GRR Reviews Favorite Coffee, Favorite Crush (The Mar by Victoria Pinder

Favorite Coffee Favorite Crush is about friends to lover, matchmaking moms, and inability to lose face leading to some questionable decisions. It's definitely a fun read.

Penny did all she could to get away from her gold-digging mother out to manipulate her. When a job opened up back in Miami, she moved back and ran into her old friend Jay, a former crush now in the friend zone. Jay, now well-to-do needed a stable GF, not gold-digging supermodels, and Penny is perfect. it wasn't supposed to be about love, but a pretend date turned scorching. Their respective mothers conspire to bring them together, even as they deny their feelings for each other, even as Penny's job evaporated and she was only given a stipend. She concealed it, not wanted to embarrass Jay, but secrets will leak... even as Jay found himself falling for Penny for real.

The plot gets darker and darker, with Penny getting buried under all the responsibilities and lies. Everybody seems to be keeping secrets and manipulating others... except Penny. Feels a bit... doormat? The mood is angst-y, not light, but it's fun to read.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Woman moved back home met former crush needing a pretend girlfriend, until they developed real feelings...

Tropes: fake engagement, reunion, family pressure

Overall Rating:  4/5