4.5 stars, rounded up. I absolutely loved both characters, and enjoyed the book a lot. It lost half a star for being more vibes than plot, for me - but still a fun read.

Cyn Tha Star aka Cyndi aka Poppa is a famous music producer in Houston, with a large loving family. Her best friend Juleesa is an exotic dancer with the stage name Jucee, and often Cyn’s new mixes gain popularity after Jucee dances to them. The two have a sweet and supportive relationship, with Juleesa as an extended part of Cyn’s family, until one night something sparks between them.

The majority of the book sorts out how these two navigate their way from best friends to a potential romantic relationship - in particular, the risks along the way. How do you pursue your best friend? Cyn in particular isn’t a relationship person, so she had difficulty committing which inadvertently hurt Juleesa.

There was amazing representation all over this book - both characters are Black and plus size, and Cyn’s family was such a supportive warm hug. Juleesa was a single mom who shared custody of her son in a really healthy way, and the city of Houston felt like a character in the book with a gorgeous mix of food and culture. Bisexuality was part of the conversation also, and Cyn’s need to confront her fears about being in a relationship with the bisexual Juleesa felt very authentic.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this Arc!!!!!!!!!!

I will give a better review, but I really enjoyed this book. Jucee, I wish I could have met you in real life. I would have fallen in love in an instance. Cyn, I was seeing your shit but your parents and brother ate you and I am so happy they let you know about yourself!

Chencia C. Higgins did it again! She truly is the queen of Black sapphic romances and I love her featuring fat and stud sapphics. A Little Kissing Between Friends is as the title suggests best friends who see their relationship evolve after sleeping together. This one was also very rewarding because characters from Higgins' previous novels (Things Hoped For) show up allowing for a web of complex friendships.

I love Higgins's willingness to let her characters live fully their identities. Both characters are Black and this is fully reflected everywhere in their lives. Jucee is a sex worker and a bisexual femme. She has a son from a previous relationship and deals with discrimination against sex workers when looking for relationships. Cyn is a stud lesbian and I appreciated how she was seen as attractive in all he masculinity but the story did not shy away from the backlash and discrimination masculine lesbians can receive. The friendship between Xeno and Cyn both stud lesbians is so rare to see in books and romance and really warmed my heart.

However, I would not recommend this one to miscommunication trope haters. After the first time, the characters sleep together start a long string of miscommunications that would have started to get on my nerves if it had lasted for longer.

The chemistry between the characters is incredible and so are their sex scenes. Higgins really has a way of writing romance in a way that makes connections feel tangible and real. I have had bad experiences with romances lately where I thought it was a problem with me rather than the writing and characters but A Little Kissing Between Friends proves that it's about the connection between the lead, it's about making the love and affection feel believable.

I personally enjoyed this story and the characters are loveable, I did get frustrated at parts but I couldn't not enjoy this book :)

Best friends to Lovers is my absolute favorite trope. Throw in each of their loving communities, the music background that becomes a secondary character, and omg the dirty talk.

I really enjoyed watching their relationship flourish throughout the book and in turn watching the characters develop throughout the story. I look forward to reading more from this author as this was a new to me author.

Thanks to Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review as always, all words are my own

ery very queer and very very fun and such a sweet and cute romance. thanks so much for the arc. would recommend.

I absolutely adored Chencia C. Higgins's last book D'Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding! This book was also just as great! And just like her last book this story is oh so sexy and real. Their journey to falling for each other was written so well and omg their banter was sooo good! I devoured this story and can't wait to read Chencia C. Higgins's next book!

omg stop this book was absolutely adorable and i have no complaints. Romance has no borders and this showed that in such a sweet way. I truly hope this book gets to be made into a movie I loved it so much

I feel like I’ve been waiting for this book forever, so as soon as I got approved for an arc I had to immediately jump in. And I am so glad I did!

