Honestly, this isn't my favorite trope. The whole, "we've been friends forever and I'm secretly in love but too chicken to say anything" makes me roll my eyes a bit. I love Elizabeth Maddrey's novels, though, so I gave it a whirl.I was frustrated with Austin, because seriously, if your entire friend group was telling you someone had feelings for you, how hard would you really protest in real life? It's like he was trying to be clueless on purpose. Then Kayla frustrated me with the whole, "I want to be pursued" thing. She wasn't in love with an alpha male who was going to throw her over his shoulder like a caveman. She was in love with a math teacher.Anyway, thankfully none of that lasted too long, and I actually ended up really liking Kayla and Austin as a couple. They're nerdy and cute. I also appreciated that the whole love triangle aspect wasn't as ridiculous as they normally are. I kind of inwardly groaned when I realized there was going to be one, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn't over the top dramatic and Maddrey didn't go with the almost inevitable "the other suiter is a jerk" reason for blowing someone off. Luke ended up being another likeable character.I also love the setting in this series. So many Christian romances are small town or cowboy romances. It's refreshing to read a series that takes place in a bigger city.This was a clean read with no swearing, a chaste romance with only kissing, and enough Christian content for me to label it Christian and not merely clean. I can't say enough how much I appreciate that Maddrey has her characters living their faith out in her novels and not merely having them talk about prayer or church and calling it good.Overall, I recommend this to anyone who enjoys sweet Christian romances and the best friends trope.
