BOOKWORM REVIEW: My Scorned Best Friend by Piper Rayne

July 12, 2022

BOOKWORM REVIEW: My Scorned Best Friend by Piper Rayne

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

STEAM: 🔥🔥.5

What do you do when the man you counted on the most in your life broke your heart and betrayed your friendship?

Clara and Xavier were inseparable until one night changes their friendship forever. Scared by emotions he did not realize he harbored for his best friend, Xavier runs off, breaking Clara's heart and creating this animosity between them.

Now Xavier is back, and he wants all in with Clara. But she has not completely gotten over her broken heart, so Xavier has work to do.

So how does one mend a heart broken by your best friend? Piper Rayne creates a fantastic blueprint with Clara and Xavier's story. The tension, the angst, the groveling, the wooing. It was a relatable, engaging story about second chances. If you don't count their first time, I would consider their second chance a slow burn, but the wait is worth it only to witness Xavier figuratively begging his way back into Clara's good graces.

This may not be the first book in the series, but it was my first visit to Sunrise Bay and this read did well as a standalone.

** I am voluntarily reviewing an advance copy of this book. Thank you to Piper Rayne and Valentine PR and Literary Management for providing an ARC. **

ABOUT THE BOOK

Xavier and Clara kissing in a tree...

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.