My Forever Girl by Laura Pavlov is live!

A best-friends-to-lovers romance with close proximity, sex lessons, epic chemistry, and a functional, drama-free love story, this book is an absolute swoonfest, and I loved it!

 

Amazon  |  Paperback  |  Audible

Audiobook narrated by Connor Crais & Savannah Peachwood

 

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Blurb

Gracie Reynolds and I have been best friends since we were kids.
She’s smart, kind, funny, beautiful—and one of the best parts of my life.
When Gracie walks into a room, people notice.
I always notice.

But when she moved across the world with a guy I despised, it felt like I’d lost a piece of myself.
I missed her in ways I still can’t explain.

Now she’s back— and she’s crashing at my place for a couple of months while she figures things out.
She’s single and ready for a fresh start.
I’ve always had her back, and that hasn’t changed.

What has changed?
The way that she looks at me.
The way I can’t stop looking at her.
So, when Gracie makes me a once in a lifetime proposition—obviously, I’m all in.
But this isn’t your average gray area—it’s a full-on, sweat-inducing, five chili pepper detour we never meant to take.

Gracie has big dreams though, and I’d never be the guy to hold her back.
Even if all I want…is to be the reason that she stays.

 

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Review

5 Beefcake, baby stars!

A best-friends-to-lovers romance with close proximity, sex lessons, epic chemistry, and a functional, drama-free love story, this book is an absolute swoonfest, and I loved it!

Cutler Heart first appeared in the Magnolia Falls series as a 5-year-old who insisted on being called “Beefcake” and referred to every female heroine he encountered as ‘his girl’. His single dad found his HEA in Beating Heart, and Cutler has shown up in multiple books across more than one series, and like most of the Laura Pavlov fandom, I have been so excited to finally see him all grown up and getting his own happy ending.

Cutler and Gracie have been best friends since childhood (she is the daughter of Cage and Presley from After the Storm, Cottonwood Cove, #5). They are each other’s person, the other half of their soul, and their safe place to land, so when Gracie’s life is upended and she returns from six months in Paris needing somewhere to reset, she moves in with Cutler for the summer before she relocates to NYC for her dream job.

They’ve missed each other terribly, and are thrilled to be back together again, easily picking up where they left off, all up in each other’s lives. But when Gracie reveals her insecurities about sex and her inexperience, and her plans to find a summer fling for herself, their dynamic shifts. Cutler is jealous, while Gracie finds herself weirdly unattracted to anybody other than her bestie. She makes the only sensible request and asks him to help her explore her sexy side. And Cutler, being the supportive and protective best friend that he is, and feeling his own attraction to Gracie, is only too happy to oblige.

“I think we can make our own rules. Nothing could ever happen between us that would change how I feel about you.” I tucked the hair behind her ear. “I know you want to feel something, I want to be the lucky man who gets to do that for you.”

It may not be the most unique set up, but it’s a fun one, and with the chemistry and all of the intense emotion already between these two, I was so on board for the sexy shenanigans.

We were crossing a dangerous line, and I didn’t fucking care. Because deep down, I was a selfish prick when it came to Gracie Reynolds. She was my girl. I wanted this. I wanted her.

There is lots of talking, teasing, sweet and fun times, and fantastic steamy moments, and I honestly loved every moment of these two together. They’re keeping the change in their relationship to themselves for a bit, so there’s also a fantastic forbidden element which adds to the intensity and intimacy. Everything between them is so easy, and watching them happily and openly just follow their hearts is so beautiful to see.

“I love you. Not like a best friend. Not in a way that I want to play it safe. This is a my-life-doesn’t-work-without-you kind of love. A nothing-else-matters kind of love.”

But as their summer together draws to an end, they have a lot to figure out. Knowing each other as intimately as they do, they know exactly what the other needs, and they want nothing more than to make the other happy. The emotion of it all is really beautifully written, and though we know the happy ending is coming, I loved the big gestures and romantic declarations as we see it all unfold.

“I’ve loved you my whole life.”

We get to catch up with both Cutler’s and Gracie’s parents in some wonderfully entertaining and sentimental family scenes, and we are introduced to Cutler’s group of ride-or-die best friends, who will have stories in the rest of this series. It’s a great group who are lots of fun together, and I’m excited to read more.

I loved this book. It felt nostalgic and was full of all of the small-town, found-family, swoony romance and dreamy-book-boyfriend vibes that I love about Laura’s writing.

Such a gorgeous read. 5 stars.

An Advanced Reader Copy was generously provided by the author for an honest review.

 

Blue Sky Bay

 

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