This was a debut novel from Victoria Lum, and it was pretty good.

It was a childhood friends to lovers story. James had been in love with Jessica since they were children, but he never let her know his feelings. When Jessica's ex broke up with her, James saw that as his opportunity to finally make a move and turn their friendship into something more.

He was very patient and kind toward Jessica. Even though he wanted more than friendship and let her know, she was too worried about things ending badly and ruining their friendship. James was also great with Jessica when she was having panic or anxiety attacks. I liked that mental health was not something that was just mentioned and forgotten about. It was actually part of the story and had steps toward getting help in maintaining it.

The story had a lot of angst and emotion from both characters. The side characters also added to the story, so I am excited to see their stories.

This book brought out so many feelings! It started a bit slow but once it got moving, wow I just couldn't put it down. What a beautiful friends to lovers story! Jess & James were friends since they were young but have spent more time apart then together lately. I loved that they had a true friendship that could continue even while apart. James comes back to town with the goal of winning Jess over. First obstacle would be her long term boyfriend, check done! Now to convince Jess to risk their friendship for something even greater. I loved how real all of this felt. and Jess's mental health had played a large part of the story.

Her dedication: “To all the girls who feel less than for whatever reason, you’re perfect, just the way you are.”

Whooo ..

What a great debut novel by Victoria Lum. This book had sweet, spice, and angst. If you are looking for any of these tropes, then this book is for you!

Friends to lovers ✔️
Childhood best friends ✔️
He falls first ✔️
One bed trope ✔️
Hero pining ✔️

Jess and James have been friends for 19 years. And for those almost two decades, James has watched the woman he loves live her life and be in relationships with men who aren’t him. But he has had enough. So he moves across the world to be where she is in hopes of finally getting his chance.

Jess, who recently got out of a decade long relationship, asks James to be her dating coach and give her tips in the dating world. He decides to go for it so that she can finally see what’s right in front of her.

Will Jess be able to come to her senses and see that her soulmate has been there all along? Or will she forever be stuck thinking that they are only friends?

This book was so sweet and I really emphasized with both characters. Jess was dealing with a lot of anxiety, which I can absolutely relate to her thoughts and what she was thinking. She never thought she was good enough and was thinking about all that could go wrong and it was holding her back from truly being happy.

All of the parts with James in the last 20% made me tear up. I felt his pain and I just wanted to give him a huge hug.

There is some hinting of who the next book will be about and I’m so excited to read about those two characters, especially the MMC.

James has been in love with his best friend, Jess, all his life. But she only ever saw him as a friend. Despite his attempts to show his true emotions, she always kept him in the friendzone. Until the right time comes and James is decided to change that.

Honestly I wanted to absolutely love this. Victoria is the sweetest and this is her first work so let me start by saying how proud of her I am.
My main issue with this book was how predictable everything was. Of course we all suffer from this with romance books but right from the first 5 chapters you can tell all the storyline. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I like to have a twist to keep me addicted to the book.

Jess, as a main character, didn’t stick out to me. She is supposedly this super attractive woman with her own problems. And all this is interesting until she is very smart to work where she does, but completely clueless about everything else in a normal adult’s life. I get it, she has been through a lot with her family and it’s not easy to move past traumas… And I’m not saying she should be okay all the time because she’s an adult but she should act like one, which doesn’t happen most of the times.

James… Well, the man was pinning over his friend over 10 years so I do feel bad for him. His input in the story was okay but I wanted to see more of his pov in the present and not have constant flashbacks to all the events that he had with Jess over the years.

But when they finally get together… It’s so anticlimactic. Even though it’s been around 20 chapters by this point, it feels rushed. Maybe because we had a bunch of flashbacks and whining until this point. But it was going okay.
Now this is a personal preference but the 3rd act breakup, most of the times, is so unnecessary and feels like it’s extending a story that could have an earlier and better ending because this “breakup” is solved so quickly.

There were a few things that I wanted to be more developed in the book, such as Jess’ family and career situation, the whole thing with Claire, the relationship with Ben, and others. I’m curious to see about Parker and Liz in the next book though so hopefully I will like it better than this one.

I want to say that this isn’t, in any way, a review to hurt the author. Not only because I never review with such intend, but because Victoria is genuinely a good person and I think it’s important to have all sort of opinions, especially when you’re starting a career. And just because I wasn’t a big fan of this book, doesn’t mean other people won’t love it.

Thanks to Victoria (the author) and the publisher for sending me an arc in exchange of my honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"Somehow, I know at the end of my journey, wherever it may be, this man will be there by my side."

The perfect slow burn contemporary romance with a relatable FMC and a swoony alpha MMC!
You'll be rooting for Jess to finally realize her worth and for James to get the girl that was always meant to be his.
Jess' anxiety and self doubts are very realistic and tangible and James does his best to navigate through it to show her their love can survive all the storms and then some.
An amazing debut novel!