A Heartwarming Story About Falling in Love with Your Best Friend

Alejandro (Han) has trouble letting people in. He’s never had a serious relationship. As soon as things get too deep with girls, he cuts them loose. Maybe it’s because of his own strained relationship with his mother, who lives in another country and is struggling with drug addiction. Maybe it’s because he’s undocumented and living in a country that will never accept him as he is and where he will never be able to fulfill his dreams of going to college. Or maybe it’s because he’s afraid of exploring his own complicated feelings about his sexuality—is he even straight? The real answer: it’s all of the above.

The only person who has ever made Han feel truly comfortable in his own skin is his roommate and best friend Kenny. But Kenny has issues of his own. Kenny’s girlfriend, Jackie, is controlling and abusive, and while Kenny knows this relationship isn’t good for him, he’s also terrified of being alone. When Jackie puts her foot down and tells Kenny he has to choose between Han and her, Kenny finally sees the light and dumps her.

Now that Kenny is single and looking for something new, he feels he has the perfect solution to solve his loneliness and Han’s undocumented status: a proposal. In order to give Han legal status in the United States, Kenny asks Han to marry him. Han says yes. A marriage of convenience between two friends who care for each other. Should be a happy ending, right? But it turns out Han and Kenny’s feelings for each other are way more complicated than either of them realized. Jackie’s refusal to make their lives easy threatens their whole plan.

This book has so much going on between Han’s struggles with his family, his legal status, and his sexuality. Then there’s Kenny’s toxic relationship and his struggles to stand up for himself. But Reyes weaves all of the storylines together in a way that will keep you reading and contemplating. On top of that, I don’t often read romance stories from the perspective of characters still figuring out their sexuality, and that was so wonderful to see. I’m excited to see this author be introduced to new readers who haven’t picked up their YA books before. Those of you who are already fans of Reyes’s work will love this one, too.