Tag Archives: friends to lovers

May16

The Roommate Pact by Allison Ashley

Posted on by
Standard
The Roommate Pact by Allison Ashley

Ashley, Allison. The Roommate Pact. Harlequin, 2023. 400 pp. ISBN 9780778334248 $18.99

***

Firefighter Graham and nurse Claire are roommates with a joking agreement to embark on a friends with benefits relationship if they are still single at forty; as soon as they voice the option, they suddenly start to notice just how attractive the other is. She’s determined not to fall for a first responder whose life is constantly on the line. When Graham breaks a leg in a minor climbing accident and needs companion care, Claire realizes she cares more than she thought. Voiceless due to getting intubated, she starts sleeping in his bed since he can’t call out if he needs something. Their early communication after the accident is by notes and texts while his voice heals, and then Graham begins unburdening his thoughts and feelings to what he believes to be a defunct email address of Claire’s.

Tension ratchets up when Claire washing Graham’s hair becomes a sensual experience ,and again when he decides to help her with her dating profile. When she brings him to see his parents, there is Just!One!Bed! and of course she gets along perfectly with his well-meaning, match-making parents–and even becomes friendly with his dog. They do consummate the relationship, but the nitty gritty after the hot makeout sessions is left off the page.

Chapters alternate points of view, and Graham’s heartfelt emails are swoon-worthy. The story is well-plotted and well-paced with good character development and sensory writing. This takes place in the same universe as Would You Rather–Claire is the one who tricks Noah and Mia into confessing their feelings, and Graham and Claire’s chemistry is palpable there; and although Noah and Mia appear in The Roommate Pact, it does work as a stand-alone interconnected novel rather than part of a series. Overall, this is a solid hurt/comfort romance with a very satisfying slow burn of friends falling in love.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #TheRoommate Pact from #NetGalley through the author’s publicist.

Jan11

Love and Other Flight Delays by Denise Williams

Posted on by
Standard
Love and Other Flight Delays by Denise Williams

Williams, Denise. Love and Other Flight Delays. Berkley, 2023. 432 pp. ISBN 9780593441077 $18.99

***

This group of three interconnected stories set at an airport had good intentions, but I had trouble keeping the characters and their timelines straight. Chapters alternate male/female points of view.

In “The Love Connection,” risk assessor and romance novelist Bennett falls for the business manager of a pet grooming business near the gate he always flies into in Atlanta. She’s unsure she wants to have a long distance relationship and they have witty banter and a series of compelling dates on his layovers.

In “The Missed Connection,” a weather delay sends Ben’s best friend Gia, chemist, to the airport bar on New Year’s Eve where she asks a cute stranger to pose as her husband to gain herself a seat. By midnight, they’re dancing and kissing. Fast forward three months, and Felix turns out to be A.F. Ennings, the new colleague joining her work team–the one she dislikes through their correspondence. When they get sent as ambassadors together to tour multiple universities, the forced proximity brings some grudging respect and rekindles their mutual admiration.

In “The Sweetest Connection,” best friends Silas and Teagan both work at the airport; he in and she at an upscale chocolate boutique. They’ve been in love with one another for years but haven’t taken the leap. Silas hasn’t told Teagan yet that he’s broken up with his long term girlfriend. Teagan’s about to leave for a semester abroad in France, and has discovered a traveler’s pro/con list on whether to make feelings known and make the leap from friends to lovers. It never occurs to her it might be Silas’s–but she engages his help in trying to solve the mystery, convinced it must belong to a friend, co-worker, or regular traveler. This was my favorite story. Their story moves back and forth in time, and then crosses paths with the other stories.

Elements of the story reminded me of Love, Actually. I did have to pay close attention to how everyone was interconnected. The plotting and pacing are excellent, and if anything, I wanted longer stories about each set of characters, and could see peripheral characters getting their own spinoff.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #LoveAndOtherFlightDelays from #NetGalley.

