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I\u2019m good at hiding my feelings.<\/span><\/p>\n Having to pretend I\u2019m not in love with my best friend?<\/span><\/p>\n Pfft.<\/span><\/i> That\u2019s child\u2019s play.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Here\u2019s how I do it: I avert my eyes when he walks out of his room, shirtless in all his toned glory. I squash the butterflies that fill my stomach every time he slowly unfurls a dimpled smile. And, most importantly, I keep an arsenal of \u201cpersonal massagers\u201d in my bedside drawer. Wink.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Not to brag, but Aiden Smith isn\u2019t hard to resist if you\u2019ve been doing it for as long as I have. In fact, we might have continued as best friends forever if not for the fact that I needed him to play the part of my fake boyfriend.<\/span><\/p>\n Date me like you mean it<\/span><\/i>, I told him. Nudge nudge. C\u2019mon, just go along with a little lie, help a girl out, and then we can all return to life as we know it.<\/span><\/p>\n Except he veered from the plan.<\/span><\/p>\n He crossed the line.<\/span><\/p>\n Flirting with me when no one else was around? Pinning me down and kissing me <\/span>like that<\/span><\/i>? Okay, how exactly is taking off my bra part of the ruse, Aiden?!<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019d ask him about it if I could, but well\u2026things got ugly and we\u2019re not best friends anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n In fact, we\u2019re the exact opposite.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Now, I have to play nice even though I want to crush his heart in the palm of my hand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Pretending not to love Aiden was the easy part.<\/span><\/p>\n Pretending not to hate him?<\/span><\/p>\n Well\u2026I might need a little more practice. <\/span><\/p>\n Find\u00a0Date Me Like You Mean It\u00a0<\/em>on GOODREADS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4.25 stars!!<\/strong><\/p>\n R.S. Grey really knows how to write a fun, emotional rom com with just enough angst to keep you hooked. Date Me Like You Mean It<\/i> is all that and more, and I loved it.<\/p>\n Maddie and Aiden\u2019s story is broken up into two parts. Part One focuses on an unrequited love between best friends who happen to be roommates. Maddie is a hoot, Aiden is wonderful, and they are so much fun together. \u00a0The banter is great and the friendship is real. \u00a0Even when there was nothing going on between them I felt the pull.<\/p>\n In the beginning, when my crush was a tiny thing I could mostly ignore, it wasn\u2019t so bad if I saw him with another girl. Now, that crush has ballooned to fill every chamber of my heart so that every beat reminds me he\u2019s the one I want. <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This story is a fun, fresh take on the whole best friends\/roommate\/unrequited love trope and I think it was really well done. It showed us how Maddie and Aiden were together while not being together together. I felt the attraction but it was realistically hidden. I understood the fears they faced when thinking about possibly being more and losing the thing that mattered most to them but I loved when the feelings start to come out. It\u2019s sweet and sexy when they finally take a chance and my heart soared. Then, everything that could be is ripped apart when life gets in the way and I just wanted to cry.<\/p>\n One long drive down a dirt road is all it takes to crush the fantasy I\u2019ve held close to my heart for all these years. <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Part Two is sort of an enemies-to-lovers romance but I would say its more a try to put the past behind them instead of being true enemies. I love that we get both POVs and being in their heads, especially Aiden’s.<\/p>\n Maddie and Aiden haven\u2019t seen each other in over a year and I felt the feelings that were locked away rush to the surface when they see each other again. There\u2019s a push and pull that builds delicious tension and brings on both light and heavy moments. I felt the electric chemistry and I couldn\u2019t wait for them to explode. They give us the heat, humor, and heart we craved when they finally are together but its also hard to make it work. They face challenges and my heart really went out to them and all they have to deal with. I loved that they were strong and don\u2019t give up on each other when it would have been so easy.<\/p>\n “You’re the person I want to be with. Okay? Through the bad times and the good. You’re my best friend.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I really adored Maddie and Aiden and I believe in their love. I am so glad they got their happily ever after and that we are given an epilogue that is perfect for them. I had such a big smile on my face when I turned the last page. \u00a0Date Me Like You Mean It <\/em>is another rom com hit from R.S. Grey!<\/p>\n *ARC generously provided by the author and Inkslinger PR*<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Visit her\u00a0WEBSITE<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Twitter<\/strong><\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | R.S. Grey’s Little Reds Facebook Group<\/a> | Newsletter<\/a> | Instagram<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" R.S. Grey\u2019s next standalone romcom, Date Me Like You Mean It, is AVAILABLE NOW! Date Me Like You Mean It by R.S. Grey\u00a0 A Romantic Comedy Released – 5 November 2020 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":4.29999999999999982236431605997495353221893310546875,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86,25,65,9,29],"tags":[59,787,424,48],"class_list":["post-55778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-enemies-to-lovers","category-friends-to-lovers","category-lol-funny","category-romance","category-steamy","tag-arc","tag-r-s-grey","tag-release-blitz","tag-review"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Date-Me-Like-You-Mean-It.png?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-evE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/55428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nReview<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nAbout R.S. Grey<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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R.S. Grey is the USA Today bestselling author of thirteen novels, including THE FOXE & THE HOUND. She lives in Texas with her husband and two dogs, and can be found reading, binge-watching reality TV, or practicing yoga!<\/p>\nCheck out our AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT<\/a>\u00a0for more amazing reads!<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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