The Friendship Variable by Marie Soleil: Book Review

 **ARC received for consideration. All opinions are my own. 

The Book

He's in love with his best friend.

The only problem? She's engaged to someone else.

Claire Beaumont has always done everything by the book—the math book, that is. Straight A’s? Check. Earn her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in math? Check. Land a job teaching community college, just like Mom and Dad? Check.

Her parents are also thrilled she’s dating the son of their best friends, even if he still lives in his parents’ basement at the age of twenty-seven. So when he proposes in front of both families and an audience of fifty thousand baseball fans, she can’t say no—even though her first instinct tells her to run. Thankfully, Claire has her best friend and coworker, Ryan, to lean on. He’s the one person who always has her back.

Ryan Matthews, Coastal Vista Community College’s resident surfer/math professor, has been head-over-heels for Claire since the day they met. But when he found out she had a boyfriend, he decided to settle for being her friend—and her sounding board for all her boyfriend complaints. He was sure they were on the verge of a breakup, but now, they’re engaged.

Resolved to move on, Ryan throws himself into dating again. But when he and Claire are paired to lead a high-profile campus project, keeping his feelings under wraps proves harder than solving a four-variable system of equations.

The Author

Marie Soleil has been dreaming up love stories since she was three, fueled by fairy tales, imagination, and one very persistent crush on Peter Pan. These days, she writes sweet romantic comedies full of heart, humor, and happily ever afters. When she’s not juggling plot twists or parenting four wildly imaginative kids, Marie moonlights as a math professor (yes, really) and unwinds with The Office reruns and alarming amounts of chocolate.

Book Review

Oh my goodness... what a story! Math might not seem like the most romantic of subjects, but Claire and Ryan just might change your mind! First things first though, if you saw the tagline for this one and found yourself uncertain, I'm right there with you. I'm always a little hesitant with stories where one of the main characters is already in a serious relationship with someone else when the story begins... and throughout most of the story too. Let me assure you though, Marie Soleil pulled it off brilliantly in a way that didn't give off any love triangle or cheating vibes. But it absolutely gave us all the yearning that I was absolutely here for. Claire and Ryan had a really sweet friendship... I loved how he always seemed to see her for who she was, more so than anyone else in her life. Seeing them finally get the chance to take it from friends to more? Even better. This one was the slowest of burns... but so worth the payoff in the end! I loved these two together and couldn't get enough! 

The Friendship Variable is a closed-door romance with kisses only and no language. 



You can purchase your copy here: https://amzn.to/46T3agx