Crushing on My Billionaire Best Friend

by Jolie Day, Jason Clarke (Narrator ), Samantha Brentmoor (Narrator)

I just moved in with my billionaire best friend (and secret crush),

Oliver Humphries.

He’s the all-star. The jock. The golden boy—

and I’m no match.

I’m the nerdy, frizzy-haired, not-so-skinny friend.

The moment I met him at fourteen, I was in L-O-V-E.

I’m under no illusion I stand a chance.

Living with him?

Not a problem. In fact, it’s a brilliant idea. I’m good at hiding my feelings.

Until I play “Truth or Dare” with him.

Oh, good grief!

Did I just tell him I want him to be my first?

Genres: Romance, Friends To Lovers, Audiobook, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Billionaire Romance, Forced Proximity

Audible Audio

First published May 4, 2021

About the author

USA Today Bestselling Author

Jolie Day is a romance author with a knack for steam. She invites readers to abandon inhibitions and melt into the pages. Alpha men, boyish charms, rugged good looks – her books take you on a thrill ride of suspense and seduction.
Do you want to read about the knight in shining armor willing to do anything to protect his woman? Then her books are for you.

Sign up for updates and free books at:
https://www.subscribepage.com/jolie

Reviews

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Made it to 9% and decided the heroine is a moron. She works for a pharmaceutical company doing science stuff, but is too stupid to realize the hero is in the middle of fucking someone else when she calls asking to stay at his place for the night. He actually answered the phone. She thinks he’s lifting weights - when he’d earlier texted her about being out at a club. Between that and the half page introduction in his POV makes him seem like a douche. Not into it. DNF.

[Syndi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is so sweet. I did not have high expectation when I picked up this book. Miss Day is relatively new to me. And Crushing on My Billionaire Best Friend caught me by surprise.

The story of friend to lover is sweet. The banter, how they slowly develop the love is well writen. Although I wish Oliver grew up faster and be brave about his feeling.

Overall a very good book.

4 stars

[Jel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to take a break reading this. This book gave me so much secondhand embarrassment. The h is so desperate. She would cry and cry about the H and she has low self esteem. Shes been in love with his since 14. She’s supposed to be an intelligent scientist but I don’t see it at all. When she called the H to tell him about her apartment was caught in a fire, he was actually busy fucking a random woman in his house (he wasn’t really listening to her)so when she showed up at his doorstep, he was so surprised 🤡. Back when they were in high school, she wrote a love letter to him (anonymous) and he laughed at it. She cried. 😑He saved her from her bullies back in those days so she fell for him I think. Then they became best friends. The H is a manwh*re and the h is a boring virgin. The h even low key begged the H to take her virginity and told him she dreamt of it since forever 😂. It got a bit better after the hero fell for her but it’s still terrible. Not to mention the h cried and her chin ‘quivered’ when the H told her he loves her.😬 He slept with more than 75 people bruh.

“Princess Bubbles? Ohh…okay?” There was a strange grunting noise in between his words.
I groaned and rolled my eyes, pressing my palm flat to the part of my head that hurt the most. Everything in my skull was pounding in one way or another. Leave it to a man to barely listen to you even when you specifically say, “listen carefully.”
“My apartment. It’s gone. There was a fire, and…well, everything I own is gone, aside from what I’m wearing right now and whatever random odds and ends are in my purse. Which might be a lot, actually.” I shook my head, trying to focus on what was most important. “Anyway, can I come over? I need a place to crash. Just for tonight.”
“Oh, my God,” he panted away from the phone. He must have been just as shocked as I was.
“I know! It’s crazy, right? I’m just so glad I wasn’t home when it happened.”
“What? Laney? Sorry… Can I call you back?”
“Huh? Haven’t you been listening to me at all? Oliver! Okay, again. Can. I. Please. Stay. At. Your. Place. Tonight. Please?” I repeated slowly, making a point to emphasize each word[…]”

[Marpapad · Rating 3 out of 5]

[3.25]
The female protagonist was a little bit annoying, however, the romance was quite cute.

