Great contemporary romance with friends to lovers and fake dating.

Nic who is a smart and ambitious surgeon. Benjamin Reed Van Mont has turned his back on his parents and their expectations for him to carry on the family business. Ben is determined to give his kids what he never had.

When Ben discovers that his ex-girlfriend is trying get him back on a vacation with friends to Martha's Vineyard Island, Nic agrees to be his pretend girlfriend.

Nic is driven and knows what she wants. Ben needs to learn to stand up for himself and not let people take advantage of him.
This was a great, feel-good romance.

Will appear on the Romance Reviews Today site late August or in September. http://romrevtoday.com/

LIKE LOVERS DO – Tracey Livesay
A Girls Trip Novel #2
Avon Books
ISBN: 978-0-06-297956-8
August 25, 2020
Contemporary Romance

Baltimore, Maryland & Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts – Present Day

Raised by a single mother who worked two jobs to support them, Dr. Nicole Allen is determined to not follow in her mother’s path. Nic is about to complete her residency and has hopes of securing a prestigious fellowship at the place of her dreams in a few weeks’ time. But after disciplining the son (also a resident) of the head of the hospital she’s at, her fellowship is in jeopardy—unless she can get her landlord and friend, Benjamin Reed Van Mont, to get help for her from his mother, who is a top doctor at another hospital. Nic will do anything to get the job she wants as it’s all that she’s ever desired.

Ben is the black sheep of a wealthy, influential family based in New York City. His mother wanted him to go into the medical field, but he’s content running his small financial planning company. Ben is invited to spend a few days at Martha’s Vineyard with friends, but he learns that his ex will be there too. He needs to bring someone as his date, and Nic would be perfect. They are good friends and she needs some help from him. A good tradeoff, right? But once they’re on the island and sharing a bed, things begin to heat up between them.

Growing up and watching her mother work hard to just keep their little family afloat, Nic has forged her own path to success by becoming not only a doctor but specializing in the orthopedic surgery field. Getting the fellowship at Duke would allow her to realize her goals, but will the run-in with a fellow resident curtail her dreams? Nic has rented the basement apartment owned by Ben, but since he lives upstairs, the two have become good friends. After she learns about his problem, it is Nic who suggests she come along and pretend to be his girlfriend. Problem is, Ben has a little bit of a secret attraction to Nic. How is he going to manage to share a king-sized bed with her and pretend to be lovers while in the presence of his friends?

LIKE LOVERS DO is a best friends-to-lovers tale as Nic and Ben consider themselves friends first. After realizing they share a mutual attraction, both want to cross the threshold from friends to lovers, but how will it affect their friendship? Ben’s parents are the type who are more interested in their careers and social standing than they are in their only child. His mother has a strong personality, and he tries to avoid her because he knows that he’s a “disappointment” to her despite his success as a financial planner. Nic is strong-willed and on a path to success, and she can’t let love—especially one that might force her to give up dream job—change her course. Will becoming lovers force Nic and Ben to think about a possible future together? Meanwhile, Nic is having to Sept? deal with being around Ben’s ex, who is always making snide comments about how Nic isn’t good enough for him. Ben doesn’t help the issue because he is a nice guy and comes to his ex’s defense, infuriating Nic.

Once I started reading LIKE LOVERS DO, I found it hard to put down. Nic pretty much knows what she wants, and nothing will stop her, but will love change things? She thought the man for her would be just like her, so finding out that she not only finds Ben fun as a friend but also desirable as a lover throws her for a loop. Will Ben and Nic each get what they want? Can they forge a future together? Pick up the delightful and insightful LIKE LOVERS DO to find out the answer.

Patti Fischer
Romance Reviews Today

I loved this book!!! This is a new to me author but highly recommended. I loved the plot and chemistry. If you are looking for a new author who writes a fabulous book, look no further!!

