Review: “To Be Your Only” by Rae Kennedy

Author: Rae Kennedy

Series: To Be Yours, #4

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Tropes: Best Friend’s Brother, Friends to Lovers

Release Date: November 19th, 2020

Goodreads | Amazon.in (Available on KU)

Synopsis: I’ve been in love with Wes since I was in braces. Him—not so much. But this is the summer I’m finally going to get him to notice me. And fall madly in love with me so we can live happily ever after, obviously.

Unfortunately, my best friend and partner-in-crime decided to run off for the summer, so I’m stuck with her annoying older brother, Eric, as my wingman.

Did I mention he’s annoying? This would be much easier if I weren’t constantly rolling my eyes at his sarcastic remarks or wishing I could wipe that little smirk off his face.

Want to know the most aggravating part? Now that things are finally starting to go my way with Wes, I can’t stop thinking about Eric and his dumb mouth.

Review: I absolutely loved To Be Your Last and it introduced me to such an incredible world of Rae Kennedy. I promised myself I’d go back in time and read the other two books, but then I saw that this was coming and I decided that I would go back later. To Be Your Only follows Kyla and Eric and their slow burn relationship. But don’t be fooled, it might be a slow burn, but when they do start to burn….it’s so damn hot.

We meet Kyla and Eric in the earlier book – before Gracie goes off on tour and falls in love with an insanely hot rockstar – but this book gives you everything you were waiting for. Like To Be Your Last, the characters in this book are so brilliant and so well thought out. Sure, do I wish we got to see Eric’s side of things? Absolutely. But I love that we got to see all of Kyla and her awesomeness.

As we discovered before, Kyla’s got this insane crush on Wes. Wes happens to be Eric’s friend, helps out on the family ranch and used to once date Eric’s sister. And now that Gracie is gone on tour for the summer, Kyla’s decided that she needs to make something happen. Which includes weaseling a job on the ranch for herself, so that she’s around Wes all the time, and getting Eric to help her get his attention. There’s a lot of awkward fumbling and tipping over into horse shit, but it’s all so entertaining.

I love love love, LOVE Kyla. She’s a riot. She’s totally my kind of girl. Whatever is on her mind, she spits it out. There is literally no filter and she doesn’t give a crap what other people have to say about that or about her. She’s also incredibly loyal and her friendship with Gracie is perfect and total friendship goals. But her love for her grandfather gave me all the feels and honestly that just tells you the kind of person someone is. She’s deferring from college and trying to find where she fits, much to her mother’s disdain. Kyla’s been set on Wes for so long that that’s all she wants and she’s not going to apologise for that.

Eric is brilliant. And such a unique character. Gracie’s older brother helps out with the family ranch and is a genuinely good guy. He’s 27 and a virgin, because he wants to hold out for someone special. But don’t get him wrong, he’s good in other ways. And his skills are definitely unexpected. Eric’s feelings for Kyla are not a secret, well, except from her. And I love that he didn’t get in her way and ruin what she was trying to achieve with Wes. He wants her to be happy and that means he’ll do whatever he can to help her out.

Rae has created these two incredible characters that we’ve gotten a whiff off in the past, but to see their stories unfold is truly special. It’s not just their relationship and romance that won me over, the characters on their own are brilliant. Kyla’s fiery spirit, her lack of filter and her desire to stand up for what she believes in truly makes her the kind of woman you’d want by your side. She’s also incredibly funny and charming. It’s hard to not love Kyla.

Nothing will prepare you for how hot these two are. There’s a reason I’ve given it five flames for steam, because good god, this book is truly on fire. It’s beyond hot. Put Kyla and Eric in a room and it’s instant flames. And their chemistry is so – for the lack of a better word – organic. Like they already have all this history between them and it just amplifies when they’re together. Also, beautiful people always make magic together. 

Do the right thing and get yourself this book, because I promise it’s going to blow your mind. Rae Kennedy has a way with words and storytelling that you are going to absolutely enjoy. 

Thanks to Rae Kennedy, NetGalley & RAKE Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.