Ache
Page turning
Charming
Heartwarming

Ache

From USA Today bestselling author Marley Valentine comes an all new emotional, friends-to lovers gay romance standalone. I couldn't tell you when I fell in love with Gael Herrera, but I wish I knew how to make it stop. Falling in love with a straight man is a rookie mistake. But falling in love with my soon-to-be-married-to-a-woman best friend is nothing but heartache. Through all the years, and all the men I've fooled around with, he's always been at the back of my mind. An unrequited crush I wish I could shake. A dream that was never going to come true. When I whisk him off to a surprise bachelor party weekend in Vegas, I surrender to the idea that this is an opportunity for me to finally let go of my feelings for him and say goodbye. But after a heated exchange and an even hotter kiss, everything I thought I knew about our friendship changed. Maybe I had it wrong. Maybe, after all this time, we were more than best friends. Maybe, just maybe, he felt it too.
Sign up to use

Reviews

Photo of Tanya
Tanya @babygyalreadit
5 stars
Mar 16, 2022

Ache.. what a fucking perfect name for this book because that is exactly what I felt the entirety of this book.. an ache so deep I don’t even think I fully understand it. These 2 are the definition of true love, 2 sides of the same coin, soulmates. Any word or terminology that describes when 2 people belong together that is Jordan & Gael. Friends to lovers isn’t really my thing but Marley Valentine she is my girl. Everything she writes draws me in & hooks me. The first MM I fell in love with was Without you.. And this book? Doesn’t fall short. I can’t even begin to compare the 2 because they take up so much of my heart. I really don’t understand how she manages to pour so many emotions into these pages that make me think magic exist because I feel EVERY FUCKING THING while reading this book. My heart physically hurt like it would burst with how much love is shared between them. That all consuming, powerful, addicting, life changing type of love that’s what this is. That’s also the type of love that makes single bitches like me envious because why can’t life be as simple as it is in these books? Where TF is my person at? That’s besides the point, this book will literally seep its way into your skin, your heart, your life and you won’t ever be able to forget the love these 2 have for each other it’s so pure & true. Man this is the type of book that you love so much and so wholeheartedly that it almost makes you sad you don’t have the kind of love these 2 share. Like wtf man I keep holding out on hope that something like this will happen for me but sometimes the shit feels like a damn pipe dream so thank God for these writers.

Photo of Michelle Vasquez
Michelle Vasquez@yourfavoritebookbag
5 stars
Sep 27, 2021

“We’ve been best friends for longer than we haven’t. He’s always been the only constant in my life, and watching him be happy and fall in love has been a privilege.  Wishing it was me he was happy and in love with has been excruciating.” Gael and Jordan are not one without the other. Where one is, the other is sure to be behind - and that is what is expected, and how it’s always been. Unfortunately, just not in the way the other is thinking. Best friends. Where the possibility of being more has been buried alive; so much so because one is getting married. “Ache,” by Marley Valentine is a friends to lovers romance. It gives us Gael and Jordan. Gael is getting married, and Jordan is still hanging onto a moment in time, to a person that he thought didn’t want him. This is a story of acceptance, it’s forbidden and it flirts with heartache and heartbreak that had me teetering on the edge of my seat. What started out as a novella, gave us more. I loved seeing some old faces and meeting new ones. Gael and Jordan were always meant for each other - we just had to wait for them to catch up to one another.

Photo of Maru Pérez
Maru Pérez@marupe
4 stars
Oct 6, 2024
+3
Photo of Cass Paul
Cass Paul@cannacass
4.5 stars
Feb 22, 2024
Photo of Kadisha
Kadisha @paperbackpassionista
4 stars
Jul 8, 2022
Photo of Meghan Thompson
Meghan Thompson @mthomp08
3 stars
Jun 25, 2022
Photo of Favour Amed
Favour Amed@unique_favy1
4 stars
Mar 27, 2024
Photo of Mallory Mayfield
Mallory Mayfield@malmayfield18
3 stars
Aug 29, 2023
Photo of Magda Silva
Magda Silva@magdasilva22
4 stars
May 28, 2022
Photo of Tameka Young
Tameka Young@tamekareads
3 stars
May 25, 2022
Photo of Logan Chisholm
Logan Chisholm@loganslibrary
4 stars
Apr 19, 2022
Photo of Alba Aller
Alba Aller@albaaller
4 stars
Apr 15, 2022
Photo of Mimi
Mimi@mimilovestoread
2 stars
Nov 29, 2021
Photo of Ananya Bandyopadhyay
Ananya Bandyopadhyay@anyu2407
3 stars
Oct 31, 2021
Photo of Maria Eugenia Espinal
Maria Eugenia Espinal@mariaeespinal
4 stars
Oct 21, 2021
Photo of Madison Wolfe
Madison Wolfe@laceandlit
4 stars
Aug 31, 2021