The Cheat Sheet is a friends to lovers romance between ballet teacher Bree and NFL quarterback Nathan. Bree and Nathan have been close friends since high school but have never crossed over into relationship territory, despite both of them wishing for more out of their friendship. After Bree drunkenly admits her feelings to a reporter, the two begin a fake relationship that may help them bring their real attractions to light.

After reading several great reviews for The Cheat Sheet, I was excited to have the chance to listen to the audiobook. I adore slow burn romances, especially when they are executed well, and I found the slow burn in this book to be exceptional. As the story progressed, I became more and more impressed with and invested in Bree and Nathan's relationship. The book works well as an audiobook and I liked both of the narrators; I definitely laughed out loud on more than one occasion. And I appreciated that the author tackled the topic of male mental health issues! There is just so much to love about The Cheat Sheet and I highly recommend it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for this ARC; this is my honest and voluntary review.

This was actually an adorable read. The narrators were great and I loved the friends to lovers / fake dating tropes. You can't help but cheer for Bree and Nathan. I also loved the team dynamics! Every guy needs friends like Nathan's!

My only complaint would be how very confessional it felt towards the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this early copy!

3.5 ⭐️ A very cute and fluffy story. There were a lot of parts I liked: the best friends to lovers trope, the audio recording, the supporting characters and the football piece. However, at times, I was a little frustrated with Bree’s immaturity. I feel like at her age and with Bree and Nathan’s history, it made the story less realistic and a bit too cheesy. I will say, the last 20% of this book was so so good and kind of made me forget about those moments.

Audiobook version of a no-sex, “friends to romance,” “fake dating,” romantic comedy

Bree Camden and Nathan Donelson are 28 years old. They first met 12 years ago when they were juniors in high school. Back then, neither had the courage to try and move their two-year platonic friendship into dating territory until it was too late. Nathan had received a football scholarship as a talented quarterback with an NFL future ahead of him, and Bree had been accepted to Julliard on a ballet scholarship—until she was injured in a terrible car accident, which ended her dreams of being a professional ballerina. In the midst of her physical suffering and despair, she withdrew from Nathan, abandoning their friendship, and he let her.

Fast forward four years, and Bree has settled in LA, where she has been running a struggling ballet studio focused on underprivileged youth. Nathan is now star quarterback of the fictional LA Sharks football team. When they accidentally encounter each other at a coffee shop, Nathan badly wants to ask Bree out but, because she has a boyfriend, he does not. They don’t discuss why Bree walked away from their friendship years ago, and they seamlessly pick up where they left off before, firmly reestablished in the friend zone.

Fast forward another six years, and all this time, the two of them have been secretly longing for each other romantically, while pretending they feel nothing but friendship. Even though they are BFFs who are emotionally closer to each other than anyone they have ever known, and are both gorgeous and, naturally enough, physically attracted to each other, they keep wandering in and out of meaningless, dating relationships with other people, none of whom come close to being as important to them as they are to each other. Over and over again, when Nathan’s current girlfriend inevitably asks him to choose between Bree and her, he always chooses Bree. And every time, Bree is secretly elated at this display of loyalty, but it never budges her ironclad intention of never moving out of the friend zone with Nathan, no matter how much she longs to. Her motivations for this attitude are the typical ones offered in every single “friends become lovers” romance novel: (1) Both of these friends have done such a terrific job pretending they aren’t sexually/romantically attracted to their massively good-looking friend, neither believes the other wants to be more than platonic, so why even try to push the issue? He/she might reject me if I did, and our relationship would be ruined. I’d lose my BFF, and I couldn’t bear that. (2) What if I did push the issue, and he/she responded favorably, and we started dating? There’s always a chance it would fall apart and, if that happened, our relationship would be ruined. I’d lose my best friend, and I couldn’t bear that.

In addition, because neither has stopped dating other people these past six years, and because they both instinctively measure all those unfortunate other people against each other, and thereby always find them wanting, none of those relationships have lasted long. Particularly in Nathan’s case, because the moment in which he chooses Bree over his current girlfriend rarely happens past the three-month mark. As a result, Bree more than Nathan, who has dated a whole lot more than she has, has decided that if he could not stay interested in the supermodel types he’s made a habit of dating, how in the world could he stay interested in her? So he’s really shot himself in the foot.

