A lovely friends to lovers and marriage of convenience story. Two friends who are intimately connected for years are presented with an opportunity to take that friendship one step further. It's a typical story line with these two kinds of tropes but the charm of these two main characters keeps the book relatable and engaging. I enjoyed their story very much from beginning to end. The author did a great job of conveying the many layers and complexity of those layers between two life long friends that are closer to each other than anyone else and how that relationship can be navigated as they take steps to uncover new intimacies and intricacies with each other. A book all romance lovers will enjoy.

3.5 stars
Would You Rather is a best friends to lovers romance by author Allison Ashley. A romance with a good balance of light-hearted moments and emotional ones.

Noah and Mia have been best friends since they were little and are the most important people in each others lives. Mia wants to go back to school to pursue her passion, but with her chronic illness she can't afford to not have the insurance that comes with her job. Noah, who has secretly been in love with Mia forever, comes up with the plan for them to get married, so she'll be covered under his insurance while she goes back to college. The arrangement ends up putting Noah's job and both their hearts on the line. When both admit to how they feel, will love be enough to keep them together.

Noah was a sweetheart who let guilt and fear hold him back from living his best life. He loved Mia so much but didn't think he couldn't risk anything to ever lose her, even if that ment holding back how much he loved her. He also carries a tremendous amount of guilt surrounding his brother's death, which broke my heart. Mia, years ago, had taken her non-platonic feelings for Noah and locked them in a box. When they move in together she starts to reconnect with those feelings, but she's too afraid of being a burden on someone she loves. She's ridiculously stubborn when it comes to letting anyone take of her when it comes to her chronic illness.

Together Noah and Mia are fun with their sporadic "would you rather" questions and their innocent office pranks.( They also had a great friend group and I would read a book about Claire and Graham in a heartbeat. ) Noah and Mia's romance is a slow burn that contains some quality sexual tension and pining. I am disappointed however that all the final acts of intimacy are behind closed doors because the lead up was well written. To have all that great sexual tension and then to not be given the pay-off was simply a let-down. Thier relationship outside the intimacy was an emotional one, filled with Mia fighting her feelings and them both having to heal from past hurts and guilt in order to be together.

In the end , Would You Rather by Allison Ashley is an enjoyable friends to lovers romance with a fake wedding, office pranks, copious chicken wing consumption, love, and healing.

Friends to lovers AND a fake marriage! Mia and Noah have been bffs since they were 7 and lived next door to one another. Now, though, their lives have diverged a bit as she works as an admin assistant at the firm where he is an architect, a firm founded by his father. She dropped out of college because of her kidney disease but now she's got a chance to go back, except that she'd lose the health insurance from working full time- so he proposes. Unfortunately, one of his rivals for promotion hears the two of them talking, setting up a problem for Noah. Everyone else, on the other hand, including their friend and colleagues, can see the two are really very much in love. Will Mia get the kidney transplant she needs (which will also get her access to Medicaid? ) And if she does, will they stay together? No spoilers from me but this is a rom com so....If I have a quibble, it's with Mia, who has been estranged from her parents. the parents that essentially bankrupted themselves for her, because they kept a secret until she was 28. She comes off as quite immature in spots. That said, it's a good read that kept me turning the pages. Their friends are as terrific as the villain (of sorts) is rotten. And the owner of the chicken wing restaurant! Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. Trope-y with a twist.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Forced proximity? Fake marriage? Best friends since forever?

This book was the recipe of my dreams, and while it was a bit different than I expected, in the end it delivered exactly what I was looking for—love, not just romance. The chemistry between Noah and Mia felt genuine and playful, clearly built on years of friendship and platonic affection, not just attraction; the circumstances and stakes were high enough to justify the premise and each protagonist's actions and reactions; and at its heart, the book offered a tactful reminder that in order to love someone else, you have to love and respect yourself first.

Both Mia and Noah carry an immense amount of guilt, which heavily influences their emotions and decisions; I've never seen two characters communicate so. much. and yet resolve so. little. lol. But this is because their guilt, over things truly beyond their control, is so overwhelming. The real triumph of this story is both of them making strides towards healing and understanding their traumas, because once they start healing, they start to truly open their hearts to each other and it is absolutely beautiful (yes, I did cry).

Please be warned that this story heavily centers around chronic illness—the rep for which, btw, is fab—and the loss of a family member. So if you're struggling with or sensitive to such topics, this may not be the book for you.

Overall, I'm actually so glad I read this book. While much heavier than I expected, it was balanced by well-written and well-placed humor and romance, and, not to be dramatic, but I came away believing in love again haha. 4.5 out of 5 stars, ★★★★☆

I haven't read many, but I adore marriage of convenience romances! This one had the added bonus of Noah and Mia not only being colleagues but also best friends. You could really feel the years of friendship between them. And the pining? So good. The intense love Noah had towards Mia was palpable within the first few chapters!

Awaiting a kidney transplant and wanting to return to school, Mia accepts Noah's proposal to marry in order to keep her medical insurance. The awkwardness between them as they settle into their new arrangement was absolutely adorable. There were some fantastic one-bed scenes, let me say!

Although I liked this romance, the sporadic jumps of time in the story often felt like nothing was happening in the moment ... yet too much was happening overall. I wanted more depth in the storylines outside of the romance.

The premise for this sounded cute (though very American - it seems bizarre to those of us who live elsewhere): two best friends marry so she can be added to his health insurance and have the freedom to go back and finish the degree that was derailed years before when she was diagnosed with a serious medical condition. It's almost impossible to find a modern-day excuse for a marriage of convenience plot but this seemed viable.

But...it just didn't work for me. It's one of those "friendships" that is just years of pining for one another while being bizarre humans who don't know how to trust or talk to one another. Each of their family backstories are deeply intense and, to cap it all off, there is an evil, blackmailing villain. It was all too much drama for me in one short book.

A happily ever after solid best friends to lovers story that I couldn’t stop reading!
Would You Rather was such a emotional and uplifting read.
The main characters are Mia and Noah who are childhood friends. When a situation arises, they come up with a plan to help Mia. Will the decision they make work out for them? Can they work through their feelings for each other?
I loved the chemistry and banter the two had together. You can’t help but love them both. I couldn’t wait to see what would happen with their relationship.
Definitely recommend to anyone wanting/needing a feel good, delightful, sweet read.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own,.

This was super sweet.

While the writing at times was stunted and basic, the relationship between our two best friends was pure and sweet. I love the unrequited love in the best friends to lovers trope. I thought both Mia and Noah were wonderful characters. They were both kind and cared so much about one another.

The banter in this book was cute and I enjoyed that the obstacles they have to overcome didn’t seem incredibly far fetched. It was all realistic.

This one was kind of basic and fluffy, which isn’t at all a bad thing, but just not memorable.

Noah and Mia have been best friends since childhood. They have been there for each other through everything. Now, Mia needs Noah in a big way. She has an opportunity to go back to school to pursue her education for her dream job. She can’t quit her current job, though, to attend school, because she needs the medical insurance due to her chronic illness.

Without hesitation Noah offers to marry her. She accepts, but instead of this being a fake relationship/marriage of convenience, real feelings start to develop (or feelings that were always there for the both of them.)

This is a romance, right? So, we know that’s going to happen. Still—this was such a sweet and heartwarming story. Noah is such a great book boyfriend/husband. Mia was “It” for him and he’s known that for a long time. Mia knows that Noah was the one for her, too. She just needs a little more convincing since she feels like a burden because of her illness.

If you enjoy the friends to lovers, sorta fake relationship trope with cute banter between two lifelong friends, check this book out.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing, the author and NetGalley for an advanced readers copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A hot, ginger, male lead? Yes.
A seriously strong female? Yes.
Longterm illness representation? Yes.
Heaps of longing, pining, past memories, and sexual chemistry? Yes PLEASE.

Allison Ashley always write amazingly complex characters, meaningful friendships, and all the feels. WOULD YOU RATHER is just filled with all the best parts of romance. Can you say, THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED? Geez...I love it so much.

I loved the side characters (please tell me that Claire and Graham get a book) and I adored the absolute adoration that Noah and Mia have for each other. I teared up, I sighed swoonily, I fell in love.

