This was a fun quick read. It follows the friends to lovers arc of professional stunt man Timothy and seamstress entrepreneur Mina. They are best friends who are in love with each other but Mina will never give Timothy a chance at more because her parents died in a climbing accident and she can't risk being in a relationship with someone who takes the kinds of risks he does. When Timothy has a head injury on set one day he is forced into an early retirement and they begin a relationship, but they have to work through the tensions of Timothy giving up what he feels is his identity and Mina feeling like she can't trust Timothy and worrying that he will resent her.

Things I liked: Bisexual representation, sex positivity, MMC who shows emotions
Things I didn't like: I just didn't feel particularly invested in the story. I also found a lot of the dialogue kind of crass. I love a good steamy book, but this somehow accomplished being not as steamy as I'd like but also weirdly vulgar.

Thanks to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op and NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was fun! As always, I very much appreciated the bisexual rep. Lots of refreshing elements here, especially the sex positivity. Not a huge fan of the minor conflict Timothy & Mina run into.

Still really enjoyed the story!!

I love a good friends to lovers and this was just so cute! Timothy is obsessed and the pinning!! After an accident he is done being scared of telling Mina how he feels and proposes. He went straight to that jump and obviously Mina was skeptical. The close proximity while she was helping him recover and their growing tension were written so well.

I received an advanced copy of this book and voluntarily read and reviewed it. All opinions are my own.
Such a cute and heartfelt story! Timothy is the definition of a golden retriever hero and absolutely obsessed with Mina. Truly the best combination for a romance hero.
I loved the setting and all of the side characters, which added a lot of depth to the story. Mina was such a refreshing heroine. It bothers that often cautious heroines completely change or realize they need to "loosen up" in order to be with the hero. While Mina does adjust to Timothy's hobbies etc, she also stays true to herself. Like just let people be careful, not everyone needs to be an extroverted daredevil.

At times I found Timothy to be an overgrown man-child, which suited him fine, but its not a quality i like in my main male character.

This book was so good. I loved the characters and I cannot wait for the next book in the series!! This was a total 5 star read for me and I loved every word of it.
I just reviewed Love and Other Risky Business by Sarah Brenton. #LoveandOtherRiskyBusiness #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

A hilarious, adorable debut that had me so excited for part 2!

Timothy has always been a thrill seeker, jumping out of airplanes and putting his life at risk every day of his job as a stunt man. Mina avoids risk at all cost, with the one exception of becoming best friends with Timothy. But even that friendship keeps her safe, knowing her fear over his job is enough to keep them from crossing the line into more. When a career-ending injury takes Timothy out of the stunt life for good, he finally gives up on pretending he isn’t head over heels for Mina. But Mina will have to decide if she’s willing to finally take a risk with her heart.

Timothy and Mina are so adorable!!! They clearly have so much fun together, and watching the way they balance each other out is perfect. Timothy is absolutely ridiculous, but in the cutest, most sincere way possible! I loved watching his journey as he finds himself after losing his career, and Mina’s journey as she found her own bravery in life and in love! I can’t wait to read Nic and Jessie’s story!

What a lovely book!! What a golden retriever MMC!!

The only thing I absolutely hated about this book is Mina’s name. Not gonna lie, I was baffled that out of all the names in the world, Sarah Brenton couldn’t choose any other name!!!!!!!

This book was so good. It’s such a comfort book. The writing style is similar to Sarah Adams. I guess the authors with that name are just comfort authors

The banter and the wittiness is just on point. I found myself giggling or laughing at the puns and the jokes between the two best friends. Actually, the whole friend group is hilarious and the way they stand up for each other is just beautiful. Oh and the mom is so coool!!!

I was literally flipping through the pages because I couldn’t stop reading. Short chapters that make it easy to read and the way of writing that makes me forget I’m reading a book. It felt easier than watching a movie

The suspense, the tension, the heat, the fire was absolutely killing me and I loved every second of it

I can’t wait to read holiday vibes because I loved Nic and I feel like I’m really going to relate and love Jessie

This was a fun read that takes place in a world of stunt performers, which is different from anything I've read before. The book has a moderate amount of spice, which is always appreciated in my world. My one complaint is that I found Timothy to be a bit self-centered and I didn't fall all the way in love with him. Still a fun read, but I'm not swooning over him.

Thank you to Victory Editing and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book!

This was so cute and so enjoyable! Mina and Timothy fit together and complement each other so well, I was giggling and kicking my feet from chapter one. Timothy is such a fun and surprisingly complex character. He's the chaotic bisexual man we all need in our lives. Mina and Timothy's relationship, both platonic and romantic, was such a breath of fresh air to read. They just care about each other so much and they're so solid on knowing that the other is always going to be there for them, no matter what, and even if their relationship falls apart, they can save their friendship. It's honestly a dream friendship and relationship and it's so fun to read.

One of the things I appreciated in this book was that both Timothy and Mina had incredibly valid and meaningful issues about themselves and their relationship- the troubles they faced weren't because of miscommunication or some vague issue that could be fixed if they would just talk to each other for two seconds, like is so common in romance books, movies, and TV shows. Instead, their issues stem from love for each other and their own underlying fears and trauma. While I personally wanted to shake Mina and scream at her at multiple points for being so cautious and for being (in my opinion) a bit irrational about Timothy's risk-taking tendencies, I always understood where she was coming from. Timothy was just perfect and I empathized so much with him and his seemingly always cool and fun exterior hiding a very squishy and soft interior was incredibly relatable.

