thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶🌶

✨️Friends to lovers
✨️He falls first
✨️Bisexual MMC
✨️Opposites attract

'' I'm the calm he craves. He's the thrill that inspires me."

" Look at me. See me. My heart is yours."

Oh my God, I couldn't put this book down. It had me hooked from the first chapters, and I just couldn't let go.

I really liked the two main characters. Timothy had been in love for years and couldn't admit his feelings, and Mina, who was in denial, but I can understand it because of what she went through with her ex. It's obvious how much Timothy loves and cares for Mina. I love a Golden Retriever guy who's not afraid to express his feelings.

The chemistry between Timothy and Mina is off the charts, and their connection goes beyond that. In my opinion, they complement each other, and they have a really lovely relationship to read.

I gotta say, I loved chapter 7; it's one of my favorites.

I had a blast reading this book. Not only that, but I totally recommend it.

I got an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review, but all opinions are my own.

Thank you, NetGalley and Victory Editing, for sending me this book.

Timothy is a risk-taker, and Mina is decidedly not. Timothy's whole world is Mina and his job as a stuntman, but that all comes crashing down, literally, when he hurts himself at work and has to retire. Timothy's mom offers to pay Mina to keep him out of trouble -Timothy doesn't need a babysitter, but he'll do anything to keep Mina near.

Mina does her best to resist Timothy, but they're best friends and their chemistry is undeniable. They each need to take a very different kind of risk to make it work between them: Mina needs to take a risk with her heart, and Timothy needs to believe he's more than his job.

Overall, this was a quick, enjoyable read. The pacing was a little odd, and the writing was a tad immature, but the storyline was interesting and the characters were lovable. A solid start to a series!

Timothy has loved Mina for the past 5 years and asks her out every year on her birthday, until this year. Timothy realizes he should probably move on but gets in a serious accident that changes his life, making him realize he does not want to live without her.
This book was super cute but I could have done without the 3rd act breakup. I really thought they were not going to end up together. I can't wait to read Jessie and Nic's book!

I really thought I was going to love Love and Other Risky Business so much, but I struggled a bit. I'm not a huge fan of miscommunication/lack of communication, and Timothy and Mina were the worst with communicating their feelings with each other. On top of that, she was kinda shitty to Timothy, and he was so sweet!

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW: work place accident resulting in a brain bleed, cheating (past, non-MCs)

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-m/f contemporary romance
-friends to lovers
-roommance
-he falls first and hard
-bi rep
-a former porn house

This was such a fun read. A stunt man and the owner of a period underwear company and their shift from friends to lovers. Add in a house that used to be a porn set, a closet of sex toys, meddling family members, and Sarah Brenton's A+ steam and chemistry and there's no way not to enjoy this steamy read. I can't wait for the rest of this series.

Steam: 3.5

I always love a good friends to lovers. And this book had it all. 2 lovable best friends, dangerous stunts, wonderful side characters who I can’t wait to see have their own stories!
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Mina likes to play things safe. Timothy is a Hollywood stunt performer. What could possibly go wrong?
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I definitely recommend preordering this baby so you don’t miss it when it’s released!
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🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

This is an angsty, high-heat romance. It’s not a rom com, as suggested by the cover. The writing style is entertaining. For me, the obstacles to the romance weren’t strong enough to sustain the plot and hold my interest. DNF.

One of my favorite romcom reads this year, convincing character arc and absolutely believable and loveable characters.

What a delightful, sexy, engaging friends-to-lovers romance! Talk about ‘he falls first’. 😍 Timothy’s been in love with his best friend, Mina, for 5 years, and things might finally be happening… if they can get out of their own way. Sweet character development for both main characters. Super sex-positive and spicy, so prepare yourself (in the best way possible). Can’t wait to read the next book from Brenton!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Love and Other Risky Business.

Love and Other Risky Business is a friends-to-lovers, opposites attract romance between Mina and Timothy. The two have been best friends for 5 years and are beginning to struggle to ignore the attraction between them and when Timothy is hurt in an accident at his job as a stunt-man, Timothy doesn't want to waste anymore time and wants Mina as more than a friend.