I’ve loved Chencia’s books since I read Wolves of West Texas, and seeing her story-telling grow and develop is just amazing. A Little Kissing Between Friends is such a delight of a book and had me laughing constantly. The friendship between Jucee and Cyn is so wonderful, and I also love how much community they each have around them. This is such a prime showing of chosen family, as well as the love blood family can have and foster, and how growing up loved and around love creates empathetic caring people. I really, especially love Cyn’s dad and I sincerely hope we’ll get to see these characters again (Cody is just begging for his own story!!). Not to say Cyn is perfect by any stretch, and nor is Jucee to be clear. They both have their hang ups to work through in order to redefine their friendship and navigate towards a romantic relationship,

I also really loved a lot of the like casual messages throughout the book. I love that Jucee is proud of her work as a dancer and the ways Cyn supports her and how the community she’s built supports her. I also really loved Jucee’s relationship with Samir, her ex and the father of Amani. The way they were able to stay friends and be there for their son was so good. Like, there are so many relationships throughout this book and interpersonal dynamics that I really enjoyed watching play out.

This is also a book that really interestingly navigates the third-act breakup because as keeps getting reiterated, they’re not actually together through most of the book. So it felt a lot less like a “breakup” breakup and a lot more like working through their individual issues so they’d be able to be stronger together and better able to support one another in healthy and happy ways.

All around, I just had so much fun with this book and I’m so glad it exists and I can’t wait for others to read it because (I know I keep saying this) it is so fun! There’s banter, there’s dirty talk, there’s these descriptions that just make me giggle and kick my feet in delight. Definitely a new fave!

I am a huge Chencia Higgins fan and this book was so sexy... so smart. I love the diverse sapphic representation in the characters with a love story that was universally relatable.

Although I am not a lesbian, I can always appreciate a good love story. This was a super cute friends to lovers, forbidden fruit type of story that had me laughing out loud and shaking my head a moment later. The story centers around besties Jucee and Cyn. Jucee is a curvy, exotic dancer that loves her son, her art and her friends especially her bestie. Cyn is a music producer that loves music, her family and her muse is...Jucee. The story follows them as their feelings go from friends to something more and the bumps that road always has.
The supporting characters bring another level of life to the story as well. From Cyn's very supportive and loving family to Samir, Jucee's ex and father of her child. It was refreshing to read about a healthy and respectful co-parenting relationship among Black people. I definitely learned some things about biphobia and lesbian relationships reading this one.
This was another enjoyable read from Chencia Higgins that I could not put down. It was just the right amount of romance and spice! The songs referenced throughout the story make a nice playlist too.

If you like low/no plot, just two hot women trying to figure their shit out for over 200 pages, this one's for you. If poor communication annoys you, this isn't the one. Did I want a plot? Nah. The characters stand on their own, and their path is complicated enough to fill a book.

After really LOVING D'Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding I had really high hopes for this one and most of those expectations were met.

We've got two badass Black sapphic MCs, one a fat lesbian stud and one a midsize bisexual femme. They've been best friends for three years and their friendship is unmatched. That energy had me fucking cheesin for the first 40% of this book. Like I was stupid grinning for the first half. I loved it.

I love the way Cyn talks about music and Jucee and I especially loved the way Jucee loved on her son Amani and talked about food. I swear if some of those restaurants are already real things, they definitely should be.

Cyn is a Grammy winning music producer and Jucee is an exotic dancer.

When one night their friendship energy turned sexual, things got a little rocky. Neither one wanted to risk their friendship for a little sex.

While I still really enjoyed this whole book, I do feel like some things were missed. I don't hate the miscommunication trope but it's not my favorite either and a ton of this could've been solved if they just actually said what they meant instead of expecting the other to read their mind.

I'm gonna withhold any detailed spoilers or any of my other thoughts for now and will add on when I do a reread after it's released.

What I will say is that this one should definitely be on your radar, especially if you're into friends to lovers. The representation is also unmatched since I know a lot of y'all got bingo cards to fill up.

It's rare for me to read a digital book in it's entirety so quickly and that is always a good sign for me. I finished this one in about 24 hours. I literally couldn't stop. I would try and do something else and then come back for just one more chapter. Jucee and Cyn are both strong emotional women with lots of feelings even if they try to hide some of them and I really genuinely enjoyed their story.

I'll 100% be doing a reread via audio when this releases. Thanks to netgalley and Harlequin Books for the advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.