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ashley_dang096 's review for:

How Not to Fall in Love by Jacqueline Firkins
4.0

A hardened cynic and a hopeless romantic, best friends..... or maybe something more. Harper works at her mom’s wedding shop and after seeing so any relationship squabbles and after a particularly horrible break up she is convinced that she just doesn’t think romance is where its at. Her best friend Theo is the exact opposite, he is constantly falling in love and being dumped. He loves rom coms, is very sensitive, a bit of a dork and really into larping. He believes in loving as deeply as possible. After his most recent breakup Harper offers to teach him how not to fall in love and he makes a counter bet with her that she will fall in love with the guy that she starts going out with ( Felix, a super sweet and cute guy who works out at the gym across from her mom’s store that she’s been running into (literally)). However, the more Harper tries to help Theo work out his relationship the more she finds herself conflicted between her feelings for Felix.... and her relationship with Theo. It doesn’t help that Theo and Harper have always been close, physically and emotionally. After a weekend at one of Theo’s larp events, Harper starts to re-evaluate everything she feels.. and hopefully snag the right guy before its too late. This was a pretty cute romance read. It definitely works the friends to lovers thing well and the issues of mixed signals and messages between two people who are complete opposites but so close to one another that ruining their friendship is something neither of them wants to risk. Though there was a bit of a love triangle/ square (?) everything works out in the end and both guys were really sweet and nice guys, there was no issue with one being better than the other it was just sorting out feelings between someone new and someone who is a lifelong best friend. I had fun reading this and definitely would recommend it for anyone looking for a cute romance read!

*Thanks Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*