This is a lovely book. Friends-to-lovers, he falls first, he falls hardest (?), she bottles up her emotions. There’s some rather heavy subject matter here, which apparently the author drew from her own experiences, along with some fairy tale moments.

This contemporary friends to lovers romance follows Laniah Thompson as she navigates dating in the modern day, grief, medical gaslighting, and running a business. Laniah fosters time and space for well rounded relationships with many people in her life, including her mother and their business Wildly Green. But Laniah does not ever want to burden others with her most difficult troubles or challenges. Even though Laniah has always been able to rely on Isaac. Their duo has been around since adolescence, and they grew together through tragedy and chose each other as family. But as they try to explore what their relationship could become Laniah, determined to not ruin Isaac’s career, cut’s Isaac off as she begins to cope with her most difficult challenge. Fans of Tia Williams might enjoy Neilsen’s adult romance debut!

I wanted to love this so bad, and I do think a lot of people will! It’ll be the perfect summer romance for a lot of people. Just not for me. I was already frustrated with the way Issac started the whole fake dating thing, especially when Laniah doesn’t like social media and that’s his whole life.

I did like the writing style! And like I said I do think people are going to love this book.

dnf @35%

Well I really enjoyed this one. There was more depth to it than I was expecting and Neilson did a great job capturing the love story between Laniah and Isaac. I loved the health aspect because of how realistic it is for many people of color. Love how she pulled inspiration from her real life experiences to create this great story!

This was a very emotional friends to lovers, fake dating romance. I really liked Laniah, and I thought her character was well fleshed out and developed. I appreciated that part of her story was inspired by the author. I didn’t love Isaac’s character as much. He didn’t seem as developed, and maybe I would’ve liked him better if he had his own pov.

Overall, a romance that I recommend. And I really loved the ending.

This is a super cute story about friendship and love. Laniah and her mother started a natural hair store and the business is going under. But when her childhood friend Isaac who is a famous internet celebrity offers to help by posting that they are dating- suddenly everyone wants to come into their store! Laniah agrees to the pretense just long enough to attract an investor- but the lines of real and make believe begin to blurt. Again- a cute store that was entertaining to read.

Stunning prose, hilarious wit, touching and raw emotions. Riss M. Neilson's adult debut packs a punch in the genre. She is here to stay with her contemporaries like Emily Henry and Carley Fortune.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher of A Love Like the Sun for this accepting my request for this arc.

Where do I start? This book was absolutely heartwarming and inspiring. So many lessons were in this novel and I think it’s important we all take note of that. Laniah and Issac are childhood best friends, who have been through the ups and down together and continue to be through all those together as they’ve gotten older. Learning more about each of their lives was such a nice touch and definitely helped me to stayed interested with the story. They both have been through hardships and continue to strive and push forward. I think it’s beautiful and just made me happy to see their relationship really flourish along the way. Such a lovely story :)

If you enjoy
- friends to lovers
- fake dating
- family
- community
- love
Then this is a novel for you, I’m sure you will not regret giving it a go! 10/10 recommend 🌟

A Love Like The Sun is a heart-warming childhood friends to lovers story. The story starts off with the type of relationship they have in their adulthood while living on separate ends of the country. It can be tough to keep up with each other but they make it work. When Liniah comes clean to Issac, her best friend, about her struggles to keep her haircare business running he comes up with the idea to announce on to his massive social media audience that he has a new girlfriend which happens to be her. The plan is crazy but it work because it brings in business, but being in a fake relationship with her childhood best friend forces her to navigate her feelings for her best friend.

I think this was solid adult romance debut. While it had many pros, it also had cons. I was nervous, but I am a friends to lovers fan, but not a childhood friends to lovers so I was happy to see as I continued reading that the element of fake dating was a part of this story. It made it more interesting.

Even being only one POV I personally could feel the chemistry oozing off of the pages. Laniah was extremely delusional and I really loved that, however, at a certain point it became frustrating. I understood her fears but it was quite obvious how he felt and I was ready for her to let go and fall into his love Forreal.