The only reason I took a star from my rating is that I become very frustrated with the Ugh-Just-Talk-To-Each-Other conflict. And that truly is the central conflict in WOULD YOU RATHER. If you don't mind that, then you will love this book!

WOULD YOU RATHER is an incredibly sweet friends-to-lovers that will make you swoon while also giving you cranky kootch (the female version of blue balls....™️ pending). With each book (and I loved them ALL), Allison Ashley cracks that sex scene door just a tiny bit more. This book comes as close to an open-door romance as you can get while still not actually opening it. And, good lord, did I want that door flung open with Mia and Noah. My pervy mind will have to make up the difference. 🤷🏻

You should definitely put WOULD YOU RATHER on your tbr. It's got friends, family, feels, loss, and so much sweetness!

This was a nice easy romance read, but there wasn't anything particularly special about it, where there definitely could have been. I was definitely bought into the fact that these two people were stupid in love with each other basically forever, and simply couldn't get out of their own way. They probably both could have used some therapy after their respective traumas. There were lots of time jumps that felt very fast forward, skipping over stuff that could have been interesting and deeper material. And there could have been much more detail about the climbing, returning to school, her illness, etc. Look, I enjoy easy reads, but this could have benefitted from some more depth. I liked these characters and this left me wanting. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

If you like friends-to-lovers, fake relationship, forced proximity, miscommunication and secret pining, you might like this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC, in exchange for my honest take.

This was a really cute friends to lovers and even though they were “cheating the system” by getting married, they never were. From the beginning, there was no doubt that these characters were meant for each other. The chemistry was great.

💍 Would you Rather 💍
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Short synopsis: When Mia gets the opportunity of a lifetime to go back to school to get her degree, her childhood best friend Noah plans to marry her so she can keep her medical benefits while awaiting a kidney transplant.

My thoughts: This is my first marriage of convenience plot line and I really enjoyed it. I loved the characters and I’ve always been a fan of best friends to lovers troupe.

The main characters were the best, and I enjoyed seeing the growth they each went through as they were finally honest with themselves and each other. There were so many great side characters, loved Barbara and I really hope we get a story about Claire someday!

So many things I loved about this book. The banter, the way they secretly loved each other but wouldn’t admit it, the workplace pranks, the growth, and being there for each other through some really terrible times.

There were parts that got repetitive at times, but so many positives outweighed that to me.

Read if you love:
* Friends to lovers/marriage of convenience/workplace romance
* Witty banter with funny pranks
* Difficult topics
* Character growth

⚠️Trigger warnings: Death, chronic illness, difficult family situations

QOTD: Happy Wednesday! How’s your week so far? What are you reading today?

Mia has been waiting a long time for a kidney transplant, so while she had dreams, they had to be put on hold so she could start working and get health insurance. When she receives a scholarship for students looking to go back to school, she is thrilled but knows she can’t juggle a full schedule plus her full time job. Insert her best friend Noah. The two have always had each others back, but when Noah offers to marry her so she can be on his health insurance, Mia isn’t sure its such a great idea. Noah finally convinces her, but now all the feelings they had both ignored are rising to the surface.

Oh man this book had everything I love! Friends to lovers and fake marriage, but honestly it was so much more! I just adored both Mia and Noah and not only their friendship but they fantastic banter. The back story of both these characters really pulled me in and made my heart hurt for both of them. The fake marriage for insurance was a great way to force these two to faced their feelings, and I loved going along for the ride of their ups and downs throughout the book. If you love rom coms, but want one with a bit more to the story, this is the book for you!

Would You Rather is a slow burn, sweet, slightly angsty best friends to lovers, marriage of convenience story full of mutual pining.

Mia lives with a chronic illness. She needs health insurance. When an opportunity comes up to go back to school to pursue her dreams of becoming a pediatric dietitian, she almost passes up because going back to school means quitting her job, an executive assistant position, at Noah's dad's company and losing her insurance. Then Noah suggests getting married so she could be covered through him.

As you may expect these two have to move in together and pretend to be in love in front of their friends and Noah's family. And their fake intimacy, all those touches and kisses make them finally admit they are and have been in-love with each other years for years.

