Tess and Sophie are best friends that never crosses the line into romance but you can tell their an attraction between them.

Sophie is tired of dating around and wants a real relationship when she meets someone on social media she good at flirting but doesn’t know how to romance a person. Tess decides to help her although she secretly wishes Sophie would look in her direction.

I like this I think it was cute how Tess and Sophie are in denial and for two best friends they sure don’t know how to communicate with each other well.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

I DNFed this one, I thought it was interesting to see 40 something years old consiering carreer change but nothing really hooked me to actually finish it. Maybe I'll give it another try later

I had a hard time with the characters in this book, which is why I gave it only 3/5 stars. The book starts off pretty well, and then I started not liking Sophie. By the middle of it, I started not to understand Tess as well. By 3/4 in, I didn't like either of them and then the whole hotel bit was a mess. I was really confused by what was happening and the book & their actions became juvenile.

I basically was lost at that point, so something about the structure just wasn't mapped out well. I'm not trying to be harsh, but I thought it was all over the place and the character development went backwards, with no type of character arc to make them both better people.

Plot ✍
Sophie Swanson and Tess Anderson have been BFFs since childhood. Even though they’re both attracted to women, falling for each other would’ve risked their friendship, and neither is willing to take that chance.

Sophie is fed up with dating and tired of being alone. When heat flares with a new connection on social media, Sophie’s ready to take love more seriously. She’s great at short flirty banter, but horrible at romance, and asks Tess to help her woo the woman who just might be The One.

Tess is still looking for her perfect match, or at least that’s what she tells herself while secretly crushing on Sophie. The last thing Tess wants is to help Sophie fall in love with someone else, but how can she stand in the way of her happiness?

Thoughts 💭
I really enjoyed this book. Friends to lovers is one of my favorites and I thought this one was done well. I liked the opposites attract type of thing they had going on. They definitely had chemistry.

I felt it was a little hard at times to follow since the couple is two females. The perspective of it is what makes it hard to follow because the writer kept saying "she" and "her". You had to figure out which one she was talking about, which took away from the story. The book would have been better in a different perspective. I still recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I am giving this four stars because it was too much drama and not enough of Tess and Sophie together. Also there was a severe problem with communication with everyone except the nosey neighbor Janet. I hope Dena's next book is back to the good stuff like Racing Hearts and my favorite Where the Light Glows.

Best friends to lovers can be a plot that works very well. Unfortunately this book had too many little flaws to really be great. The first part of the book was fine, sometimes it was difficult to differentiate between the two mains but that well, then the story started slipping a bit with inconsistencies coming in. All of a sudden Tess gets a connection with the 3rd party Blair, we see Sophies thoughts about Tess and what she wants, but her actions go in another direction. And how in the world can two people who have been best friends for 20 years can have so many misunderstandings due to not communicating? If you can ignore all that it's still a nice enough book with a hint of romcom giving readers an enjoyable read.

***Thank you Netgalley and Bold Stroke Books for giving me the chance to read and review this book***

Four stars.
This was... a lot. I really love best friends to lovers, and I loved the set-up here. I liked that the feelings didn't develop at an equal rate on both sides, because it seemed so much more authentic this way. I love Tess, and I love Sophie, and I think they belong together.
I enjoyed the ride for about 60% of the book. Then things started escalating in a weird way. The Blair situation is very weird, but the misunderstandings that begin to pile up near the end just get out of hand. I started finding it hard to root for Sophie, because her actions did not match her thoughts at all. There wasn't denial or anything, she herself found it strange that she couldn't get anything right! The ending pulled almost everything together nicely, and I was glad the author didn't skimp on the fluff and sappiness there. It was a touching scene.
If the weirdness of the last part loses the book 0.25 stars from my rating, the other 0.75 would be because Blair's role was ultimately unsatisfying. I don't mind the way she developed; it made sense. But there was some mystery about her that was never fully cleared up. (Spoilers!) Why, for instance, did everything seem off about the phone sex scene? Why was she so hot and cold with Sophie when they were messaging each other in the beginning? Her original interest in Tess doesn't cover that.
Dena Blake never fails to draw me in, and it helped that the trope of the book was right up my alley, but it didn't quite live up to my expectations.

