Belonging With Her Best Friend (California Dreamin', #4)

by Kristin Canary

I love three things in this world more than life itself:

1. My family and housemates (both current and former)
2. Musicals
3. My best friend, Eric Moody

The first two are no surprise to anyone who knows me.

The third is a secret I’ll carry to my grave.

Because even though Eric fits in well with my crazy family and he’s the outgoing complement to my quiet self, we want different things.

I want him. He wants something I can never give. And I refuse to sacrifice his happiness for my own.

Most of the time, I manage to keep my feelings for him under lock and key—but things change when Eric moves in with me temporarily.

Now, he’s here all the time. And it’s harder and harder not to imagine what life together could be like … if only.

The final straw? When he starts helping me prepare for my (forced) lead role in a local musical.

Because yeah. You try holding back the tidal wave of feelings you’ve been keeping at bay when your sexy best friend offers to “practice kiss” you.

My fortitude is headed straight for the edge of a cliff—and the thrill of the impending fall has never felt so electrifying.

Or so terrifying.

Fans of Sarah Adams and Emma St. Clair will love this closed-door, friends-to-lovers romantic comedy with lots of sizzle and spice, but no on-page explicit content.

• ASIN: B09LY3KMXC
• Publish Date: 20 June 2022
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Dreaming of You Press
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 248
• Language: English

Reviews

[ladygrey]

This isn't a bad book but it's nothing special. The romance is ok. The writing is basic but gets the job done. There's no excitement, no great banter, no intriguing plot. The summary promises sizzle and spice but there's not really any of that either. All the roommates are kind of…I don't know what. Not cliche but they don't seem like realistic, grounded characters. Though I did like that they called her out on making decisions for Eric instead of giving him the information and letting him decide for himself. I liked that he called her out on that too. Like 2.75 stars.

I was barely with the story until they stopped in Hallmark (like two thirds of the way through). I thought it was about to get better and then it had a moment that was so LUDICROUS I almost quit. Eric meets his uncle and makes a totally innocuous statement that he enjoyed it so much it’s like an addiction. All of the sudden she’s like, wait it’s an addiction? The only way to feed it is to have kids and we can’t so we have to break up. It doesn’t last long but like, seriously?! It’s a figure of speech not a destructive life change. I mean it was clearly trying to stir up conflict but it was such a mind-numbingly stupid excuse for conflict. In fact, the story felt uneven in regard to the conflict. Some of her hang ups were established with her history with her mom and felt realistic. But some of them were just ridiculous ways to try to create conflict.

In particular, I quickly got tired of “my mom was so good and brave and I wish I could be like her.” Admiration is fine but be your own person and recognize the good things in yourself instead of idealizing your mom and acting like your pathetic.

And the bravest thing you can do is NOT sacrifice what you want “for the good of others”. That's being a martyr. Brave would be to tell the truth, face the difficult thing and find a way through. There's half a dozen brave things you can do and none of them are being a martyr.

But. but even with all that, there's books I've actually hated where the story is actually bad or the characters are thoroughly unlikable. This wasn't that. Again, it wasn't bad it just wasn't any better than mildly mediocre.

The last section didn't leave me with any interest at all in either the next book or any of the earlier ones.