At the start of this story, Nathan suddenly realizes, after his current ex-girlfriend walks out the door, that for the first time in six years, he and Bree are both single at the same time. Neither are currently dating any place-holder people, and are therefore theoretically free to explore dating each other. But, frustratingly, the same thing that has held them back all these years remains—both are too afraid to take a chance on the other—until two externally created breakthroughs occur. First, a gossip-column reporter tricks Bree into admitting how she really feels about Nathan in a video-recorded, sneak-attack interview when Bree is drunk out of her mind at a birthday celebration at a restaurant with Nathan’s football team. The video goes viral, and Nathan’s fans begin vociferously “shipping” the two of them online. Second, the video leads to a contract for Bree and Nathan to be in some very lucrative TV commercials together, while pretending to be a couple for at least a month in order to give the commercials more mileage. Nathan doesn’t need the money, but Bree does, in order to keep her floundering dance studio afloat. As a result, they are contractually obligated to fake date.

When Nathan’s buddies on the Sharks team hear about the fake-dating plan from Nathan, they immediately insist this is his big chance. They’ve witnessed the two of them yearning for each other and doing nothing about it for years. They declare to Nathan that he is beyond overdue to man up and admit to Bree he loves her, and in the process, reassure her that it is okay to admit she loves him, too. In a scene reminiscent of huge, alpha football players giving girly relationship advice to an equally hapless, romantically illiterate football player in The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams, Nathan’s brawny team members brainstorm with him to come up with a list of ways that he can subtly court Bree which will make it impossible for her to keep Nathan shoved into the friend zone. They call this list the titular, “cheat sheet.”

I experienced this novel in the form of an audiobook narrated by voice talents, Renee Dorian and Teddy Hamilton.

These are the things I liked about this audiobook:

1. Nathan is not just a pretty face. He is a sweet, kind, generous, loyal, Beta male. As a handsome, ripped football player, he has had countless opportunities to be promiscuous, but he is not. He isn’t a virgin by any means but, for the past six months or so, he has stopped having sex with his temporary girlfriends because he has finally admitted to himself that he only wants Bree.

2. The homage to The Bromance Book Club in this novel is cute and one of the more humorous moments in the book.

3. As always, Teddy Hamilton does a terrific job. I have enjoyed many different romance novels narrated by him. His voice is a mellow baritone, and he does an excellent job acting out all the characters in the chapters which are presented from Nathan’s point of view.

These are the things I struggled with in this audiobook:

1. Bree is so lacking in confidence and maturity, she often seems more like age 8 than 28.

2. The female narrator, Renee Dorian, has narrated quite a few children’s books with child protagonists. It is to be expected that children, with their undeveloped vocal cords, will have high-pitched voices. It is less understandable that RD would choose to narrate the voice of Bree, who is an adult woman, as high-pitched and squeaky as a prepubescent girl. Worse, whenever Bree gets upset in this story—which is often—RD literally screeches Bree’s lines. Unfortunately, the sound of that screeching over time became so difficult for me to listen to, I repeatedly had to switch off the audiobook to escape from it.

3. Nathan enjoys every blessing the world can bestow on a human being: a privileged, upper-class background, good looks, excellent health, and tremendous personal success as an outstanding, highly-paid quarterback with the NFL who makes additional millions doing product endorsements. And yet, in his private life, he is a doormat. He allows his parents, especially his mother, to constantly talk disrespectfully to him and endlessly take advantage of his valuable time to do exceedingly inconvenient favors for her that involve allowing her to advance her own social standing by sucking off his NFL fame. He has dated many different women he cares nothing about—and are frequently users like his mother, sucking off his fame—for the past six years rather than waiting until Bree is not dating anyone (which has happened many times over the past six years) and admitting to her that he cares for her romantically, not just as a friend. And when he finally decides to go for it, and seek a romance with Bree, he dithers around so much, his buddies on his football team have to write him a script and practically shove him out the starting gate. In short, in his relationship with Bree, he acts more like he is 13 than 28, up to and including engaging in an actual food fight with her.

I believe that the main audience for this novel is most likely romance readers who enjoy G-rated romance novels where there are plenty of comedic, slapstick events that keep the stunning protagonists, who are at their sexual peak and have no known religious reasons for staying celibate before marriage, from ever doing any more than pecking each other on the lips at the moment of the inevitable, HEA marriage proposal. In other words, fans of Hallmark Channel movies will probably love this book. Judging this book by that standard, it could reasonably deserve 4 stars. On the other hand, judging this romance novel by the standards of readers who prefer assertive, confident, emotionally mature protagonists, this book would merit, at most, perhaps 2 stars. That averages out to 3 stars.

As for the audiobook narration, I would rate Teddy Hamilton’s performance as 5 stars and Renee Dorian’s performance as 2 stars. That, also, averages out to 3 stars.

