Eric Schuster is a successful guy. He’s part owner of a highly successful tech firm, he has a supportive family and a great group of close friends. But something is missing. Or maybe he’s reacting to his business partner and ex’s wedding news. He knows his former lover is making a big mistake but he also knows it’s time to move on. And hopefully avoid falling for another friend.
Zane Richards is an avid sailor and surfer with a laid-back approach to life. He firmly believes there’s a time and place for everything if you’re willing to take a chance. Like letting his best friend know he’s interested in being much more than friends. Eric has always been half in love with Zane but going from friends to lovers isn’t an easy sell for someone protecting his heart. Eric will have to decide if he’s willing to risk it all by leaning into love.
Narrated by: Seth Clayton Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins
Lane Hayes loves a good romance! She’s the bestselling author of the Out in College, Starting From, Better Than, A Kind Of, Right and Wrong, and Leaning Into Series! Lane loves red wine, chocolate and travel (in no particular order). All things she can find in sunny SoCal where she lives with her amazing husband in a not quite empty nest.
I love Lane Hayes, and I almost passed out from excitement when I read that this novella is the beginning of a new series set in San Francisco, the city of my youth (ah, yes, I spent my formative college years in the Bay Area and loved every fucking minute of it).
As is Hayes' trademark, this story is narrated by one of the MCs. Eric is a good Jewish boy (except in bed; in bed, he's slutty & naughty) still a little broken up over his business partner, friend, and former lover marrying a woman for her daddy's money. But Zane is there to show Eric what real love looks like. Zane is a dreamboat! I wanted to shove Eric aside and claim him as my own, but, damn it, Zane sees no one but Eric.
Romantic, sweet, and plenty steamy, Leaning Into Love is a quiet read with a gorgeous HEA and my favorite story in the anthology.
This was a good start to "Leaning Into Stories" series I didn't love it but I like it enough. Erik and Zane have been friends for a long time but recently they both started feeling an attraction to each other but Erik is hesitant to get involved with another close friend. I like this one but that considering that is a short read I wished it would of focus more on Erik and Zane relationship and not so much on his ex lover/friend Nick and his wedding drama. Overall it was a sexy and sweet story of friends to lovers and a great introduction of the characters for this series. ❤️
After having lived in the heart of San Francisco for well over a decade, I was thrilled that this story was set in the Bay Area. I had so many flashbacks while reading, which definitely enhanced my connection with the book.
I loved Eric (also my husband's name, heh), who never confused what he and his business partner, Nick, once had, years ago. Although he cares about Nick and is always cleaning up his clueless friend's messes, it was only truly ever about the sex. And he's at a point in his life where he's ready for something more. Something real.
I loved Zane, how he was pretty much an open book. What you saw was what you got, which was a very down-to-earth, laid-back guy who wasn't afraid to let others know when he cared about someone. After Nick, Zane's openness and honesty was exactly what Eric needed.
Nick made me want to punch a bitch. That is all.
The book wasn't overly angsty, although it did have its moments. For the most part, it a light read with a few feels, some well-written sexy bits and a solid HEA, so if you're looking for something along those lines, I'd definitely suggest this one.
Overall, I'd rate it around 4 stars.
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Too much focus on and too many appearances of the ex-boyfriend. Too much unnecessary hesitation and drama at the end. Eric kind of irritated me, but I liked Zane.
There was something incredible about seeing someone you've known for years in a different light.
Hey there friends to lovers trope! Good to see ya!
This was a nice introduction to a new to me author.
Eric and Zane have known each other since high school but didn't become friends until they both ended up at Stanford. They don't have that much in common with Eric being an uptight tech billionaire to Zane's laid back independent sailing business owner, but they are both self made men, so I wouldn't characterize them as opposites attracting.
I liked both of them equally and the evolution of their relationship felt organic with some awkward transitional moments and fumbling how to tell their circle of friends once they realize their relationship has crossed the line in the sand from friends to boyfriends.