One issue that I shockingly had was the slow burn. I am a huge fan of slow burns and I understood why it was present in this story, but at a certain point I do think that this dragged out a little too long. I think the tension and chemistry really it saved it in keeping me entertained, but I found myself screaming “just kiss already!!!!!!” often. I was so happy when they finally did though (amongst other things 🤭) and I felt satisfied after the build up.

Overall, I enjoyed this read.

Thank you to Berkeley Publishing and NetGalley for this digital ARC.

This book is wonderful. I appreciated Laniah's struggles and her determination to handle them on her own. I also connected with her about the health struggles and the feeling of forcing someone else to deal with them. It's touching and so, so true.

I absolutely adored this story. It is a best friend to lovers romance and I am all for it. The chemistry is off the charts and I enjoyed the slow burn of the book. There were times were I was blushing, giggling, and smiling.

3.5 STARS!
~~~~
I am a sucker for love. I love reading heartwarming romances that are not full of drama and angst. I’m trying to escape from life when I dive into a story.

This book had such a wonderful vibe to it. Their love was amazing in this best friends-to-lovers story.

The author did an amazing job with the character development and their connection was just on fire. I loved it so much.

But that is not to say I didn’t have some things that rubbed me wrong. What killed it for me was the female lead character who just could not let herself go and love him the way he needed to be loved. As a lover, not just as a best friend.

This book has everything in it that we crave in a romance. The touches, the fire, the first time saying the magic words. And especially the first time getting physical. But she just couldn’t let go soon enough in the story to let us feel everything they were building together.

I love so many parts of the story, but I really wish we could just get an early buy-in so we can enjoy the couple a lot longer in the story. Give us a wonderful epilogue. Bring us that closure instead of a rushed ending. That to me is what makes an amazing story.

Will I read this author again? Absolutely. I love her style and her flair with words. Neilson has the ability to bring sensual passion to light. I can’t wait to see what else she brings us in the future.

This was such a beautiful beautiful love story that will stick with me forever! I absolutely love love stories that span a number of years and span the test of time! Very much looking forward to sharing more on this title.

A stunning romance! I will be seeking out more of Riss M. Neilson's work from now on. This was exactly the character-driven romance I have been yearning for.

I just finished Riss M. Neilson’s adult debut, A Love Like the Sun, and I’m still feeling its warm glow!

Laniah and Issac have been best friends since childhood, bonded further by the loss of his parents and her father. Everything they do is shared first and foremost with the other, and they’re each other’s biggest cheerleaders and safest space through life’s ups and downs. Together with Laniah’s mom, Vanessa, the three are like family.

As adults, the affection and support is still there, but life has pulled them in different directions with Issac now in California gaining fame for his modeling and successful art videos on YouTube, and Laniah “Ni” using her business degree to help her mom run Wildly Green, a natural beauty products shop in Rhode Island. Ni is feeling their distance more these days.

When Issac finds out their shop is in danger of closing down for good, he suggests a plan to use his internet celebrity and a fake dating scenario with Ni to gain visibility for the store. The assumption is that those who love him will love her by extension and be curious to buy whatever she makes, and then they can just quietly “break up” at summer’s end. Ni is skeptical and extremely private, but Issac asks her to trust him and she does.

Issac and Ni have always been strictly platonic, treating their friendship as something almost sacred, but with this new spotlight on them, are they still just playing their parts? Ni is feeling things for Issac she’s never felt before and the way Issac looks at her now … is she just imagining it? Each new day brings a new facet to their “relationship”.

One thing Ni isn’t imagining is the health symptoms she’s experiencing. Her doctor keeps dismissing them as anxiety, but Ni knows it’s something more. She hasn’t shared this with Issac, not wanting to worry him, but when the truth comes to light, will it be more than they can endure?

