4.0 (1 rating)
Gouda Friends (Ponto Beach Reunion, 2)
Two high school BFFs reunite and endeavor to fix each other’s lives in this geeky romance from the author of Love, Comment, Subscribe.
Tam Doan dumped her boyfriend after he threw away her gourmet cheese. Sure, it’s a little more complicated than that, but the point is, he had it coming. Newly single and unemployed, Tam calls up her best friend from high school and utters the emergency code word―goldfish. Next thing she knows, she’s on a plane back home.
Josh O’Malley was a troubled, unconfident teenager. Now he’s the successful owner of a multimillion-dollar ghost kitchen. Tam, his high school BFF and fellow member of the Nerd Herd friend group, was instrumental in building his self-esteem. When she calls him out of the blue, he jumps at the chance to return the favor.
Josh and Tam immediately get to work fixing her life―but again, it’s complicated. Their close friendship was always a lifeline between them; a blooming romance might confuse things. Still, at least one thing is for certain: their chemistry is un-brie-lievable.
Tam Doan dumped her boyfriend after he threw away her gourmet cheese. Sure, it’s a little more complicated than that, but the point is, he had it coming. Newly single and unemployed, Tam calls up her best friend from high school and utters the emergency code word―goldfish. Next thing she knows, she’s on a plane back home.
Josh O’Malley was a troubled, unconfident teenager. Now he’s the successful owner of a multimillion-dollar ghost kitchen. Tam, his high school BFF and fellow member of the Nerd Herd friend group, was instrumental in building his self-esteem. When she calls him out of the blue, he jumps at the chance to return the favor.
Josh and Tam immediately get to work fixing her life―but again, it’s complicated. Their close friendship was always a lifeline between them; a blooming romance might confuse things. Still, at least one thing is for certain: their chemistry is un-brie-lievable.
Published: March 22, 2022
ISBN: 9781713649991
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Available in: Audiobook
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4.0
1 rating
Read Letter D.
Feb 8, 2026
3.5 rounded up
This was a fun friends to lovers, with the whole "OMG how have you guys not gotten together yet!" vibe from the rest of their friends. Tam and Josh have pretty good reason for not jumping the friendship line and the first half of the book is really sweet with the way they take care of each other and push each other to be better.
Once they move into friends with benefits territory, some of that warm fuzziness is lost. Yes they are a bit awkward now, but we get a bit too much focus on the actual acts, glossing over what made them super sweet as a couple. I was a little disappointed how completely their relationship changed to mostly physical (with the rest of it kind of on the back-burner as far as what the story focused on) They each complained/worried about s3x ruining their relationship while not trying to stop themselves from creating that very problem.
The fact of their shared past and how made for each other they were felt a bit cheapened by how important s3x was in the latter part of the book. We do get the big gestures on both sides to make their HEA something neither has to give up their dreams for, but there was so much emotion in the first half, it still felt like a bit of a let down when they just jump into bed.
The spicy scenes were well written and didn't' give too much cringe, and honestly, had the first half not been SO good, they wouldn't have bothered me, but I had come to love Tam and Josh so much that I wanted more emotion not so much physical.
This was a fun friends to lovers, with the whole "OMG how have you guys not gotten together yet!" vibe from the rest of their friends. Tam and Josh have pretty good reason for not jumping the friendship line and the first half of the book is really sweet with the way they take care of each other and push each other to be better.
Once they move into friends with benefits territory, some of that warm fuzziness is lost. Yes they are a bit awkward now, but we get a bit too much focus on the actual acts, glossing over what made them super sweet as a couple. I was a little disappointed how completely their relationship changed to mostly physical (with the rest of it kind of on the back-burner as far as what the story focused on) They each complained/worried about s3x ruining their relationship while not trying to stop themselves from creating that very problem.
The fact of their shared past and how made for each other they were felt a bit cheapened by how important s3x was in the latter part of the book. We do get the big gestures on both sides to make their HEA something neither has to give up their dreams for, but there was so much emotion in the first half, it still felt like a bit of a let down when they just jump into bed.
The spicy scenes were well written and didn't' give too much cringe, and honestly, had the first half not been SO good, they wouldn't have bothered me, but I had come to love Tam and Josh so much that I wanted more emotion not so much physical.