I usually have a hard time investing in characters when reading anything other than a novel and that was again the case here. There's usually not adequate time to really flesh out the characters and as a character-centric reader I have a hard time connecting without that. I got an impression of both but I never sunk down into the read. However, it is a sweet, low angst story with some heartfelt moments between them, a couple of tingleworthy sex scenes and serves as a nice intro to a series.
Nick's marital nonsense caused problems for Eric and Zane not to mention his fiancée and I'll say Nick was not my favorite person. He doesn't deserve a friend as good as Eric. Douchey dude is douchey.
The sailing stuff and the fact that they both make efforts to really be in each others lives were the highlights of the story and the epilogue/bonus chapter. Those were both gooey. There was maybe a little too much interior decorating and label dropping but I didn't think it was excessive.
I'd recommend Leaning Into Love to fans of this trope who'd like a sweet little nugget of a read. It makes for a nice palatte cleanser.
Lately, I’m hit or miss with Ms. Hayes, but this short from the anthology It Was Always You, was an easy, breezy friends to lovers story.
Eric has always ignored his attraction towards his longtime friend Zane. However, it seems that Zane has been waiting for just the right opening and is ready to take the next step.
Nicely smexy and I’m quite grateful “honey” was only used twice in jest ;P
3 stars – Lane Hayes’s Leaning Into Love is a sweet, low-angst novella that originally appeared in the no-longer-available charity anthology, It Was Always You. This standalone edition has been edited slightly from the original and has a new bonus chapter added. Even so, this is still a relatively short novella, easily comfortable as a single-sitting read, with a heart-warming friends-to-lovers romance, though it’s one that left me unsatisfied because I felt there was so much potential left unrealized by keeping it as a short novella instead of expanding it into a full-length novel.
Eric Schuster founded a highly successful tech company with one of his best friends, who also happens to be an ex-lover about to get married to someone else, a fact that reminds Eric that even though the two of them are part of a tight-knit group of college buddies, he’s still missing something, and he needs to move on if he’s ever going to find it. Zane Richards is another guy in the group, a laid-back surfer-type who is also a successful yacht racer, and though he considers everyone in the group a friend, his connection with Eric is deeper, and he’s ready to take the chance on letting Eric know he’s interested in being more than friends. The step to being lovers without messing up the long-term friendship is never easy, but when Eric’s business partner decides to call off his engagement, the father-of-the-bride’s connection to both Eric’s and Zane’s businesses leaves Eric with a difficult choice if he wants to protect Zane from the fallout.
I’ve never made a secret of the fact that novellas generally leave me underwhelmed. Their short length typically doesn’t give enough time to develop a romance the way I like unless it has a single-minded focus on the romance itself with no substantial background plot or external conflict in the story at all. Unfortunately, Leaning Into Love doesn’t have that single focus. While I liked the characters and their romance is believable enough, the story didn’t give me much of the feels that I long for because there just isn’t enough room for romantic build when there’s an external story too. I was also not particularly convinced by the external conflict, because it seemed there was at least one too many degrees of separation between what Eric’s business partner did and what Eric worried would happen to Zane, and again there wasn’t enough pages to develop this into something that actually would convince me. Ultimately, the resolution is way too fast, even though it fits well with the theme present in the story.
All that being said, Lane Hayes is one of my favorite authors for realistic, low-drama romances because her writing style is among the smoothest I’ve read. That characteristic is apparent here as well, and that’s largely what kept me from being less satisfied by Leaning Into Love than I ultimately was. There is plenty of story and good characters here that I wish the author had just written a full story for it. I think that would have resulted in a much more satisfying read for me. But if it’s approached with the mindset that it’s going to be a short romance, it might be just what you’re looking for in a single-sitting read.
This was my introduction to Lane's books, and I have to admit it was really promising.
I love myself a good friends-to-lovers with mild to no angst (although the slightly angsty plotline could have been better developed if this had been longer). I can't wait to immerse myself a bit further into this world.
