Brothers of the Vine
Forever Evermore
Women of W.A.R.
One of the most beloved tropes in romance is the “Brother’s Best Friend” dynamic (or Best Friend’s Brother). Think: The Kissing Booth, The Summer I Turned Pretty, The Edge of Seventeen, Bride Wars or, my personal fave, the song ‘Cate’s Brother’ by Maisie Peters.
There’s something irresistibly thrilling about forbidden connections, secret glances, and navigating the delicate line between loyalty and love. It’s a setup that promises equal parts tension and heartwarming moments, making it a fan-favorite in countless love stories.
Here are a few of our fave reads!
The Wedding Engagement by Zoe Allison
Planning a wedding with the man you’re secretly in love with… what could go wrong?
Liv Holland has a secret: she’s been crushing on Arran Adebayo, her brother’s best friend, for years. They’re ‘just friends’ but she can’t help the butterflies in her stomach whenever she’s around him.
When they’re asked to help plan festivities for Liv’s brother’s wedding, Liv and Arran can no longer deny the sparks between them. But with both having their own chequered romantic history, risking everything for love could mean losing each other forever…
As the wedding bells ring, will Liv and Arran finally find their own happy ever after?
Tropes:
- Friends to lovers
- Brother’s best friend
- Slow burn
- Second chance
Forbidden King by Laura Pavlov
She’s the one girl I can’t have, and the only one I want …
A notorious ladies’ man falls first – and falls hard – for his best friend’s sister.
Welcome to Magnolia Falls, perfect for fans of Elsie Silver, Lucy Score and B.K. Borison!
***
Saylor Woodson is my best friend’s little sister, and she’s completely off limits.
We have a history, a connection – one that no one else knows about. I’ve kept my distance for years, it was easy when she was away at school. But now she’s home, and she’s everywhere I turn. And the way that I want her is unexplainable.
So, I do everything in my power to keep my distance, because her brother is my best friend. My family. But the pull is too strong. I want to claim her and keep her and make her mine.
Once we cross that line in the sand, I’m drowning in this girl and can’t find my way up for air. Guilt hangs over me like a dark cloud, but I can’t seem to walk away, no matter how hard I try.
And now that I’ve had a taste of forever, I’m willing to risk everything to keep it.
Twisted Love by Ana Huang
He has a heart of ice . . . but for her, he’d burn the world.
Alex Volkov is a devil blessed with the face of an angel and cursed with a past he can’t escape.
Driven by a tragedy that has haunted him for most of his life, his ruthless pursuits for success and vengeance leave little room for matters of the heart.
But when he’s forced to look after his best friend’s sister, he starts to feel something in his chest:
A crack.
A melt.
A fire that could end his world as he knew it.
***
Ava Chen is a free spirit trapped by nightmares of a childhood she can’t remember.
But despite her broken past, she’s never stopped seeing the beauty in the world . . . including the heart beneath the icy exterior of a man she shouldn’t want.
Her brother’s best friend.
Her neighbour.
Her saviour and her downfall.
Theirs is a love that was never supposed to happen – but when it does, it unleashes secrets that could destroy them both . . . and everything they hold dear.
Hang the Moon by Alexandria Bellefleur
Brendon Lowell loves love. It’s why he created a dating app to help people find their one true pairing and why he’s convinced “the one” is out there, even if he hasn’t met them yet. Or…has he When his sister’s best friend turns up in Seattle unexpectedly, Brendon jumps at the chance to hang out with her. He’s crushed on Annie since they were kids, and the stars have finally aligned, putting them in the same city at the same time.
Annie booked a spur-of-the-moment trip to Seattle to spend time with friends before moving across the globe. She’s not looking for love, especially with her best friend’s brother. Annie remembers Brendon as a sweet, dorky kid. Except, the 6-foot-4 man who shows up at her door is a certified Hot Nerd and Annie…wants him Oh yes.
Getting involved would be a terrible idea—her stay is temporary and he wants forever—but when Brendon learns Annie has given up on dating, he’s determined to prove that romance is real. Taking cues from his favorite rom-coms, Brendon plans to woo her with elaborate dates straight out of Nora Ephron’s playbook.
The clock is ticking on Annie’s time in Seattle, and Brendon’s starting to realize romance isn’t just flowers and chocolate. But maybe real love doesn’t need to be as perfect as the movies… as long as you think your partner hung the moon.
Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey
A spicy, hilarious HGTV-inspired romantic comedy trilogy from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Happened One Summer and Hook, Line, and Sinker!
Georgette Castle’s family runs the best home renovation business in town, but she picked balloons instead of blueprints and they haven’t taken her seriously since. Frankly, she’s over it. Georgie loves planning children’s birthday parties and making people laugh, just not at her own expense. She’s determined to fix herself up into a Woman of the World… whatever that means.
