Friends To Lovers by Christi Barth – a Review

Links to order Friends To Lovers: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Description:
As florist and co-owner of a successful Chicago wedding planning business, Daphne Lovell has been there for the happiest days of other people’s lives. As for her own life? Well, it’s hard to be perfectly happy when you’re carrying a torch for your sexy, womanizing and oblivious best friend. So when the lights go out on New Year’s Eve, she seizes the opportunity to kiss him senseless.

British expat Gibson Moore has a lot on his plate. The hotel he manages is being bought out, his family is crazy and someone just kissed him in the dark. When the lights go on, he searches the room, trying to find the mystery pair of lips. Only, he never thinks to ask the woman standing by his side. He’s shocked when he discovers that Daphne is the woman he’s been searching for. But Gib’s also eager to act upon the attraction for her he’s always fought to ignore.

It takes trust to move from friends to lovers, and as Gib’s work situation worsens, he is no longer sure he can risk the friendship he relies on most. It’s up to Daphne to convince him that some things are worth fighting for…

Review:

Friends to Lovers is the 3^rd book in Christi Barth’s wonderful Aisle Bound series.  Not sure why I thought that this would not be as good as the first two books, but I was very wrong.  Friends to Lovers was such a fun and sexy story, with two super leading characters.  This book belongs to Daphne and Gib, and what a couple they made.

Daphne is a partner with Ivy, our heroine in book 1 of this series.  She has secretly had the hots for Gib, but they were also best of friends, not allowing anything to ruin their wonderful friendship.  All this changes on New Year’s Eve, when Daphne decides to kiss Gib when the lights go out.   Of course, whatever she imagined kissing Gib would be like, it was 10 times better for her.  When the lights come back on, Gib is bewildered, trying to see who kissed him; since this kiss was like no other.  This is something for the biggest playboy in all of Chicago.

One night, a few days later, Mira, the heroine of the second book, plots to help the couple along with an aphrodisiac food testing survey.  During that test, Daphne and Gib kiss, and he now knows who his mysterious benefactor was on New Year’s Eve.   They both decide to take a chance and see where this possible relationship will take them, without ruining their friendship. 

What follows is a fun romance with mistakes along the way, some very funny, and others very sad.  But most important, when they decide to take it to the next level, that is one hot steamy, long sex scene.  I loved Daphne and Gib together, as they made a fun and fabulous couple.  Another wonderful thing about the Aisle Bound series is that we get to see all the other couples or secondary characters throughout the book, such as Ivy, Mira, Ben, Sam.  Their friendship and love for one another makes this series so special and fun.

Daphne and Gib are meant for each other, but even though they are in love, things sadly happen in the last quarter of the book that forces one to possibly hurt the other one, in order not to see them get hurt in the long run.  But this is romance, and Christi Barth’s wonderfully written stories are pure romance, with HEA.  If you want to read an enjoyable series, with wonderful couples, then Aisle Bound series is for you.  Friends to Lovers is a wonderful addition to this series. 

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Author