Review: "Belonging with Her Best Friend" by Kristin Canary

Belonging With Her Best Friend by Kristin Canary
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Kindergarten teacher Shelby Phillips and middle school history teacher Eric Moody have been best friends since they were kids. Even though she's secretly been in love with him for years, she's never acted on her feelings because she knows they want different things out of life: he wants biological children, but she's decided not to have them. Keeping the secret becomes more difficult when Eric's apartment floods and he temporarily moves in with Shelby and her housemates. Suddenly they're together all the time, even at work, where both are helping with a children's musical theater program for the summer. When the adult actress playing Cinderella is injured, the musical's director begs Shelby, a talented singer with a terrible case of stage fright, to take over the role. She reluctantly agrees, but she'll need lots of help if she's going to be ready for opening night. Of course her best friend Eric is there for her - even when it's time to rehearse the kissing scene. But what happens when Shelby and Eric's "practice kisses" start to feel real?

My favorite part about the friends-to-lovers trope is always the pining, and it was so well done in this story! Also, I appreciated that there were legitimate reasons keeping Shelby from speaking up about her feelings for Eric, beyond the usual fear of messing up the friendship. Whatever their differences, there was no doubt they belonged together, and my heart nearly exploded from happiness when they finally confessed their true feelings for each other.

Overall, I loved "Belonging with Her Best Friend" and highly recommend it for all fans of sweet contemporary romance and romantic comedy. It was the first book I've read by this author but certainly won't be the last.

*Review copy provided by the author. All opinions expressed are my own.

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