Blog Tour: Review & Excerpt of Friend Zone Hell by Marika Ray

 

Series: Hellman Brothers Book 3
Author: Marika Ray
Genre: Romantic Comedy / Small Town Romance
Tropes: best-friends-to-lovers, heroine with an illness, hero has that golden retriever + daddy dom energy (okay, it's not a trope, but it should be!)
Cover Design: Jennifer Olson
Release Date: October 6, 2022
Goodreads
 
The town’s most eligible bachelor just saved my life. I paid him back by puking on him.
 
Callan Hellman. Mr. Nice Guy paramedic. My best friend.
 
He buys my friends flowers when he knows they’ve had a hard day. Who does that? Callan’s the guy every girl wants to date and take home to mama. Not me though. We’re just friends. Have been since elementary school. I was the weird girl who kept him laughing with my antics, even when his father abandoned his family and Callan hid those scars behind his smile.
 
But due to my sudden medical diagnosis at twenty-four, Callan insists I move in with him. I accept and soon regret it. Since when did he grow all those muscles, and why is he allergic to wearing shirts? I’m getting white-picket-fences-feelings I have no business feeling, and try as I might to suppress them, Callan makes a bold move that proves he’s carried a love-shaped torch for me for years.
 
Turns out, best friends make the best lovers, but when Callan’s daddy issues come between us, will his well-meaning brothers be able to patch us up and get our hearts beating together again? Or have I just lost the best friend I’ll ever have?
 
Buy Links: Kindle Unlimited
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3f6mFuA
Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/3DGOAvx
Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/3Sjzyjg
Amazon AU: https://amzn.to/3Sk1Zho
 
My thoughts:

Friend Zone Hell is the third book in the Hellman Brothers series.  This one is Cricket and Callan's book.  I haven't read the first two books in the series.  However, this one work fine as a stand alone.  I didn't feel like I was missing anything from the previous books.  This is a sweet best friends to lovers story with not a lot of angst.

I did enjoy this one.  I loved that Cricket and Callan knew each other so well.  The only thing I wasn't a fan of as the story progressed was the soft dom/sub stuff.  It just seemed out of place to me.  I liked that even though they have been friends since kindergarten, there was still room for both of them to grow.  It made their relationship stronger.  The relationships that Callan has with his brothers as well as Cricket with her friend group added a lot of flavor and humor to the story.  I do recommend this one.

 
Excerpt:

“Say the word and I’ll back off forever, Cricket. All it takes is a simple no and I’ll never bring this up again, but I gotta tell you, I don’t want to back off. I want to taste your lips and feel your body pressed against me. Preferably with less clothing.” I leaned down and traced a kiss along her neck, seeing the way her breathing kicked up to that of a sprinter. “Tell me to stop, angel.”
She swallowed hard and every cell in my body froze, waiting for an answer. No matter how much it pained me—and good lord would it pain me for the rest of my life—but if she said no I’d honor that and never let her feel my disappointment.
That moment in the kitchen the other night had shown me a tiny morsel of hope, that maybe, just maybe, Cricket felt the same heart stopping excitement when we were together. If there was even a small window of chance, I had to take my shot. Watching my older brothers find love had taken those feelings I’d harbored for Cricket over the years and given them an urgency I could no longer stuff down.
Her blue eyes were eating me up, the flush from earlier turning into a forest fire on her cheeks. Her voice came out on a barely-there breath but I still heard it.
“I don’t want you to stop, Cal.”
 
Author Bio:
Marika Ray is a USA Today bestselling author of steamy and sweet RomComs, spending her time behind a computer crafting stories, walking any beach she can find, and making healthy food for her kids and husband whether they like it or not. Prior to writing novels, Marika held various jobs in the finance industry, with private start-up companies, and then in health & fitness. Cats may have nine lives, but Marika believes everyone should have nine careers to keep things spicy. All her books come with a money-back guarantee that you’ll smile at least once with every book.
 
More information can be found at www.marikaray.com
 
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