Thus, my overall rating for this audiobook is 3 stars.

I received a review copy of this audiobook through NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review

Thank you Net Galley for an audio copy of The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams. This is sick an adorable book with fake dating and friends to lovers trope. Loved Bree's quirky character.

OH. MY. GOD. This might just be my all time favorite best friends to lovers romance because it was pure PERFECTION!!!!!!

The friendship was absolute top notch. The banter was *chef's kiss* and the growing tension throughout the book??? AHHHHH. Amazing!!! And holy slow burn! I was seriously on the edge of my seat the entire book just wondering when they were finally gonna give in to their feelings!!! This was just so wonderfully wholesome and cute and fluffy but also did address some more serious topics. I also loved the writing style! I thought it was cute and unique and it kept me completely invested throughout the entire story! I never wanted to put it down!

This book had me smiling like an insane person the entire time because I just couldn't get over everything in this book. It had humor and sexual tension (with closed doors) and was just plain adorable and just perfect.

I would absolutely kill for a friendship and relationship like Nathan and Bree! Holy shit though. Don't even get me started on Nathan... he is too good for words. He's legit PERFECT. The things I would do and give to have a hot professional athlete best fired to create a romance cheat sheet to try and woo me into loving him... I would do many many MANY things for this.

Overall, if you can't tell by now, I absolutely adored this book. It was short and cute and just perfect. I loved everything about it and it was the perfect cute best friends to lovers rom com for me!

*Thank you NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.*

OH. MY. GOD. This might just be my all time favorite best friends to lovers romance because it was pure PERFECTION!!!!!!

The friendship was absolute top notch. The banter was *chef's kiss* and the growing tension throughout the book??? AHHHHH. Amazing!!! And holy slow burn! I was seriously on the edge of my seat the entire book just wondering when they were finally gonna give in to their feelings!!! This was just so wonderfully wholesome and cute and fluffy but also did address some more serious topics. I also loved the writing style! I thought it was cute and unique and it kept me completely invested throughout the entire story! I never wanted to put it down!

This book had me smiling like an insane person the entire time because I just couldn't get over everything in this book. It had humor and sexual tension (with closed doors) and was just plain adorable and just perfect.

I would absolutely kill for a friendship and relationship like Nathan and Bree! Holy shit though. Don't even get me started on Nathan... he is too good for words. He's legit PERFECT. The things I would do and give to have a hot professional athlete best fired to create a romance cheat sheet to try and woo me into loving him... I would do many many MANY things for this.

Overall, if you can't tell by now, I absolutely adored this book. It was short and cute and just perfect. I loved everything about it and it was the perfect cute best friends to lovers rom com for me!

*Thank you NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.*

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

Rating 4/5

WOW. I've heard so many good reviews about this book and it's been in my kindle library forever. I can't believe I didn't pick this up sooner. THIS WAS SO CUTE! This is the type of book that you can't stop thinking about even days after you've finished it. I can't tell you how many times this book made me laugh. It was so funny, awkward, cute, and definitely has made it to my comfort reads list!

I did have it on my kindle while I was listening so I could follow along. I liked the audiobook version, but I didn't love it. If I had to choose again, I would choose to read instead of listen. The narrators did do a good job, but I couldn't get into it as much as I wanted to while I was just listening to the audiobook. Audiobooks are hit or miss for me sometimes. *sigh*

Overall, I loved the story so much! I would definitely recommend picking up a copy of either version of the book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
a charming, lighthearted friends-to-lovers sports romance. perfect to listen to on commutes to and from work.

I could not have imagined the audiobook narrator for Bree being anyone other than Renee Dorian. Her narration was the perfect mix of comedic without being disingenuous or annoying.

Since I dove into the story with the understanding that the romance would remain light and surface-level, I don't have many complaints, aside from the second hand embarrassment trope. I am not a fan of reading about clumsy, ditsy characters who get themselves into embarrassing situations.

warning to my friends who enjoy chili peppers: this book contains 0 spice.

special thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of the audiobook in that gets released on 12/14/21!

4.5 stars, rounded up.

"You're going to have to throw me off a bridge if you don't want me meddling in your life because that's what friends do."

Absolutely my favorite Sarah Adams book yet. Bree and Nathan have such a wonderful friendship and I adored watching them build on their long-standing friendship to create more. Any scene with the other players on the football team is hilarious. I love that everything works out so beautifully for them!
The narrators really made this story come alive for me and did a wonderful job at voicing these characters.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Sarah Adams for my ALC. All opinions in this review are my own.

