A romance based on someone needing to keep their health insurance? Name something more American. Normally I love fake dating, but this one didn't quite do it for me. It might be because I'm not a big fan of friends to lovers, but this was a miss for me.

Friends to lovers is my favorite trope, and this book had just the right amount of yearning, connection and shared history, plus another gem: marriage of convenience that turns into forced proximity. I wish there had been more flashbacks to their high school/college days and more spice, but I was still totally engaged by these cluelessly devoted best friends,

Friends to lovers with a fake marriage? Two of my favourite tropes, all rolled into a cute book with multiple points of view? I love it, especially the family dynamics the two characters navigate together, and separately. I love when relationships really help bring out the best of each other. This delivered everything I needed and would definitely recommend.

I also like the return to school as an older student and the support for one another in professional capacities.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Wow, I loved this book. Would You Rather by Allison Ashley needs to be in your hands ASAP. This is the first book I have read by this author, and it will not be my last. I fell in love with Noah and Mia, who have been best friends since they were seven. They work together now but become a modern marriage of convenience so Mia can get medical coverage for her chronic illness so she can return to school. The chemistry between Mia and Noah is palpable. Check this book out!

In Would You Rather, Noah and Mia are long time friends who have never explored being more than friends. But Mia has a long term health condition and she’s currently waiting for a kidney transplant. She also is hanging on to a dead end job just for the insurance. She has the opportunity to go back to school to do what she dreams, but she desperately needs medical coverage. Noah offers to marry her to share his insurance, but they will have to make it look real for everyone to believe. Is it such a stretch?

This book so was so wonderful! Mia and Noah have excellent chemistry and they should have gotten together years ago. It says a lot about healthcare in this country when someone who desperately needs medical help has no options because she cannot afford the bills without it.

I also really enjoyed Allison’s last book, Home Sweet Mess which I also encourage you to check out! Thank you so much to @_mira_books and @authorallisonashley for my gifted copy.

Would You Rather
By Allison Ashley

Would You Rather by Allison Ashley ticked all the boxes for me to make this a swoon worthy read.

Friends to Lovers
a worth it slow burn romance
Sizzling Chemistry
Marriage for convenience
Close Proximity
A cinnamon roll hero

I adore Noah and Mia who were BFFs since they were seven- Mia has kidney disease and awaiting transplant and needs her job for her insurance. However, an opportunity to pursue her education to get her dream job is now right in front of her. Without even blinking an eye Noah offers to marry her - of course that is what best friends do for each other. AHHHHH this book is so sweet and such a tear jerker. I loved their love.

I loved it!

The publisher archived the ARC on Netgalley before I could download it to my kindle, leaving me unable to read or review the book.

The hype for Would You Rather by Allison Ashley is well deserved! This book has everything I love! Marriage of convenience, friends to lover, forced proximity. I absolutely adored Noah and Mia together and how they slow discovered their love for one another. This book gave me all the butterflies. And Noah was such a strong support for Mia. If you haven't had the chance to read this yet, definitely bump this to the top of your TBR.

Would you rather play it safe in the friend zone, or risk it all with a modern marriage of convenience?

Noah and Mia have always been best friends, and their friendship is the most important thing to them. Life is going great for Noah and he’s up for a promotion in a job he loves. But Mia’s life is on hold as she awaits a kidney transplant. She’s stuck in a dead-end job and, never wanting to be a burden, has sworn off all romance. So when the chance of a lifetime comes to go back to school and pursue her dream, it’s especially painful to pass up. She can’t quit her job or she’ll lose the medical insurance she so desperately needs.

To support her, Noah suggests they get married—in name only—so she can study full-time and still keep the insurance. It’s a risk to both of them, with jobs, health and hearts on the line, and they’ll need to convince suspicious coworkers and nosy roommates that they’re the real deal. But if they can let go of all the baggage holding them back, they might realize that they would rather be together forever.

Oh Noah and Mia!!! Yes. Thank you. You are just the characters I was looking for to get out of my latest reading slump!

I LOVE a good marriage of convenience. This was epic. The adventures, missed connections, and second chances was just epic! I loved everything about this.

I cried, I laughed, I swooner!

Absolute winner.

Would You Rather by Allison Ashley is a romantc comedy novel. The story in Would You Rather is one that changes the point of view between the two main characters and it is a mix of a friends to lovers romance that also has a bit of fake dating in the mix.

Mia has always dreamed of more for her life than just heading to the same old office everyday so when the opportunity to go back to school comes along it’s so hard to say no. Mia however needs her full time job for the medical insurance as she awaits a transplant surgery to save her life so school is not an option.

When Mia tells her best friend, Noah, of the opportunity and having to turn it down Noah comes up with a plan. Being friends forever Noah thinks no one will question them if Noah and Mia suddenly get married and then Mia can use his insurance and pursue her dreams but can the two of them still hide their attraction to one another being so close?

Would You Rather by Allison Ashley was a fun story with plenty of humor but also some heavier moments involved for the characters to pull at a reader’s heart too. I’m one that enjoys a couple with history together in romance stories and Noah and Mia being so close friends already made it easy to want to give them that little push to take their relationship further. And on top of that the push together came with another favorite of mine in faking being a couple so it was double the enjoyment. When finished I would definitely look for this author again in the future.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Read if you like: childhood friends to lovers and fake marriage tropes.
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Noah and Mia are childhood friends. When Mia needs better health insurance for her chronic illness, Noah suggests they get married. Mia is hesitant at first but decides to go along with the plan.
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Noah and Mia's chemistry was great and I loved the friends to lovers and fake marriage trope, and I thought both tropes were well executed.
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CW: medical content, chronic illness, death of a sibling, car accident.

