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It's been over a year since Jasmine broke things off with her fiance William and she's ready to finally push past the heartbreak and work on herself. Jasmine is an aspiring writer and this time around she is determined to make it come true all on her own. Despite her determination of handling it herself, her childhood best friend Oren won't allow it. Especially after running into Jasmine's smug ex-fiance and his soon to be wife. Regardless of Jasmine's refusal, Oren comes up with a devious plan to make William believe that Jasmine and him are the real deal. But as Jasmine continues to write her book and play along with Oren's lies she begins to realize that the muse for her romance novel is Oren. Despite her feelings Jasmine's not sure if she's ready to risk her friendship with Oren to have him be more than just her friend... more than just her muse.

292 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 16, 2024

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About the author

Eliana Vazquez

7 books15 followers
Eliana Vazquez is a self-published author from Kearny, New Jersey. She graduated from the University of New Haven, where she majored in communications, her concentration being in Film and Media Production. When she’s not at her desk writing you can find her enabling her coffee addiction and buying more books than she could ever read.

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5 stars
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7 (21%)
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4 (12%)
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
Profile Image for gonereader .
186 reviews19 followers
February 17, 2024
The MUSE

First of all thank you to this wonderful author for sending me such a cute arc package.

The best part was reading the book, with the candles lit🫶🏼🖤which smelled really good!!!

I feel like l have been on a row, a 5 star row. And it feels quite amazing.

This book of course is 5 star worthy. And YES l was swooning over the characters during my reading, because that’s just how great they were.

And what’s even more amazing, is how this is author Eliana’s debut book, and she did such a phenomenal job in creating an enjoyable and enticing read.

Jasmine & Oren 🫶🏼🖤

Their story is one you won’t want to miss out on reading!! THE WRITING is just as great as the characters and plot for sure. ✍️ ✨
Profile Image for Tash Victoria reads.
87 reviews16 followers
February 19, 2024
✨ You, Jasmine, have always been the definition of love ✨

🔹This story is told in dual POV if besties, Jasmine, an aspiring author, and Oren, a successful artist.

🌀 Book blurb: •It's been over a year since Jasmine broke things off with her fiancé, William, and she's ready to finally push past the heartbreak and work on herself. Jasmine is an aspiring writer, and this time around she is determined to make it come true all on her own. Despite her determination to handle it herself, her childhood best friend Oren won't allow it. Especially after running into Jasmine's smug ex-fiancé and his soon to be wife. Regardless of Jasmine's refusal, Oren comes up with a devious plan to make William believe that Jasmine and him are the real deal. But as Jasmine continues to write her book and play along with Oren's lies, she begins to realize that the muse for her romance novel is Oren. Despite her feelings, Jasmine's not sure if she's ready to risk her friendship with Oren to have him be more than just her friend—more than just her muse.•

My thoughts 💭
This book!! I loved reading about Jaz & Oren ☺️. Oren is the flirtatious, handsome, hilarious best friend, & Jaz is filled with self doubt yet determined to make her dreams come alive. Their childhood friendship & family history just made the story for me… and be prepared for some hot 🥵 scenes. Friends-to-lovers always makes me giggle & smile like I’m 20 years younger for some reason🫣🤣. I read this book in less than a day, and if I didn’t have adulting obligations I probably would have read it in one sitting! I highly recommend this one for sure! Thank you so much Eliana 🫶🏽

💙Tropes you will find:
* Friends to Lovers
Profile Image for Alba.
45 reviews1 follower
February 19, 2024
The muse is a great and fast read that just leaves you feeling happy.

Who wouldn’t want an Oren in their life and who hasn’t felt like Jasmine.

Oren is so confident and goes after what he wants and what he wants is Jasmine, he is so patient and loving with her.
Jasmine can at times be a bit frustrating but I can also relate to her because we all get those feelings of self doubt.

I also love the trope of best friends to lovers, sometimes the person that is meant for you is there next to you but you haven’t realized it. And I loved to see how Jasmine was to realize her self worth and move on from her ex-finance.

Over all this was a great read and I am excited to see what more stories this author comes out with!!

I also loved that the author included a great playlist to listen to while reading this book! She really thought of everything!

