Valerie Barkin and Alec Rogers survived bullies, awful parents, and seriously shitty social standing the only way best friends can—together. But with the unexpected sexual tension suddenly flaring between them, surviving their ten-year high school reunion might be a different story…
Val hasn’t changed. She still feels like the stringy-haired band geek the popular kids teased, but Alec has definitely changed. He’s now the front man for the Grammy-winning rock band Chronic Disharmony, with the sexual reputation to match. And he’s more than willing to help Val rock the reunion.
And then it happens—a drunken game of Seven Minutes in Heaven—and their fourteen-years-long foreplay comes crashing to the forefront…changing everything.
Seven minutes turns into a weekend of mind-blowing, no-strings-attached sex. But these best friends won’t be able to leave their hearts out of it forever, not when the most meaningful benefit could change their relationship for good….
Forever…who isn’t looking for forever but with your best friend?! Class reunions are hell as it is but when you were an awkward, brace wearing band geek with another dorky band geek as your best friend they can’t get any worse especially if you see yourself as that person you were ten years ago. Valerie had made good on all of that band practice as she became quite the accomplished flutist playing with the Philadelphia Philharmonic and just waiting for her chance at the big times playing in London. During those ten years she did have a couple of boyfriends along the way but the last one sort of sealed the deal for her. Charles didn’t do “forever’s” and since Valerie was sure that was where their relationship was heading she was totally caught off guard by his revelation.
Alec was Val’s best friend in high school and she was his sanctuary when his dad would show Alec exactly how not to treat your son. Alec would sneak into Val’s bedroom and sleep on the floor only to wake up to leave before her parents knew he was there. Al was also looked down on in high school so it became the Al and Val duet…wherever one was, the other was also. They had each other’s back and would be able to tell their deepest, darkest secrets to. After their one life changing thing that happened after graduation from high school it took a couple of years for Al and Val to become the friends they once were. Now ten years later that friendship had never changed. Alec would facetime or talk to Val every chance he got. They would discuss almost everything that was happening to them and in Alec’s case it was him becoming a sexy rock star that had women coming to him at whim. He was living the good life with his Grammy winning band he left his geek life behind. If only he could leave behind the damage his dad and mom had done to him and it was only Valerie who knew all of his secrets and the damage that had done to him.
So back to the class reunion…oh, yeah that was hell since some people never change. The bullies were still the bullies and the geeks were still the geeks. Anyway that’s how they pretty much seen themselves especially in Valerie’s case. She never got over the name calling and it crushed her self-esteem even if she now was an accomplished flutist. So what would her face to face encounter with Alec be like and could they get past their friendship for something “forever”? Could Valerie (aka Dirty Girl to Alec) ever see herself as Alec was seeing her which was a very beautiful, sexy and talented woman? Rules are made to be broken which was good since Alec and Valerie had set up all kinds of rules to protect themselves when it came to possibly stepping over that line of friendship into some pretty hot and heavy lusting. This is a great book that had me reliving my one class reunion I went to having me realize yet again why I don’t go to them anymore! Scratch that…maybe if I had an “Alec” there for me I would definitely look at them differently from here on out! I have to say that I really fell in love with this book and it had me rooting for Alec and Valerie the whole time. You just have to read it yourself to see the journey that it took for Alec and Valerie to make it to the other side of their friendship.
This book was provided as an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.