Phase one: new framework for her business (a website from this decade, perhaps)
Phase two: a gut-reno on her wardrobe (fyi, leggings are pants.)
Phase three: updates to her exterior (do people still wax)
Phase four: put herself on the market (and stop crushing on Travis Ford!)
Living her best life means facing the truth: Georgie hasn’t been on a date since, well, ever. Nobody’s asking the town clown out for a night of hot sex, that’s for sure. Maybe if people think she’s having a steamy love affair, they’ll acknowledge she’s not just the “little sister” who paints faces for a living. And who better to help demolish that image than the resident sports star and tabloid favorite
Travis Ford was major league baseball’s hottest rookie when an injury ended his career. Now he’s flipping houses to keep busy and trying to forget his glory days. But he can’t even cross the street without someone recapping his greatest hits. Or making a joke about his… bat. And then there’s Georgie, his best friend’s sister, who is not a kid anymore. When she proposes a wild scheme—that they pretend to date, to shock her family and help him land a new job—he agrees. What’s the harm It’s not like it’s real. But the girl Travis used to tease is now a funny, full-of-life woman and there’s nothing fake about how much he wants her…
Confessions of a Canina Drama Queen by Stephanie London
Can you ever really forget the one who got away?
August Merriweather has always been good with animals. In fact, she’s known as Manhattan’s Dog Whisperer. Men, on the other hand? Not so much. She’s been falling for the wrong guys ever since her regrettable crush on Keaton Sax, older brother of her best friend, Leah, and the biggest jerkface this side of the Hudson.
Now an emotionally closed off widower, Keaton has become one of the most formidable men on Wall Street, but August knows his secret. He’s not driven by sales targets and bonus checks — Keaton just wants to give his family the security they never had. So when Leah asks Keaton to wrangle her over-the-top, dramatic husky at a weekend talent competition, Keaton says yes…and begs August to help him win the event for Leah.
Between obstacle courses, Molly’s husky temper tantrums and a cabin with just one bed, August is having a blast. Away from the pressure to have a ‘perfect life’ with the ‘right guy,’ she finds herself relaxing and getting to see the softer side of the man she once loved.
Is this just a temporary truce?
Or could Keaton finally be the right guy at the right time?
Where The Heart Is by Nicola Marsh
Hearts are on the line when a marriage of convenience goes awry… Pitch-perfect rural romance for readers of Karly Lane and Mandy Magro.
Home is where the heart is and for one country girl, she’ll do whatever it takes to save it…
Mila Hayes will do anything to keep her family’s farm, including marrying the wrong man. But when the groom backs out at the last minute, and Sawyer Mann, her teen crush and her brother’s best friend, witnesses her humiliation, Mila’s hopes plummet.
She doesn’t believe Sawyer when he says he can help. She’s done with short-term solutions. So how will Mila cope when she falls for Sawyer all over again and is forced into making a choice: follow her head or her heart?
Sawyer, now a high-powered land broker who fled Ashe Ridge years ago to escape painful memories, is back temporarily and finds himself unexpectedly drawn to Mila. He kept secrets from her in the past and it pushed them apart. Can he convince Mila this time will be different?
Meanwhile, Adelaide Hayes, who left her grumpy husband Jack fourteen years ago to follow her dreams, is unsettled by memories resurrected at Mila’s wedding. She’s wary of a man tied to this town, but what if he can prove they can build a new future together?
Coming soon… Seven Year Itch by Amy Daws
Alone and looking to bone loudmouth mountain man seeks fiery woman to grow old with.
I might look like a tall, tattooed, bearded neanderthal…but like an onion, I have layers. Swipe right if you like a proud cat daddy who catches feelings after direct eye contact.
All I wanted was a casual plus-one to my brother’s destination wedding, but those idiots on my family tree hacked my dating profile and sabotaged my quest for the perfect weekend fling. Now I’m stuck on a tropical vacation with only my hand to keep me company.
Until I’m forced to share a room with the bane of my existence: my sister-in-law’s best friend.
Dakota has hated me for the past seven years. I wasn’t losing much sleep over her screaming rants because she was some other guy’s problem. Or she was, until she got divorced.
Being stuck in paradise with a woman who loathes your very existence doesn’t sound hot, but after an unexpected moment in our shared palapa, she starts screaming at me in a different way.
What happens in paradise stays in paradise. That is, until Dakota shows up on my mountain with a proposition: be her wingman to help her regain her pre-divorce confidence.
Suddenly, Dakota’s not just person I love to fight with. She’s the woman I want everything with.
Happy reading!