Karla knocks it out of the park once again! I'm totally digging where she's taking the Best Men series with these two books. This one really digs into the nitty-gritty of human emotions, but it's balanced so well with humor. It's got everything – laughs, tears, and a slow-burn romance between two people who've been through it all. Liam? Oh man, he's a total keeper! Grumpy on the outside, but a softie on the inside. He and Zoe are like the perfect puzzle pieces, and their back-and-forth is hilarious. Seriously, I couldn't get enough of this book – laughing one minute, tearing up the next, and I loved every minute of it!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!!

I didn't feel a strong bond with the characters but it was a cute and fun read. It was your standard rom-com type of romance that gave you cozy feelings but also made you want to throw the book at times.

Woooo! This was a great read. Found family and love. It was probably my favorite read of the month so far. I read it in one sitting. My heart felt squeezed the entire time! Need this for my shelf

Karla Sorensen done it again!!

I love her writting and the way she builds up characthers and this book? IT WAS SO GREAT I SWEAR!!!

I loved the main couple and their chesmitry. They were everything and more!!

I lvoed the first one in this series but this one was even better if that's possible, I'm so ready to read more ffrom this author.

I am forever a Karla Sorensen fan and will read any book she writes! The Best of All tackles hard topics in a sophisticated and sincere way. I enjoyed how Liam and Zoey navigated becoming guardians of Mira, while also exploring their own relationship.

Well what a surprise, never read this author before but found myself reading well into the night. I laughed and cried (when I should have been sleeping)

Well written, will read more by this author would highly recommend!

I knew this was going to be an emotional one, how could it not be, but dang did Karla knock it out of the park! Mira is the sweetest little girl and it just breaks your heart those few times she breaks down bc her parents aren’t alive anymore. Not to mention the grief Liam and Zoe work through.

Liam and Zoe, ohhhh the slow burn. Karla is pulling a Mariana Zapata on us in this one in the best way. I love Liam so much, I’m such a sucker for a grumpy, he falls first, cinnamon roll. And Zoe is amazing too. Their enemies (but not really) to lovers is so good. When he admits he wondered if she was his very own Hermione granger the first time he met her, oh my heart 😍

This is right up there with the Marriage Effect and The Bombshell Effect as my favorites of Karla’s.

Great second in series book! I have read both books in the series but really enjoyed this one...it had a great storyline and a lot of emotion to it. Overall a great read.

Liam and Zoe have known each other for 10 years through their married best friends. There was always a little bit of animosity between the two. Liam could always get a reaction out of Zoe when no one else could and Liam is just a grump. When their friends pass away in a car accident and leave Liam and Zoe the sole caretakers of their little girl, things change in a hurry. Zoe is all in from the get go but Liam walks away. He isn't built to take care of anyone. or so he thinks because of his past. Eventually he starts to get more involved (definitely some guilt vibes) and Mira, the little girl, slowly knocks down the bricks around his heart. As Zoe and Liam co-habitat with Mira, some startlingly revelations come to light...like Liam had a crush on Zoe when they first met but she was engaged. Zoe always thought Liam hated her. Slowly Zoe worms her way into his heart also but Liam isn't prepared to be the man they need yet.

Very emotional, especially for Liam. Was good to have a male main character with such a background and issues. Good characters, storyline and overall book. Would recommend.

What an all encompassing five-star read. This is number two in the best men series, but they can easily be read as stand-alone, they each feature a different couple affected by the death of two of their friends, but they don’t cross over so much that you would miss anything. Liam and Zoe have to do the unthinkable, and raise Mira as their own after they lost their friends, they have to be the strong ones for a tiny little bundle of energy. They way this story unfolds will envelop you into it, it will have you caring so deeply that when things go off course, you feel them in the pit of your stomach, when they have adorable little moments, even as simple as a hand on a cheek, they will warm even the coldest of hearts. This story is so well written, it makes me desperate to see what else I can devour by this author.

