Our Scorching Summer (Perks & Benefits Book 2)

This is the first book that I've read by these authors and it was such a random pick but I had seen a few pals raving about it and they were RIGHT!!!! This was such a fun, hot and easy read!Our Scorching Summer follows Nico and Lily and the two share a hot summer getaway together. Nico and Lily are the two most swoon worthy friends with benefits turned lovers that I've read!Down on her luck and having just been offered a free plane ticket for a vacation with her best friends brother in law Nico, Lily makes a spontaneous and out of character decision to go with the flirty play boy on his adventure. The two have agreed to maintain only a friendship in respect to their best friend and brother and have only ever shared a kiss but the sexual chemistry and tension has always been through the ROOF. Now add some close proximity and some heat and what do you think happens??? The hottest friends with benefits situation!!!!I LOVED Nico with my whole chest. That man is and always has been completely OBSESSED with Lily. I adored Lily and thought she was relatable and a total icon. I loved her black cat energy and loved that she was just as much of a player that Nico was. Watching her heal and deal with past relationship trauma and learn to trust someone again was 100% appreciated and I thought that she had such great character growth by the end. Nico is the sweetest and had me constantly cheesing. He's an actual golden retriever and their dynamic was perfect. He would do anything and everything for Lily and let's just say, the museum date scene has been ingrained in my brain and the bar for dates has been RAISED.Totally recommend this for a spicy and cute read!!

"To taking risks."I have been following the authors of this novel for months and only know finally read this book. I don't know what else to say at the moment--given that I am riding the just-finished-the-book euphoric high, with tears in my eyes. Above all things. This book spoke to me because I went through exactly that experience.I, too, had a traumatizing first love that ruined me for years. I, too, stumbled through beds and dazed mornings, never to speak to those one-night or one-week lovers. Perhaps, even, mistreat them out of spite for the men who wronged me. I, too, had a deep mistrust of love as a whole. Until I met the one I call my man now, the one who gave me space to heal and well, my own Nico version of dude xD.This book, of course, had searing hot smut. But it also made me, as a smut and romance avid reader, feel valid. This is literature to be taken seriously, and whoever says otherwise is out of touch with their own need of love or simply misogynistic. I can honestly say I FINALLY found a book that doesn't make me angry at the main characters, or even see the FMC as a whiny upstart. She was real, almost too real (which my tears attest to). Just like Notting Hill, it makes me fall in love with love yet again. Just like Gilmore Girls, it has fast-pased funny wit.To whoever reads this raving review, just buy this already. You'll get MILES of delicious spice, love, experimentation, love for writing, found family trope, wonderful friendships, and love that can handle ANYTHING. On all seriousnes, this book has THE perfect balance of summer fun, all crazy and spontaneous, as well as the sacred seriousness finding your true love entails. I don't know what deals with what devils these two authors made, but they lucked out!!Just in case you need more convincing, here are some of my favorite quotes:"It's one of those asses you'd see in a photograph and swear it was edited beyond belief. But no, here she stands, sculpted to perfection with an ass you can write poetry about.""For you, princesa, I'd be on my knees, eternally at your service.""The kiss avalanches into a subconscious goal to erase any previous lips that may have wandered here.""How is every single word coming out of his mouth entirely dripping with sex?""Both attendants clap in celebration. People clapping after I come is definitely a first for me.""The romance of the whole thing is enough to crystallize sugar on my tongue. Irresistibly sweet.""I ache to be brave enough to give myself to him fully, but I haven't surrendered a piece of myself to a man in years."and what I believe is this book's Thesis: "I put walls up around me, pretending I was some kind of heartless woman who was stronger without vulnerabilities. But emotions don't make you less than, they make you human.""but when I see her, the noise ceases. My Lily."

This was spicy and cute, but it was truthfully way longer than it needed to be. I think there was a little too much filler and needed to be edited down a lot. I liked the characters and the plot line though.

“A life shared with a person I can call home.”Tropes: friends to lovers; he falls first; roommates; opposites attract; reverse grumpy sunshine; $$Another 4.5 star read! Nico and Lily have had some flirty run-ins since her best friend is married to Nico’s brother. After a series of unfortunate events Lily finds herself jobless, failing a class needed for graduation and no summer plan. Nico has made himself some serious money after selling an app and continues to be employed by a tech company that also allows him to travel the world enjoy new adventures. Thanks to Nico Lily ends up on a plane to Brazil and her first international trip. We find out Lily has quite the secret from everyone and her ex did a number on her self-esteem and belief in herself. Sweetheart Nico is the perfect guy to unwrap that secret and help her overcome the adversity while she unknowingly shows Nico what it’s like to not go through life alone. I loved the character and relationship development throughout this book (and Brazil is now on my bucket list!) and Princesa may be my new favorite book pet name.“People fall in love in all sorts of ways. There’s no use trying to understand how and who your heart will pull toward. It’s why romance is fun. It’s entirely unpredictable.”

I loved this book. I didn’t realize there were more books in this series till recently. I read the first book a while ago I wish it wasn’t so long so my connection to those characters and seeing them in this book would be stronger. I loved seeing them as side characters but it was a little hard to really get all the feels as I read it so long ago. But I loved this book. The couple was so cute. The ending was all the feels and was so good I kind of want to cry as it has been the best book I’ve read in a while. I would recommend this book a million times over. This is especially good as a summer read. Love love love. Nothing to complain about that I really remember. Overall great book. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the series has to offer. I’ve only read two so far but this was my favorite. 5/5

The book was written soooo well and the character development for both main leads was **chefs kiss**. This was a very good read.

So. Maybe i'm in a romance slump because it's not doing it for me at all. didn't feel connected to the characters at all. wasn't invested in the relationship. In my opinion, this book was a bit messy, we were thrown scenes after scenes that weren't necessarily interesting or structured. It kind of felt like a best of all the moments of them together without a coherent conductive line. I struggled to finish this book, it was a bit too long for my liking. There are a lot of "kind of" third act breakups which made the last one my final straw.I feel like the idea behind this is still nice and I definitely recommend you to read it and make your own opinion because I haven't been in my reading era lately.Tropes:• friends to lovers• friends with benefits

I fell in love with Water Under the Bridge, late last year, especially Luca (sorry Ave!), so when I heard that Nico, Luca's younger brother, was getting his own book, I thought there's no way that Luca could be topped.Well, I was wrong. And I've never been qlad to be wrong because Nico is such a sweetheart. The ultimate book boyfriend.The chemistry between Lily and Nico is insane, we love an obsessed man around here, with golden retriever energy- perfection. Their story is so well written, and I cannot wait for the third book, and I think already have an idea as to who it will be based on!I received an ARC from Kels and Denise Stone.

Absolutely loved this! The perfect friends to lovers story. Incredible spice, found family and plot. Highly recommend this incredible book

This book was as amazing as the first!Has me seriously in the mood for summer, sun and sunflowers!Can’t wait for the next one!