Brilliantly Funny and Sweet!

Tess is helping Sophie with a potential new woman she could date that she has connected with online despite harbouring her own feelings for Sophie. Working together and being best friends means they spend so much time together that they are practically inseparable, but when Sophie’s relationship with Blair looks to be developing, Tess and Sophie both start to realise that finding love probably wasn’t as hard as they both first thought.

This was such an amazing story! Gripping, exciting, full of twists and turns, unexpected events, and most importantly a little touch of comedy. It really was the perfect rom-com. Packed with drama and lots of conflict, nothing was more exhilarating then being on this rollercoaster of emotions with Tess and Sophie. They were so oblivious to the obvious, whilst both of them were in some way unconsciously aware of ‘it’ without actually knowing it.

I had so much fun reading this story. I laughed, I held my breath, I hated some of the characters and became wary of them for a while, then instantly fell back into loving them, then was suspicious and wary, then falling in love with them all over again. As Sophie and Tess were friends they were already close and you just knew there should be something more between them. I got so frustrated with Sophie because she really should have had a better understanding of Tess’ feelings but then I completely understood how she’d managed to miss them all.

My heart broke so many times for Tess. I could really feel what she was going through and how conflicted she was by Sophie but then also the woman she’d been helping Sophie get to know better. She was in such pain and I just had to hope Sophie was going to realise one day and they would find that they’d had everything they both wanted for years already, just unofficially. And that is what I loved most, the sentiment of friends finding love with one another. It is like a perfect fairy tale.

The humour Dena worked into this story made it a perfect rom-com. It was entertaining and kept me hooked from the very beginning because no matter what happened, I was invested in whatever relationship blossomed between Sophie and Tess, be it staying friends or falling in love. I highly recommend this story and hope Tess and Sophie will appear in future stories.

Love By Proxy didn't really work for me. It's obvious Dena Blake is a good writer but I didn't become invested in the characters. Tess and Sophie, who have been best friends for most of their lives, really don't communicate with each very well. Also, at times the pronouns she and her were used in a confusing manner. I had to go back to see which character was being referred to. Overall, there was a lot of potential here with this story, but it just fell flat for me.

I always find with this author that I either love it or not. Unfortunately, this was a miss for me.

I liked the idea of two BFF's finally getting together but to be honest I felt deflated.
At times I kept rereading things because I was unsure who was talking, or whose house they were at.

I felt sorry for Tess as Sophie couldn't see the wood for the trees. How she used Tess to make her sound better.

This book was not for me. But saying that it might be for you. So give it a go.

What happens when it finally dawns on best friends that their perfect mate is each other. That’s what has happened to Sophie Swanson and Tess Anderson. Friends forever or so it seems.
Tess Anderson hasn’t been in a good place since her last girlfriend parted ways with her but her BFF has been by her side since. Trying to set her up on dates she doesn’t want.
Tess’s BFF is also her work partner. So when the owner of the business, Joy, wants Tess gone Sophie starts realizing just how important Tess is to her. Sophie can’t imagine making a commitment to any woman she’s dated and there have been a lot of women One, possibly two are all she’s looking for.
But when Sophie meets a woman online, Tess thinks she could be perfect for her friend so she starts helping her with her online romance. Problem is the more time the friends spend together it finally occurs to Sophie her perfect mate is Tess.
Nice, easy, fun romance. Very enjoyable read.
ARC via NetGalley/ Bold Stroke Books

The premise of the story was interesting and I really wanted to love this book. However, the connection was not there. I just couldn't picture Tess and Sophia in a romantic relationship. I'm quite sure it will be relatable to someone else. Therefore I recommend. 3 stars


Thank you NetGalley and Bold Stroke Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Tess and Sophie have been best friends for years and also work together at a design/marketing agency. Tess hasn’t dated anyone since her breakup with her ex about three years ago. Sophie is the queen of casual sex as witnessed by a food delivery in the first chapter.

