Best of You

Colorado Black Diamonds #5

by Emily Silver

Marrying my best friend in Vegas? Not exactly what I had in mind…

Alice Burke has been my best friend since college. Nothing like a girl puking all over you to cement your friendship. Distance never mattered. But getting traded to the Colorado Black Diamonds put us in the same city.

When I invite her along to Vegas to celebrate our Cup win, the last thing I expect is to wake up married to her. An annulment should be easy, right?

Wrong.

For Alice to get her dream shop, she needs to stay married for the next year. And to prevent a PR nightmare for the team, we have no other choice.

No one needs to know the truth. Just friends.

Except that truth gets harder to keep the more time we spend together. We’re only doing this to help each other. Nothing more. Until one night we cross the line.

This was only supposed to last a year. One taste, and I’m hooked. There’s no way I can give her up.

Maybe we can find a way to make this thing work.

We’re in this together, right?

It’s what any friend would do.

Genres: Sports

280 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication January 30, 2026

About the author

After winning a Young Author’s Award in second grade, Emily Silver was destined to be a writer. She loves writing strong heroines and the swoony men who fall for them.

A lover of all things romance, Emily started writing books set in her favorite places around the world. As an avid traveler, she’s been to all seven continents and sailed around the globe.

When she’s not writing, Emily can be found sipping cocktails on her porch, reading all the romance she can get her hands on and planning her next big adventure!

Find her on social media to stay up to date on all her adventures and upcoming releases!

Reviews

[Trish- Late Knight Luna Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m always a happy reader with a hockey romance in my hand and I was so excited when Emily SIlver announced a new book was coming to one of my favorite series. “Best of You” is a swoony, heartfelt, and romantic best friends to lovers accidental Vegas marriage that I couldn’t put down once I started.

Ever since their first awkward meeting in college, Declan and Alice have been best friends. They have been through it all and now they’re both living in the same city again. Declan is living off the high of winning the championship, some of the team plans a trip to Vegas. And after too many shots, the next morning Declan and Alice discovered they got married. Agreeing to get it annulled back home, both discover it would be beneficial to stay married for at least a year. But as they live together, feelings start to shift into something more than just friends.

I love that Emily surprised us with another book in this series. Declan and Alice were so swoon worthy and I loved them as friends and even more as a couple. Declan is caring, smart and a great teammate. He might have been traded to the Black Diamonds but he is close to the guys. I loved how he and Alice met in college and remained close throughout the years. Alice is genuine, sweet and a person I would want to be friends with in real life. Despite having parents who were pressured to be a part of the family business, she found her career as a floral designer and truly loved going to work every day. Their friendship was so solid and was the perfect base for them to become more than friends. The burn was medium-ish and when they finally gave into those feelings, the steamy scenes were so great. They had unmatched passion and chemistry. I loved all the in-between season stuff we got to read about, it made it even more fun. The ending was perfect and I enjoyed this story so much.

[Jodi - JodiReadsnListens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Swoon! Best of You by Emily Silver was a sweet and feel-good friends-to-lovers sports romance that made my heart go all a-flutter from start to finish. I couldn’t get enough of Alice and Declan’s accidental Vegas wedding, leading to a full-on forever romance. There is something about a best-friends-to-lovers romance that gets me every single time. This one definitely ended up adding a touch of marriage of convenience two because both needed something from the other. Alice was required to be married to inherit her trust, and Declan wanted to keep his NHL image looking clean. I adored how easy their love felt when they finally gave in to temptation and realized their love for each other was real, true, and deep. Catching up with all the Colorado Black Diamonds was also tons of fun, and I found myself smiling through this entire book.

Overall, I enjoyed this book! If you are a fan of a sports romance with a hot hockey hunk, a devoted florist, a drunken wedding in Vegas, intrusive parents, supportive colleagues, teammates who have your back, day dates with the cup, drive-in movies, spicy spice, making your intentions clear, new business opportunities, intimate conversations, love declarations, standing up for yourself, and a HEA that will bloom bright in your heart, then you will love Alice and Declan. I always look forward to more from Emily Silver.

[Betty Wong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two of my favorite tropes: hockey romance and friends to lovers! Declan and Alice have this sweet chemistry. They work both as best friends and as lovers. Sometimes the transition from friends to lovers can be stunted but not here. It’s a natural progression between the two.
And Emily Silver gives us another look at the Colorado Black Diamond Hockey series and this time it’s Declan’s turn. He’s a sweet soul who has a big heart for his Alice. Love how cute he is about his feelings for her.
Alice is equally sweet. She’s a product of two rich parents who are trying to corner her into what they believe she should be and not what she has chosen for herself.
The underlying story in Alice and Declan’s book is about family not being identified as just by blood but by chosen friends. This book does a great job of reminding us how important friends are in our lives.
And let’s not forget the hockey side of our story. Loved the landscape Emily gave us of the Black Diamonds in this book! It was a great entertaining read!

[Emily Johnston (Booked.Up.With.Emily) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alice and Declan have been friends since college. Their friendship has stayed true to one another and they have been the other persons rock throughout everything. But that's all it has ever been. Friendship. They never crossed that line, but now they find themselves in a tricky situation that forces them to stay in a marriage of convenience. But crossing that line from friends to lovers doesn't seem as far fetched as it once did.

