Name: Alyssa deRaad's review of Ten Trends to Seduce Your Best Friend by Penny Reid
Item: Ten Trends to Seduce Your Best Friend
Rating: 4.5
Author: Alyssa deRaad

Penny Reid

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.

Ten Trends to Seduce Your Best Friend

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

Alyssa deRaad

Karr

I thought it was a wholesome spicy enemies to fake dating to real dating romance. The arguments were weird and both characters needed therapy, but at least they both acknowledged it.

Catarina Silva

2.5 rounded up. The challenges made me cringe so hard. And that BJ scene... Nope.

The title of the book had me worried, but I’m a sucker for STEM, and I’m glad I gave this book a chance. It was really cute and a little different. Winnifred gets a longtime acquaintance to help her draw viewers to her STEM based social media channels by participating in some popular TikTok bestfriend challenges. I prefer closed door to spicy reads so I was glad that the spicier scenes were not overwhelming. There weren’t many and they were definitely not the focus of the book. 

Alison

Gretchen Sartele

DNF @ 43%

I promised myself I'd stop hate-reading/forcing myself to finish books I'm not vibing with this year and I'm sticking to this promise. 

If you told me this was the first draft of the book, slapped in a cover, and sent out to publish, I would believe you. It needs a serious rethink.

MMC and FMC are the two most annoying characters I have ever read. Ever. Winnie is simultaneously oblivious and annoyingly hyper-vigilant. Byron (strongly dislike this name, btw) is written as practically a hermit who wouldn't even have a phone if given the option (and he is), a genius doctor/author/buff rugby dude at the same time. Both characters at 27-year-old virgins. I didn't make it as far as finding out, but I bet their first time would have been mindblowing or something. There is a good way to write about long-pining not quite enemies to lovers and this was absolutely not it. 

Winnie just completely missing the point when Bryon was trying to tell her that he had to leave the room because she turned him on and instead diagnosing him with a sensory disorder (something a teacher should KNOW BETTER than to do in such an insensitive way) was my final straw. 

This book is so STEM elitist that it physically hurts to read, almost uppity in the way it talks about anything OTHER than STEM. This is probably why Winnie is actually oblivious as to what it takes to build a community on social media (hey, maybe learning some language or arts would have helped here!). The first 40% of the book is Byron convincing Winnie that it's ok to put more than educational content on her account and that it won't ruin her 5k followers reputation (lmao). 

I could go on and on and I only made it 43%. 

I am devastated because I have heard such good things about this author and the cover is to DIE for (literally why I bought the book, plus I love social media books).

4.5 stars
I loved this so much I can’t explain

Allie Garza

📚ARC Review📚
 
4.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
 
I have FEELINGS! Lots and lots of them!
Penny Reid has done it again!😭
 
I spent my entire Sunday reading this book. To say I couldn’t really function would be understatement.💞
Winnie and Bryon’s story is so beautiful, so full of tiny nuances that I don’t think this is just a romance book. Don’t get me wrong there’s romance and funny moments but there’s more here.💜
 
I loved this book, and my heart felt so heavy after finishing it: so full. I think Winnie and Bryon’s story will stay with me for a long time.❤️
 
Winnie was lovely although at times very frustrating. I loved her love for STEM because it felt organic and not at all forced. She loved it and I (someone not in STEM) could totally understand why. I loved that she was kind and understanding. Although she did frustrate me like I mentioned I saw her viewpoint in a way, and it made her relatable.🏫
 
Bryon was an enigma for me before his chapters stated popping up. I loved how we didn’t get too many of them if felt like a reflection of himself. It made me appreciate his chapters more when we did get a little glimpse of his mind. He was lovely, caring, and honest. His character was handles with such care and I was mesmerized with how raw and real he felt. 🖋
Winnie and Bryon’s relationship was a joy to see. The development of it was slow burn heaven!🥰
Loved how the conflict was solved and that in the end the ultimate conflict wasn’t coming from the person you originally thought. The supporting characters here were lovely: Amelia was truly a wonderful friend to both Winnie and Bryon.🥰
 
Overall, I loved this book and it’s characters. I laughed, I cried! I had all the feels!😅
 
Thank-you Social Butterfly PR for the chance to review this ARC. 💜

I’ve been thinking about how to review or feel about this book for 12 hours. 

I read it in less than a day and mostly enjoyed it. It gave me so many feelings. 

Byron and Winnie are great complex characters and their story seems super real. I love the dynamic between them and how they both grow throughout the story. There is a lot of tension and a few times where I wanted to slap one of them but I still love them and want them to be happy. 



Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
Ten Trends to Seduce Your Best Friend by Penny Reid

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Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &Ten Trends to Seduce Your Best Friend by Penny Reid

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Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
Ten Trends to Seduce Your Best Friend by Penny Reid