. Those feelings we were trying to fake? Yeah...I wasn't pretending anymore.

Reviews

Vanessa@veereads90

Jun 24, 2023

Sweetheart Yes. Read it. Read this book. It’s not the spiciest book. But it is one of the sweetest, slow burns with depth.. Yeah, just read it.

celene@recluseperformer

Jan 23, 2023

3.7 crying bc of the epilogue oh my gawd ckdbfj i really really like mollydeclan, they made me feel warm and fuzzy my gawd fkdnd -strangers to fast friends to lovers -roomies trope so they get pretty domestic,,,,so,,,, 🤕 -love u expert fake daters who also delivered jealousy trope we love to see it !! 😏 -the hospital scene w the m&m’s scene,,,,, crying -whenever they comfort one another thru affection and by being great friends,,,, pls that’s so soft -like they were so funny pls,,, i was entertained esp in the first half of the book pls 🤣 -when declan leaves notes for molly 🥺 -when declan calls molly ‘moll’ 🥺 -the drunk scene my gawd ckbddj declan tate i love u babie u are so funny and charming and really thoughtful and caring and hes so good at cooking and the best roomie u can ask for ??? hes a perf roomie ngl wowers 🤰🏻and oh he’s 6’1” so *giggles* -so yes there’s a miscommunication trope here but (imo) it’s not really dragged so much and i understood why the mcs didnt communicate w each other in a straightforward way. like for declan, as a person who’s also going thru what he’s going thru, yeah we can be doubtful and be really insecure w what we think we deserve and in life in general and not wanting to be burden to people and the negativity can seem really overwhelming that’s why communicating w the person u love can be challenging. for molly, w everything she’s been thru i understood that experiencing conflicts can make you uncertain. -and (imo) the trope was done in a way romcom movies do it,,, like it’s not so annoying,,, and speaking of romcom movies,,, yeah this book felt like i was watching a romcom movie pls :”)

Jennifer Eggleston @jenneggs

Sep 27, 2022

roomies, friends, lovers, hea This was a cute story that really gets you in the feels. Slow burn with some heat at the very end.

val@goaskval

Aug 24, 2022

** spoiler alert ** lo único que me gustó de este libro fue que, para variar, se hayan intercambio los papeles, y fuese Declan el que renunciara a su trabajo para quedarse con Molly. Del resto, puedo asegurar que todo lo demás se me olvidara en una semana.

nory@tristanmorana

Aug 16, 2022

the middle kind of dragged but molly and declan were so adorable i loved it

Mariam Mohsen@mariammohsen

Mar 18, 2022

4.5 stars.

Tatiana@tateasbooks

Dec 18, 2021

DNF at 49% Couldn’t get past the writing and the story didn’t go the way I wanted it to go.

Natasha Anderson@mcflynatasha

Nov 16, 2021

SOOO GOOD some cliches and a slow burn kinda But a quick light hearted fun read HE IS SO HOT but like his trauma is wow

Cat Nunez @catxbooks

Oct 8, 2021

As always Vi and Penelope did an amazing job, this book was so good I devoured it in less than a day. It’s a slow burn but Declan and Molly were perfect. Molly needed a female roommate but all she had was bad luck until Declan showed up. At first it was hard for her to accept that he was the perfect person for a roommate, but he didn’t gave up and knew she couldn’t resist his cooking. Then they became roommates and everything changed. Both had feelings for different people but from the beginning they created a strong friendship. I loved how from day one they joked and seemed like they knew each other for years. Declan was wonderful, he was an amazing cook, he was very clean and was very charming and fun. Despite having some problems he was always there for Molly and I really enjoyed their life as roommates. Molly was amazing too, she was a nurse with a lot of work but she still loved to spend some time with her friends and colleagues. She had a difficult relationship with her dad at first but I’m glad she left the past behind and she could forgive him. I also loved that she and Declan always had something to talk about, and despite the bad timing with their jobs they still managed to spend a lot of time together. They had a lot of chemistry from the beginning, they joked about silly things and I loved every scene when they were together. Declan was always there to help her and just be there for her after everything she was going through with her dad and I loved how closer they got after a short time. They had a lot of difficulties to be together but it was all worth it at the end. They both had time to follow their hearts and realize what they wanted. It was hard but I really loved how they finally got their HEA.