As best friends, nothing is too much to ask for

Synopsis

‘Extraordinary… a raw, vulnerable, breath-stealing love you can feel as you read’ Emily Henry

‘Dazzling, tender, and romantic’ Carley Fortune

We’ve always been best friends… but what if we were more?

Laniah and Isaac have been best friends since childhood, and they couldn’t be more different. She’s a homebody who runs a small natural hair store with her mum. He’s an international influencer with the paparazzi on his tail.

When Issac comes home for the first time in months and discovers Laniah and her mum are struggling to keep their business afloat, she refuses to take a dime from him. And so, he does what any self-respecting best friend would do: tells the world they’re dating.

Suddenly business is booming, and Laniah reluctantly agrees to pretend to be lovers for the course of the summer. Just long enough to catch the eye of an investor and get her dream back on track.

But as the lines between what’s real and pretend blur, it becomes harder and harder to see where friendship ends and something else begins….

Brimming with chemistry, A Love like the Sun is the perfect slow-burn, friends-to-lovers romance about falling in love and second chances. Perfect for fans of Tia Williams and Emily Henry.

My review

Laniah Thompson and Issac Jordan are best friends since childhood, even if their current lives couldn’t be more different. Laniah enjoys just staying at home, and is passionate about the business she runs with her mother, Wildly Green, a natural hair store. While Issac runs an international brand and is famous around the world, followed by paparazzi.
When Issac finally makes an appearance back home in Providence, and learns about the financial struggles Laniah is facing, as her best friend of course he wants to help her. However, Laniah refuses to just accept his well – deserved money.
So Issac comes with the next best thing: telling everyone they are dating. Now business is blooming once again, but also everyone suddenly has an opinion about Laniah, something she isn’t accustomed to.
But telling the world also means to pretend, and now that thin line that has never been crossed before is at risk. Because the more they pretend, the more difficult it becomes to keep everything in the friend – zone. Is the pretence of them the incentive to see each other more as just best friends? Or is the risk to lose each other too big for a shot at love?

I love reading books where friends start to pretend to be in a relationship and I am always eager to see how things will develop, what hurdles will cross their paths and how it will all end (at the same time hoping for that one specific end 😊).
And I am also always curious to read how different lives can go, even for best friends.

In this book, it was lovely to see how Laniah and Issac have been best friends, even if everyone around them suspected at least that there was more than just friendship. But their friendship is a genuine one, that has been through a lot in the past, yet never faltered. Even if now their lives are total opposites, they know they can always rely on each other, no matter what.

As true friends, they will always want to help each other, and that is exactly what Issac wants when he learns about Laniah’s store being in difficulties. While it for sure is honourable that he wants to help financially, I could also Laniah’s reluctance of accepting that kind of help. It’s difficult to explain, but even I wouldn’t want to accept money from my friends, even if that would help me out.

And I found it great that Issac understood that, yet was adamant on finding another way of helping his best friend.
Now, telling everyone they are dating isn’t perhaps the ideal solution, but of course if Issac did something else, we wouldn’t have this story 😊.

My heart went out to Laniah, as she isn’t only struggling with her business, but has a lot on her plate. And it angered me to see how someone who is supposed to take her complaints at heart, is just so quickly dismissing her, with consequences that could have been easily avoided.

But the focus is obviously on the shifting cards between Laniah and Issac. Through some flashbacks, we can also see how this pair has always been there for each other, and how there has always been *something* there.
I found it sweet to read how at moments they are supposed to be pretending, they are just themselves. They don’t realize how “couply” they are by just acting as usual.

And seeing the attraction grow between them, with many will – they – will – they – not moments were while frustrating but also delightful! Also reading them realizing the depth of their feelings, was also really good!

Obviously taking their friendship further isn’t without risks, because is taking a chance at love, and perhaps failing, worth the risk of losing your best friend? But on the other hand, what if this is the kind of love that everyone is looking for?

I liked reading this book, as it shows that sometimes because of we are so used to things, we aren’t able to see past that. We cannot see the potential of making a change. But it’s also about fear not letting you hold back. Fear for that change, but also fear of the unknown future. Yet it’s mainly a story about love. Love in all its aspects, love that can change for the better and love that is worth the risk!