cole and laila are just friends

Rating: ★★★.75
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Bethany Turner
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Release Date: June 4th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Cole and Laila have been inseparable since they could crawl. And they’ve never thought about each other that way. Except for when they have. Rarely. Once in a while, sure. But seriously . . . hardly ever.

Cole Kimball and Laila Olivet have been best friends their entire lives. Cole is the only person (apart from blood relatives) who’s seen Laila in her oversized, pink, plastic, Sophia Loren glasses. Laila is always the first person to taste test any new dish Cole creates in his family’s restaurant . . . even though she has the refined palate of a kindergartener. Most importantly, Cole and Laila are always talking. About everything.

When Cole discovers a betrayal from his recently deceased grandfather that shatters his world, staying in Adelaide Springs, Colorado, is suddenly unfathomable. But Laila loves her life in their small mountain town and can’t imagine ever living anywhere else. She loves serving customers who tip her with a dozen fresh eggs. She loves living within walking distance of all her favorite people. And she’s very much not okay with the idea of not being able to walk to her very favorite person.

Still, when Cole toys with moving across the country to New York City, she decides to support her best friend–even as she secretly hopes she can convince him to stay home. And not just for his killer chocolate chip pancakes. Because she loves him. As a friend. Just as a friend. Right?

They make a deal: Laila won’t beg him to stay, and Cole won’t try to convince her to come with him. They have one week in New York before their lives change forever, and all they have to do is enjoy their time together and pretend none of this is happening. But it’s tough to ignore the very inconvenient feelings blooming out of nowhere. In both of them. And these potentially friendship-destroying feelings, once out in the open, have absolutely no take-backs.

If When Harry Met Sally had a quippy literary love child with Gilmore Girls’ Luke and Lorelai, you’d get Cole and Laila. Just . . . don’t tell them that.

Thank you Thomas Nelson and Bibliolifestyle for the gifted copy.

OH FRIENDS TO LOVERS.

I know this is a beloved trope, but this is one of the tropes that I can go vastly different directions about and that’s kind of how the book went too. I would be feeling good about the journey, then frustrated, and all in between feelings too. I think there were a lot of good elements to Cole and Laila’s relationship and I loved the dynamic and banter and the sweet way they took care of each other before even realizing how deep their feelings ran.

It was fun journeying around New York and getting more push and pull about the big decisions that needed to be made. The audiobook was great, highly recommend if you want to read this book to go with that format. I loved seeing Brynn and Sebastian again too. There were SO MANY DANG POP CULTURE REFERENCES. That admittedly bugged me and I thought could have been dialed back.

I thought that the story wrapped up well and even with my few grievances it was a good read and I would like to read Bethany Turner’s next book.

Overall audience notes: