Influencer, Lillibet, has the world falling in love with her lifestyle. The beautiful sceneries, the lavish self-care, and delectable food are coupled with beautifully captioned advice about life. The only problem with Lillibet? She isn’t real. She is a creation of best friends, Libby, Jean and Keoki who couldn’t live any further from the life they are presenting as Lillibet. When an important follower decides to come to the island to visit Lillibet, the three friends have to hustle to find a way to make their creation into reality. This attempt is followed by chaos, unfortunate events, and the possibility of love.
When a story seems completely unbelievable, it is hard to really jump into it or find ways to connect within the words on the page. Starting, Hate to Fake it to you, I fully expected to feel disappointed. It seemed like a silly premise and so unbelievable that it would be impossible to fall in love with it. I am happy to say that I was very wrong. While the story itself is hard to believe, the characters make up for the lack of connection.
The characters are fully fleshed out, fun, and easy to connect with. The main character, Libby, was intelligent, sassy, and incredibly fun to read. She got herself into situations that in no way would happen to an average person, but those situations always ended up shining a light on the person that she so desperately wanted to be. Her inner dialogue gave a deeper understanding of who she was when everything around her was falling apart. It was interesting to see the juxtaposition between who she was presenting herself to be and who she wanted to be. Jefferson, Hildy, Jean, and Keoki were all equally vital to the story and their interactions with Libby never disappointed.
Despite the lovable characters themselves, the romances lacked luster. There was so much going on that it was hard to see the romance grow in any way that felt natural. This could be because the flow of the story was difficult to follow. There were moments where everything happened at once and then moments where nothing at all happened and it was jolting to go between the two.
This was a surprisingly fun read that was a wonderful break from the seriousness of the real world if you don’t mind the difficulties with the flow. Watching Libby and her friends get themselves into and out of wild situations made my own life feel a little bit more manageable, and for that, I found myself greatly appreciating this book.
3.5/5 stars
Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
The Novel Llama 