When Mia tells her best friend, Noah, of the opportunity and having to turn it down Noah comes up with a plan. Being friends forever Noah thinks no one will question them if Noah and Mia suddenly get married and then Mia can use his insurance and pursue her dreams but can the two of them still hide their attraction to one another being so close? Mia’s relationship with her parents also definitely had my attention. Wow, there were so many emotions going through me any time they came up.

Ashley makes favorite rom-com tropes feel new again with a pitch-perfect friends-to-lovers story.” —Publishers Weekly starred review

Pink—what's the Pander Express? Glad you asked guys. The Pander Express is a play on Panda Express because that's how simple my mind is. And yes, the way I wrote "getting on the Pander Express", implies that it's some kind of train... but I just said my mind is simple so take it or leave it. Mia feels she is a burden to people in her life. Cool, common feeling among people with disabilities. But we are NEVER shown how much of a burden that is. She happily goes to her weekly infusions, is positive about it all, and we never see the work, emotional labor, the physical and psychological pain her disability causes her. So it is very hard to buy her "I'm a burden" personality when we never are shown how it is a burden on HER. We never know, emotionally, how she feels about it. She worries about being a financial burden....cool, provide people numbers on the expenses, examples of how navigating the insurance system is infuriating (also, see point 5.) Noah keeps dealing with his own baggage and suffering from grief which restraint him come clean about his feelings. Ashley does a wonderful job with her character development, especially with the intense love Noah shows for her. It is a little heartbreaking to watch him struggle with the deep feelings that he is hidden for years.

But, when she shares her news with Noah, he provides a new solution that may solve all of Mia’s problems: marry him so she can quit her job and be covered under his work insurance. Also need authors to stop equating lust with love. It's annoying as hell. Most of it was then describing each other bodies (majorly Noah. Massive creep) and thinking that is somehow supposed to convey they love each other? No. They have pent up sexual tension. There is more to why two people love each other and it is frustrating to see authors ignore all that and just considering sexual attraction the same as romantic feelings. I adored Noah as our kind-hearted, still grieving (the past tragic death of his older brother), pining hero, who’d loved Mia fiercely (but secretly) since they were teenagers. His adoration for her was swoonworthy—the kind of respect, pride, and longing for his best friend that made my heart skip a beat and my tummy break out in butterflies. He was an absolutely marvellous male lead.

Noah and Mia are childhood BFFs who have been by each other’s sides through major life moments like death of a loved one and illness. So much so that Noah proposes a marriage of convenience which Mia is reluctant to commit to. Heart-warming and deeply romantic, Would You Rather is one of the best friends-to-lovers romances I’ve ever read. She too has strong feelings for him that have been hidden. But both of them were struggling with the fear of losing each other so ignorance is bliss I guess – until it is not.

Ashley makes favorite rom-com tropes feel new again with a pitch-perfect friends-to-lovers story.” — Publishers Weekly starred review Would you rather play it safe in the friend zone, or risk it all with a modern marriage of convenience?

I love reading a great story about friends to lovers’ romance. There’s always one that has a secret love for the other that has been festering for years. It’s such a revelation when everything finally comes to light. But all of the feels are definitely there. While the steam level is pretty low, the anticipation is high and intense. These two are definitely meant to be. That made it all worthwhile! Featuring ~ best friends to lovers, chronic illness, fake marriage, marriage of convenience, no steamage He's a creep. The way he described her body and wanting to "do things to her" was hella gross. He kept describing her body constantly. Very rarely did he mention any other feature. He also played the martyr act too much for someone who was lusting after his ill best friend. Also dude really made a huge deal of sacrifice and what not while describing wanting to touch her and not lose control around her because he was scared of the consequences like jesus. That's scary as hell. The power dynamic was WAY OFF in this relationship if you can even call it that. Also their "redemption arcs" are done so like "okay now we have to make these annoying characters better so no character development but both of them will do a hurried gesture each to show they have grown". Also they kept harping over Noah's guilt for Rachel but Rachel gets to utter a total of 2 sentences. Way to make it all about Noah ugh.