But road to happiness is bumpy because both have their own issues. Mia doesn't want to be a burden to Noah because she knows loving and caring for a person with chronic illness is hard. And Noah doesn't really believe he deserves HEA because he carries the quilt over his brother's death. Then there is a blackmailing collaegue to make the matters worse.

I liked Allison's first book Perfect Distraction and this book, her third equally. I just wished there was more of a plot. First half of the book was quite enjoyable. Then it became repetitive. They keep discussing the same issue.

Mia and Noah are both loveable characters. Do they need therapy? 100%

Noah is perfect. Maybe a tad too perfect. Also I wanted to shake Mia and tell her just let him love you woman!

This book reminded me of Sarah Adams's The Cheat Sheet. Only less humorous. If you like friends to lovers trope with lovely characters who have great hobbies, baking for Mia and climbing for Noah, give this book a chance.

Heat Factor: They get hot and heavy (and naked) and then it fades to black
Character Chemistry: I recommend therapy. Probably separately and together.
Plot: Mia and Noah have been best friends secretly pining forever, but when she has to choose between leaving her job to pursue her dream or staying to keep her insurance, Noah solves the problem by proposing a marriage of convenience
Overall: I cannot describe the level of rage I felt every time the “we’re committing insurance fraud” plotline came up

For starters here, I would like to talk about cover art, because when I first saw this book, I was immediately intrigued by it, and this is what the cover looked like:
https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1647544339l/60637669._SY475_.jpg

Then on NetGalley, the cover looked like this:
https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1659472023l/61837773._SY475_.jpg

I don’t know about you, but the current cover looks just like all the other teal-quoise trade paperback new releases that I have absolutely no interest in being a test subject to discover if they’re actually romance or something hovering on the fringes of romance.

I’m a person who 1) is not embarrassed to read romance and 2) reads hundreds of books each year, so others (outside the Romancelandia circles that have been discussing trade paperback covers ad nauseum for the past five years) may not have the same feelings about it that I do, but the original option is going to make me pick up the book and read the back cover copy, while I might run screaming from the current cover. Why do I have it, then? Well, recalling that I was intrigued by that book I saw way back when, I did end up checking this book’s release date and found it available for request on NetGalley. A friends-to-lovers marriage of convenience is almost irresistible to me, so I did request it, but if I were just perusing bookshelves? I would walk right by.

Why ruin a beautiful cover? I’m so sad about it.

Okay, so the premise here is that Mia and Noah have been best friends since they were seven, and there was a minute in college when something might have happened, but it didn’t, and they have been firmly friend-zoned ever since. When Mia gets a scholarship to go back and finish her degree but can’t because she needs the health insurance from her job, Noah suggests that they get married so she can stay on his insurance.

Sidenote here: I would really love it if authors would stop talking about getting married for insurance like it’s the equivalent of a green card marriage. It’s not. I have never in my life had to request from an employee or provide on my own behalf any validation of a marriage in order to qualify for insurance benefits. If the only requirement to obtain insurance is that you are legally married to the policy holder, and you are legally married and have legally obtained coverage according to the enrollment requirements for benefits, then a marriage of convenience for purposes of obtaining insurance is not fraud. IT IS NOT FRAUD. Fraud is attempting to obtain benefits to which you are not entitled. There is no level of “acceptability” for a legal marriage. It is or it isn’t. Besides, the insurance premium usually jumps significantly when it goes from a single to a family plan. It’s not like it’s not getting paid for. /end rant

Anyway. The book.

Look, if you love pining, they’ve been in love with each other for years but won’t tell each other because of Reasons, but when they have a reason to get married, suddenly things start falling into place, and hand holding leads to forehead kisses and then sweet “we gotta make it look real” kisses and lower back palm placement and then very intense kisses “because we should practice” and OMG FEELINGS, then the marriage of convenience part of the book hits every note pretty darn well.

I will say that these characters feel very young, and they definitely need therapy. For a number of reasons. They have some serious baggage that doesn’t solely relate to their relationship. All the reasons they feel they can’t be together (slash Mia feels they can’t be together) are understandable. But also they’re absolutely ridonkulous and take away agency and decision making from the other adult partner in the relationship. But mostly they need therapy. It would help a lot. So. If that’s a character struggle that is frustrating to you as a reader, this book might not be a great fit for you.