Vegas wedding
Hockey romance
Marriage of convenience
He falls first
Forced proximity

Alice and Declan have an accidental Vegas wedding, that turns into a marriage of convenience. These two are closer than two friends can be, and when they cross over that friendship line, it truly seemed seamless for them!

I loved their little friendship, and their naivety about their feelings towards one another.

If there's one thing Emily Silver does well, it is write friends to lovers and found family. I loved seeing all of the hockey couples from this series!

[Chelsea Mansell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best of You by Emily Silver eARC Review 🏒💜

Emily has written the perfect friends to lovers, accidental marriage story that had me hooked from the very beginning.

I honestly adored this book. I read it in one sitting and thought it was sweet, funny, heartwarming and everything I could want in a sports romance.

Declan and Alice have the most hilarious meet cute in college and have been friends ever since. When they drunkenly find themselves married after a night out in Vegas after a Stanley Cup win, they both can benefit from this “accidental marriage.”

I loved watching them both fall in love with one another. They are so dang sweet together and Declan is such a golden retriever who will do anything to make Alice happy. She is the sweetest soul and I was rooting so hard for her to get her hea.

What to expect:
Vegas wedding
Hockey romance
Marriage of convenience
Golden retriever hero
He falls first
Friends to lovers
Forced proximity

Thank you so much Emily for the arc!

[Hayley Peckham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ahhhhhh I devoured Alice and Declan 😍🔥 A top tier friends to lovers romance.

They start with the cutest (and a little gross 🤣) meet cute in college and immediately click into best friend mode… and then BAM…years later they’re in Vegas, riding the high of Declan’s career win, one too many drinks deep, and suddenly they wake up married. Iconic. ✨

What’s supposed to be a quick annulment? Yeah… turns out feelings don’t come with an undo button and the universe has plans to derail their plans.

I am a weak, weak person for stories where someone realizes their best friend has been their person all along and Declan figuring it out first? I was DONE. 😭💀 This man was painfully adorable, unexpectedly filthy, and absolutely swoon worthy. I loved every single second of it. And his nickname for Alice? So stinkin CUTE!!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️

Thank you Emily for the advanced copy to read 🫶

[Pauline (booksofviolette) · Rating 4 out of 5]

| Declan and Alice |

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕:
🏒 Vegas Wedding
🏒 Hockey Romance
🏒 Marriage of Convenience
🏒 Golden Retriever Hero
🏒 He Falls First
🏒 Friends to Lovers
🏒 Forced Proximity

I am so glad to be back with the Colorado Black Diamonds! I love hockey romance, and Vegas wedding turned into marriage of convenience, combined with friends to lovers, I adore!

Declan and Alice are the sweetest together, their bond and chemistry is undeniable and... There's nothing like a Vegas wedding to awaken your feelings for your best friend! And excuse me, the mouth this man has?! YES.

I always devour Emily's stories, they're so fast-paced I want to start and finish them in one sitting!

[Luisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

---

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 🌶️🌶️🌶️

This was probably one of my favorite best-friends-to-lovers and Las Vegas wedding tropes. This was such a fun, quick book. Alice and Declan are absolutely adorable. He’s now a professional hockey player for the Colorado Black Diamonds, and Alice is a florist whose dream is to own the business she works at. These two are perfect together. I especially loved that there was no third-act breakup and how these two supported each other throughout the story.

If you haven’t read the first four books in the series, no worries—you won’t be missing anything. But honestly, go back and read those books too!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this!  If you love a friends-to-lovers, accidental Vegas wedding, he falls first, sports romance you will love this. 

What started as accidental marriage (I mean it's Vegas, these things happen) turned into a marriage of convenience when the two best friends needed each other even more.

I loved seeing their relationship develop from friends to lovers.  

I was excited to be back in the Colorado Black Diamonds world as it is always fun catching up with old favourites.   

I loved every minute of Alice and Declan's story.  I couldn't put it down. 

[Nicolette Sampson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alice Burke and Declan Paddack have a long history together. From Alice throwing up on Declan to Declan wanting his best friend to join him in Vegas to celebrating winning the Stanley Cup! One night in Vegas with way too many shots leads to these two getting MARRIED! I loved how supportive Declan’s teammates and parents were with Alice becoming his wife. The way she truly found her forever family + her flower shop family made this book even better.

[Claudia Sexton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colorado Black Diamonds Book 5 with Declan and Alice, who are seriously one of the cutest couples I have read. They are so supportive of each other, and their interactions are on a scale from fun to slightly embarrassing at times. 🤭 The friendship they had bloomed 😉 into something special and beautiful. This has some of my favorites, marriage of convenience, best friends to lovers, and of course, hockey! 😁

[Onnalee Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely love this best friends to fake marriage to lovers story of Declan and Alice!

Every single book in the Black Diamonds Hockey is fantastic and absolutely love the amount of plot and spice Emily puts into every single book!

These boys have become such a great family and I love every single book of this series so much!!!

[Jessica Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny and sweet accidental marriage of convenience story. I loved that Alice and Declan were friends first. The story would have still worked if they hadn’t been but still. I love how the friendship still grew. I also loved that there was no third act break up. There was one thing I wish had been tied up. That being said, this is a book I would read again.