The sexiest man Lauren MacKinnon knows also happens to be her best friend. He’s six-foot-four of masculine perfection. He’s smart, and funny, and has one of the biggest hearts around. And she has no idea that he’s completely in love with her.
Theo Prescott, however, is in denial. Or at least, he’s trying to be. See, he’s not exactly boyfriend material. After growing up in a volatile household and now as a successful divorce lawyer, not to mention his utterly disastrous dating track record, he’s come to accept the fact that he sucks at love, and he’s not willing to risk his friendship with Lauren. Who is gorgeous and awesome and probably perfect for him. But he’s terrified of breaking her heart. No matter his feelings, she’s his best friend, and that’s where she needs to stay.
Because there are rules that come with having a best friend. Rules like no kissing, no thinking about each other naked, no having sex. And no matter what, no falling in love.
But one by one, Theo and Lauren are going to break the rules…
Review:
Friends-to-lovers FTW!
I really enjoyed the first book in Tara Wyatt‘s new series the Prescotts! It’s series adjacent to her Dallas Longhorns series–the Prescott brothers are Aerin’s sister from Moon Shot (Aerin and Javier’s wedding is in this book–squee!), but you definitely don’t have to have read any of those books to enjoy this one. If you’re new to Ms Wyatt’s writing, this is a great place to start!
Theo and Lauren’s story is a friends-to-lovers one, with a strong helping of unrequited love on the side. Lauren’s definitely the first to fall here–pretty much all of their families and friends know that they’re destined to be more than friends, but Theo’s toxic family experience (which leads to his becoming a family lawyer who deals with almost-as-bad divorces on a daily basis) has him firmly convinced that HEAs are unrealistic and that real relationships are just not for him. So when he finds himself attracted to his best friend–who, oops, might also be attracted to him!–they of course decide to go the friends-with-benefits route instead. Because that will preserve their friendship forever.
Riiiiiight.
(Can I just say that it’s a good thing so few romance novel heroes actually read romance books? Because then we’d miss all of the we’re-just-going-to-keep-sleeping-together-until-it’s-out-of-our-system hotness, but really, people. IT’S NOT GOING TO WORK. But we applaud your efforts. And have cool drinks and fans on standby, just in case. 😉 )
Naturally, feelings get involved, and of course one half of the couple is sure that he doesn’t have any of those, and bad stuff happens. Though I might have liked to see Theo do a teensy bit more of a grovel in the end, we do get an HEA (not really a spoiler alert!) and it’s very sweet. Now it’s just a matter of counting the days until we get the rest of the Prescott brothers’ stories… 😀
Rating: 4 stars / A-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.