Okay, team, I am not ready to leave the fraud rant. I have a really hard time with books that are supposed to involve a great work environment when the great work environment includes bad management practices or, you know, breaking the law because of discriminatory practices because people are too much up in their employees business (when that business is a protected class and does not impact job performance). That’s Noah’s (and early on Mia’s) office. It all seems great, but for some reason everybody thinks that it’s their business why people got married. Are they asking every newly married employee why they got married? If it was for acceptable reasons? Who TF decides what those are? If the policy states that spouses are eligible for insurance coverage, that is the extent to which the office should be interested in a marriage.

This next might be a mild spoiler, but also the writing is on the wall from the minute “fraud” is something that’s raised as a concern. So maybe it’s not. You’ve been warned.

Honestly, the way Noah’s boss/mentor reacted when things finally came out made me think of listening to an employer complaining about how expensive an employee with a certain expensive condition was because those company-funded insurance costs cut into profit margins that later can become bonuses. So really the only reason that upper management at Noah’s firm has a reason to be mad is because they could have unloaded a really expensive employee and now they can’t because she’s married to a current employee. Which is legal. They are legally married. And the reasons for the marriage are absolutely no business of the management of the company, and if they knew what was good for them in terms of liability, they would stay TF out of that conversation because marital status might not be a protected class federally, but it is in Colorado as I understand it from a very brief Google search. So basically any kind of retaliation against Noah for getting married when he’s within his rights to do so however he wants is absolutely gross, and he frankly shouldn’t want to work at a place like that.

I clearly could not get over the egregiousness of the “fraud” plotline; however, if you are willing to allow an absurdly manufactured tension point pull a story along, then as I said, the marriage of convenience component will undoubtedly hit every single button you’re looking for in that trope. They didn’t end up going to therapy (but they should have), but they did do a great job of processing their hangups at the end to allow themselves to be vulnerable to each other and not to act from a place of fear. So that was good.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report.

Loved this book! I don’t typically enjoy friends to lovers but I do love marriage of convenience and the friends to lovers was done really well. I loved that the MCs had been besties almost all their lives and their relationship was just so special. I also just really enjoyed the plot and the setting and the writing. And I loved how Mia made a friend every where she went, reminded me of my own bestie haha! I’m definitely reading more books by this author!

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing, MIRA, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

Mia and Noah have been best friends from childhood and while they both have been interested romantically in each other since college, life has gotten in the way. Because Mia lives with some medical issues, she is unable to quit her job (and lose her medical insurance) to go back to school to finish her degree - until Noah steps in. He proposes - literally - that the two of them get married so she can continue to use his/their company's insurance while still giving her the opportunity to accept a scholarship she has been offered.

Their fake marriage strengthens their friendships in many ways and serves to strip away the impediments that kept them apart in the first place. Additionally, both Mia and Noah are forced to confront personal insecurities that threaten to ruin not only their relationship (and its many levels) but also relationships with their friends, co-workers, and families.

I loved this book. It was a simple premise, but the characters were endearing, and the writing style was engaging. I found myself looking for opportunities to pick up the book and continue the story. Very fun read with some additional surprising depth thrown in.

if u know me, u know that i love a good marriage of convenience. so guess what? i ate this up and left no crumbs.

the love that both characters have for the other, the fear of ruining their perfect friendship, the tension, the fake marriage, the stolen glances. all of it combined gives u the perfect friends to lover marriage of convenience.

the story was sweet. the characters have heartbreaking past. but all of ties beautifully at the end.

overall a wholesome story about two friends ready to risk it all for the other while also fearing the future of their relationship.

I loved this book! A fun, easy contemporary romance, great for the summer too!. Noah and Mia are best friends from childhood. And although they are just friends, its clear that have feelings for each other (a favorite trope of mine). But each of them holds back on their feelings for the other. Noah's career is taking off, Mia is stuck waiting for a kidney transplant. WIth a twist of fate, Noah proposes a marriage of convenience, so that Mia can be on his insurance. I liked their personal baggage that they both keep close to their hears. Love the way we watch their relationship unfolds

Thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing, MIRA and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this digital arc