Ten Trends to Seduce Your Bestfriend, an all-new quirky and witty laugh out loud romance from New York Times bestselling author Penny Reid, is now live!
Winnifred Gobaldi and Byron Visser are not best friends.
Yes, they’ve known each other for years, but they’re not even friendly. Winnie considers them more like casual, distant acquaintances who find each other barely tolerable, especially when he's being condescending (which is all the time).
The truth is, they have nothing in common. She’s a public school science teacher with stars in her eyes, and he’s a pretentious, joyless double PhD turned world-famous bestselling fiction author. She loves sharing her passion for promulgating women in STEM careers and building community via social media, and he eschews all socialization, virtual or otherwise. She’s looking for a side hustle to help pay down a mountain of student debt, and his financial portfolio is the stuff of fiduciary wet dreams. So why are they faking a #bestfriend relationship for millions of online spectators?
When a simple case of tit-for-tat trends between nonfriends leads to a wholly unexpected kind of pretend, nothing is simple. Sometimes, it takes a public audience to reveal the truth of private feelings, and rarely—very rarely—you should believe what you see online.
Ten Trends to Seduce Your Bestfriend is a full-length, complete standalone, adult contemporary romantic comedy.
Fall in love today!
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3EV4yPv
Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/TenTrends
Apple Books: https://apple.co/3HzF78e
Nook: https://bit.ly/3sTANME
Kobo: https://bit.ly/3ERL4LU
Google Play: https://bit.ly/3mOvjPp
Smashwords: https://bit.ly/3mUOffH
Add Ten Trends to Seduce Your Bestfriend Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3FT90Q6
To celebrate the release of Ten Trends to Seduce Your Bestfriend, Penny has an incredible GIVEAWAY!
Enter now for a chance to win a bundle of incredible signed books>>> https://bit.ly/3kcOUqP
Excerpt
“This is the video from yesterday.” My stomach did a weird thing at the sight of him, and the sight of me crawling on all fours toward him, and what came after. I blinked away from the replay, before the part where I’d forgotten we were being filmed. “Why would I be mad at you about this? I knew you were filming.”
“Look harder.”
My forehead wrinkled, giving my
attention back to her phone. I didn’t know what she wanted me to see, but now the video was repeating and—
“OH MY GOD!” I grabbed the phone. “This—this is—”
“Shh! Yes.” Now Amelia looked around, presumably to make certain none of the Seattleites surrounding us felt a disturbance in the politeness force. “Yes. I recorded it live. I’m so, so, so sorry.”
I leaned forward. “So that means it’s been—”
“Posted since last night. That’s right.” She covered her face again, groaning. “I’m so sorry.”
My eyes caught on the number of views, and I stood from the table, my chair scraping noisily on the linoleum. “ONE MILLION VIEWS?”
“Sorry!” she whispered loudly to someone at a nearby table. “We’ll just—we’re leaving.” Amelia grabbed my laptop and notebook and tilted her head toward the exit. “Time to go, and it was one point three the last time I checked. Now get your bag.”
Numbly, I lowered her phone and grabbed for my backpack and coat, fumbling with the strap. My fingers didn’t seem to work. She walked around the table and placed a hand on my back, helping to usher me out of the quiet area and waiting until we were standing in the hall to say, “I’m so sorry. It was an accident.”
“I can’t . . .” I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t speak. One point three million views. What must Byron think? “Oh crap,” I whispered, my gaze swinging around the interior of the library, unable to settle. “What about Byron? Does he know? How is he going to feel about this?”
“I don’t know if he knows. I’ve been trying to call him all morning. He won’t pick up his phone, and I’m frankly a little scared to leave a voice mail. Since he’s not on social media, he might not know.” Stuffing my laptop and notebook into my backpack, Amelia put the strap on my shoulder and took her cell phone from where I still gripped it.
I immediately covered my face like I could hide from this. My cheeks were hot. As much time as I’d spent this morning coming to terms with Jeff’s decisions last night, I’d spent ZERO seconds thinking about my ridiculous reaction to Byron’s performance. I wouldn’t allow myself to think about it. What was the point? He’d been pretending, acting, playing a part, and—as per usual—I’d left the interaction feeling like a fool.
