Review: Pretend with Me by Emily Mayer

Author: Emily Mayer
Publication Date: August 2023

 One phone call was all it took to upend my entire life in completely unexpected ways.

Whoever said that you can’t go home again was a liar. After the senior year from hell, I had spent a decade trying to avoid Beacon Hill and its residents. My luck came to a sudden end after daddy had an incident with a rotted floor. In and out , I promised myself. I was just there to help my parents for a week or two tops.

Things in Beacon Hill hadn’t changed much since I’d been home last. Mama still worked at the hub of gossip known as Trixie’s , Mrs. Thomas still made the best chicken salad in all of Georgia, and my sister was still the devil in a pushup bra. And of course, the St. James family was still local royalty. Our very own version of the Kennedys.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that, not only is my sister back in town after a failed modeling career, she’s also engaged to Macon St. James. The golden boy of Beacon Hill, and the star of every single one of my teenage fantasies.

The biggest surprise of all was Holden St. James. I thought he would be one of the villains in this story, but I was learning that I had been wrong about a lot of things. And Holden just might be worth coming home for….

Pretend with Me is the first book in the Beacon Hill series.  It finds Sutton having to go back home for an extended visit after her father is injured at work.  She also find out her sister  Sissy is engaged to her high school crush, Macon.  Holden is Macon's older brother and is someone Sutton didn't count on having to interact with.  In fact, she doesn't like the St. James family at all.

I thought this was a wonderful slow burn romance.  Holden has definitely made it onto my ever growing book boyfriend list.  He was amazing.  It was so much fun watching Sutton fall for him.  The story is told all through her perspective.  I would have loved to hear what was going through his head.  I did love how Sutton learned that time can heal wounds and it also makes people forgive and forget.  Toward the end, I was so cheering her on in the one scene with her sister.  Sissy was insufferable and their parents really needed a reality check when it came to Sissy.  The fact that they let her get away with her behavior for so long was astonishing.  Because of all of that, the scene toward the end was so satisfying.   I definitely recommend this one. You can find it on Kindle Unlimited now. I can't wait for the next book!