I devoured this book in one sitting! This friends to lovers story in the Girls Trip series was excellently done! Friends and roommates Ben and Nic find themselves in a fake relationship that turns very real after some mistaken texts and his petulant ex re-enters the picture.

This book does a great job showcasing how priveledge and biases affect those around us and our opinions and how we can learn to overcome them. The subplots between Ben and his parents and his friends was really well-done. And Nic's drive was something to be admired! I loved her fire!

And HELLO! That sex in the hammock was ah-maze-ing! So ready for the next in this series.

This is my first book by this author and won't be my last. I really enjoyed the story, and thought the characters were well-written, flaws and all. The dialogue was realistic well matched to the characters. Although part of a series, I didn't feel lost picking up this book having not read the first novel in the series.

A great book to relax with when you need some 'me' time.

There's just something about Livesay's characters that speak to me and Nic was no different. Smart, driven, and intensely loyal, Dr. Nicole Allen is well on her way to being an orthopedic surgeon when politics look like they might stand in her way. Specifically, in the aftermath of her discipling an intern for not giving a basic shoulder examination resulting in a man having to return to the ER the next day, said intern goes running to his Daddy, a big donor to the hospital. Nic is given two weeks off to give this asshole enough time to rotate off of her service, but apparently that wasn't enough for this jerk-face, who then gets his dad to call the doctor Nic is about to work under for her fellowship in Durham. When Ben, Nic's gorgeous roommate, offers to have his parents call to intervene on Nic's behalf, she's ecstatic. But she wants to make it an even trade and offers to pose as his fake girlfriend for this trip to Martha's Vineyard with his childhood friends and also ex that wants him back.

Although I know a lot of people are really over the evil ex trope, I liked the way Livesay used her to show some racial "micro"aggressions that can go over uninformed white people's heads. However, Ben figuring out that's what that was and then still defending Tinsley at other points had me ready to toss him out of the house. So YMMV on that point. But for the most part, I really loved this book.

I think the journeys for both Nic and Ben are really well done. The conflict was easy to set up in this situation because you've got Nic who refuses to give up her ambition for a man, to an extent that veers into unhealthy. And Ben, who based on his childhood, thinks that doctors make terrible parents and partners. So it was great to see the two of them and their respective friends and families talk to them about their perspectives and challenge them on their beliefs. I definitely recommend you pick this book up when it comes out in a couple of weeks! Also, someone please tell me we're getting Ava and Lacey's books??

Thank you to Avon and Netgalley for the advanced copy for review!

This was a very slow burner book, but glad I stuck with it.

First book by this author, and found the writing to be very skillful

Will be looking out for another by this author in the future

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for ARC

I thoroughly enjoyed this second entry in the "Girls Trip" series and loved the slow-burning transition from friends to lovers of the perfectly matched Nic and Ben. They are each appealing and strong characters on their own, but together they are simply so much fun. This book is pure pleasure, and I cannot wait for the next installment.

This is my first book by this author and I found it very much a slow burn book. It was well written and had very interesting characters but I felt blindsided around 25-30% when I learned Nic was a black woman. Up to that point I had no idea and I was picturing her one way and had to go back and start picturing her another way.

It was a very slow burn story and for it took way to long to get to the romance part. I found the start of the story kinda boring and mostly skimmed it until it picked up 6 weeks later which is when the story really begins. The beginning really had no bearing on the actual couple or story.

Ben is a rich white guy who owns his own home and business and dreams of marriage with the right woman. He has his act together and knows exactly what he wants and that is not his roomie and friend, Nic who is a doctor with long work hours. He lived that with his two parents who were doctors too and he wants marriage and children.

Until one day Nic gets into trouble with a hospital donor and her new job is threatened and Ben gets the idea to have a fake a relationship with her so he can help her out and try and save her new job by appealing to his parents for help.

This is very much a fake relationship with two best friends who have known each other for 3 years and who are pretty much married without the sexual relationship. They eat dinner every night together and share their lives but he has girlfriends too and they haven't even ever kissed.

This is a new author for me and while I felt the writing was good, I felt it was too slow a pace for me and it took too long to get the story going. I found the girl friend vacation very boring and didn't have much to do with the actual plot of the story.

This was my first Tracey Livesay book and I jumped at the chance to read and review it.
The story covered a lot of ground in a short time. Families, friendships, friends to lovers, and fake relationships were just some of the topics. I loved Nic and Ben and their story!

Thank you to Harper Collins and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book!

LOVED IT!!
As someone who doesn't care about friends to lovers trope in a romance novel, this book took me by surprise, kicked all my notions aside, and made me enjoy it.

INCREDIBLE & SKILLED WRITING!
This is my first book by this author and 100% won't be the last. Exceptionally well written with everything being just right; characters, plotline, dialogue. The way the author interwove certain topics without being preachy about it is nothing short of amazing. Subtle but impactful.

BANTER!
Be ready to be wowed. I laughed so much. The humor and the back and ford between the characters was everything. There is also a lot of steamy moments. When we get to them, they are just right.

FRIENDSHIP!
Besides this book is an amazing romance novel, this book has a side storyline about amazing found family- the friends we choose in our life. Nic is a part of a group that is her support system. And this book celebrates strong friendships.

HERO & HEROINE!
I loved the way they interacted. This is one of the best fake dating storylines I have read, where two people involved actually communicated their emotions and when & why they feeling change. It is so refreshing to read it. The hero is such a sweetheart and heroine is a strong & inspiring woman.

I am so happy to have found this author!!

Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

this is a perfect friends to lovers romance --- and that's not even a trope I enjoy that often. Really wonderful. I thought it was such a great story, super hot, and just worked for me at every level!

I devoured this in a single day. So many delicious tropes all mashed up together in a setting where I had childhood vacations?

Yes, please.

Friends to lovers, fake dating, house party, only one bed... Honestly, there are probably more tropes here but I've got happy book hangover.

It's also got all the hot sex you could ask for.

I was given an Advance Reader's Copy in exchange for an honest review.

I adored this funny, sexy, emotional love story about the intersection of our own dreams and ambitions, and the importance of creating room for the people we love. The friendships were just as fabulous as the romance.

Ben. Oh sweet and sexy Ben. If he doesn’t make you swoon, I’m not sure you’re human. And Nic is absolutely one of the best heroines I’ve ever read. She’s so smart and strong, but painfully vulnerable too. They are so spectacular together, and their story is beautiful. I just loved this book so much, and this series is quickly becoming one of my favorites ever!

Gather ’round & pull up a chair while I tell you why I think Like Lover's Do by Tracey Livesay is such a sweet & sultry summer read.

Ben & Nic are a perfect pair from the first time they appear on the page together. The chemistry is there, of course. But more importantly, there's this comforting familiarity that binds them together, adding a richness to their romance that's shown through the witty banter tossed back & forth between them & extends beyond their hot & playful sexy times. Also, verbally taunting a sex partner during the act has never read in such a funny, yet sexy-as-hell way before. These two are an absolute mess & I loved them!

Aside from their amazing chemistry, another plus for this story is the backdrop of closeness the heroine shares with her longtime girlfriends.

I could so easily see my girls & I reflected in these pages. We cut-up, trash-talk each other, collect each other when necessary, & always have each others’ backs when it matters most. It was an experience that rang absolutely true to me.

Ultimately, there are two great lessons for the characters and the reader to learn: First, never underestimate the virility of the sweet, nice guy you’ve relegated to the friend zone because he could be a back-breaker in bed. Second, never allow your past to dictate your future. Learn from it and move on.

Overall, the relationship between Ben & Nic felt like a favorite blanket on a chilly night: warm & comforting, the only thing that will soothe you when it's cold outside. But when it's hot, even though it's familiar, it has the potential to raise your temperature and make you sizzle. I loved it! This is the perfect summer read.