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unoriginal and boring. Laney who is supposed to be a scientist was so scatter brain and stupid it wasn’t even funny. Oliver typical manwhore. The heroine pined for the hero forever and he sleeps with only skinny chics.. she even called him and he was being intimate with someone and she claimed he must be working out…. She compares herself constantly to these women and it got tiring until one day after having to live with him he starts to realize how beautiful she is and has feelings…. Plus she was a whole virgin too!

Give me a fcking break! Is this straight from Wattpad??? I had to skim a lot and I still DNF at 90%. Absolute Trash!

[Robin Reviewer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel misled by the 4.4 🌟 avg rating - read on KU

I absolutely do not know how anyone could give this 4 or 5 stars. It is just boring. Soon bboring. I had to force myself to finish it.

Nothing really happens in this book. The biggest focus of the book is spending time in Laney's head with all of her thoughts of wanting Oliver, of how he only dates Triple Ts (tall, tan and thin). There is way too much focus on her weight. I don't like BBW books because too much time is always spent on the woman's self esteem.

Oliver is uninteresting. Other than that Laney is a cancer researcher, she's uninteresting, too. The author failed to make me invested in them.

There are some grammatical issues. Definitely some missing commas.

The steamy scenes failed to fog the mirrors. There's one place where he says he has missed having sex with her and she says she has missed him, too. He says "In that case, I shouldn't keep you waiting." Her immediate thought is "God, I loved when he talked dirty to me." Wow. By that very low bar, my husband's pillow talk should be burning down the house. I'm hoping the author had something else there originally and it just got edited in a way that no longer made sense. Surely, no one would think some guy saying he wouldn't keep you waiting is dirty talk.

I don't think I have read books by this author before but this one with be my last one. No Tony am I glad I didn't play for this, I want the time back that it took to read it.

[Yas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute and fluffy palette cleanser

First of all: kudos to the author for this brilliant title.
But why is he a billionaire? Like it doesn’t give anything to the story 😂

This was cute and okay as a palette cleanser!
Nothing to gush over, but it surpassed my low expectations.

Their constant will they-won’t they got tiresome toward the end, though.

🗂Genre: Contemporary Romance
🏷Tropes:
- Best friends to lovers
- Unrequited/ secretly pining FMC
- Forced proximity
- Miscommunication
- Spicy

⚠️Safety: H has sex with other people but before they get together, no cheating
📖Audiobook: 1st person, dual POV & narration

[Natalie Brooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I really did not enjoy this book. Didn’t like the pining female virgin who has been wanting her promiscuous male best friend since high school - when she was clumsy and mousy. Didn’t like him bringing women over while she lived with him. Didn’t like the abruptness of his 180 and how he suddenly started how deep his just-realized love was. Didn’t like the pacing of the book. Steady for most of it with a roller coaster decline near the end.

I think the author can do better. I’ll read another of her books to see if it was just this one.

[Karina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Would’ve liked it more if she too had slept with 75 + men and didn’t lose her virginity to this guy

[RightMeowMK · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. There are few types of Hs I despise more than the fuckboy. He's not alpha or even man enough to be a Manwhore. I don't like them much either but at least I'm willing to see if their redeeming qualities win out by the end of the book.
That definitely isn't the case here. The H is a shallow, selfish, immature, uncaring loser. The way he treats his "best friend" is truly lousy. He cares about making money, dipping his wick and instant gratification. I stopped only a few chapters in because, while actions may change, who someone is deep deep down won't. Not in any believable way at least.
It's a shame because this story had a cute, intelligent h that I would have loved to follow along with.

[Katrina (Catching up on Reviews) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, but heavy on the cheese.

This was a pretty good read overall, but definitely leaned into the cheesy side—especially toward the end. The story is cute, but how many times do we need to be reminded that they’ve been best friends forever and she’s always had a crush on him? A little more variety in the storytelling would’ve gone a long way.

