This is a good book. The two main characters are laniah and Issac. They have known each other for all their lives. Laniah and her mother run a small business. Issac is an internet influencer. Laniah and her mother’s business is not doing good. Their bills are piling up. Issac offers to help them by telling his influencers that Laniah is his girlfriend. Their business starts doing better. He says they need to date through the summer. So they do. They start have feelings and fall in love.

I came into this thinking that this would be a cute, little summer romance and I got that and more. This book was deeper than I expected, despite being a bit of a slow burn. I think the author did a great job of depicting Laniah and Isaac’s close friendship and the growing distance between them, as well as representing the immense love between Laniah’s mom and dad (which is a big part of the book). I do think that there were some repetitive moments in the book (because Laniah needed to get it together lol), but it was a beautifully told story overall.

Here are some of my thoughts (mild spoilers ahead):
- A thumbs down?!?! The way that Darius would NEVER hear from me again!
- Idk about yall, but I think it’s so romantic when a Black couple does their hair together. (I know Laniah is mixed, but her mama’s Black and they have a whole hair care shop lol) Keep writing those scenes because I’m going to go for them every time!
- Girl, if you don’t take Isaac’s help! This is your friend trying to help you out, don’t fight him on this. Let your support system actually support you
- Laniah’s doctor not trusting her, thinking she was being paranoid, and forgetting her symptoms is pissing me off. I hate when doctor’s act like they know more about your body than you do 🙄
- Isaac is not playing about his girl and I love it!! Imma eat up a MMC falling first every time lol
- Darius coming back out of the woodwork seemed a little “out of left field”, if you know what I’m saying
- I thought the “What I Remember” sections were cute and showed the depth and breadth of their relationship, but then the “What I’d Forgotten” section hit
- A Love Like the Sun 🥹🥹 Isaac was playing no games! An actual physical representation of their journey as friends and lovers.
- “What We Add to A Love Like the Sun” is the perfect epilogue!
- I do wish that Laniah’s health and diagnosis was incorporated more throughout the book. For this huge plot twist near the end, it seemed like a background character and I wish this part wasn’t so rushed.
- Oh, and how dope would it be to have Isaac’s POV??

Friends to lovers is always kinda a miss for me BUT this one had fake dating which is my number one trope so I was excited plus I love this cover. Overall it was more of the same with friends to lovers in not wanting to take the next step because it might ruin their friendship. I would definitely try more from this author though.

I really enjoyed this childhood friends to lovers slow burn. Incredibly well-written, tender, sweet.

I was debating giving this 3 stars but I gotta bring it down a smidgen. As a whole I did enjoy it… kind of. I enjoyed it enough to keep going. (And I thought the steamy scenes were well done). But there didn’t feel like a lot of depth in these characters. Issac especially was basically “the perfect partner” with no other personality traits. And I do not care. I DO NOT CARE!! Please have more going on than just “let me take care of you you are my world” etc. I’ve seen some reviewers call the dialogue cringey, which was basically my experience. I felt like so much of what the characters said to each other (including the mom, too) was overly dramatic and emotional but lacking actual depth of feeling. So much talk of people’s “hearts.” Almost an aura of pretentiousness in the way they talk to each other. This is obviously a personal preference and a lot of people won’t be bothered by this. I WAS!!!

What made me REALLY angry was how the medical diagnosis came at the very end and Laniah decides (spoiler alert???) to do the typical “I will lie and say I don’t love him so that he won’t have to suffer a life of pain with me” thing which COME ON!!! IT’S THE YEAR 2024 AND WE’RE STILL DOING THIS?!? NO. WE’RE BETTER THAN THIS. THROW THIS OUT. NEVER VISIT THIS PLOT POINT EVER AGAIN. I also didn’t really like the medical plot line as a whole - it was just barely hovering around the edges, a lot of “I know something’s off but idk,” and then suddenly it’s a big deal at the very end? Like make it a significant part of the story throughout or don’t involve it at all. (Especially as someone with chronic health issues, it’s not fun to have it popping in and out of the story like that. I’d rather it not be in the books I read at all.)

An amazing friends to lovers story that made me invested in the power of the trope once again. I loved the tension and warmth of this book and the support between Isaac and Laniah felt palpable. Laniah at times you just wanted her to get out of her own way and let Isaac in, but when she did, it was magic. The spicy scenes were fire and I will always like a book that tackles issues of chronic illness. This was a slow burning and beautiful summer read that I could not get enough of.

Gosh this book is so beautiful and so good. I fell almost immediately for Leniah and Isaac, childhood best friends who clearly love each other and just have to figure out that it’s romantic love. I love a good childhood besties to lovers, and this book is deeply romantic and beautiful—the character descriptions and the line level prose are just phenomenal—and it captured my whole heart. There’s also some important commentary on health care, and honestly the love story and the discussion of grief and the complexity of love in the face of watching a parent lose a soulmate is just epically, fantastically gorgeous. Love.

