Friends-to-Lovers: A Love Like the Sun by Riss M. Neilson

A friends-to-lovers, small town romance between an IG famous artist and the girl back home he always loved.

Aug 23, 2024

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Hi Librarygoers!

This is one of my favorite reads of 2024. Summer might be too early to call a top 10 book of the year but here I am.

A Love Like the Sun is Riss M. Neilson’s adult debut and it just makes me feel held. Warm. The love described in this book is all encompassing and beautiful. It feels both overdue and worth the wait.

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What is this story about?

You (Laniah) live in your hometown of Providence, Rhode Island and run a natural hair care shop with your mom. Only it’s not doing the greatest so you prepare to end your shop lease and go back to running the business out of the kitchen.

Only, your best friend forever (Isaac) finds out the shop isn’t doing so well and decides to fix it on one of his trips in town from LA. It just so happens that he is an IG artist turned model (soooo drop dead gorgeous) that gained popularity by sharing relationship thoughts that make him ‘man written by a woman coded’. Absolute book boyfriend material.

That popularity has earned him a few million or so followers that he thinks will help turn the tides for you. So he tells the internet you’re dating (without your knowledge) and suddenly your shop is full of people who want to know Isaac’s girlfriend.

The fake dating also benefits Isaac because he’s dated a string of women that makes his internet persona seem fabricated. He can’t actually be a man who wants a relationship if he can’t keep one now can he?

So you fake date, to keep up pretenses of course. He gets a lot more foot traffic to your shop and together you spend time in front of the cameras. It’s not long before you both start wondering how fake the dating really is. And if you and your childhood best friend have been it for each other all along.

What is the tone of this book?

So. Much. Delicious. Pining. Laniah and Isaac are emotionally intimate as friends. They have sleepovers whenever he is in town, she cares for his hair, and they support each other through hardships. Isaac lost his parents young and had detrimentally hands off foster parents. Laniah lost her father after a long illness and is afraid to let as much love as her parents shared in because she’s afraid of losing that much love in return.

This book is soft, it’s caring, and it’s passionate. Beautiful doesn’t begin to describe it.

If I could make anything in a romance real it would be …

I would give anything for the shop that Laniah and her mom run, Wildly Green, to be real. A shop that custom makes hair care products for you while you wait, unreal?

What made this work for you?

Everything. No notes.

Isaac loves Laniah so hard, even as a friend. Their relationship is light and fun and impactful. He was her rock when her father passed and she was his support when his foster parents neglected him. These two will restore anyone’s ability to love.

Also, I love their entire friend circle. Laniah’s Providence friends are hilarious. Isaac’s friends are warm and supportive. Everyone knows what they don’t know, what they’re too scared to admit, and supports them as they figure it out.

Please read and review and tell everyone you know about this!

Have you read this? Are you moving it up on your TBR? Does it remind you of any other books you’ve loved? Let me know what you think.