Always Mine: A Small Town Friends-To-Lovers Romance (Honey Mountain Series Book 1)

I’m a sucker for a best friend turned lover story. The book brought the spice while keeping a cute story line going. I loved the message behind the story and really enjoyed the authors writing style.

Vivian Thomas is the proud owner of Honey Bee’s Bakery. “I’d worked hard to save up the money to open my business after I graduated from college. The logo was a giant honey bee with the name in the center [and a] big pink neon sign hung on the wall that read: Life is short. Lick the Bowl.” She makes a living by sugarcoating things but she’s “partial to the sexy firefighter with the broody disposition” aka her best friend Niko. “Our differences were impossible to miss. My fingers were rough from fighting fires and working at the firehouse, and everything about Vivi was soft. Her skin. Her hair. Her heart.” But Vivian and Niko have one thing in common: they’re both terrified of being happy. “He doesn’t think he deserves it, and [she’s] afraid of loving someone so much that it would hurt like hell if [she] lost them.” But just “Because you’ve already experienced how much that hurts…that doesn’t mean you can’t love that hard again…you can’t live your life in fear…Trauma is the ultimate thief. It may have robbed your past, but only you can let it rob your future.” “Tragedy had a way of reminding you how precious life was. Reminding you about what mattered most. About what was most important. Love and family were everything.” Niko has loved Vivi his whole life, but “wanting her wasn’t supposed to happen.” He is sure he “can’t be what you want. What you need. What you deserve…I know how hard it is to find someone worth taking a risk for…I needed to put this fire [of fear] out first, and then I’d be dealing with the growing fire building between me and Vivian. Because it’s the one that mattered most.” Someone call the fire department because Laura Pavlov’s Always Mine is sizzling!

7.5/10

Was alright. Stopped reading half way through