A Love Like The Sun by Riss M. Nielson, her debut novel, tells the story of a pair of childhood friends Laniah Thompson and Issac Jordan. Laniah and Issac have been friends since they were kids and grew up together being each other’s platonic person. Issac has made a name for himself on the internet, becoming a social media celebrity for his good looks and charm where Laniah is the direct opposite; she’s a quiet homebody who isn’t on social media and doesn’t like the attention. Their friendship became long distance when Issac took his talents and newfound fame to California, while Laniah stayed in Providence, Rhode Island. She and her mom own a small business, Wildly Green, which sells homemade beauty products. The distance between Laniah and Issac was physical, since they’re on opposite ends of the country, and was starting to grow emotionally as well.
When Laniah’s business starts to struggle, Issac hatches up the idea to enter a fake relationship where he will post and promote their relationship and in turn her business, to help drive new customers and help keep things afloat for Laniah and her mom. Though Laniah is reluctant, she agrees and draws firm boundaries with Issac about what their “relationship” should look like; he can post her/them together but no kissing. Laniah starts to develop some non-platonic feelings towards Issac that she’s scared to explore, out of fear that he might not feel the same or that she’ll ruin her friendship as the one thing she doesn’t want to do is lose her best friend. When Laniah’s health declines, she’s faced with answering whether she wants to follow her heart and see where her romantic feelings towards Issac can take her, or attempt to revert back to a platonic relationship to prevent heartbreak.
I love a good friends to lovers story, and this was no exception. Laniah and Issac clearly have a special connection where the romantic tension was palpable even before Issac’s fake dating idea. Issac is a good man, and an even better friend but Laniah kept him at arms length to not seem as needy or like she was holding him back by wanting more from him. She did a lot to try and “protect” him but in turn ended up hurting herself. I found their friendship and love story beautiful, which reminded me a lot of Christina Lauren’s Love and Other Words – another great friends to lovers story. I’m impressed by A Love Like The Sun, as it’s a debut, and gave it five stars for its heartwarming and at one point heartbreaking story.
