Tag: Friends-to-Lovers

Not So Nice Guy Purchase on: Amazon
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis:

"Oh my god. Who is that?"
I get asked this question a lot.
"Oh him?" I reply. "That's just Ian."

Just Ian is the biggest understatement of the century.
Just the Mona Lisa. Just the Taj Mahal. Just Ian, with his boring ol' washboard abs and dime-a-dozen dimpled smile.

Just Ian is... just my best friend.

We're extremely close, stuck so deep inside a Jim-and-Pam-style friendzone everyone at works assumes we're a couple - that is until one day, word spreads through the teacher's lounge that he's single. Fair game. Suddenly, it's open season on Ian.

He should be reveling in all the newfound attention, but to our mutual surprise, the only attention he seems to want is mine.

He's turning our formerly innocent nightly chats into x-rated phone calls. Our playful banter sports a new, dangerous edge.

I want to assume he's playing a prank on me, just pushing my buttons like always - but when Ian lifts me onto the desk in my classroom and slides his hands up my skirt, he doesn't leave a lot of room for confusion.

I'm a little scared of things going south, of losing my best friend because I can't keep my hands to myself. So, I'm just going to back away and not return this earth-shattering kiss - oh who am I kidding?!

Goodbye Ian, ol' buddy, ol' pal!

Helloooo mister not so nice guy.

Review:

SAM: TY for breakfast. Coffee is LIT.
IAN: It’s the new blend you bought last week. Are your students teaching you new words again?
SAM: I heard it yesterday. I’m not sure when to use it yet. Will report back.

BAAHHAAHAH alright folks this is one funniest romances I have ever read. Like it’s up there at Sally Thorne status which in my world is a PRETTY BIG DEAL. I swear to God I haven’t spent as much time laughing at a book in I don’t know how long. And I mean, this might sound stupid because who doesn’t, but I LOVE laughing. Like it makes me light and giddy and even just having one good laugh a day can turn a completely shitty mood into a brighter one instantly. The fact that I spent nearly the entire book laughing—well you can just imagine how I felt the last day then, can’t you?

ALSO, BONUS, the friends-to-lovers trope is one that I will never in a million years be sick of. This one was just done perfectly. I literally have no complaints.

For 1300 days, I’ve been best friends with Ian Fletcher, and for 1300 days, I’ve convinced myself I’m not really in love with him. 

Sam and Ian are best friends who both teach at the same school together. They started on the same exact day and failed their orientation together and had to retake it, much to their to their mortification which = friendship cemented. The best part about this book in relation to this kind of trope is that we learn right away that BOTH of them were secretly in love with each other but thinks the other just wants to be friends. They both have POVs and both of them start out with their own reasons why they think the other doesn’t like them like that. Right off the bat, hilarious. They’re so deep into a best friendship though (shared meal and Netflix subscription, inside jokes, hanging out every second of every day basically) that every other faculty member of their school assumes they’re together until a new long term sub asks Sam if Ian’s single. Open season on both of them commences.

We’re talking through our curriculum for the sex-ed course tomorrow morning. Most if it’s preplanned for us, but Sam wants to be extra prepared. 
“Why don’t you just grab a condom or two from your house for the demonstration?” she asks. “Oh Wait, will they still unroll if they’re all expired and dried up? Don’t want to embarrass ourselves in front of the kids.”
“Hilarious. Make sure to bring your 55-gallon barrel of lube.”
“Ha. Why me—don’t you keen any around?” she asks, truly perplexed.
“I don’t usually need it.”
“Oh because the women who make it into your house are just gushing Niagara Fallses 24/7?”
“24 is a stretch. I’d say it’s only during the act, so, three, usually four hours.”
She snorts. “Ooookay Casanova, let’s hope you’re keeping these mythical moist maidens properly hydrated. Jesus, I hope you offer them a Gatorade on the way out.”

Next, that sexual tension tho. I love me some good, intense, drawn out sexual tension. This book 100% delivered. *shivers* From getting a little too close while dying hair to the ~certain~ phone conversation…..I may have been blushing.  I loved the way they danced around their feelings for a good chunk of this book but obviously loved it even more when he straight up told her how he felt and that he wanted to pursue something.  She may have been unsure  because their friendship was so important to her but I was glad he just laid it all on the line.  There wasn’t any guessing about feelings.  They were either going to go for it or they weren’t.

“Petite thing? Read hair? Yeah, she was here—almost had to kick her out. She was high on drugs, came in and made a mess of the place.”
What the fuck?
“Did you see where she went when she left?”
“Probably to get more horse tranquilizers.”

Finally, that ending. I could see some people maybe not liking it? But with these two…I loved the proposal, I loved the rush to just do it, I loved where they did it and that they had to literally run out to avoid being fined, and I loved how desperate they were to get up to the hotel and with everything that happened after…A situation that would have felt weird and rushed in any other instance, these two had been so close for three years that in all honesty, the way things panned out here just fit. I also loved Sam’s enthusiasm afterwards with everything..just how excited she was to be Mrs. Fletcher and buy groceries and go shopping for THEIR house. She was crazy and I loved it. Also loved the epilogue too. ♥ HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND. This is the best book I’ve read by Grey to date.

You’re mine and you don’t even know it. I’ve never told you.