Review: Faker by Sarah Smith

Faker
by Sarah Smith
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: Oct. 8, 2019
Genre: Romance
Rating:

Emmie Echavarre is a professional faker. She has to be to survive as one of the few female employees at Nuts & Bolts, a power tool company staffed predominantly by gruff, burly men. From nine to five, Monday through Friday, she’s tough as nails–the complete opposite of her easy-going real self.

One thing she doesn’t have to fake? Her disdain for coworker Tate Rasmussen. Tate has been hostile to her since the day they met. Emmie’s friendly greetings and repeated attempts to get to know him failed to garner anything more than scowls and terse one-word answers. Too bad she can’t stop staring at his Thor-like biceps…

When Emmie and Tate are forced to work together on a charity construction project, things get…heated. Emmie’s beginning to see that beneath Tate’s chiseled exterior lies a soft heart, but it will take more than a few kind words to erase the past and convince her that what they have is real.

 

 

Emmie and Tate cannot stand each other. Sure, they try to keep it professional at work, but with every interaction is underlying disdain. However, when they’re place of work decides to do one of those charity build-a-house events, Tate and Emmie have to learn to try to get along. Pretty soon they are seeing a different, softer side to the other person that has them rethinking all their previous interactions.

This one started off so strong for me. There was a brooding Tate who just loathed Emmie for some reason, and did a lot of things to irritate her. Emmie was also pretty immature and would always be quick to throw a jab his way. When they are paired up for the volunteer jig, boy do the sparks fly. Sure they can’t stand each other, however, you would start to see Tate doing small kind gestures for Emmie. Since the book is all in Emmie’s POV, we have no idea what he’s thinking. However, the small moments like when he calmly talks her down from a panic attack and takes a protective stance over her towards skeevy coworkers, really showed Tate in a different light from the picture that Emmie was trying to paint.

With that being said, I did have some pretty big issues with this one towards the end. It is revealed to the readers as to why Tate showed such disdain for Emmie, thus kick-starting their feud. While that could be plausible, the fact that she caught him on more than one occasion texting someone about how horrible it was to have to breath in the same air as her was a bit much. I mean, the antagonizing ways he got a rile out of her and the lil quips he threw at her was all because he liked her but is an introvert? Are we in preschool? Then the ending scene where he mistakes her for someone else. Excuse me? Ah-nah. I don’t think so. There’s no way you can mistake someone for a different person, unless they are an identical twin. Let’s put it this way, my husband has a very strict work uniform. All his coworkers wear the same boots, pants, jacket, and hat. They even all need to adhere to the same facial grooming guidelines. I’ve been to many functions where my husband looks like hundreds of other men at the same event… and not once have I EVER walked up to the wrong man, grabbed him and then kissed him. Now, I might have started to walk up to the wrong person and then immediately realized my mistake and quickly in my head yelled, “ABORT! ABORT! ABORT! Play it cool, but that is not your target!” So, yeah. There were a few things that popped up on Tate’s end that just didn’t jive with me no matter how the author tried to play it off.

Now, I’m not saying that this was a bad romance. I’m just saying that there were a few things that were played up and then brushed away like no biggie. I would have liked a better reason on why Tate was such a jerk to Emmie and how it spiraled out of control. I could have totally done without that godawful scene with the mistaken identity. With that all said, I still enjoyed this. I was enjoying the heck out of it until the author tried to wrap it all up in a pretty little boy with some random mixed in drama just because. Once those bombs blew up in my face, I was left disinterested in how it all played out, which is a shame since it started off so well.

7 Thoughts on “Review: Faker by Sarah Smith

  1. The title of this grabbed my attention right away, and the blurb sounds like it would be a really great read. But like you, that ending would have been a real turn off for me, and a deal breaker. Yikes! Sure hope you’re doing well! Hugs, RO

  2. it’s usually the ending that saves the book, not kills it.
    sherry @ fundinmental

  3. The synopsis for this just didn’t appeal to me so you are making me feel better for skipping it!

  4. Sorry to hear this did not work for you. I can understand how frustrating it can be when certain things are borderline ridiculous. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, it’s definitely not something I would enjoy myself.

  5. I really like the enemies to lovers trope but it has to be done well.

  6. I hate how unbelievable this story seems to be. It was one I was really looking forward to reading, but I cannot deal with childish behavior in adults (or even young adults), especially when the motive is petty and meant to rile another person. I also don’t agree that there was a case of mistaken identity. I loved your whole “ABORT!” comment! It made me laugh! There’s just no way you KISS someone on accident because you think they’re someone else. You’re literally IN THEIR FACE.

    I think I’ll be skipping this one. Thanks for the review!
    Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear? ☃

  7. I don’t see my previous comment, so I’m going to attempt to recreate it (hah). Okay, so…. this book has been on my TBR for ages, but I’ve seen a lot of negative reviews. Like you, the childish behavior would really bother me, and the mistaken identity is a load of bull. There’s no way… they’d be FACE TO FACE, so surely the differences would be obvious??

    I think I’ll be skipping this one. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
    Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear? ☃

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