Sink or Swim by Tessa Bailey 
Series: Beach Kingdom #3
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Setting: Long Beach, NY
Source: ARC
Also in this series: Mouth to Mouth
Also by this author: Thrown Down, Too Hot to Handle, Raw Redemption, Worked Up, Risking it All, Disorderly Conduct, Too Beautiful to Break, Follow, Indecent Exposure, Mouth to Mouth, Reborn Yesterday, It Happened One Summer, Window Shopping
Goodreads
Andrew Prince wakes up before everyone else. He schedules the bar shifts, demands perfection from Long Beach’s lifeguards—most of all himself—and makes sure the family debts are paid. His unfaltering worth ethic might leave him exhausted, but it comes with one advantage. It distracts him from the love he’s been harboring since childhood for the girl next door—who he cannot have.
Jiya Dalal has dreams. To fly a plane, see the world below…and prove irresistible to her best friend, Andrew. But she needs to be a good daughter first, which is becoming an increasingly difficult task, since her parents expect a good marriage and the man she loves with all her heart refuses to pursue the blistering connection between them. Just when she’s beginning to believe Andrew truly doesn’t want her, a moonlight tryst on the beach exposes his true feelings. But an echo from the past kept them apart before…and it’s only growing louder with every stolen kiss…
Sink or Swim is the final book in the Beach Kingdom series and the angst is HIGH. Andrew is, by far, the most serious and dedicated brother and he has forgone his own happiness for years. He has spent his life cleaning up his father’s messes and pining for Jiya, his best friend. Jiya waits for a long time for Andrew to make the move, but it never happens and she realizes she has to move on with her life.
As I mentioned, so much angst you guys. Andrew is one seriously tortured guy. He is consumed with Jiya but won’t do a thing about it. He won’t say anything. I wanted to reach into the book and choke him. I understood he felt that he couldn’t risk Jiya being in danger from whatever BS his dad had pulled or being afraid she wouldn’t love him back. Dude, grow some balls!! I was really annoyed. However, Andrew is also really good with the devotion and swoon.
He and Jiya had a nightly ritual of talking to each other from their bedroom windows. At the end of each conversation, he would ask “Is there anything I can do for you?” and it totally gave me Princess Bride vibes which I loved. Andrew is very devoted to Jiya and there are some seriously swoonworthy moments.
Sink or Swim started off angsty and I wasn’t sure I was gonna stick with it. By the end, I was glad I did because Jiya and Andrew’s story was tender, beautiful and hot AF!
- POV: 3rd
- Tears: no
- Trope: friends to lovers
- Triggers: none
- Series/Standalone: stand alone
- Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
- HEA: View Spoiler »
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other friends to lovers stories like Call Her Mine by Melissa Foster, Chasing the Ballgirl by Trish Williford, I Think I Love You by Lauren Layne…then you will probably like Sink or Swim!
Sink or Swim
I’m glad that this ended up having a hea. It sounds really good.
I’d llike to try this series. And I loved your ffinal thoughts on this one!
[…] Sink or Swim by Tessa Bailey, The Friend Zone by Sariah Wilson, Call Her Mine by Melissa Foster…then you will probably like Heartland! […]