For some reason I just didn't connect with the lead characters in this book. I wasn't interested in the outcome and can't put my finger in what was missing?

Dylan is an aspiring actor, and Floria (Flo) is an aspiring singer - neither doing very well. They are living in a horrible flat and their friends and family don't think they are right for eachother, and they end up splitting up.

Flo then pens a beautiful heartbreak song, which becomes a YouTube sensation and propels her into Stardom. Dylan gets a part in a hospital series and is best newcomer. Their lives are on the rise like never before. The only thing is Dylan and Flo are back together and in love - but no one can know.

This wasn't an earth shattering book, but I was fully invested in the characters and wanted to know what would happen, so couldn't put it down. It was well written, and very amusing in places, so I did enjoy it. 4* from me.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4615108462

I was expecting good things from The Fake-Up from reading the blurb. It sounds like it was going to be a great rom-com, sadly this fell flat for me, it didn’t grab me and I found myself losing interest in reading it. Unfortunately, I had to stop reading and mark it as a DNF.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free ARC in exchange for a review.

I am probably going to be the minority here but I just did not get this book.

Dylan and Flo are two people who from about page 30 I knew were terrible for each other. They just seem to hate each other, or at least most of the other's life and friends. <spoiler> I also have no idea why they get back together in the first place, none of their issues are worked on or solved, and it just seems stupid. </spoiler>

Flo is kind of the worst. She's a rich girl who is annoyed that someone with less money than her would point out her privilege? She's constantly unaware, rude and <spoiler> seems to be about to cheat on Dylan constantly, which is a terrible look for someone I'm supposed to root for. </spoiler> And Dylan! He just whines about opportunity then <spoiler> exploits the LGBT community, and when called out on it, seems to be completely unaware of the struggle of queer people WHILST HAVING A QUEER BEST FRIEND. WHAT A JERK. </spoiler>

Most of my notes about about how terrible Dylan and Flo are for each other, and how much I wish they'd just break up so the book would end. My favourite character was the unnamed director who had a book club after work.

And the ending. Oh god. That pissed me off so much. You mean <spoiler> that these two idiots might be back together and do a whole nother book? </spoiler> I just hate them. I hate Dylan and Flo and I hate them together.

Safe to say, I wasn't a fan. The writing style is still great, exactly what you'd expect from Justin Myers, but I just could not deal with the story or either of the leads. Two stars.

A Very easy read, lighthearted and funny book. Great mix of characters some likeable some no so llikeable....loved it, read very quickly

I don't know how I feel about this book, to be honest. The blurb sounded fantastic and I had high hopes however, I feel there was just something missing for me that didn't quite hit the spot. I still enjoyed the book and it made me laugh and smile. I liked the idea of the book and the storyline, but for me, it just didn't work.

Thank you to Justin and Netgalley for allowing me this ARC in exchange for an open and honest review.

I cannot put into words how sad I am that I didn't like this story. On paper, it had everything going for it. A spin on the good old fake-dating trope, by having the main characters pretend that they're broken up whilst actually still being together. A girl from a well-off family falling for a lower-class guy, and all the delicious messiness that brings with it. And as a cherry on top: written by Justin Myers, whose previous two novels I absolutely adored. So I was fully on board with this story before I had even seen the first page.

Unfortunately, this was a slog to get through. I never connected with any of the characters. I frankly found most of them too annoying, and it didn't take me long to start skim-reading whenever certain characters popped up. Despite the skim-reading, it never felt like I was making any progress with the story.

Parts of this were so incredibly repetitive, and also somewhat disjointed at times. The dialogue and interactions between pretty much all of the characters was also very unnatural, I would even go as far as to say that it felt wooden.

Maybe I had just built up the potential for this story too much in my head, but I don't think it was just my own high expectations that made this fall flat for me. I'll still give Myers a chance if he comes out with another book, because I'm willing to believe that this was a one-off fail and I really did enjoy his previous two books. I'm just so disappointed about this story's wasted potential.

This book started so off on a good note but I found that I didn’t connect with either of the main characters meaning that I struggled to be interested in the whole story. Unfortunately this book just wasn’t really for me.

I liked the blurb of the book, but I didn't like the story.

I'm not sure I misunderstood the whole story, or whether the book was not marketed right.

I struggled to get into The Fake-Up by Justin Myers. I was really looking forward to reading this book but sadly I felt the book was very slow in places and I struggled with it. Sadly not for me.

Flo(ria) is an upper middle-class girl with dreams of a musical career, working in her mother's vanity shop and gigging with an obnoxious sexist musician called Elijah. Dylan is a boy from a council estate with dreams of being an actor, meanwhile he's conducting Jack The Ripper tours of London by day and bartending at his BFF's bar at night. Flo and Dylan are madly in love but their lack of money and class differences cause huge amounts of strife, especially Flo's posh, patronising friends Estella and Barnaby who take every opportunity to put Dylan down. After Barnaby and Estella bring along a group of friends to one of Dylan's tours and infuriate him with their patronising 'advice' (and ask him to act for free in one of their grim webisodes for a sexist drink commercial), Dylan quits his job and he and Flo end up having a massive row.

