Benevolence
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1. PRETEND YOU’RE MINE by Lucy Score
SYNOPSIS
I only wanted to protect you…
Luke Garrison is a hometown hero, a member of the National Guard ready to deploy again. He’s strong, sexy, broody. The last thing he’s looking for is a woman to ruin his solitude. When the wildly beautiful Harper stumbles into his life, though, he realizes that she’s the perfect decoy. A fake girlfriend to keep his family off his back until he’s deployed. So what if kissing her sends his mind to wicked places? He can control himself. Can’t he?
Harper was on her way to starting a new life… again. But something about Luke makes her want to settle down in this small town and make his house a home. When she’s in his arms, she finally knows what it’s like to feel safe. Protected.
One night of sharing a bed turns into something much, much more… and soon Luke can’t keep his mind off Harper’s wide gray eyes or his hands off her luscious curves. He never thought he’d feel this way about a woman again. But he knows that he can’t tell her the truth about his dark past. And she can’t reveal what she’s running from. At least this isn’t a real relationship. It’s only for a month. It’s only pretend. Until it isn’t…
BOOK REVIEW
Pretend You’re Mine by Lucy Score reminded me so much of Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover. The main elements of the book, the emotions it evoked, the romance itself. I fell in love with the main characters and felt deeply for their pain.
“You can’t put your worth in someone else’s hands like that. Whether those hands are stroking you or hurting you. It doesn’t matter. Your value comes from inside. Whether you mean something to him or not has nothing to do with how inherently valuable you are.”
Harper was one hell of a surprise for me after so many faces in romances that just blend in together at this moment. At the beginning of the book, she was an independent woman tired of crappy men. Fresh off having found her cheating boyfriend in action, she saw a random guy put his filthy hands on an obviously helpless woman and just lost it. Without a single worry for her own safety, she charged him and got herself punched in the face. Like, how refreshing was that?! Harper was such a strong heroine, resilient and hilarious. I was in absolute awe with her sharp tongue, sincerity, and compassion. Her ability to love with all she had was definitely top-notch.
“She was clawing her way through the pain, but what lay beyond that didn’t seem worth the fight yet. Maybe someday she wouldn’t feel like her smile was painted on. Maybe someday she would remember what it was like to laugh. Maybe someday the hole wouldn’t be so big.”
I’m still undecided in regards to how I feel about Luke. The man was annoyingly selfish but understandably so. At first, just like me, he was taken aback at how Harper jumped right into the aid of a complete stranger. Never being able to recover from a devastating past, Luke swore to a life of a bachelor but became the target of his family’s matchmaking schemes nevertheless. In an attempt to keep his rather pushy family off his back, he made an agreement with Harper to pretend to be a couple until his yet another deployment in a month. For Harper, the arrangement made perfect sense because of her financial situation. But with forced proximity magic coming into play, Luke and Harper found themselves in a complicated situation with very confusing feelings developing between them. The two kindred spirits soon developed a strong connection that went beyond physicality, which Luke idiotically tried so hard to fight. He was scared. Because with time, he started to realize that Harper brought out feelings in him that were bigger than what he could handle…
“Harper, it’s not possible for me to be more physically attracted to you than I am... You make me hard and stupid and I don’t like it.”
There’s no need to mention that the chemistry between Harper and Luke was just out of this world. The sexual tension and the sex scenes were to die for. Even my hubby said that we should borrow some of the tricks from the main characters haha!
I loved the angst and the push-and-pull game Luke couldn’t help but play (although sometimes, it did feel a little bit repetitive). He thought that Harper deserved so much better, the things he believed he could never give her (and I was grateful for his common sense at least). Despite the fact that I did get where he was coming from, I didn’t lose hope up until the very end that Harper’s and Luke’s story was worthy of a happy ending.
Highly recommend!
2. FINALLY MINE by Lucy Score
SYNOPSIS
If he doesn’t end up naked and spread eagle on my bed I. Will. Die.
Gloria is due a happily ever after. She’s lost ten years to a toxic, dangerous relationship. Now that she’s finally free—and medicating with makeovers and margaritas in her mother’s kitchen—she has a long road ahead of her remembering who she really is. She’s scarred. But scarred doesn’t mean broken.
While Gloria’s deciding to take the next decade off from men, along comes larger-than-life, hometown hero Aldo Moretta. He’s saying all the right things and flirting in all the right ways. He’s deploying for six months and wants a date… with Gloria… when he comes back. Swoon. Panic.
One kiss, one dazzling, remember-for-a-lifetime kiss, and he’s gone. But life and happily ever afters don’t always take the straight path. When Aldo’s deployment is cut short by an injury, it’s up to Gloria to be the hero for them both.
3. PROTECTING WHAT’S MINE by Lucy Score
SYNOPSIS
If you can’t stand the heat, don’t fall for a firefighter…
Fire Chief Lincoln Reed is known for his heroics in the fire department and in the bedroom. Life is a never-ending good time. Until she lands in the middle of the accident scene he’s working… and then his backyard. Too bad she’s immune to flirty first responders.
Flight trauma surgeon Mackenzie O’Neil is on a crash course with burnout. She’s got a scar on her face and a shake in her hands. A temporary job as a small-town family physician is just the prescription. She’ll learn to meditate. Sleep more. Take up gardening.
She definitely won’t take her shirtless, firefighting neighbor’s hot body for a test drive.
But Linc and his tattoos are very persuasive. What’s a harmless little adrenaline-fueled fling between neighbors? It’s all naked fun and games until the shadows from Mack’s past find their way into her present. Can Linc be her hero when she needs him the most or will their scars ruin everything?
One thing is certain: Someone is going to get burned.