Overall, I enjoyed this book - I thought it was cute and I am glad that Mina and Timothy found their hea. The bisexual representation in the book was great and it was amazing to see Timothy be so open about his sexuality throughout the book.

A cautious seamstress and a risky stuntman - can they make it work?! Well I guess you’ll have to read and find out 😉 After an injury on set Mina moves in with Timothy to be his caretaker.

Tropes:
Friends to lovers
Opposites attract (daredevil vs cautious)
He falls first
He’s bi and she’s demi
Pegging scene 🥵

Spice: 2.5 🌶️
Rating 4 ⭐️

Also, very excited for book two in this series!

Thank you NetGalley for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story would’ve been 150 times better if we had gotten some back story on these characters. Give us a prologue to give info, back story, emotions, bond, anything. The beginning just felt very rushed and the emotions came on too quickly.

I love a good LGBT rep, especially in a man that isn’t ashamed to be bisexual. Overall, I did enjoy parts of it, but it felt like something was missing.

This was a sweet best friend to lovers story that follows two people whose lives get turned upside down by a terrible accident and near death experience. The story follows how they adapt to a new life and the future they may have together. It was cute, it was funny, and even kept you at the edge of your seat at some points. Definitely enjoyed this one. If you are looking spicy is does have quite a bit and not too much a slow burn.

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing for access to the ARC!

This review contains mild spoilers, so proceed with caution if spoilers aren’t your thing.

Love and Other Risky business follows Timothy, a Hollywood stuntman and human golden retriever who is head over heels in love with his best friend, Mina. Mina is a young seamstress working in Hollywood while hustling to grow her underwear brand.

Let’s start with the things I enjoyed about the story: I love a friends-to-lovers trope and I enjoy a slow burn. This book has bother of those. Timothy knows he’s in love with Mina. Mina also recognizes her attraction to Timothy, but she denies it until she can’t anymore.

Where I struggled with this read is the development (or lack thereof) of the characters. They’re supposedly best friends but don’t really know anything about each other. She’s never met any of his family, even though he seems to be close to his parents. Also, its stated that these characters are in their 30s, but they communicate and have the humor of hormonal teenagers.

The thirds act was tough to finish. I don’t enough third act breakups, (They’re adults. I want them to use their words. Talk it out.) and I don’t feel like either character had really grown.

TLDR; Overall, I’d give the book a 2.75/5. I made it through but was disappointed by the last 25% of the book.

Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes. So I was very excited to receive this early copy from NetGalley in exchange for a review. Thank you for that NetGalley.

This story is about Mina and Timothy. They have been best friends for 5 years! He has loved her so much that he bought her an engagement ring just months after meeting her. Their love and their chemistry was everything!! It was so sweet to read just how much they cared about each other, wanted to see each other succeed, and also keep each other safe. It was such an entertaining book and I loved seeing how the characters helped each other knock down the walls around their hearts, so they could love each other completely.

The reason I knocked down a few stars was because of the dialogue. I understand that miscommunication had to play it’s part in the story. But I felt like majority of the dialogue was too “young” for characters that are in their 30’s. At first it was a bit annoying because they sounded so immature. But I was able to look past that and still enjoy the book!

Overall, I really liked the book! And I’d recommend it. It’s also very 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ so keep that in mind when deciding to read it! Happy reading!! 😉

Mina & Timothy’s story was a journey, y’all, with all the feels. This is a friends to lovers book and it’s sexy and a bit angsty and full of beautiful people. These two were perfect for each other, and I loved that Mina never shamed Timothy for his sexual proclivities. Complex, loving friendships all around are central to this love story I adored.
Timothy is a delicious unicorn of hotness who works as a stuntman and Mina is a hardworking woman with greater ambitions than her current day job of seeing wench for a hag of a boss. The two of them are pushed closer together through an accident and convalescence where they act on their lust for each other. Expectations and assumptions collide to create major discord in their HFN, and this reader found the pacing and developments of their situations were well done and satisfying.
I cannot wait to read Jessie & Nic’s story later this fall.
I received a free advance reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A classic friends-to-lovers, he-falls-first romance where the FMC spends a lot of time fighting against her feelings, and the MMC spends his time convincing her to fall in love. There is a lot of LGBTQ+ rep, which I appreciated.