Dec27

Would You Rather by Allison Ashley

Posted on by
Standard
Would You Rather by Allison Ashley

Allison Ashley. Would You Rather. Harlequin, 2022. 336 pp. ISBN 9780778386490 $15.99

**1/2

Noah would do anything for his best friend Mia, who is on a list for a kidney transplant. They have an prankfest at work, as well as an ongoing game of “Would you rather…?” and are equally comfortable with silence together. He’s a commercial design commercial design, and she’s the administrative assistant at his firm, but longs for a career as a pediatric dietician. Her illness and schedule of infusions, doctor’s appointments and hospitalizations (and ensuing medical bills) have kept her from pursuing her degree–and, from pursing Noah. They had a moment in college, but decided not to risk their friendship. Other issues: she’s on a two -year communication hiatus from her family, who betrayed her; he’s still coming to terms with the death of the older brother he adored.

When Mia wins a scholarship for non-traditional returning college students, she can’t accept for risk of losing her excellent health insurance if she has to drop hours at work to go back to school. Noah nearly immediately proposes, willing to give up two years of his life until Mia either completes her program or gets a transplant and goes on Medicaid. They intend to keep their insurance fraud a secret, but someone else who wants to be partner in the firm overhears and begins blackmailing Noah. They move in together, maintaining separate beds until things slowly amp up: they have to kiss when they marry, then they have to kiss at a family get-together, then a friend needs to crash after drinking too much at game night, and there’s only one bed; they go camping with friends and there’s only one bed. And then she accidentally sees him naked when he accidentally leaves the bathroom door open while he showers…

The details of Mia’s chronic illness felt real and complete. Things I didn’t love: Claire tries to manipulate them into confessing their feelings, in college and again at her birthday dinner. Noah tells Mia to unsubscribe to some fact and inspiration sites after sharing facts and quotes with him–and she agrees. There are a LOT of lies and deception in this book. And, all that buildup, and the door closes before we get the witness the consummation of decades of love and longing. No discussion of consent, protection, or STI screening, either.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #WouldYouRather from #NetGalley

Nov24

Friendshipped by Savannah Scott

Posted on by
Standard
Friendshipped by Savannah Scott

Scott, Savannah. Friendshipped (Get Shipped! #1). Dreamscape Audio, 2022. Unabridged. 8 Hours, 58 Minutes. ISBN 9781666624458 $48.99

***

I don’t listen to a lot of audio books, but decided for a change of pace to try this one, very admirably narrated by voice actors Amy McFadden and Will Damron. Ohio natives Lexi and Trevor grew up down the street from one another, work for the same newspaper, and now share a duplex. They have been best friends forever, with two failed attempts by Trevor (once in high school, once in college) to move their relationship out of the Friend Zone. The relationship hasn’t evolved or fizzled because they are each secretly in love with one another, and so convinced the other doesn’t feel the same, neither will take the risk of rejection or destroying their friendship. This sophomoric behavior and refusal to communicate is the central tension of this friends to lovers romance.

As a gentle read, with warm family and community relationships, expletives limited to “Oh my sweet pickles!” and no admittance of sex, this is a real throwback. Not even the threat of a tornado and just!one!bed! trope disrupts their ethos to not ruin their friendship. In spite of the dating app that brings several duds to Lexi, and that Trevor hops on to connect with Lexi at a friends insistence, this could have been set anytime in the last thirty years except for a few modern musical and Hollywood references. Lexi at times seems immature for her almost-23 years, and at other times, matronly and chaste. Trevor speaks with great sensitivity all the time and the wholesome of the characters was warm and sweet but not always believable. Overall, this slow burn was too painfully slow for me.

The voice actors are both very talented but I found Lexi’s midwestern twang seasoned with a hint of valley girl (attributed to her youth, and identifiable from her more polished mother and sister and aged MeMaw) to be mildly annoying and more Minnesota than Ohio. The commitment to a new distinctive voice for each character introduced is impressive and consistent, and the accents are authentic enough (although my mother’s Columbus relatives hard R’s are softened by a faint West Virginian drawl). This sweet story will be widely appealing to readers looking for a kind and cozy story.

I received a free advance reader’s edition of #Friend(Shipped) from #NetGalley