I loved Issac and Ni. I loved Ni’s mom, Vanessa, shop assistant Lex, best friend Katrina (Kat), and so many others. It was an engaging friends-to-lovers story with OFF the charts chemistry between the MCs and a storyline that had unexpected depth with Ni’s chronic illness thread. It shed light on the issues women, and even more so black women, face in being underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed when facing health issues.

The themes of not wanting to ruin a lifelong friendship by chancing romance felt believable and resonated with my own experience, as did Ni’s struggle to open up about her feelings and not be so self-protective. Having an MC you can relate to makes the reading that much more special, and I truly enjoyed every minute of my read. If every woman could find herself an “Issac”, we’d all be so lucky! His unwavering dedication and support of Ni was a thing of beauty.

My one and only complaint is that the tonal shift when things got spicy was a little more 'down and dirty' than I prefer as far as the descriptiveness and dialogue goes, but it’s only a couple scenes and that’s just my personal preference - not a fault of the book.

I highly recommend this adult debut for those who enjoy a solid friends-to-lovers romance with emotional depth to it. It does have some heavier themes of grief and chronic illness, but Neilson handles them sensitively and sheds light on worthwhile issues in the process, which she can do with authority since Laniah's health scenario is inspired by her own personal experience!

★★★★ ½

An absolutely stunning book that was like drinking in sunshine directly through to my soul. Every moment was like refreshing my palette. Something I ended on with a smile and still smile about now with fondness.

Laniah and Isaac have a complicated story. A love that is so evident from the very beginning and yet one that requires gentleness to explore. An avid reader can tell where the story ends, but Riss unfolds this story in a way that builds your emotional investment. The love and feelings are palpable from every page. The story is relatable. Laniah and Isaac don’t live in a world without consequences. At every point, Laniah is considering the effects of every action, maybe a little too much.
Real life topics are explored; being dismissed by healthcare professionals or the feeling of having your dream slip away from you because it’s no longer yielding profit. There’s something for everyone.
I enjoyed this book thoroughly. Reading about how Riss drew inspiration from her personal life also made this especially special. Thank you for inviting me to read this book.

A sweet friends to lovers, fake relationship romance. If you're a fan of slow-burns, this is the romance for you!

A Love Like the Sun
By: Riss M. Neilson
Contemporary Romance
Thank you @Berkley for my free copy. This book was fantastic. I did not know it’s partially set in Rhode Island which made it even better. This was a beautiful story of friends to lovers, family dynamics and unconditional love. I love the subplots of the story as much as the main story line. I invested in this story until the last page. Bonus: The cover is gorgeous! I need a copy for my shelf!

This was book was so good, I had to force myself to put it down last night and go to bed. I haven’t finished a book this quickly in so long. Like, ‘good’ isn’t the right word to describe how much I absolutely loved this story.

It’s a perfect best friends to lovers romance with fake dating (Issac is a famous artist/media creator and Laniah owns a small business, Wildly Green, with her mom). After a tough breakup, Issac finds out that Wildly Green is closing, and suggests they fake date to help promote the shop and fix his dating reputation.

Their chemistry is off the charts and I loved the slow burn so much, I was literally giggling and had my face smushed into the book. I honestly didn’t mind the few small bumps they both had, because it felt real and like how any couple would deal with a long distance relationship (fake or not), especially when one of them is a celebrity.

Plus, with the third act break up and when the readers find out about Laniah’s health, which she’d been anxious about throughout the book, was totally valid and I feel like it needed to happen. But in the end, I was crying happy tears because their love and bond is literally all I want in life.

“There's an achy, knowing feeling in the base of my throat about how small we are in a beautiful way, the same as when we're by the water together. Two star-shaped souls who happened to be in the right place, at the right time, to find friendship in each other among billions of other souls.”

I’m not usually a friends to lovers girlie, but this book changed my mind. Thank you Berkley Publishing for the free PR box and arc! The cards that came with it were a fun and unique experience I got to read throughout the book, it was like I was in Riss’s mind while she was writing!