Usually I tear through these types of books, but I had a hard time rooting for these characters to get together. They’re both fundamentally different, and a relationship between them will either not last or require massive personal sacrifices on both ends.

Additionally, I found both characters not very lovable.
**Spoilers Ahead**
The MMC was a little over the top in the beginning - he mentions having her underwear modeling pictures bookmarked and saved, and he tricks her into being his POWER OF ATTORNEY AND BENEFICIARY OF HIS WILL, which seems… massively over the top and an egregious overstep. He also is overly obsessed with his genetalia - making confident jokes to friends or lovers is funny, but calling your morning wood ‘glorious’ in your head? A little too much.
The FMC isn’t as unlikable, but she just has a lot of unhandled trauma from her parents’ death, and projects onto the people around her.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book, but wouldn’t continue the series.

My main interest in this book was the mention in the blurb that Mina is demisexual (I am collecting as many 2023 ace releases as I can) – the rest sounded interesting enough, so I thought I would give it a try.

It's a bit of an odd story. For two people in their thirties who have been close friends for over five years, our two protagonists seem both close and distant at the same time. I don't quite understand how Mina can struggle so much with Timothy's job as a stuntman or not tell him about surgeries she's had or having ever been to his house (??) while also spending so much time with him and talking to him. Timothy has apparently been in love with her the entire time yet his behaviour does not change from before they were together to after; he remains a static character, almost bland.

The humor in this story is also not for me. Overlooking the fact that I disliked Timothy's proclivity for talking about his dick whenever possible, I just could not get down the fun LA/Hollywood vibes the story was going for. It was clearly meant to be a bit goofy and over-the-top but it frustrated me instead. The more serious moments felt undercut by the missing tension and depth between the two leads and they fell into their new relationship without much thought. Timothy had a habit of steamrolling Mina I did not like and it is the start for too many plot points.
Mina's character was a bit more grounded and I connected more with her worrying, introverted nature. It also helped that she had more going on in her life aside from Timothy. Those topics do pop up at opportune moments that hint at plot convenience but I did not mind them as much since it painted her in a more well-rounded way.

The book is missing a lot of conversations I would have wanted between those two to make the story more interesting. Timothy is way deeper than Mina at first since she is just coming to terms with her new attraction to him while he's been pining away but we don't see them talking about it which would have been so interesting - their expectations don't match at the start. Both are going through a major job crisis but it's pushed aside for sexy times. Their living situations get resolved equally fast and almost off-screen.
The last 20% were an exercise in frustration, partly because I knew 2 things were coming I don't care for

A few more things that left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, like his injury...

Now lets talk about Mina's demisexuality. I found one reference to it where she talks about the fact that she seldomly is attracted to people. She also has a lower sex drive than him but that is not really explored in the story.
In comparison, Timothy's bisexuality was included in the story organically and came up several times. He uses the word to label himself, he talks about past male and female exes, he has a high libido but it's not painted as a stereotype, he's thought about whether he wants biological children.
But part of the book was the pegging scene which I loved!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an advanced copy of Love and Other Risky Business by Sarah Brenton.

Even though I already read about Mina and Timothy (Timbo) once, I was excited to get a final copy for the full experience again from beginning to end. Watching these two's friendship grow into a real relationship after Timbo's career ending accident was so sweet, but also heartbreaking. I was so invested in their struggles and still swooned when they got their HEA. This is the perfect book for someone wanting that perfect mix of angsty, sweet, and spicy!

Disclosure: I am friends with the author and read an early draft of this book

CW: Multiple open-door sex scenes, on-page descriptions of a medical emergency