The Truth About Faking

by Leigh Talbert Moore

[Rowena]

When Harley and Jason decide to fake date, they uncover a school of deceptions. Trent’s got a secret, but so does Jason. And the more time Harley spends secretly kissing her fake boyfriend, the further she gets from her dreams with Trent. Worst of all, Harley’s mom is getting cozy with her hot massage therapy student, and even Harley’s Reverend Dad can’t fake not being bothered by it. But when the masks finally come off, can everyone handle the real truth?

This was a pretty fast read and while I ended up really liking it, there were times that I wanted to smack some hot dang sense into Harley. I wasn’t a fan of the back and forth between Trent and Jason, especially when Jason was so good to her and so obviously infatuated with her. There were a lot of things about Harley that got on my nerves but even though they got on my nerves, they also rang true. She reacted the way that a young woman would react to the things that were thrown at her, but mostly I’m talking about the way she reacted to her mother and Ricky. Sometimes, knowing things (how much her mother loves her father) and seeing things can trick your mind into believing things that you probably shouldn’t believe. I thought that Moore did a great job of making the reader see this happen. You want to believe the best in the character but you just don’t know…

One of the things that I enjoyed the most in this book was all of the Jason scenes. Right from the moment he comes into the story, I’m a fan. I loved his personality, his love for ugly, old cars and the way that he thought guys should act around girls. I loved how upfront he was, even when Harley wasn’t all about him. I loved that even though he went along with Harley’s stupid plan, he didn’t stop letting her know that he was interested in her, FOR REAL. I loved that when Harley needed that wake up call, he gave it to her. I loved that even though he was hurt and he didn’t want to be around Harley, he was there for her when she needed someone to listen. I could really go on and on about how much I loved his character but I won’t because he’s in high school and I’m …not. Haha. He’s the kind of boy that I want my daughter to fall in love with in high school and he’s the kind of boy that deserves a girl as awesome as my daughter. I enjoyed his character and thought he was a fantabulous love interest for the main character.

One thing that had me curious during this book was all of the couple swapping. On Jason and Harley’s first “date”, they double with Trent and Shelly (Harley’s best friend) and then the next week, Jason and Shelly are going on a double date with Trent and Harley and then Jason is with Stephanie who used to be with Trent and I couldn’t help but wonder if that happens in real life. I don’t remember it happening so much when I was in high school but does it happen now? I must make a mental note to ask all of my high school attending nieces and nephews.

Anyway, I really did enjoy this book and I am glad that I read it but there were too many times when Harley’s attitude toward everything (Jason, her Mom, Trent, Shelley, etc…) made me want to smack her upside her head. When she couldn’t stop thinking about Jason and yet she was still going out with Trent, I wanted to give her a swift kick to her shins but alls well that ends well. I would have enjoyed it more had Jason made Harley grovel a bit more at the end but I got over it. Harley learned her lesson and I was glad for it.

I’m definitely going to be reading more books by Leigh T. Moore. I enjoyed this one enough to know that I would enjoy other books written by this author so she’s on my radar, for sure.