Brothers Best Friend & Fake Dating

I loved this. Nora is staying with Wes, her brothers best friend, after being targeted by a stalker. They come to an agreement to fake date. Nora needs dating practice and Wes needs pressure off of himself to marry before his next birthday. I loved how Wes was so patient with Nora, he didn't judge her or make fun of her for being so clueless about dating. He helped her by teaching her self defense techniques just in case her stalker got too close. I loved watching Nora grow a backbone and stick up for herself.

I swore off brother's best friend romances last year because I've had such bad experiences with them! But the blurb of this one had me clicking Request on the ARC fast - fake dating, dating lessons, and a Gilded Age-esque estate! I am so glad I did because this was so good! And it was definitely brother's best friend done right!

What also surprised me is that the book got deep into the topic of Nora's people pleasing. It wasn't just a surface level thing, so there were bits which were quite emotional. It wasn't a short book either, so it had the time to properly dig into the reasons for Nora's people pleasing, the impacts of that, and how she and West addressed it together.

When I got to the end and saw that there were 4 planned books in this series, I was so happy for more! I already can't wait for book two later this year!

Disclaimer: I received an Advance Reader Copy from NetGalley, but this is my voluntary and honest review.