Flo moves home and writes an angsty thinly-veiled song about their break-up which soons goes viral and leads to her becoming famous. Meanwhile, Dylan lands a role on a hospital soap opera playing a closeted bisexual doctor. Although they soon realise that their argument was silly, Flo and Dylan realise they need to stay broken up for their careers, so they pretend whilst secretly calling and texting each other. But when the tabloids and gossip mags are snapping pictures of Dylan with his costar, or Flo's agent wants her to fake-date a young artist who shared her first song on his social media, do they even know where the acting ends?

I have to take issue with the way this book is sold as A hilarious new rom-com with unforgettably brilliant characters. I didn't think this was hilarious, I didn't even think it was funny. Nor is it a rom-com. And the characters? Meh. Honestly I found both Dylan and Flo to be pretty unsympathetic and the 'antics' of the final chapters were completely left field and didn't fit with the narrative of the book to date.

Overall, I have to say that this book felt to me like the author came up with a great plot for a story and then didn't really care about any of the characters enough to make them likeable or believable. The writing was good and I liked the concept but I didn't care enough about the characters.

I was gifted this book by the publisher Little, Brown Book Group via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I found this book so very funny, it made me chuckle from beginning to end. Such a cheerful book and so differently. Wonderful. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Bit daft but very funny. Enjoyable read. Interesting to see how lives can change .would recommend this book

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. It’s not my usual style but it was a light read. A bit slow in places I felt it was dragged out a little. Good characters, though some were not likeable. Overall a pretty good read!

I was drawn to this book by the summary. The story sounded fun and romantic and I really wanted to like it, but it wasn’t meant to be. From the beginning, I had trouble liking both the story and the characters. I found the characters annoying and shallow, while the plot repeats itself and drags too long. I kept reading just to see if it would improve and become more interesting, but the ending was not what I expected and I am afraid this book wasn’t for me.

I received an ARC of this book via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a romantic Comedy with a difference as the MC's break up and make up and break up again in the limelight of rising stardom. The thing is that they are always showing the opposite of what is actually happening to their "public". I liked the diverse cast of characters and it didn't bother me that the MC's each overlooked the worst sides of their friends even if it impacted on their own relationship.

However I did find some of the book incredibly hard going. I struggled through the first 20% almost getting to the point of giving up. I am glad i got through but there were some incredibly laboured storylines that added nothing to the overall narrative.

I am sure many will rave about this book and I am also certain it would make a good film

The Fake Up by Justin Myers was described in the publisher's blurb as " delightfully funny" and " warm, funny and whip smart", but unfortunately I did not see any of those things in the book that I read.
The main characters are Flo, an aspiring singer songwriter, and Dylan, an aspiring actor, who break up due to a variety of reasons, including pressure from family and friends and the disparity in their backgrounds. While the breakup seems to spark something creative in both their careers, they soon realise that it was a mistake, but while getting back together might be what they want to do, from a career perspective it could be a disaster. In the time honoured tradition of the rom com they decide to reunite but keep it a secret.
I didn't connect with either of the main characters which unfortunately meant that I struggled to stay engaged in their story. I also thought that it took quite a long time into the book for the break up to happen, but the reunion occurred very quickly, it seemed like they had barely any time apart. While there were a couple of mildly amusing moments I wouldn't describe the book as particularly funny. I did however appreciate the way the author incorporated how celebrity is different for men and women, and this was probably the best thing about the book for me.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I was really looking forward to reading this book but found it a bit disappointing.

Flo and Dylan are together but because of them disagreeing over things they break up. They are miserable without each other and decide to get back together but in secret so no one knows. It was an ok book and had funny bits in it.

I found it a bit long winded and a bit boring at times.

Who doesn’t love a rom com?

This was a fun easy ready that I really enjoyed.

Good characters, not a complicated book. A great holiday read

Received an Advanced Reader’s Copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

The most honest thing I can say, is that I’m 100% sure that I absolutely don’t know what to feel. The reason behind this is that the blurb is fairly far from the point the book seems to be making. Additionally… I’m not sure I know what point the book was making.

Was the book about the characters? Was the book about fame? Was the book about love? I’m not sure.

The book introduces the readers to the dynamic between the protagonists, their friends and their relatives. As soon as this is done, the event mentioned in the blurb arrives. From there, the plot spirals between the perspectives of the two characters as they attempt to balance out their lies and their truths.

So.. here’s the thing. I realised that with more of the book I read, more confused I became of what I liked and what I struggled with; because everything was intertwined with one another. If I liked their relationship for what seemed like good communication, a few scenes later I couldn’t understand what was even happening in said relationship that caused a random fight. If there’s one moment where I like what message the author is giving about respect, there’s another to counter that where someone is insulted.

Perhaps if the blurb said the book was about fame, lies and their consequences, I would say for the most part this book did a good job. But the blurb promotes a love story… in my opinion I think the book stopped being a love story the moment the couple broke up in the beginning.

The characters, save a few, are not so relatable and any changes you may see in some of their personalities are so sudden and unbelievable and I didn’t see the purpose to it because it was neither built up nor was it affecting the story at that point.

I think the whole book I just kept feeling that either I absolutely haven’t gotten the point of the book or the book was marketed wrong. The ending just further drove the point in; because it only confused me and exhausted me to the point of feeling like it didn’t matter if I understood the book or not. It was a story. I’d read it, I’d review it and that’s all there was to it.

I hate writing negative reviews, I rarely do. I don’t even know if this is a negative review. I’m so confused.