Thank you Netgalley, publisher, and author for the ARC! I absolutely loved this book!! This was my first book by this author and if well definitely you be trying out the rest of her books! A great book that I could listen to while clean in earshot of children without being on edge the whole time! Thank you for that!!!

I was fortunate to receive a copy of this wonderful book by audio. It was a fun read to listen to. I enjoyed both characters. Nathan was what we all want as a best friend and as a boyfriend. Bree was a cute heroine who just wanted to have her best friend in her life however she can take him. The narrators in the book did an excellent job.

I received this ARC through #netgalley and I am voluntarily reviewing this book

I'm not usually a huge fan of friends to lover trope but this book was absolutely adorable. I loved how quirky Bree was - her inner monolog had me cracking up.

Nathan's teammates/friends. Oh my goodness, they are my kind of people. They reminded me a lot lf the football players on Blue Crush.

I enjoyed how this wasn't over the top cheesy.

Both narrators did a great job too.

Thanks #Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book. I will be looking forward to reading other works of Sarah's

#TheCheatSheet

I have loved everything I have read by Sarah Adams. This was such a cute slow burn, friends to lovers story. I love that Sarah includes struggles that people go through into her stories. Issues like anxiety, accident recovery, coping with how life doesn’t always work out like we think it will… Sara’s characters are not perfect nor are they over the top. I especially loved how Nathan was the instigator of wanting something real with Bree. He was patient and kind and still there for her as a friend the whole way while trying to see if there might be more.
I can’t wait to read what Sarah writes next.

While there was very few outside obstacles, just two best friends hopelessly in love with each other but unwilling to admit it to each other, I absolutely loved this book. I was hooked from the start, instantly liking both characters. The narrators for both Bree and Nathan did a fantastic job of bringing the characters to life. The story was really cute and I just kept waiting for one of them to admit their true feelings. This was my first experience with author Sarah Adams but if her other novels are anything like this then it certainly won’t be my last. Anyone looking for a super cute romance should check it out.
Thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the chance to listen to and review an audio ARC of The Cheat Sheet.

At least 4.5 stars. This was adorable and I loved it and I want to read more. This was so sweet and has also made me feel much more lonely and gah, it was so cute! I highly recommend this and it is probably one of my favorite executions of some of the tropes in here. I also loved just how much it focused on the romance and emotional aspect instead of the sex and physical parts.

4 stars
I LOVE friends-to-lovers. I don't, however, love miscommunication, which every friends to lovers book in which the main characters have been in love since the start of the book is bound to have to draw out the conflict. This book does have a fair amount of miscommunication, including a few cringey moments, and I didn't love the writing style, but in spite of all that, I really enjoyed this book. The characters were likeable, there was anxiety representation and good discussions about mental health, important conversations surrounding consent, and the tropes were everything. The excessive mutual pining, the fake dating... it was all great. I preferred Nathan's POV to Bree's, as despite him being the one doing more pining, I found it more grounded, but I still had a good time throughout the whole book and am really glad I picked it up. If you like the tropes friends-to-lovers, pining, or fake dating I'd definitely recommend The Cheat Sheet.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Book 116- The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams
Format: 🎧
Rating :⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Thoughts: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review . I LOVED this book, it was SOOOO cute . No spice in this one but sexy cute it was . Something about fake relationships are just so cute , I mean you know how it’s gonna go but just too cute not to enjoy. #thecheatsheet #sarahadams #netgalley #romancereads #audiobookstagram #booklover #fakerelationshipromance #goodreads

If you are a fan of friends to lovers or fake dating tropes, pick this one up now! It is adorable with just a hint of steam.

Bree, a former ballerina, has been in love with her best friend, pro footballer, Nathan for years. When a video of her drunkenly ranting about Nathan and her feelings for him goes viral, the two pretend to be a couple leading up to the airing of a Superbowl ad starring the couple. Will they finally give their relationship a real shot? Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Loved! Absolutely loved this fluffy read. It was everything I like in romance; friends to fake dating to real relationship.

Bree and Nate have been friends since high school and secretly in love with each other, but can’t seem to tell one another. That is until Bree drinkingly tells a reporter somewhat the truth of her feelings. Nate’s , being a big time football player, publicist thinks this is a good idea for the media for them to date and that makes it harder for them to keep their feelings at bay.

My only complaint is how fast they moved at the end of the book, I get it they’ve both loved each other since they were 17, but no way does that mean you rush and get married. If you know you’ll love each other for life, I’d still think you’d not rush that.. but that’s my feelings. But all in all, I love their relationship and just got so chocked up for them!