Meet Me at the River

by Kenzie Ford

HUDSON

I’ve been in love with my best friend since I was thirteen—since the day I saved him from drowning in the Jones River. Five years later, he’s dating my twin sister, and my heart hasn’t gotten the memo. I’ll take his friendship over losing him, which is why he’ll never know how deep my feelings go. And if that secret isn’t enough, my talent for pretending everything is fine helps me hide my panic attacks and depression from the world. I overachieve, smile, perform—anything not to be a burden.

But just as my wildest dreams start to come true, an obsessive secret admirer threatens everything I’ve longed for. And when the darkness closes in, even Cullen’s light isn’t enough to pull me back from the ledge.

CULLEN

Things aren’t going well with my girlfriend, my best friend’s sister, and I’m starting to think I may be with the wrong twin. One night at a party, jealousy hits me harder than I want to admit, and suddenly I can’t ignore the feelings for Hudson I’ve been shoving down for years. As he starts to open up to me about his struggles, I can’t help but want to wrap him up and protect the man who’s becoming my everything.

But the closer we get, the more someone seems determined to tear us apart. I’m trying to keep him steady, keep him safe, keep us—but the pressure is building, and I’m terrified this will crash before we ever have a real chance.

This book is intended for audiences 18+. It contains explicit scenes between two consenting adults (18 years old).

Genres: Friends To Lovers, M M Romance

390 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 22, 2026

Reviews

[Naulee · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I love him. I love him in a way I never loved Hadley. And he loves me. I’ve already seen him at rock bottom. Before we were together—I stayed. I held him through the darkness because that’s what you do when you love someone. I know it will be hard, but it’ll never be as hard as what he faces. He’s not a burden. He’s my everything. I know, deep down in my bones, that Hudson is my forever.”

I just finished reading this for 7 hours straight and, woah I'm so blown away.
Hudson and Cullen, two best friends falling in love -but its nowhere near simple.

Cullen would rather be hanging out with his best friend than his girlfriend, the latter relationship fizzling out and full of toxic problems but he has a hard time letting go of because 1) its what he's known for the past 3 years and 2) she's his best friends sister. But boy, once he starts really noticing how attached he is to his best friend, he's an all in kind of guy. And I loved him, he was so determined to love Hudson in every way and wanted to protect him.

Hudson, I really just want to wrap in a blanket and fight off all the world and his demons, but we'll leave that to Cullen. His mental struggles resonate so loudly, and the angst will sucker punch you a couple of times throughout this book.

This was written so well, I had to read it in less than a day. The pacing was a good medium speed as we got into the boys' romantic relationship, and the spice felt perfectly situated throughout the entire book. The twists and subplots had me on edge; stalker, bitchy girls, and pill problems? Yeah I didn't forget about that missing pill bottle.

But that cliffhanger? I saw it coming a mile away but still wasn't prepared. The first person POV really hit deep into understanding Hudson's mental anguish and I'm livid about how he was treated by a number of the side characters.

Meet Me at the River will have you on an emotional roller-coaster filled with lots of all the pining, angst, grief. Definitely check your trigger warnings if you have them, I can read all kinds of angsty things but my blood is still pumping after finishing this. I can't wait to see how this will all work out in the 2nd book.
____________________________________
If I have a gripe, its with the female secondary characters. Its going to take a lot to redeem Hadley and Ella for me. Now I know they're also angsty 18 year old girls with problems, but come on damn. I had a some choice words with my kindle notes about them. Maybe its the lack of seeing how close Hudson's relationships with each of them we got to see, but I didn't feel like Hadley was a good sister at all, like there wasn't a whole lot of sibling connection outside of them living in the same house and her dating his best friend.
And Ella is supposed to be this longtime best friend but her and Cullen haven't gotten along since he came into the friendship picture so we don't see much of her relationship with Hudson either except when she's high most of the time, carrying around her bag of pills, and acting shifty af.
Now it looks like Hadley is getting her own book, but there needs to be some deep soul searching before I can forgive her for all her nonsense

[Margot Moss · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book left a lasting impression on me. For a debut author, Kenzie delivers a powerful and beautifully written story. Cullen and Hudson are incredibly tender, fully realized characters, and witnessing everything they endure together is both heartbreaking and deeply moving.

