Blurb:
Love is somewhere near the bottom of Lily Thomas’ list of life goals, right next to competitive eating and underwater cave diving. She’s spent six years pirouetting and pliéing her way up the ranks of the New York Ballet with her eye on the prize and love in the back seat. But now that Blane Baker -- Lily’s long time crush -- is finally single, she’ll throw her rules out the window without thinking twice.
Reality with Blane isn’t as epic as the fantasy she imagined, and the truth sends her spinning straight into the arms of the man she never knew she’d always wanted.
West Williams has been friends with Lily since the day she moved into their building and he saved her armoire from a swift, sudden death by staircase. Their friendship has always been easy, the boundaries clearly defined. With neither of them willing to risk their relationship, they’ve drifted happily through the years as companions, never considering more.
That is, until they do. And that realization changes everything.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1Ig7W7sAmazon AUS: http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B011F3J22W
Kristine's Review:
Reviewed: July 2015.
If you were to ask me my favourite kind of books, I would tell you that I love books that challenge me, ones that make me look at the world a little differently, books that leave me gasping for air and struggling to contain my emotions, but if you were to ask my best friend what is automatic #1click fodder for me, the types of books I won't even pause to read the blurb for, if there's even the slightest mention of friends to lovers anywhere the title I'm all over that baby, I'll push my reading aside just to dive in. When one of my closest friends shared With a Twist on release day and mentioned this was that kind of book...well you can guess what I did, TBR be damned.
Lily Thomas has a single minded focus on her career, after years of training and practicing, years of blood, sweat, tears, battered and broken feet, early nights, little to no social life, but with her eyes on the prize of prima ballerina with the New York Ballet things are looking up, when her long time crush and partner Blane Baker is finally free of his raging bitch of a girl friend all of Lily's dreams could be coming true. There's only one teeny tiny problem, Blane should have been her prince charming, but despite his wicked good looks and buns of steel, he's turning out to be more like Lord Farquad...
West Williams has been Lily's best guy friend since the day they met, they've always has this easy relationship, without that pesky boy/girl relationship getting in the way, they've had a easy camaraderie, West may be one sexy mother chucker but they're just friends...right??
I LOVE LOVE LOVE friends to lovers for so many things, mainly because this was my own personal fairy tale, my now husband entered my life as my enemy, before becoming my friend, before becoming...well you can guess the rest, when this sub genre is done well I'm grinning like a goon, and swooning like an idiot because they fill me full of joy and light, while grabbing my heart and tearing at it with it's almost guaranteed angst, the beauty of a well written friends to lovers tale is a fine balance between creating believable drama and angst coupled with the kind of hero and heroine you can't help but root for.
West is all kinds of charming yet rugged lumbersexual, he's a LIT grad student, a TA, incredibly smart, the type that reads the classics as a means to wind down, he's also sporting a wicked sext beard and man bun that seems to drive the ladies bonkers, he's caring and GETS Lily, get's her drive, her independence, her passion for dancing and her career, he loves the girl in sweats with bruised and bettered feet with hair up and no make up on, and while you walk into this style of book getting the gist of the story, two friends who ultimately discover there's something more, something deeper, the way in which Staci Hart wrote this had me laughing out loud, squealing and squee'ing when those little aha moments pop up, and cheering like a thirteen year old at a 1Direction concert in those moments when you just know that there might be chance that Lily and West might just realise what's been there all along.
My first Staci Hart book and I'm falling madly in love, every part of this rag tag team grabbed my attention, their lives and relationships kept me intrigued and wanting more, I can't wait to see where this series goes next, as long as I get to revisit Lily and West because I'n not ready to let go of them yet.
About Staci Hart:
Staci has been a lot of things up to this point in her life -- a graphic designer, an entrepreneur, a seamstress, a clothing... and handbag designer, a waitress. Can't forget that. She's also been a mom; she has three little girls who are sure to grow up to break a number of hearts. She's been a wife; even though she's certainly not the cleanest, or the best cook. She's also super, duper fun at a party, especially if she's been drinking whiskey. Her favorite word starts with f, ends with k, and there a uc in there. Just saying. From roots in Houston, to a seven year stint in Southern California, Staci and her family ended up settling somewhere in between and equally north, in Denver. They are new enough that snow is still magical. When she's not writing, she's sleeping, cleaning, or designing graphics. But let's be honest, she's mostly writing.