I also want to thank the amazing author Eliana Vazquez for the opportunity to receive an arc reading package that was beautiful!
Profile Image for Jenny.
2 reviews
February 18, 2024
I absolutely adored this book! It was a captivating read from start to finish, and I couldn't recommend it enough. From the addictive plot to the love-able characters, I could not put it down.

Oren and Jaz are quite literally perfect for each other in every sense! The chemistry and tension between them was so strong all throughout the book.

This definitely got me out of my reading slump after a while and will be put on my reread list.

So many emotions were running through my head while reading and some scenes even had me sobbing for a good minute.

It has everything I love in a romance book and more. This is one of few books that truly met all of my expectations!! I highly recommend that you read this book!!!
Profile Image for TeafromTya.
41 reviews14 followers
February 27, 2024
Received this an ARC and let me first start off by saying that box was beautiful!! The book cover STUNNING! 😍

It’s giving watt pad story and I’m here for it!! I LOVED this book. I was kicking, crying, giggling, frustrated, screaming into my hand, and so much more! Oren seriously became one of my book boyfriends. Everyone needs an Oren in their life.

The relationship development between Oren and Jasmine was amazing. I loved how Jasmine finally went after what/who she wanted and made her dreams reality. Of course along the way there were road blocks and drama but what good success story doesn’t have a little bit of both 😉
This book truly describes “dating your best friend”

Best friends to lovers trope…I’m here for it! Definitely recommend especially if you liked “Night shift” by Annie Crown.

Definitely reading the other books in the series which can be read as standalone books.
Profile Image for Mrs. Yang.
15 reviews1 follower
March 12, 2024
Jasmine is doing her best to recover from the broken heart her ex-fiancé has left her with but when she runs into him at a restaurant with his new fiancé she's at a loss for words. Lucky for her Oren, her best friend, isn't and as he spins a tale of his new (fake) relationship with Jasmine he sets off a domino effect that leads to both he and Jasmine having to face very real feelings.

Thank you so much to Eliana Vazquez for gifting me this ARC and beautiful packaged gifts that came with it.

The Muse is set up as a friends to lovers, fake dating romance. As we meet Jasmine and Oren however we don't get to discover much about their friendship outside of the fact that they were neighbors and Oren tends to ignore Jasmines boundaries. Because we don't get to experience their friendship much in the beginning we must instead rely on the fake dating trope. However that does not last long either as Jasmine and Oren quickly move from fake dating to real dating. Regardless of the speed of the tropes however we are sucked into their relationship. As Oren an artist who worships the ground Jasmine walks on is finally able to show her just what she means to him you cannot help but be transported into a place of pure delight from the two being together. And as Jasmine discovers her ability of writing far more then PG stories, it is Oren that reveals that in her and unwinds he writing and her body.

Jasmine is not the only one unwound by Orens help however. As the debut author begins Vazquez writing seems compounded and a bit repetitive but this lost within the first smutty scene and by the last it has all but evaporated. The smut of the story not only blossoms our characters its blossoms the writing as well leading to honestly some of the best smut I have had the pleasure of reading.

However though I may have enjoyed it that could not completely save the story for me. 3 occurrences knocked two stars off for me. The first being Jasmines hair. As I read the story the continued mentioned of petting and hands in Jasmines hair continued to pull me out of the story in frustration. In what seems to be described as her 3B hair I was frustrated as a Black woman reading of a Black woman having hands run through her hair because it unfortunately was unrelateable in more ways then one. There is a wonderfully missed opportunity for Oren to put a bonnet on Jasmines head as she has fallen to sleep and as her best friend of over a decade it was something that would be expected and instead when she woke up he was still just able to run his hands through her hair. On a very personal level because her hair was mentioned so much but none of the qualities of care was mentioned once it was hard for me to navigate my frustration.
The other two occurrences were spoilers and while I will mention them further down I want to leave this section spoiler free I will finish with this. The beauty of The Muse is the book bursting to life as the characters do. As the story and writing in and of its self unfurls in an echo of Jasmine and her own blossoming I do find myself excited to read the next story of the series.