Thank you to Netgalley, Berkley Books, and Riss M. Neilson for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!

4.5⭐️

First of all, if i had a childhood best friend like Isaac I would’ve been ON MY KNEES for that man. Immediately. 💀😭
But seriously, Books like this don’t come around often and honestly it was a beautiful story. I definitely felt the FMC Laniah just really needed to shutup most times but overall it was a solid story, and the author has excellent writing. i swooned so much 😭

I was really yelling at Laniah 50% of the time. Like fr this girl really shouldn’t have been allowed to make decisions for herself because she was making all the wrong ones!! Like girl you mean to tell me you would pass up the opportunity to be in a certified relationship with your best friend who loves you like his life depends on it, and the best sex of your life just because you don’t want to ruin the friendship!!? SOMEBODY GET THIS GIRL SOME HELP. I-😭

I definitely sympathized with her when she got her diagnosis and definitely understood her fears and reasons for not wanting to be with Isaac after her diagnosis. However, love is about being brave and taking the leap and risking heartbreak 🥹 and that’s exactly what she did (finally). When Isaac said “I’ll be brave enough for the both of us” i was like 😭 THATS MY MAN AND I LOVE HIM.

Honestly a 10/10 ending and it made me so emotional and i wonder what Laniah and Isaac are doing now

A Love Like the Sun is a beautiful story of two life-long best friends who decide to pretend to be lovers for a summer. Issac is internet famous, and Laniah is a homebody who has a natural skin care line that she runs with her mom. When the business is in peril, Issac comes up with the idea to be in a "relationship" and using his influence to help boost sales.

I really adored this story. While the premise appears like it's going to be a light read, it's far from it. The story tackles grief, friendship, found family, romance, and has chronic disease representation. I found the characters to relatable and charming, and there were points I was laughing so hard to the point of tears. A Love Like the Sun is much more than romantic read; it's a portrait of friendship, love, and life.

Thank you, Berkley Publishing, and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A Love Like the Sun is Riss M. Neilson’s adult debut. It’s a childhood best friends to lovers romance that also features fake dating. Those are two of my favorite tropes so this book was like catnip for me!

I was immediately captivated by Laniah and Issac. They were so close as children, practically family, but as they’ve grown up, their lives moved in vastly different directions. Issac is now an up and coming artist living in L.A., while Laniah runs a small business with her mom in their hometown. When Laniah and Issac meet up as adults, however, it’s like no time has passed and they are still each other’s biggest supporters. Even before the possibility of romance was introduced, I thought their relationship was just so special.

It is when Issac learns that Laniah’s business is in danger of closing that the fake dating comes into play. Issac thinks that if he and Laniah pretend to date, he can help bring some visibility and hopefully new customers to her shop. My favorite part about fake dating is watching that purely platonic relationship evolve over time as the couple realizes their feelings for one another are not so fake after all. Neilson writes this evolving relationship so well. It’s a delicious, slow burn that has Laniah navigating her new feelings for Issac, trying to figure out if he feels the same way and if so, would this ruin their wonderful friendship.

If you’re a friends to lovers fan, be sure to pick up a copy of A Love Like the Sun.

4 1/2 stars

I cannot remember the last time a book hit me in the feelings the way A Love Like the Sun did. Laniah and Issac have such a beautiful foundation of friendship, trust, and love that watching them figure out and admit their romantic feelings for each other had me melting.

So many of my favorite romance tropes were featured in this book; friends to lovers, fake dating, slow burn. I also loved getting to know the rest of the characters in the book. Laniah's mom, Vanessa, Lex, Katrina, Bridget, and Wilma. They added so much depth to the story and were as complex and wonderful to read about as the main characters.

Even though it broke my heart to read, I loved the storyline about Laniah's health struggles. I felt that they were so honestly portrayed, and was not suprised, but of course sad to learn that they were inspired by the author's own experience being ignored and lied to by her doctor. I am grateful that she chose to write about these experiences that are all too common, particularly among women of color.

I really cannot say enough how much I loved this book. The simultaneous intimacy from years of friendship and yearning from repressed feelings created such delicious tension. I couldn't put it down!

Thank you Berkley for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a well written book, and I enjoy the references to the Providence area as well as the social media aspect to the fake dating relationship.

Unfortunately, there are a few too many side plots happening for my liking, some of which that finish up halfway through the book and are barely mentioned again. Speaking of storylines, while I value the importance of Laniah’s medical journey, we don’t see how this connects to the romance until 90% into the novel. It would have been great to see more focus on how these two plots connect.

It probably doesn’t help that this slow burn is so slow that by the time there’s any heat to the relationship, it feels uncomfortable. I love a childhood friends to lovers romance, but watching Laniah and Isaac fall for one another is almost incestuous at times, since there is a heavy focus on how her parents are a second family to Isaac, as he grew up in the foster care system.

If you enjoy an emotional novel with a bit of romance, I’d recommend A Love Like The Sun. I really enjoy Riss M. Neilson’s writing style, so I’ll be taking a peek at her other books soon!

This book totally took me by surprise in the best way. First of all, the cover is stunning. However, it was the fact that the characters in this book feel like real people that really grabbed at my heart. A childhood best friends to fake dating to lovers story, this one somehow felt more realistic than most romance books…and I think it’s all in the talented writing.

This was a cute one! It included a lot of romance tropes that we all know and love (friends to lovers, fake dating, celeb, etc) and it was a fun read.

This was just okay. I liked Laniah and Issac and fully bought into their history and chemistry - both platonic and romantic. But there was so many background plots that took away from the story development. And I really would have appreciated seeing them spending more time together in the present - but I did enjoy their pining.

Sweet friends-to-lovers romance. A Love Like the Sun by Riss M. Neilson is a contemporary romance about two best friends who fake a relationship to save the other’s business and reputation. Laniah Thompson is an introverted business owner whose business is currently failing. Isaac Jordan is a social media darling and puts his art, and life, out for the world to see. When he returns home for a visit with his best friend and finds Laniah is closing her business, he hatches a plan to save it. They fake a relationship for the summer and use his popularity to grow her clientele. The only problem is not catching feelings in the process.

Laniah is a great narrator. The story is told entirely from her perspective. She’s introverted and has high anxiety. Couple that anxiety with the fact that something in her body feels off and you have a recipe for disaster. Losing her father at a young age has rewritten Laniah’s outlook on life, and she lives a lot of it scared to love and be loved. Her business is her mother’s dream but also hers as well. She loves helping others find what works for their natural hair and what to avoid.

Isaac is a conundrum. He is just as shy as Laniah seems to be, yet he flourishes under the spotlight. He’s built a brand with his art and style. Now living across the country from his best friend to pursue that art has left a hole in Laniah’s life. She misses him and feels like he is slipping away each day. A fake relationship is not the answer she expected when he planned to help her business. And just putting the label of girlfriend/boyfriend on each other brings a level of intimacy to their relationship that’s never been in question before. Laniah wants him, but she is terrified of losing her best friend. And this fear plays into a lot of the book.

I wanted to love this story, and there are aspects I certainly love, but some of it fell flat. I loved the sweet, easy relationship Laniah and Isaac have. That only comes from knowing someone for as long as they do. I enjoyed Laniah’s relationship with her mom and other friends in the book. I struggled with the spicy scenes. They didn’t flow well with the rest of the story. While I understand that it is a story about how they are developing feelings for one another, there wasn’t any build-up of tension between them before the sex scenes. The scenes themselves also didn’t really match the personalities of the characters. It was like looking in on two totally different people than they were the rest of the book.

Overall, I enjoyed A Love Like the Sun. It reads more like women’s fiction than romance though there are definitely some romantic and sweet moments throughout the story. If you are a fan of friends-to-lovers romance, I highly recommend it.

I appreciated the main character’s story about chronic illness and being misdiagnosed as anxiety. I think we as women can all relate to that or know someone who can. However the love story fell flat for me. It was clear from the beginning the feelings they had for one another, and I found myself skimming over the second half. The writing style was very emotional, so much so that it was overwhelming.

Short synopsis: Laniah’s natural hair are business is sinking, so her Internet famous best fried Issac tells his followers they are dating in hopes of landing an investor for her.

My thoughts: I don’t know what it is about friends to lovers for me, but most of the time it just seems to work! I love watching the feelings develop, as they fight their true feelings. There is always some great tension.

I am also a huge fan of a strong female MC following her dreams. In this one Laniah had a business with the intention of helping others take care of their skin and hair. I loved how supportive Issac was of Laniah, and how he found a way to help her business thrive.

This is a spicy little thing with some amazing flirting and long distance relationship with some major character growth.

Read if you love:
- Friends to lovers
- Fake dating
- Supporting Small businesses
- Internet famous
- Great tension and banter

this was unfortunately a DNF for me -- i wanted to love it, especially after hearing the author share at a berkley influencer event this summer, but something about the writing style and content just didn't connect with me. i don't think it's the book, i think it just wasn't the book FOR ME. sometimes, you just don't click with the characters or even the author, and i think that's what happened here -- i just couldn't fully get into it and kept finding my attention veering, so i called it a day.

I really liked Riss' writing here. A lot of YA authors have been trying to make the transition to adult books but this is the first one I've read that didn't feel like slightly older versions of teen characters. The Romance is slow burn but she leads with just the right tension. I feel like I was peeking into to these two characters lives and I enjoyed how almost lyric her writing was.