ARC Review – Act Like You Love Me (Accidentally In Love #2) by Cindi Madsen

This is one of those books that will make you laugh, make you scream in frustration, make you cheer, make you cry, and make you glad you love this genre!  Slick, Guilty Pleasures

Description:
All’s fair in acting and amore…

Brynn McAdams isn’t the awkward drama geek she was in high school—she’s grown up and confident, or at least she likes to think so. But when her old crush, the impossibly handsome and impossibly unattainable Sawyer Raines, comes back to town to direct her community play, Brynn finds herself determined to be someone other than the girl he doesn’t even recognize. Good thing she’s an excellent actress.

After his bad breakup in NYC, the last thing Sawyer wants is to get involved with another actress. But the glamorous and beautiful Brynn draws him in, even though as her director, he knows she’s off-limits. There’s just something about the woman that feels…familiar. Like home.

As Brynn’s lies start to snowball, she struggles to stop acting and come clean. But what if Sawyer is already falling for the fake Brynn, not the Brynn she truly is?

Review copy provided for an honest review

Sometimes I read books that just hit home and Act Like You Love Me is one of those books. I had a friend in high school who was kind of a social misfit and while she didn’t have near this issues that the heroine in this book had I could really understand where she was coming from. The last thing you want when you meet the guy you had a crush on in high school years later is to be remembered as that geeky girl from high school. So Brynn decides to be more interesting and not let on that she knows Sawyer and since she wasn’t even on his radar back then she doesn’t have a problem pulling it off at least for a little while.

Sawyer is back in his hometown to refurbish the lake house his parents bought before his father got sick and passed away. After his screenplay was turned into a movie, he’s had some trouble getting his muse back and hopes the time away from New York will do him some good. His aunt has roped him into directing a play at the community theater where he meets Brynn, a lovely actress who apparently can’t stand him or so he thinks.

Brynn can’t believe her eyes when she runs into Sawyer outside the theater where she has the starring role. When she finds out he’s going to be her new director she decides she really needs to keep her distance but that’s easier said than done when she realizes he’s renovating the house next door to hers.
Boy these two have more issues that People magazine! Sawyer is coming off a bad relationship with an actress who lied to him. Brynn finds herself feeling like her weird girl high school self over and over when she’s around Sawyer. While Sawyer is polite and tries to get to know her Brynn keeps giving him the cold shoulder until one day he steals a kiss. The thing is Sawyer has made some assumptions about her and she hasn’t bothered to correct him and the lies just start to take over and snowball. On top of that both of their mother’s keep trying to set them up with people including each other something neither one wants. Sawyer is determined to leave town again either back to New York or to L.A. and Brynn still feels that Sawyer is way out of her league.

Despite everything, I enjoyed both of these characters a lot. Brynn is funny, quirky, and insightful. I hate that she still has self image problems but I love that her brother and his new girlfriend are good about building her up. Sawyer is complicated and it’s evident he has never gotten over the death of his father and it has messed with his head regarding long term relationships. That along with what his ex did to him makes it easy to understand his hesitancy to pursue another long term relationship.

Act Like You Love Me is a romance pure and simple and while there are some sexy moments there is no sex but the story is so compelling and the build up so delicious, it worked. This is one of those books that will make you laugh, make you scream in frustration, make you cheer, make you cry, and make you glad you love this genre!

4.5 Stars