✨Im Literary Anxious✨

𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲🕒: 2 minutes

𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿: Amber Paige✍🏻 𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁: 386📖

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗤𝗨𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗗𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗬

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀: ⭐⭐⭐.5
𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗲: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁: Standalone 
𝗘𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲: HAE
𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘆𝗹𝗲: Dual POV

𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗦

🎦Friends to Lovers
🩵Forced Proximity
🎦Mutual Pining
🩵He’s a Cam Star
🎦Strained Parental Relationship
🩵Blackmail

𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪

“𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙤, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙛𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙡.”

As much as I salivate over a good enemies-to-lovers romance, I am also extremely partial to friends-to-lovers. Give me mutual pining, years of obliviousness, and two people who are clearly soulmates while everyone around them is rolling their eyes and waiting for them to figure it out, and I’m a happy reader.

So naturally, the blurb for this one had my attention immediately.

One of the things that made this stand out right away was Theo’s profession. I’ve seen the “cam star” angle explored with FMCs before, but not nearly as often with MMCs. It was refreshing to see Amber tackle that dynamic from the male perspective.

And Theo isn’t what you’d expect.
Was he confident? Absolutely.
Flirty? Sure.

But the man was also a giant cinnamon roll.

He wasn’t written as some player cycling through women like he’s permanently stuck in a revolving door. Instead, he was kind, loyal, supportive, and completely gone for Wren long before either of them was willing to admit it.

Which brings me to my favorite part of the entire book:

Theo and Wren’s friendship.

I loved these two together.

Not just romantically, but as friends.

The history between them felt genuine, and the comfort they shared made it easy to understand why their relationship eventually evolved into something more. Theo has been showing up for Wren for years, and watching him continue to be her safe place was probably the strongest aspect of the book for me.

Wren’s childhood and her relationship with her mother broke my heart more than once. There were several moments where I just wanted to reach into the pages and give her a hug.

Which made Theo’s unwavering support all the sweeter.

The man understood the assignment.

The fact that these two somehow managed to spend ten years dancing around each other without realizing they were perfect together is honestly impressive.

Thankfully, Wren’s dad was willing to say what literally everyone else was thinking:

“𝘿𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙄’𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣?”

“𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴?”

“𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨.”

Sir was speaking for all of us.

What kept this from being a solid four-star read for me was mostly the final stretch of the book.

🟡 The pacing started to feel rushed, and some of the conflict didn’t feel fully developed.

🟡Amanda’s actions, in particular, left me with questions. We know she’s awful. That’s established pretty early. But I never felt like I fully understood why she was doing what she was doing.

Was she desperate because her career was struggling?
Was she obsessed with Theo?
Was it jealousy?

The story hints at several possibilities, but none of them felt fully explored enough for the payoff to land as strongly as it could have.

🟡I also found myself wanting a bit more closure regarding Wren’s relationship with her mother.

To be fair, that wasn’t the primary conflict of the story. But it was such a significant piece of Wren’s emotional journey that it felt like the thread was left hanging just a little.

Overall, though, this was a sweet, spicy friends-to-lovers romance with a hero I adored and a relationship that was easy to root for.

If you’re a fan of mutual pining, friends-to-lovers romance, or just enjoy watching two people take an absurd amount of time to realize they’re in love, this one is definitely worth adding to your TBR.