The One I Stood Beside by Piper Rayne is now live!
It’s the classic story—best friends since childhood agree to a fake marriage, thinking they can pretend to love each other without their relationship changing.
Jude would do anything for me. He’s stood by my side since we were six, and I’ve done the same for him.
When my father dies, leaving our family farm drowning in debt and on the brink of being auctioned, I’m not surprised Jude steps in to help. I just never dreamed he’d fall to bended knee and devise a plan for us to fool everyone into thinking there’s more than a lifelong friendship between us.
Soon, I’m moving into his house, we’re planning a wedding on his family’s ranch, and we discover a new side to our relationship. I keep reminding myself it’s not real—it’s only to secure a loan to save the farm.
I’ve secretly loved Jude all my life, and now that I know how good we are together, I’m not sure we can return to being just friends.
Download today on Amazon, Apple Books, Audible, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, and Kobo!
Audio Narrated by: Troy Duran & Rose Dioro
Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/4212SRK
Sunny Shelly’s Review: 4 Stars
When I read The One I Left Behind, I was itching for Sadie and Jude’s story. And despite a few things I shook my head over, Piper Rayne delivered a satisfying best friends/secretly-in-love-with-each-other/fake marriage romance in The One I Stood Beside.
To help Sadie save her family farm, Jude offers to marry his best friend. Except that he’s been in love with her forever, and she’s been in love with him forever, and they both really wish their marriage was the real deal. I was glad that Sadie and Jude ‘fessed up to their real feelings for one another shortly after their fake wedding and it wasn’t dragged out. Because I was already shipping these two characters hard, and I wanted to see how they acted as a couple.
But I kind of got tripped up on the fact that these two characters are in their 30s and never told each other how they feel. There were so many missed opportunities. Both of them have some hangups, and I feel like we really got a look into Jude’s head and how he always compared himself to his successful pro-athlete brother, Ben. Therefore, always feeling that he was never good enough. I just wished there weren’t so many missed opportunities between Jude and Sadie, because I really loved how well they complemented one another.
Troy Duran and Rose Dioro did a great job with the duet narration in telling Sadie and Jude’s story, and I look forward to more from the Naughton family!
I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.
Meet Piper Rayne
Piper Rayne is a USA Today Bestselling Author duo who write “heartwarming humor with a side of sizzle” about families, whether that be blood or found. They both have e-readers full of one-clickable books, they’re married to husbands who drive them to drink, and they’re both chauffeurs to their kids. Most of all, they love hot heroes and quirky heroines who make them laugh, and they hope you do, too!
Connect with Piper Rayne
Website: www.PiperRayne.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15810938.Piper_Rayne
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Piper-Rayne/e/B01ND0R15R
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PiperRayne/
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PiperRaynesUnicorns
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Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/piper-rayne
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Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/PiperRayne?ref=shop_sugg
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