First of all, for an almost three-year-old kid, Mira's unnaturally eloquent. It was laughable how she could express herself and her wants perfectly one second, and talking in broken sentences in the next one.
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To be honest, the first half wasn't that fun to read. There's a limit to how much a person can read how a grown man yells and growls his days away. Liam was really a stereotypical book grump, which I'm usually okay with, but when your best friend/brother, who has no family, dies along with his wife and turns out to write you as a guardian of his 3-year-old kid, you freaking step up.
I don't care that he had trauma about familial bonds, it was a moral compass thing to me. At the least he could take care of Mira occasionally to help Zoe. The fact that he offered to pay child support in exchange for freedom from his role was maddening.
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Zoe, on the other hand, was an interesting character. She had her shortcomings and she was okay with them, but what stood out to me was her openness. She was open about her feelings, struggles and how she wished to go forward with Mira. Her self-assurance reflected her upbringing as a therapist's daughter.
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The book kept going extremely slow until about two thirds in, they finally caved in to their attraction and they finally started acknowledging their connection.
Liam definitely started redeeming himself, he started asking for advice about his feelings, he was more open with Zoe, and don't let me start on the parts with him and Mira, turns out he was a giant cinnamon roll after all!
The last few chapters went from zero to hundred with how both of them couldn't take their hands of each other. No complaining here.
But honestly, I thought Liam needed more time to open up and actually be 100% in for a relationship. It was weird how everything turned to hearts and sunshine after he talked about his past. His development needed to be more fleshed out.
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The ending was nice and wholesome. They got their happily ever after and I got a good closure.
Overall, it's a nice book once you get through the first few chapters, after that point, everything starts to fall into place.
*I received an ARC of this book through netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Karla Sorenson does it again… another incredible slow burn of Liam and Zoe… it’s been a love hate relationship with them bc their best friends are married. Zoe is newly divorced, Liam is just playing football and they are thrown together by the imaginable loss of their friends. Where they are now the guardians to their daughter, Mira.
Liam’s past makes him not want to engage with anyone, but Mira, the sweet girl slowly opens his heart… Zoe is incredible through the book as her life has changed.
I loved all the supporting characters, how Zoe and Liam grew together for Mira, then together.. to find a happily ever after… it’s a beautiful book!

Loved this book! This story really pulled the heartstrings. A grumpy Brit and a divorced woman who are always at each other’s throats become the guardians for the daughter of their best friends after a tragic accident. Zoe and Liam. Chris and Amie didn’t have have family to leave Mira to so naturally they chose their best friends. Liam and Zoe have to learn to become parents to an almost 3 year old while figuring out how to work together to make sure Mira has everything she needs. The anger and arguing turns to a slow burn for Zoe and Liam as they work through their grief, last issues, and learn to be a family.

I really enjoyed this one! Karla is so good at weaving together sports and family and love, and she did so exceptionally well here. I really appreciated the way she had Liam grow through therapy and show that it's not a linear process and takes time.

Another amazing book from Karla Sorensen! Thank you NetGalley and Montlake for the ARC.

The Best of All follows Liam Davies and Zoe Valentine as they learn to navigate life together after unexpectedly becoming guardians to their recently deceased friends’ toddler. We briefly met Liam in The Best Laid Plans and I was excited when I heard he was getting his own book!

In this book, the characters are each working through their own trauma/grief and learning to adjust to a new normal. I love that we get a scene with Chris and Amie in the beginning. It was a nice to peek into the type of friends/parents they were. Liam is the perfect grumpy hero. His gruff exterior make the sweet scenes with Zoe and Mira all the more meaningful. Zoe is strong and I love her relationship with Mira.

If you’re looking for a grumpy hero that reminds me of Roy Kent and a sunshine heroine that doesn’t back down, this book is for you!!