This was an incredibly fun and enjoyable read! I'm really looking forward to book 2 and reading Jessie and Nic's story!

Timothy and Mina are best friends - each of them wants more but is afraid to ruin their friendship. When he has an accident at work and they are spending more time in close proximity will it be the opportunity they have been waiting for? A great read, full of great characters.

This was an okay read, I'd give it 3.25 stars. This is my first Sarah Brenton book, I might be interested in reading the next book, we'll see! There were elements that I adored in this book, but other parts confused me.

I loved the queer representation and the sex-positive aspects of the book so much. Timothy and Mina had great sexual chemistry, as demonstrated in an extra spicy scene (it was top-tier, honestly), I think Brenton writes great spice and it's a major aspect of why I enjoyed this book.

What confused me was Timothy and Mina's friendship at times. These two claimed to know each other better than anyone else, but there were some secrets that weren't shared between them - very big secrets. Although Timothy and Mina were best friends for 5 years at this point, Mina had never been to his house. Is that weird? Am I reading too much into it? I don't know, but it totally threw me off. Although these things were present in the book, I still enjoyed other aspects of their friendship. It was blatantly clear that these two cared for each other deeply, right from the start of the book, which I appreciated. They cared for each other not only emotionally, but physically too. I appreciated their opposites dynamic, in that Mina was the more serious one and Timothy is just the sweetest golden retriever. I was a little worried about the constant sexual innuendo and jokes from Timothy at the beginning of the story, but we quickly saw him change his behaviour in a more positive and healthy way. Obviously, he still shared jokes, but it was done more appropriately by the end of the book considering how their relationship changed up to that point.

Thanks so much to netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

the romance in this book had me on the edge of my seat. i was confused at the dynamic in the beginning, but quickly got caught up. timothy is such a sweet character, not to mention his one liners and absolute confidence. we love a guy who isn’t afraid to feel his feelings. his little monthly gift baskets had me crying. i loved how Sarah Brenton was able to give the book plot rather than just a romance. i also LOVED that the side characters had stories that weren’t only included to work in the main characters favor. Sarah did an amazing job with this book.

This one took me COMPLETELY by surprise.

I sat down to start it the night before pub day and binged more than half of it before I had to force myself to fall asleep! I immediately picked it back up the next day and flew through the rest!

I’m such a sucker for a good friends to lovers and these two are cute, tender, and SPICY!

I laughed out loud more times than I can count, was grinning like a fool on more than one occasion, had my heart in my throat and tears in my eyes a couple of times, and was fanning myself as my kindle pages burst into flames from the sexual chemistry!

The only thing keeping it from being a full 5⭐️ for me was that Timothy had a hard time empathizing with Mina and her very justified anxieties. That growth was just lacking a bit for me! Otherwise I loved it!

This was a good book.

I liked Timothy and Mina and I rooted for them. I love how Timothy wanted the best for Mina and her small business.

I didn’t like Timothy asking her to marry him instead of just asking her out. I get that they were friends but to just propose out of nowhere (from Mina’s perspective) made it seem like a joke.

Aside from that, I did like Timothy and how fiercely he seemed to care for Mina and wanted to make sure she was cared for.

While I liked the book, I didn’t love it, but it was definitely worth reading.

Thank you Netgalley and Victory Publishing for sending me this ARC.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of "Love and Other Risky Business". All thought and opinions are my own. Thanks to NetGalley and Victory Editing for this ARC. Book is published on Oct. 10, 2023.
My ratings: 2.5/5
This book had SOOOOOOOO much potential and it fell short. I honestly was shocked that I stuck it out. I was really gonna DNF this book more times than I could count. I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt but geez it was rough. I struggled with most of this story. Timothy... yeah I know he has struggles in the story but his choices with Mina were super questionable. I found almost everything he did to be a red-flag... and not in a good way. It was always about him and even when he wanted to do things for Mina it wasn't about her. Mina was whiny and just plain annoying. I had such high hopes and thought I was gonna love this book but I couldn't find much to love. There were parts of their story that I did enjoy. I did like pars of Nic and Timothy's relationship. I found it funny that he lived in a porn house.
My honest opinion is this book is not for me and that's ok.

This is a decent friends to lovers story. I really liked both of the main characters separately but I’m not sure whether I like them together. There’s enough romantic tension between them, but with their differences it feels too forced. I really wanted to root for them and I hope that their imagined future together is bright.

I adored the other characters! They were fun and integral to the story. The main characters also had fun moments but the writing of their dialogue and internal thoughts was a bit off.

There’s just something about a friends to lovers romance that is so irresistible. This was such a quick read with just the right amount of spice. I’m a little sad the story is over.

**thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read and review**

A good friends to lovers story will always have me in a chokehold. Timothy being hopelessly in love with Mina for 5 years is everything I could of asked for. I liked that we saw Mina realize her feelings for Timothy in real time. It may have taken five years but she got there and that's what matters. The fact that he was trying so hard to give up his career for her was so good. I understood where both of them were coming from so the breakup was hard to read. But, they obviously love each other more than anything in the world and they were okay. I'm very excited for Nic and Jessies book next.

I received an arc through netgalley.

Love and Other Risky Business by Sarah Brenton was a fun and enjoyable story. I really enjoyed this book. It started a bit slow but picked up momentum. I fell in love with all the characters and could imagine this coming to life. The characters were well thought out and the plot was paced. Overall, this was a charming, heartwarming, and cozy story

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Victory Editing for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Had potential but fell flat. Not a fan of miscommunication trope. This was a miss for me. Disappointed and almost DNF