*SPOILERS*
There are three tropes that I absolutely hate outside if rom coms and honestly in them I don't love it all the time. Of the three two are present at the end of The Muse 1) Misunderstanding trope. 2) 3° act break up. It is my personal dislike for theses two things that have pulled the rating down for The Muse. It felt unnecessary for Jasmine not to explain to Oren, even if just in a note, why she was going to the wedding. The resulting in the third act breakup just didn't do it for me unfortunately. Though that gallery scene make up in front of the sculpture did almost save it for me.
Profile Image for bexbooklover.
1,037 reviews11 followers
March 7, 2024
💙The Muse💙
By Eliana Vazquez
⭐⭐⭐⭐

It's really impressive how well done this book is considering it's a debut. It's so beautifully written and well told and all the story is fully flushed out. It was such an absolute delight to read.

I loved the concept of reading about Jasmine who is working on writing her debut novel but is really struggling with her self-esteem and belief in herself. But she has Oren who is her best friend and greatest supporter.

What is truly delightful about this book is that it is fake dating at its finest. These two cook up a plan to pretend to be dating to make her ex fiance jealous but also just to make it so she's not waiting around pining after him.

It was so refreshing to read a friend to lovers romance where the friendship didn't feel like it took us a back seat to the romance. If you are at all the fan friends to lovers then I highly recommend this book. You will not be disappointed.

Thank you so much to the author for the beautiful arc package and allowing me to read you're amazing work.
Profile Image for Lyna • lynasbookshelf.
294 reviews17 followers
February 20, 2024
Aspiring author, Jasmine, unexpectedly runs into her ex fiancé while out to dinner with her best friend, Oren. Oren has never liked her ex and what better way to get back at him than pretend to be dating Jasmine. Sounds like a perfect revenge plan on her ex, right? Well it gets a little complicated when Oren wants Jasmine to move in with him. Throughout the story, it’s clear that Oren has loved Jasmine with all his being since they were kids. Jasmine was a bit slower to realize her feelings but she got there eventually. Eliana Vazquez is a new to me author and she did NOT disappoint. I loved seeing Oren express his love for Jasmine in his actions and his words. Jasmine trying to get her first novel written and having doubts was relatable in that we all feel a sense of impending failure or imposter syndrome. The spice in this book was pour a bucket of water on me SPICY. It’s definitely one of my faves of February.
Profile Image for Anh Duong.
112 reviews4 followers
February 18, 2024
5/5 🌟
3/3 🥵
The Muse is an Amazing and so intriguing debut Novel

The Muse is love story between Jasmine and Oren, they have been best friend for a long time and both of them always know they are something more than just a friendship.

I love how their relationship changing throughout the story. They flow so naturally which not many books have Best friend to lovers can portray so smoothly like this.

Along with Beautiful writing with amazing cast of characters as well as mesmerizing love story keep hooking me in story.

Highly recommended checking out The Muse. I will love it as much as me, I just know that .
Profile Image for besprings.
3 reviews
February 29, 2024
I wanna start by thanking the author for sending the most amazing arc package 🩵 The thought and love put into it really gave me high hope for the thought and love put into this book and boy was I right 😍 The Muse is a fantastic read, fast paced, and leaves you feeling amazing afterwards! I absolutely adored this book and these characters. They were so well written you actually were rooting for them by the end as if they were your best friends! I cannot recommend this one enough!! Absolutely amazing, I can’t wait for whats next!
Profile Image for Bookreadsbystar23.
10 reviews1 follower
February 22, 2024
The journey of these two best friends was so captivating, I couldn't stop reading. The book cover initially caught my eye, but the story itself was what truly drew me in. Both Jaz and Oren won me over with their charming personalities, and their friendship turning into love was just so heartwarming. And as a fan of steamy romance, the fact that this book had some of it was an added bonus for me, haha! I def recommend to read 💙💙💙
4 reviews
February 21, 2024
OMG

This was a really great read. The characters had me intrigued from the very beginning. It was a beautiful love story and had me feeling smitten by their love. Great story
Profile Image for Lorena  Merdeice.
Author 7 books7 followers
February 22, 2024
ARC Review: i. loved. this. book!

listen, everybody needs an Oren in the life- if not as a boyfriend, at the very least as the best friend. he was so perfect for Jasmine.

this book gave me "Lovelight Farms" vibes; it was sweet, spicy, cute, and definitely a lot of swooning.

it was a few parts where i was on edge hoping Jasmine didn't mess this up (because william was becoming a PROBLEM.) but Oren's patience and understanding always balanced everything out.

i'm definitely curious as to what happens next Kora. she was the perfect friend to both of them, so i hope we get to read her own story in the future 🩷🫶🏽
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews