Series: The Greene Family #7
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Release Date: July 12th, 2022
CW: secondary character with cancer, death of a parent
When your best friend growing up is a girl, that’s the song your classmates taunt you with over and over again. But it was never like that… until now.
It’s always been Clara and me. She’s the only one who truly knows me. After I was drafted into the NFL and ended up the starting quarterback for the San Francisco Kingsmen, I begged her to come with me. But she had her own life and responsibilities back in our small Alaskan town, so I didn’t fault her for staying.
We remained the best of friends despite the distance. I’d hang with her in Alaska during the off season, and she’d visit me in California while I was playing. Then, one night the lines blurred for the briefest of moments and set in motion a series of events that changed everything.
I’m not proud of the decisions I made after that fateful night, and I plan on making amends, because I need Clara back in my life. But not as my best friend—as my everything.
Since this series kicked off, I’ve been waiting for Clara and Xavier’s story and I’m so happy to have finally gotten it. In true Piper Rayne fashion, they wrote a captivating book that I finished in a few hours. I think every time I’ve gotten one of their ARCs, I drop everything else to focus on just reading and because it was Clara and Xavier, I was even more determined. It was so great to go back to Sunrise Bay, to see all the familiar faces and brace for the rest of the series. Plus, knowing that we’re getting more Greenes and Sunrise Bay books just makes me all kinds of giddy!
In My Scorned Best Friend, you’ll get:
✨ best friends to enemies to lovers
✨ a handsome small town football star
✨ a gorgeous small town librarian
✨ lots of family shenanigans
✨ the old folks at Northern Lights Retirement Home
✨ quite a bit of tears
✨ a slow burn
If you’ve read the rest of the series, then you’ve also been waiting to find out what the hell is going to happen with Clara and Xavier. Their friendship has been a big point in all of the books so far, especially since everyone in their families thinks they’re going to be together, but they’re never more than just friends. But in this book, we finally see all of that tip over. When one explosive night together freaks Xavier out, he takes a step back and tells Clara that they’re probably better as friends and nothing else. Except, that confrontation leads to them not speaking for two whole years and getting everyone in their families concerned about what’s going on. Till another bout of jealousy drives Xavier to finally do what he’s always wanted to do—give himself to Clara.
Much like the other books, you’re always going to have the Greene family members get in everyone else’s business and strangely enough, it’s so entertaining. I loved going back to Sunrise Bay and hanging out with Ethel and Dori and Midge and their wild shenanigans. I also appreciate their meddling and getting these two characters back together. Well, almost. It’s uncomfortable at first, this tenuous relationship they’ve got going on and then it becomes a little easier because they’ve agreed to at least be friends again. But then it also drives you mad because you know that both of them want so much more than just friendship.
“Kindergarten friends to lovers, all they’ve shared together, the town librarian and the famous quarterback. The romantic comedy script practically writes itself.”
I appreciated Xavier’s grovelling and his apology and fixing things with Clara, because it’s safe to say that I was not impressed with all of the things he’d done in the last book and how he handled their friendship. I loved that even though she wanted to give into him, Clara made Xavier work for it every single step of the way. I enjoyed watching them repair their friendship and slowly work towards being in a relationship. I understood all of Xavier’s concerns about love and I could feel just how much it scared him.
I wasn’t expecting all the tears that I shed, but there were some really beautiful scenes between Xavier and Hank, as well as all of his siblings. I appreciated how deeply all of them feel and how Xavier’s history with losing his mother affected him the most, making everyone help him to get his head on straight. Gotta hand it to Clara for being so patient, because the wait was well worth it when they finally give in to their desires and act on all of the things they feel for each other.
I cannot wait for the next two books, because I can tell that they’re going to be a fantastic way to say goodbye to this series!
Thanks to Valentine PR for generously providing me with an advance copy. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
anna reads here 
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