As I write this review I am exhausted from staying up WAY past my bedtime because I couldn't put this book down. The Best of All by Karla Sorensen is a beautiful and emotional read. It is book 2 in the Best Men series but can be read as a stand alone. Liam and Zoe are tasked to be guardians of their best friends toddler daughter (Mara) when they die in a horrible accident. Zoe is willing to step up to the plate but Liam is not. After a while he has a change of heart and is willing to help. There were times I almost cried while reading this book and times I was laughing because of the banter or how cute Mara was. I loved the relationship that was formed between Mara and Zoe and Liam. Mara formed her own bond and relationship with each of them and the way she broke down Liam's walls and made a place for herself in his heart was so beautiful. I would love to have read more scenes wIth just Liam and Mara. It is a slow burn between Zoe and Liam and the road to get there was not easy but it was done in such a vulnerable and raw way. I can't recommend this book enough! If you like the following troupes then you will enjoy this book: single parentish troupe, forced proximity, grumpy MMC, found family, sports romance. 4,5 rounded up to 5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Montlake for voluntarily allowing me to read this book and give my honest review. This book will be released on July 16, 2024.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review and I loved this slowburn, decade long pining HEA featuring a grumpy-ass, emotionally constipated football player and accountant who are thrown together as the guardians to their best friends' almost three year old after they die in a car accident.
The story has its share of angst - we meet Liam and Zoe's best friends, Chris and Amie in the prologue when Mira is born and then they're gone. This HEA was more about Liam's path to love - he's always been gruff and closed off and there were some really funny moments of him slowly opening up - with Mira who he affectionately calls Duck, with his teammates in the locker room when he asks for advice, with his mother in London, and finally at the end when he has his breakthrough in therapy. He of course takes Zoe on every romance reader's perfect date to the bookstore (Seb most recently took Ziggy to the bookstore in Chloe Liese's If Only You).
Zoe's neighbour, Rosa and her Golden Girls book club friends were a lovely support for her and provided some funny moments as well.

I mean just the blurb had me intrigued but what I wasn’t fully ready for was the massive rollercoaster Karla was going to take me on. This gave me all the happy feels and some very sad ones and not for the reasons you might think. Zoe and Liam have had mutual best friends in Charlie and Amie and when life takes a huge left turn, Zoe and Liam are not prepared for the new road they are on. Zoe has never understood the emotions coming from Liam from the moment that they met. In turn, Liam found it easier to push buttons than allow emotions to rule his mind. You see Zoe has always wanted the fairytale and Liam knew that fairytales didn’t exist.

What we get in this book is two people working through things the best they can. In doing so, they find that they have so much more for the other person than they realized. Yet, as those feelings come to the surface, so does everything else. Karla delivers in showcasing two people that have flaws and own them. They still work hard at their jobs and let’s be honest here, when Liam caves to those feelings, when the walls finally break down, we see this man for all that he is, and he is amazing. He has a romantic side he kept under lock and key. And Zoe, well this lady is the one to bring him to his knees and allow him to be who he is without asking for anything more than he is willing to share or give. They are the most perfect balance, and I loved every second of the story, even the tears. Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read The Best of All.

#TheBestofAll #NetGalley

3.5 ⭐️

I enjoyed this story more than the first book in the series. Liam and Zoe had the slowest burn ever, and I wasn’t mad about it at all.

I loved the way they became a family around their surprise guardianship of Mira, whose dad was Liam’s best friend and mom was Zoe’s. I thought the banter between the MCs was great. The side characters were a delight.

I loved this book and the characters!! I think this author has developed a great world of characters and each book is better than the last. Can't wait to read the next book!!

Liam and Zoe now have one thing in common, a daughter. After years of what zoe believed to be hate on liams behalf of course they were bound to hate eachother. but after a disaster that kills their best friends they’re left to care for their daughter. It brings them together in ways they never thought would happen and it’s a cute story watching them grow into each-other and as caregivers. Zoe and Liams story is heartfelt and loving and it’s nice to see them adapt to the settings and fall in love. overall i enjoyed the book although i felt it dragged a little.