VBT# The Pick Up - Sadie Ryan

Review: The Pick Up - Sadie Ryan - September 2026

I'll be honest, when I sat down with this one this morning, I really didn't know what I was walking into. Something about a bar, a meet-cute, maybe a slow-burn romance? That was about the extent of my guess. What I got instead was so much richer, and honestly, a little more heart-stopping than I expected.

We meet Melissa, freshly out of a ten-year relationship and staring down forty with the sinking feeling that love might have left the building for good. I think anyone who's ever felt that particular kind of post-breakup dread will recognise themselves in her immediately. Then comes one night out with her friends, and suddenly she's swept into the orbit of Ralph Darling.

And swept really is the word. The whirlwind romance moves fast, with a wedding on the horizon just two months in. But here's the thing that had me gripping the pages: Ralph is too good to be true, in the most unsettling sense possible. He's a con artist, methodical and patient, and Melissa is exactly where he wants her. If he plays his cards right, she becomes his next payday, drained slowly and deliberately while she thinks she's found her happy ending.

What I loved most, though, wasn't the con itself, it was the people around Melissa. Her friends Liam and John are the beating heart of this story. No matter how far Ralph tries to pull her away from them, they keep showing up, keep trying to gently reel her back toward reality. There's something deeply comforting about reading a book where the found family refuses to give up, even when the person they love can't see what's happening to her.

Set against a really well-drawn UK backdrop, this is a con-artist story with genuine emotional stakes. It's not just a thriller about deception, it's a story about loneliness, hope, and the particular vulnerability of wanting so badly for something to be real that you ignore the warning signs. It left me thinking about how often "too good to be true" really is exactly that.

If you're after a read that will keep you wary and warm-hearted in equal measure, this one's for you.

Amazon: https://link.amazon/B05NeAiKY