The story premise has Tess helping to woe a woman that Sophie is infatuated with from reading one liners found in a bar bill book. For this reader the story became so convoluted at this point with the woman, Blair, that I really lost interest in whether Tess and Sophie would ever get together. There were also so many misunderstandings between Tess and Sophie that I got whiplash. Instead of just talking things out they made several erroneous judgments about each other. 3 stars

I received an ARC from Bold Strokes Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wanted to love this book, but I had too hard of time to differentiate the characters from each other. Also felt very inconsistent.

This was an interesting read. I started out not really warming up to the main characters as I struggled to picture them as real people. Sophie is supposed to be a bit of a womaniser who has lots of casual sex yet she instantly becomes infatuated with someone she’s exchanged a few messages with online and sends her cheesy messages, which I found inconsistent. Tess was a more likeable character and the novel greatly improved once the two realised their feelings for one another. The hotel scenes were greatly entertaining, although again, there were inconsistencies with the characters’ behaviour (spoiler alert: Blair for example is supposed to be so interested in Jess as to secretly write her a message in the bar book but she doesn’t even listen to her dessert choice when they have dinner). Well written book but there was room for improvement.

Helping a best friend with their love life should be a good thing to do, right? It would be if the one friend had not been secretly in love with the other for years.
Sophie wants to find a girlfriend and searches message boards in hopes of finding one. One night she starts messaging a woman who immediately gets her attention. She is unsure about how to capture this woman's attention so she enlists her best friend's help, Tess. Tess thinks helping Sophie will help fan the flames of her crush on Sophie.
It sounds plausible, but will it work? You know what they say about the best laid plans.
I would recommend.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

2 stars. Sophie Swanson and Tess Anderson have been best friends for a long time. Sophie is tired of being alone, so she decides to contact someone whose quote she likes on. She decides to message the woman, Blair and they start to have conversations and video calls. Sophie recruits Tess to help write her messages and make herself sound better. There is only one problem, Tess is in love with Sophie and wants to be with her. Tess and Sophie continue talking to her until Blair wants to meet in person.

I found this book a little confusing, as it seemed to be a little all over the place. I did not really enjoy the character development between the two characters and I really did not like the storyline with Blair and how Sophie and Tess were talking to her. I found it odd and not in a cute way. The end of the book also seems very strange, I did not like how the two main characters eventually wound up together. Overall, this was not a great novel and I would not recommend it. This book was very generic with the two best friends falling in love after being friends for years and I did not enjoy it.

Good story. The main characters were likeable and it was easy to root for them to get together. I felt that the character of Sophie was a bit insecure and damaged and seemed not to want a permanent relationship, but you could feel that she really wanted to find that someone special. Tests was the total opposite, but just never found that someone special until she started to fall for her best friend. This was a slow burn romance with a friends to lovers vibe. There was quite a bit of angst and a few bumps in the road to them getting together. This was an entertaining and quick read. I would recommend this book to my friends and family, and look forward to what comes next from this author.

there was small mistakes in chapter 7 and 11 I think, they mixed the names between Tess and the other women. but i feel like its not big of a deal. In addition, I liked Tess and the other women way more than I liked her with Sophie. I was rooting for them after that one chapter ! my god I was so upset then i got over it. I knew Tess/Blaire was never happening, yet I felt like they'ed work so much more than the original couple. plus the author build this huge thing over Blaire true identity, I was so excited to know until I knew then I was so disappointed ! not for the job but .. I dont know how to explain it well. anyway, it was good read.

I really wanted to like this book and it had such an interesting premise. Unfortunately this didn’t quite do it for me. The first third of this book had a flurry of activities happening from the insta connection with Blair to work related disagreements. It was all quite disjointed and I had a hard time following.
In the second third I was generally confused because the MCs despite acknowledging their attraction set about doing exactly the opposite of what they had decided to do.
And finally only in the third part of the book was there good pace, flow and emotion - but because of all the crazy angst driven behaviors from the prior parts, just prevented me from connecting with the characters.
This is my first Dena Blake book and I had heard lots of good things about her work. I will say that the writing is good but could have done with a bit more editing and connecting some of the parts better to make it flow nicely. Also the characters needed to be flushed out a little more to explain some of their personal-sabotage like behaviors. I might give some of her other books a go but this one for me was just 2.5 stars.
Thank you NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.