This story made me feel so many things. I laughed, I cried (a lot), and I sat with the emotions long after I turned the final page. That ending stayed with me, and I’m eagerly waiting for part two of their journey.

Those two boys have a permanent piece of my soul

✔️ mental health representation
✔️ best friends to lovers
✔️ awakening
✔️ stalker subplot
✔️ first times
✔️ young love

I won’t list content warnings to avoid spoiling important elements of the story, but readers should be aware that the book contains heavy mental health themes and may be triggering.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blown away!!

I don’t even know where to start!!

My mind is blown away just by the essence of this book. It is captivating, it pulls at your heart strings and you won’t be able to put it down.

To watch Cullen and Hudson go from best friends to boyfriends is outstanding. We have all had that kind of friendship and to know that they found love and home in one another, is something I didn’t realize I was missing! Kenzie’s ability to conveys such love between Hudson and Cullen is remarkable

There are a few characters I would like to grab by the collar and shake, but I think those characters added so much humanity to this book.

Kenzie is definitely an auto buy author for me!!!

[sasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW THIS BOOK WAS EVERYTHING. 5 STARS HUDSON AND CULLEN WERE EVERYTHING. THAT ENDING GUTTED me BUT I trust the process and I know we will get the healing in part two. I can‘t wait to see these two get their happy ending because god do they deserve it!!!
Also ella and hadley gave me so much aggression not gonna lie, I really did not like them at all, they pissed me off.
I just wanted cullen and hudson to be left alone bc they got blow after blow my poor babies. They could not take a break especially hudson. But the way cullen was always there for him even when hudson tried to make him believe that he‘s not worth it was everything. The way he reassured hudson and calmed him down was just heartwarming. These two were just beautifulll and so right for each other.
I CANT WAIT FOR JUNE, I need the next book right now. I wanna see them happy soo badd.

I‘m still on edge with everything left unsaid and not knowing who the stalker is. I need to know bc I hate that person with my life.
I need them free from that fr stalker plss and all the toxic people.

[Tami · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omg

I can't believe it ended like that....I just bawled my eyes out. This was such a good book. Hudson broke my heart.

[Shy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I had looked further before I started reading. It ends on a cliffhanger and the second book isn’t released yet. 😭

[Kai Jennex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't review often, so apologies for being rusty. This was the first book I read in 2026, and I made the unfortunate mistake of starting it late at night on a workday. I got hooked immediately and went to work tired and then ended up finishing it that day because I couldn't put it down.

This had the angst, the spice and the plot that I needed. I loved Hudson, who is the sweetest and needs to be protected at all costs (and his sarcasm is on point). Cullen is the best boyfriend, and his humour and self-acceptance had my heart melting.

Plus, the spice was GOOD.

The last pages made me cry, but I know all the pain is going to be so worth it. This was an amazing debut for an author, and I'm looking forward to all of their future work.

[Joe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I regret finishing this book. The protagonist Hud is absolutely unlikable, even though he’s betrayed as this deep suffering soul. He has very few redeeming qualities despite his so-called suffering. And I was stunned by the depiction of the teenage girls in this. All of them are portrayed as narcissistic, vindictive, and even physically violent out of control teenagers. Not a single female teenage character is portrayed in a positive light. I don’t know what the author is trying to work out here, but it’s within the domain of misogyny.

What a waste of my time.

[Meredith Beaver-Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gut wrenching beautiful

This book was on my recommended book list and I didn’t even realize that it was the authors first book.
I’m glad I didn’t realize because if I’m being honest I normally wait to see what others think before diving in.
This book gives you all the feels. It’s a friends to lovers mm with mental health tropes and a side of mystery.
The spice level is a 3/5 and appropriately done without overdoing it.
Check trigger warnings for sure as there are mental health issues that could trigger you.
Can’t wait for the second book!!!!

[Sarah Nicholson · Rating 4 out of 5]

amazing beautiful book but it loses one star because if I had of known it would end on a cliffhanger while I was in the middle of bawling my eyes out I would have waited for the next book to be written first.....how DARE you Kenzie Ford? You better write quick 😘

[Anthonymph · Rating 5 out of 5]

heavy... but good