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmm... I was looking for something light & funny and this was marked as a rom-com, unfortunately i didn’t read any in the book. I wasn’t really crazy about either character .. she had her heads too far up in the clouds and came across a little naive and he was a manwhore who all of a sudden realized he loved her. This one, unfortunately, just missed the mark for me.

[Mary Burrows · Rating 1 out of 5]

Made it about 1%, couldn't stand the heroine's setup. Wrote like she was in junior high, all parentheses and scatterbrained. If she was a scientist its more likely she would have a logical and at least mostly linear thought process. At least of you're trying to sell a character.

[Sassafrass · Rating 2 out of 5]

This had so much potential....I was sad that it didn't reach that potential!

One of things that really made me mad was the fact that the heroine made a big deal about telling her best friend her feelings in a letter and come to find out he didn't even know who she was because she didn't sign her name!!!

Then of course you know that they had to hook up because where would the book be without it, right? Anyway, it was lovely and then it just imploded with lots of is this going to change things, let's pretend like nothing happened, but we know that's not possible.

I actually liked the characters for the most part. I liked their shared history, but the execution just wasn't there. Also, the female narrator didn't do a great male voice.

*sigh* I wanted to like this one more than I did, but there were just too many things about it that irritated me.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I cringed through the first half of the book. I didn't like all the other girls H was with, that's usually cause for me to stop reading. I didn't really like the H at all. Imo there should have been more anguish for the H for everything he made the h endure. I'm not really sure I would have considered him a friend, he used her during the beginning of their friendship, she should have dropped him long ago.

[Gali · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐

[Luna Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book have good ratings but bad reviews. I was in a reading slump and i took this book with no expectations thankgod i did.

The heroine Lainey is the epitome of lack of self esteem. She gains confidence only after she's been with Oliver. I think, even if she was sexually active she would have found something to blame herself with.she is plus size and a bit nerdy as if that is a problem. She should fit in some rom coms along with her science books ( atleast that will teach you something about self worth)

Oliver, mm i don't know whether to hate him or to appreciate the author for an honest character.the first half of the book has him as an absolute manwhore who realised his true feelings for Lainey after they had sex.I found Lainey so annoying but i wanted to know how the story played out.

The ending was just meh.i didn't like the book.

[Tina Price · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF the H is getting a blow job while is best friend and the stories’ h apartment is burning down. 75 pages in and he’s still screwing his way through New York while the h is pining away for him. HARD PASS!!!!

Merged review:

DNF pass on this one unless you like to read about the H getting it on with multiple women while the h pines away for him. It’s not romantic and definitely not comedy

[Tiffany Copple · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars for Crushing on My Billionaire Best Friend by Jolie Day. Oliver and Laney have been friends for a long time. Laney has had a crush on him for just as long. The only problem is Oliver has never felt the same. Ok so I was not really a fan of Oliver for most of the book. I felt like he took Laney and her friendship for granted. However, he did make up for it eventually. These two grew on me. This was a sexy but cute read at the same time. It will make your heart melt. THis book made me laugh and it did give me some feels.

[Michelle Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crushing

It was cute. The h was kind of naive and both the characters kind of made me roll my eyes a few times but other than that it was good. Not sure I’d really call it a “hot” romantic comedy, but it had a few decent moments.

[TheReaderVert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beauty of the romance genre is that there are a lot of different options and sub-options for what you want. We can make a choice of open/closed door romance, smutty & spicey, or vanilla. It all runs the gamut, and we call all pick, like ice cream, which suits us and our needs. My biggest gripe with this book isn't that the spice and smut were non-existent, it wasn't because the story is vanilla; my biggest issue is that the book reads like a 1990 "rom-com." The storyline, the tropes, and the characters are all from that style of romance, and it's not really a romance, as it's a women's contemporary lit story with a romantic storyline.