“We have to delete it,” I rasped, my mouth dry, my brain on fire. “Before he sees it and finds out, we have to delete it.”
“No! No. Don’t do that.” She pressed the phone to her chest.
“What? Why not?”
“Think for a second.” She pushed me toward the elevator. “If you delete it, it might become a whole thing. He’s a famous guy who millions of people are starving to know more about. He has no social media and suddenly he’s on TikTok with you? And this isn’t like your lab video from Friday, this is you two together, acting like you’re close friends crushing on each other. We need to call him—together—and tell him. But first we need him to answer his damn phone.” Amelia nodded at her own assertion while stabbing the elevator call button with her index finger.
“Call him? You want to call him together?” Oh God. I didn’t want to call him. I never wanted to talk to him again. “You don’t think he’ll want us to take it down ASAP? Like you said, millions of people want to know about him. Don’t you think he’ll view this as an invasion of privacy?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?” I flinched back. “I think you mean, most certainly yes.”
“No.” She pulled me by the arm into the elevator and pressed all the right buttons. “We should call him, leave a voice mail together where we tell him exactly what happened, and ask what he wants to do about it. If you take it down, it might create more difficulty for him than if you left it up and let it run its course.”
I covered my face again, leaning against the wall for support. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Hey, on the bright side, you have over ten thousand new followers. That’s . . . something.”
I groaned. I would’ve given up every single
one of my new followers if it would’ve somehow undone the posting of that video. What a nightmare.
Review:
3.75 stars
***
This was a pretty good read, but kind of an odd, definitely unique read, as well. Ten Trends to Seduce Your Bestfriend is a standalone book and is Winnie and Byron's book. Winnie and Byron have been in the same friend group since college. Winnie's best friend and roommate, Amelia, is Byron's best friend. But Byron and Winnie don't know each other very well. Winnie has always felt intimidated by Byron because he stares at her a lot and is bluntly honest about her job and other things in a way that she doesn't understand and that hurt her feelings. Byron is a reclusive famous author. Winnie is a science teacher and she does social media videos of experiments and such to encourage girls to enter the STEM field. When the opportunity for a side job that is right up her alley in social media and STEM comes available, Winnie decides to beef up her social media following to get an interview for the position. She asks her newly single crush to do the videos with her, but when that falls through, Byron volunteers to help her complete her video challenges. As they spend time together, Byron reveals he's had feelings for Winnie for years. They get to really know each other and understand how each othe ticks. Winnie and Byron were a good couple and I felt like they were meant to be.
This story was good. However, Byron and Winnie were both kind of odd people. At first, I found it hard to understand and identify with them. But I did grow to like them together by the end and feel the love and chemistry between them. They were sweet together and I liked how they adored each other. Their relationship is slow burn and there is no sealing the deal in the sack, which I am not a fan of. But they were both virgins and there are a few sexy moments in general. And I enjoyed the social media challenges and Winnie's love of STEM.
Overall, even though this was a bit of an odd read, I still enjoyed it. I liked seeing how Winnie and Byron's relationship developed and by the end, I was fully invested in them as a couple. I enjoyed their sweetness, sensitivity and undestanding towards each other, as well as their ability to communicate and willingness to better themselves. They were a smart, mature couple who deserved to find their perfect match and happyness. I look forward to what Ms. Reid comes up with next.
Meet Penny Reid
Penny Reid is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of the Winston Brothers and Knitting in the City series. She used to spend her days writing federal grant proposals as a biomedical researcher, but now she writes kissing books. Penny is an obsessive knitter and manages the #OwnVoices-focused mentorship incubator / publishing imprint, Smartypants Romance. She lives in Seattle Washington with her husband, three kids, and dog named Hazel.
Connect with Penny
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PennyReidWriter/
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2lakzsD
Twitter: @ReidRomance
Mailing List: http://pennyreid.ninja/newsletter/
Website: www.pennyreid.ninja