This was a wonderful friends to lovers story.
Mia wants to pursue her dreams, but she is stuck in her job because she needs the health benefits. She has a chronic kidney condition that prevents her from taking uncertain risks.
Noah is Mia's best friend. He has been pining for her since they were teens, and he would do anything to make her dreams come true. Including a fake marriage to ensure she can pursue her dreams and still keep her health benefits.
The agreement is simple - they will have a platonic marriage based on their mutual respect and the solid foundation of their friendship. Their hasty marriage is under scrutiny by an unscrupulous co-worker who threatens to expose them for fraud, and they have to make their feelings and their affection look real. Real enough to convince their friends and families because they can't afford to divulge their secret and jeopardize Mia's future.
But what happens in a marriage of convenience when both people realize what they've really been faking is their friendship? What if they've always dreamt of more with the other person but were afraid of upsetting the delicate balance or being rebuffed?
This was a sweet, savvy contemporary romance with a realistic depiction of chronic illness and an endearing golden retriever hero.

Friends to lovers? Check! Marriage of convenience? Check! Loads of pining with two loveable main characters? Double check!

This was a quick, pleasant read that I had a hard time putting down. It hit on a lot of my favourite tropes and all the characters being loveable, fleshed-out completely, individual, and generally funny and nice made it even better!
Noah and Mia are the epitome of friends to lovers; friends since they lived on the same street at age 7, pining for each other since college, and staying friends while being colleagues. Then Noah makes "the ultimate sacrifice" (depends on who you ask really) and marries Mia to help her not only reach her dreams, but also keep her safe and healthy? Swoon!
The chronic illness rep in this book was well written and definitely something that I love seeing coming to the forefront in novels more often. Especially those illnesses that some consider to be 'invisible'.
My only critique with this one, and really the only reason it isn't a full 5 star for me, is the reliance on the miscommunication trope. As best friends for eons, these two characters definitely could have sorted their relationship and the plethora of pros to being married to each other so much sooner if they were just willing to TALK IT OUT.

All in all, an amazing read that left me smiling in the end and swooning several times throughout! Can't wait to read the second installment about Claire and Graham! Definitely something fans of Tessa Bailey could love, minus the lack of smut!

Equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. The romance is both sweet and sexy. Mia and Noah are great characters both dealing with trauma. Their individual stories make you invested. Their chemistry makes you root for them. I particularly enjoyed the scenes that give you what Noah is thinking and feeling. He was the standout in this story.

Miscommunication and lack of communication set the stage for every difficult relationship in this book. It’s not my favorite plot concept and it affected the mcs lives for almost a decade. However, the story is emotional and very well written. If you’re a friends-to-lovers romance fan, you’re going to love it! It’s just not my preference. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC to read and review. All opinions are my own.

What a fun read! I was really impressed with the writing style and how well the characters fit into the storyline. I loved reading about the main characters love story and honestly it really was so fun to read. I highly recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley + the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

"Would You Rather" by Allison Ashley follows two best friends Noah and Mia as they enter into a modern marriage of convenience in order to keep her medical insurance. They've always prioritized their friendship but can they keep it that way?

I personally love the friends-to-lovers trope, so this was right up my alley. Funny, emotional and downright romantic, I'd highly recommend "Would You Rather" to everyone and their mother.

This was such a cute friends-to-lovers rom com.

Mia and Noah have been friends since they were children. One night in college, they thought they might be more than friends, but the moment passed. Ever since, they've been best friends, constantly playing the game of Would You Rather, enjoying weekly dinners together, pranking each other and even working together.

When a situation arises that makes a marriage of convenience a good solution, they both agree to a fake marriage. That's when then things start to heat up. They both went into this marriage knowing that it was fake, but at least one of them is starting to question just how fake their feelings really are at this point.

It's a cute story of two friends with lots of romcom tropes thrown in producing the cutest story about taking a risk, facing the past and moving forward without fear.

Trigger warnings: Adoption, Chronic Illness, Death of a Sibling

Would You Rather is a good mix of emotional and witty. The catalyst for this pair jumping into a marriage of convenience certainly tugs at the heartstrings, so the lighter situations are a must for those that want something sweet and gooey and fun. There were a couple of times when I really wanted to give Mia a good shake, maybe get some of the stubborn out of her, but there was no way I could avoid rooting for this pair. It doesn't hurt that Noah is just the sweetest guy with his feelings for Mia. If you enjoy friends to lovers romance with a marriage of convenience thrown in, this one makes a great weekend read. The transplant issue is a heavy one, but the author does well with lightening the tone, and the story is one that leaves you with a smile.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book my thoughts are my own.

This book didn't make me fall in love as much as I had hoped to. I usually love fake dating, fake wedding, marriage of convenience. This let me down, its good just not as amazing as everyone had led me to believe, maybe my hopes were too high or I just wasn't in the perfect mood to read it, who knows.

I felt there were too many time jumps, there was also the whole "we have been friends for years" aspect which if not done perfectly always makes me irk. In this case, it felt off sometimes, we could feel the pinning, but no reason was "strong enough" to me for this to had been the moment when they let their feelings out. I hate the whole theme of making it seem like opposite genders cannot be friends or best friends.

Outside of the romance there is no storyline, because of the time jumps once again, there is never something that is explored thematically outside of making a check list of typical tropes or romance scenes; one bed check, friends to lovers check, kissing practice check, ...

This is not to say there weren't moment I enjoyed, because there were, and the writing was super enjoyable. However, this is an adult romance with fade to black smut which is not something I want when I read a romance, while there are some, I enjoy in this case due to the lack of story it was kind of a letdown.

Anyways, while not a new favorite for me, I can see why a lot of people enjoyed it.
2.85/5 stars
Bookarina