Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE:  Friendly Fire

SERIES:  Never Just Friends #4

AUTHOR:  Saxon James

PUBLISHER:  May Books

LENGTH:  229 pages

RELEASE DATE:  August 23, 2021

BLURB:

Rafe

It started in high school. We grew apart. Bit by bit, then all at once. The friend who was my ride or die suddenly wanted nothing to do with me. Now Cam’s back from college, living in the house next door, and pulling stupid pranks just to annoy me. Between my intense family and my failing relationship, I’m struggling enough without his antics. But Cam won’t go away. And I’m not so sure I want him to.

Cam

It started with a smile. A touch. A shared look of mischief. Rafael Ortega stole my heart before I realised it was mine to give away. We were best friends from the time we were in diapers right up until the unthinkable happened: he started dating. I put distance between us to save myself, but now I’m back, willing to do anything for his attention again. Because the only thing worse than Rafe breaking my heart … is him not getting a chance to.

Friendly Fire is the final book in the Never Just Friends series. It’s a low angst childhood-best-friends-to-lovers romance with skinny dipping, sex toys, and one final happily ever after.

REVIEW:

Friendly Fire marks the return to small town life in Sunbury, Oregon, for the fourth and final installment of the wonderful Never Just Friends series.

Rafael is hung up on feeling different: not being in love, not really understanding what love is, and worried he’ll never find it, all while watching his friends couple up one after another. When his best friend, Tanner, announced his relationship with Roo six months prior (book one, Just Friends), Rafe didn’t take the news well because it gave rise to thoughts and feelings about his own sexuality that he’s been working to suppress for many years. He’s been dating his girlfriend, Laura, for ten years even though it feels all wrong. His mother’s expectations weigh so heavily on him that he’s afraid to break up with Laura. Rafe’s mother is overbearing, to put it mildly, and has applied tremendous pressure on him to marry and have children. Soon.

Cameron was Rafe’s childhood best friend but they grew apart. He’s an out and proud gay man who has secretly been in love with Rafe for many years and wants him badly, but hes pretty sure Rafe hates him. So, he resorts to the ages-old, third grade boy strategy of teasing the object of his desire to get their attention. Instead of pulling a little girl’s pigtails, he repeatedly pulls pranks on Rafe. He succeeds in goading and annoying him (and me), but it does have the desired effect. Eventually, Rafe starts feeling a magnetic pull to Cam, but he’s still confused about his identity.

Ms. James does a laudable job representing the asexual, aromantic spectrums, subjects that are in need of more exposure. She explores the Split Attraction Model that states romantic and sexual attraction are two separate things that don’t always align. It’s sometimes used by the asexual community to further define their orientation when it doesn’t fit in a neat little box. After almost a decade in a relationship with a woman, Rafe acknowledges that it doesn’t feel right. Poor Rafe is so confused and he just wants to feel normal. With Cam’s guidance on the subject, he’s able to eventually land on an aromantic, graysexual identity. Graysexuality has different forms; Rafe’s feelings are best described as sex-positive ace: someone who identifies as asexual, meaning they don’t feel sexual attraction to others, but will still have sex for pleasure. Rafe requires closeness and intimacy with his partner before engaging in sex.

As good as it feels, though, Rafe could live without sex. Cam is perfect in allowing Rafe to proceed at his own pace, never pushing or pressuring him, while making it clear to Rafe that he wants him in any way he can have him. He loves Rafe that much. In the end, Rafe is happy and at ease with who he is.

The men are quite adorable together with their cute, light banter and silly antics. Cam is outrageous at times and wonderfully amusing. I sighed every time he called Rafe his “ace of hearts”.

The book ends on a great note with an epilogue set six years down the road. It concludes with happy endings for all four couples in the series. Friendly Fire is a sweet and heartwarming book in a delightful series that I highly recommend.

RATING:

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