Issue #1: The people bumbling together are kind of not that great or interesting. The FMC, Laney, should be root-for-able. She's smart, "thick", and "geeky". The issue is that she has scenes dancing & "twerking" in the kitchen to Aretha Franklin (ahhh ain't it cute?). She has many moments like this that feel paint-by-the-number in a rom-com. The MMC, however, I seriously have no idea why Laney is still fawning over him. Oliver is just sort of there. He lacks depth and interest. He doesn't know that he's a walking trope, so the FMC being obsessed over him after 10 years lowers my esteem of her character.

Issue #2: The FMC has a ridiculous crush on a dude she should have moved on from 10 years ago (the crush isn't the problem but how the crush is presented. The crush is written so childish and immature. The character feels young. She lists kissing homeboy as a life goal in her big age and it made me sad for her). She gushes over the smallest things, gets upset when he cavorts like the playboy he is, and judges him for dating around. It makes Laney seem thirsty. The unnecessary flashback to when they were 14 makes it even worst because she was crushing on him even as he was doing the bare minium as a friend and necking lots of women. I didn't see a friendship build from serious or caring moments, just a "geek" girl be the goher with other women who like him.

Issue #3: Of course, she's closer to 30 than 20 but was saving herself for him even though he has never, not once, shown any romantic interest in her. We read scene after scene of her eee, ooo, and awwing over how cute he is and his muscles. It reads like a YA or NA book, even though we are dealing with people in their mid to late twenties. I love a good rom-com like the next person, but it should be updated not to feel stale, and the characters should act like adults.

Issue #4: There is a lot of privilege going on in this story, and the characters are completely oblivious to it. A lady's dog burns down an entire apartment building, and she's more upset about the quality of the candles. Not that large number of people are destitute and have lost their valuables and could have lost their lives. The FMC has an "I want to talk to your manager" moment (for good cause) but instead has her Pretty-Woman-telling-off-the-store-clerk moment in reverse. Instead of schooling her as an adult-- a grown woman, and taking her business elsewhere. She scolds the clerk, becomes buddy-buddy, and exchanges business cards to shop there again. The whole thing is prosperous. The sales clerk was basically fat shaming her and we are supposed to think well it's all good now. The MMC actually says "what kind of guy wore bright purple like that? A f-ing pimp? He needed a feather cap." The classism displayed effortlessly in this book leaves a lot to be deserved.

[Ulyera · Rating 1 out of 5]

First let me say that I am the number one hater of the friends to lovers trope. Second, I have no patience for stupid ass jokes. Third, lack of communication/misunderstanding of communication is the worst trope in the whole wide world. Fourth, this book has all three of these, and reading it until the end was the greatest act of kindness I have ever committed cause this book was dogshit.

I hate to put a writer down. I really do. Writing is no easy feat, and putting yourself out there is no easier. That being said, I would describe Day's writing as an amalgamation of awful t-shirt puns, strewn together lines from the kitschy home decor signs at TJ Maxx, and a hefty amount of patting oneself on the back. Her characters are so beyond surface level. Elaine is exasperating, mind numbing, and downright stupid. For someone who works in the pharmaceutical industry, her lack of intelligence is mind boggling. Newsflash Day: you can't just say that a character is smart and be done with it. Elaine or Lainey is so thickheaded that teaching concrete how to sing opera would be easier than telling Lainey to get a grip.

And oh my god, the pining!!!!!! The ridiculous, mind-numbing, embarrassing pining. The amount of times I sighed in frustration and fought the urge to dnf should be enough to crown me as the most merciful, most benevolent, most patient reader of all time. At points I actively prayed that one of the characters would be struck by lightning and I would be put out of my misery. I mean, the out of nowhere scene in high school absolutely demolished the already inconsistent pacing and further distanced me from the characters. Nothing about the scene was endearing. Elaine was a stupid idiot who banked on asshole Oliver recognizing that he and the girl WHO HE LITERALLY TREATS LIKE A SERVANT had enough of a connection to realize that a high school love note would break him free from his pattern of objectification. I mean, what did she really think was gonna happen when she wrote him a THREE PAGE LETTER?!!?!?!?!?!

And don't even get me started on the STUPID FUCKING T-SHIRTS!!!!!!!!!! Below, I have attached an excerpt of the novel: "'Bra off. Hair up. Sweats on.' They were bold and white and freaking hilarious. 'Oh, my goodness!' she shrieked, holding the T-shirt up to her chest with a beaming smile. 'That's so me. I've been wanting this one. Thanks, girl!'"
This is so millennial, mustache tattoo, adulting is hard, coded it makes me want scream, vomit, and pull my hair out all at the same time.


(Me after seeing Lisa wearing that stupid ass shirt in public)

[Jodi - JodiReadsnListens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crushing on My Billionaire Best Friend by Jolie Day was all kinds of sweet and sexy fun! I always love a friends-to-lovers romance and this one gave me all the good feels! This audiobook is narrated by Jason Clarke and Samantha Brentmoor!

I love that Jolie Day has created characters that are so memorable. Oliver is the rich billionaire ladies man who is blind to his own feelings. Laney is the geeky girl next door with curves. The history that these two characters have really helps build a better understanding of their journey to realize their love for each other. I adore the confidence that Laney gains over the course of this book! Their sexual chemistry in the book is HOT.

Jason Clarke and Samantha Brentmoor are a fantastic narrator pairing for this book! Samantha's performance of Laney is so good! I really felt all of Laney's insecurities, passion for her work, and eventually confidence in her performance. Not to mention her male voice is flipping awesome! Jason Clarke's performance is amazing as usual portraying Oliver's cocksure, but yet caring personality perfectly.

[Kortney Allen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I… I don’t know. I went in wanting to like this book. It gave a Wattpad feel but everything just kept going down hill. The constant internal monologues that just sounded like a love sick teenager drove me crazy. Woman- you’re 28(?) and you’re still pining over some guy who’s your friend but didn’t really stop people from bullying you in hs. Like- save your virginity if that’s your thing- but hoping someone will just see you differently when you say nothing was getting annoying. And we get it- your not a size 4 or whatever. Half the country isn’t! There was so much internal monologue about her weight and looks and some guy. And in my opinion the guy wasn’t even that remarkable.

[Tess · Rating 3 out of 5]

FLUFFY READ

So. I admit I love a good fluffy romance. But this one I have to give 3.5 stars for because I definitely didn't connect with either MCs, and that's unfortunate...

[J.C. Reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading all these romances because I want to write one at some point and I need inspiration. I liked the idea of this one... a nerdy scientist in love with her best friend since high school. It was kind of charming and it got me in "all the feels" but I wish it had been funny. More com, less rom, if you know what I mean.

[Lashonta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laney & Oliver

Very cute book. Laney and Oliver have been friends since she transferred to his school. Oliver was a jock and every woman swooned over him. Laney was a geek who no one paid attention to. Laney loved Oliver for 12 years never said a word until date night let’s just say everything turned for the better

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Friends to Lovers Romance

It’s pretty obvious how it ends so let’s not pretend it’s a spoiler. Laney is whipped smart but crippled by self doubt. It’s nice to see she comes out of her shell. Oliver is a bit of a player but at least he’s honest about it. Little spice and lots of nice in this romance novel.

[Zariareads · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly…. I felt nauseous reading some of the scenes…
The fml is seriously not smart and she’s so hunged up on a dude who’s only thoughts is his d*ck and having sex.
I felt so bad for the fml and so so embarrassed by what she gets to experience by him.

She deserved someone so much better than him🤦‍♀️

[minnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book no matter how cliche it is. Good pacing and the characters have amazing backstory.

I am gonna this review short and sweet because I do not have any major problems with it.

Good book if you want something cute and cliche.