It is no secret that I hardly ever pick up a book if it's under 200 pages. Novella's are not enough book for me. I hardly ever come away from one feeling satisfied by the story. If I do, it is rare. This just so happens to be one of those rare moments. LH was not only able to pull off a well put together story in less than 80 pages, but she managed to hook me in and want more.
Eric is successful, loves his wine, and has amazing friends. One of them also happens to be his sort of ex who has recently decided to get engage for all the wrong reasons. Eric has mixed feeling's about it. It's not jealousy nor is it envy. But he does feel like something's missing in his life. He soon comes to find out what was missing was someone who has been in front of him all along.
Zane is your laid back surfer/sailor who loves life. He is a honest kind of guy who believes life is full of chances and you just have to ready to take them. He takes a big one when he slowly starts hinting to Eric that he is attracted to him and wants to be more than friends. He reveals he's had a crush on Eric for a while now and is ready to act on it.
These two together was really sweet and they were exactly what the other one needed. They are so opposite you'd think they wouldn't work. But they do.
It was a fast and light read that definitely left me wanting more of these two boys.
Relato parte de la antología It Was Always You y comienzo de una serie nueva. Primera cosa de la autora que leo y no sé si daré una oportunidad a alguno de sus libros, no estuvo ni bien, ni mal, it was ok.
So this says Book 1, but is it a spinoff of another series? I started reading this and it felt like being dropped in the middle of a story with established characters. Within a few pages, we're given a quick info dump of how everyone is interconnected and it felt more like a catch up refresher rather than setting up this group of friends in a new series?
It's no secret that friends to lovers is my jam....my JAM!! My favoritest trope in all the land always and forever until the end of time. Why? Because I love the already established closeness of the MC's. The shared history. The inside jokes. The bond. All of it. Yeah....I didn't feel any of that here.
I got zip. zilch. zero. chemistry between Eric and Zane. They were one dimensional characters with an underdeveloped backstory. They're 30 years old and friends since college, yet I didn't get any of that history. I believed they hung out in the same circle, and that's about as far as that went. I felt no deeper connection between them. Even by the end I didn't feel much.
And speaking of their age...these characters did not feel 30 years old. They felt way younger. Sounded younger. Acted younger.
This book also suffers from the novella pitfall of telling a story with your foot on the gas pedal. Entire days and weeks being summarized in a few passing sentences of what happened.
So in a nutshell, this friends to lovers didn't work for me when it came to the friends OR the lovers aspect. I'm bummed.
Overall book rating: 4 Audio Book: N/A Book Cover: 2.5
Yeah! It’s a series!
I really liked Zane. He’s confidant and comfortable in his own skin. I liked how he just flows with everything around him. His personality saved them from a disaster.
Erick was a bit of an enigma to me but I chalked that up to this being a short-read. I did like him and that’s what matters. I do have to say the whole drama with the ex-father in law in the yacht club was kind of...yeah.
My feelings towards Nick...
Enough said. He’s gonna have to pull a miracle here for me to “like” him in the next book. But hey..I’m an open minded girl. Let’s see.
This was my absolute favourite in the It Was Always You anthology released late last year.
I loved Eric and Zane. I'd never read Lane Hayes before but have a few of her books on my to be read list and this was a perfect introduction to her work for me.
Eric and Zane were perfect together, the secondary characters helped flesh out what was in essence a very short story and I loved the whole relaxed San Francisco vibe which ran through the story. Hopefully it won't be long before Lane releases more in this new series.
Fun story about best friends Eric and Zane falling in love. I liked that them falling in love after being "just friends" for 12 years wasn't unbelievable, and Lane had them take their time in falling in love - even if it was skipped over mostly in this short 80 page story - although the slight there and gone drama didn't quite flow well in this short story. And it was kind of unnecessary.
Also, Nick was a total douche. I'm now sure how Hayes will make him likable in his own book, but here's hoping she pulls it off.
