ARC — Love, Lilly — Belinda Mary

“So when did you know you were in love with me?”
(…) “You want all the details, hey?”
“Every one of them!” (…)
“I seem to recall it was an ordinary afternoon, when you had been dumped by that jerk Zack Petty. And I just looked at you and I knew. And I haven’t been able to shake the feeling ever since.”

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 4 stars
Spicy Meter: 1 fire emoji

“Love, Lilly” follows Lilly and Oliver, two childhood friends that have been secretly pining for each other for years now. But Oliver is Lilly’s best friend’s brother so nothing can happen between them, Lilly would just never see him that way… right? Until they kinda fall into a fake dating arrangement for a weekend. Fake dating kisses are fake kisses, right? Then why do they feel so real?

This book really did play all it’s card right. Best friend’s older brother? Check. Fake dating? Check. Double pining? Check. Childhood friends to lovers? Check. Dual POV? Check. It was the perfect combination for a cute, lighthearted read—my favorite kind of read lately. The one downfall this debut novel had was that it was the slowest of slow burns, so if you’re a fan of those (which I’m not too much of), then you’ll love this read.

I would recommend “Love, Lilly” to romance readers that aren’t looking for too much spice and like some of the tropes involved—best friend’s brother, fake dating, childhood friends to lovers.

ARC provided by Book Sirens and Belinda Mary in exchange for an honest review.