Blog Tour Review: Falling For His Best Friend by Katee Robert

★★★ 3 stars!

"He's going above and beyond the call of duty."

This is my first time to read something by Katee Robert, and it was just as I expected: quick, fun, sexy, and a happily ever after.

I have a weakness for stories about best friends falling in love with each other. There's already history between the characters. There's no need to introduce them to each other, so we can jump right into the meat of the story. Now for FALLING FOR HIS BEST FRIEND, we have Avery and Drew, best friends for twenty years and partners in crime since childhood. The story begins with Avery already aware that because of genetics she has a very high risk of having cancer. Her mother died because of it and her sister was also diagnosed. Thankfully she was cured, but only after undergoing hysterectomy.

Now here's the thing: Avery wants to have a baby now that she still can. At the moment it is her heart's dearest wish. It doesn't matter that she doesn't have a husband or even a boyfriend. She's already nearing thirty, plus there's that threat of cancer hanging over her head. When she breaks the news to Drew, it practically ignites the intense, latent feelings for Avery which he forcibly buried throughout the years. The idea of his best friend carrying another man's child is just unacceptable. His solution? Become Avery's baby daddy--and not by in-vitro!

"Avery, shut up and listen to me. If we're going to do this--and we are--we're going to do this right."

What follows next is an enjoyable albeit predictable tale of two people who find out that they have not-so-platonic feelings about each other after all. It goes very briefly into the friends-with-benefits scenario, but quickly enough it tackles head-on the main conflict: will their friendship survive with intimacy now mixed in their relationship?

The characters are likable enough, and I was easily convinced that they are indeed best friends for the longest time. There is easy camaraderie and the conversations are borderline rude but with underlying fondness (exactly how it is with real-life best friends!). The buildup to the first time they did the deed could have been more electric and sizzling though, in my opinion. Then again, this is just a quick and enjoyable read, so prolonging the inevitable wasn't necessary. There's not much angst at all because again, the HEA is practically and predictably a guarantee.

I appreciated that the author gave Drew a very understandable reason why he resisted admitting that he's falling in love. He saw how destructive being intensely in love can be. Not that he believes himself to be incapable of love (the most abused cliche), but he is actually afraid of what he will become should the love of his life be taken away from him. He's afraid to be hurt beyond recovery. He knows he has the capacity to love immensely, intensely and forever. Now that was refreshing.

"No, he never wanted to experience a love like that."

Of course, one must endure that brief moment of annoying cowardice first before the happy ending is achieved.

I recommend FALLING FOR HIS BEST FRIEND if you are in the mood for a lazy read with a happy ending. :)