I'll definitely be reading the next one. I did enjoy this, and I definitely want to see more of these two. Don't know if I'll read it right away or not yet though.
Leaning into Love is first released as part of It Was Always You Anthology; I never read that one, but I love friends-to-lovers theme and I generally enjoy Lane Hayes' works ... so I decided to request for the ARC.
Eric and Zane have been best friends for over a decade; even if in high school they were not really running in the same circles. On the wake of announcement of engagement of Eric's ex-boyfriend, Eric is asked by Zane to go to the party together, and he starts to see Zane in a new light.
It is a sweet friends-to-lovers story for sure. The chemistry between Eric and Zane is palpable. I have no problem at all imagining that these two men are falling for one another.
However, I'm a bit miffed that some of scenes here were summarized ... it became "telling than showing" kind of thing. Plus apparently there is a slight time jump because the start of Chapter 6 is this line "The year melted away in the usual flurry of holiday parties and family gatherings". Urgh, I dislike that!! I want to be a witness of Eric and Zane's dates and activities. NOT just the sex, mind you *pout*
Oh, and one other complaint would be how Eric reacted to his ex's news ... I thought it was really stupid.
The bonus chapter is cute though ^^
The ARC is provided by the author through IndiGo for an exchange of fair and honest review. No high rating is required for any ARC received.["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>
Zane and Eric have been friends for over a decade and have known each other for even more than that. So, this is obviously a friends-to-lovers romance and it's handled perfectly. They don't just wake up one day and think "oh my god my best friend is hot! Ok, let's start a relationship". No. There is a process and as the time passes they become a couple. It was so beautiful to see them starting something new together. They knew each other but there were still nerves and uncertainty at the beginning. And of course there was excitement and laughter.
Their group of friends is not so present here except from Nick who was Eric's ex. There were some confrontations and a bit of drama near the end. I can't say that I understod what all that was about, it seemed unnesseccary and it didn't make any sense to me. That drama near the end is the reason I'm knocking down a star in my rating. I couldn't follow Nick's logic and the fact that Eric was not only able to do so, but he was agreeing with him completely threw me. He actually went along with Nick's weird plan and I still don't get what the logic behind all that was.
This is the first book in the series and I can't wait to read the rest. And I won't! I'm starting the second book of Eric and Zane's story after I finish writting this review.
Oh, and there is a bonus chapter at the end here that includes a part in Zane's POV!
~Leaning into Love by Lane Hayes~ **4 Stars** This was another friends to lovers tale, about two very different boys that met in high school but didn't really become friends until they ended up at the same college. Years later they are part of a tight knit circle of friends, when something starts to change. Their progression from friends to more felt very believable, I really didn't like the ex Nick...who is still one of both of their best friends, or what problems his selfishness caused, but the way this couple reacted and handled it was refreshing. I love that this is a start to a new series, I'm so excited to see what happens to these guys, hopefully we will get more of this couple too!
Overall book rating: 4 Stars Audio book: n/a Book Cover: 2.5 Stars MC1 Eric MC2: Zane
Well this little jewel surprised the hell out of me!! What a nice amazing story of Friends to Lovers.
Eric What to say about Eric or better known as Er? He's a sweet guy just trying to find his place in this big messed up world with a doughnut friend and business partner who I really didn't like at all ( I know the 2nd book is all about him Nick the dick - I will have to see how I feel about reading his story. I loved Eric's character.
Zane Well... He's just Zane the weird friendship thing between him and Eric was just awesome and different and special there was just a different feel to them.
Great intro novella to this series! I look forward to more long time friends to lovers, Zane & Eric!
“I love your smile. I love your sexy body and your fussy manners. But most of all…I love your heart. I love the way you take care of everyone else before yourself. You’re smart as hell but you don’t make anyone feel inferior. You’re the reason our oddball group of friends is connected. You’re the glue. But to me…baby, you’re fucking magic.”🌈