My Secret Crush on My Best Friend

Port Lane Romances #3

by Clara Nielsen

HOW DO YOU TELL YOUR BEST FRIEND YOU’RE SECRETLY IN LOVE WITH HIM?

My world is completely flipped on its head when my parents sit me down and tell me they want to send me to boarding school next year.

Excuse me, what?

I’ve never claimed to be a very good student, but I’m still blind-sided by their claims that I’m not “thriving” at school right now. There’s only one solution I can think of: asking my best friend Eli to tutor me—maybe if I get my grades up, we can change my parents’ minds.

But it would probably be a little bit easier to focus if I didn’t spend our entire study sessions imagining what it would be like to kiss him…

Genres: Romance, Contemporary

150 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 1, 2023

About the author

Clara Nielsen writes sweet & swoony YA romances set in high school, all about shy girls and the boys who are head-over-heels for them. When she’s not busy writing, you’ll probably find her out on the lake, putting together the perfect playlist, or sipping on a chai latte while daydreaming about her next story.

Reviews

[Courtney Ranger · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars

This book had promise. I LOVED Penny's Christmas Date (by the same author). I wanted a sweet best friends-to-lovers story. This book promised that, but it did not really deliver anything I wanted.

Sabrina is a bratty teenager who uses people to her advantage and never realizes that cheating is a bad idea.

Eli is a bland love interest, who has aided and abetted Sabrina's cheating.

Yes, I'm a stickler for the rules. CHEATING IS NOT OKAY. I HATE it when people attempt to cheat off of me. It would have been one thing if Sabrina learned the error of her ways, but she never did.

Also, Sabrina's parents are portrayed as being unfairly strict and controlling. But THEY ALLOW HER TO HAVE A SLEEPOVER WITH A BOY THEY KNOW SHE HAS A CRUSH ON. And they never enforce punishments anyway. Yes, threatening to send her to boarding school was a bit excessive, but...
I don't think it is wrong for parents to encourage their children to do better in school, even if it means switching schools. I think families are the most important things in the world and DESPISE it when books portray parents as the antagonists.

There were also some weird things mentioned that added nothing to the story and just made no sense. Like apparently the love interest is bi or something? It added nothing to the story and MADE ZERO SENSE!!!

Overall, this book was a major let down.

Content warning: one use of d**n

I received an advance review copy for free on BookSirens, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Mattie · Rating 3 out of 5]

So really 3.5 stars. I struggled to empathize with Sabrina her cheating on tests, failing in school, over the top bad attitude, and such, since I was the opposite even pulling good grades without studying much. I did however understand her with people assuming we don’t have emotions, I’ve been told many times that I’m intimidating because of my resting bitch face and since I rarely cry people think I’m a heartless monster of some sort. Her parents are strange to me, the whole shipping your kid off to boarding school without real discussion of it or even listening to her was hard to read. Sabrina and Eli compliment each other well. They also have a relationship that is ridiculously relatable, everyone has had a best friend and feelings creep up into it a pretty large percentage of the time. It was a cute novella.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this clean high school romance. The characters spoke, thought and acted like typical high schoolers. A smooth flow and enjoyable relatable best friend to more romance. What a sweet, relaxing read. *I was given an advanced reader copy via BookSirens and am voluntarily giving my honest review.

[Rebecca Love · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've decided to give this one a 3.5 which puts it between the authors other two books in this setting.

It was cute but I think it being so short limited the ability to give much build up to them going from friends to more. It really could have benefitted from us getting eli's POV to show how things developed on his side too.

It was nice see how their relationship which is already pretty solid in the authors previous book came to be.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you to booksirens and clara nielsen for the opportunity to read this book

[C.Y. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a cute Novella about two best friends falling in love with each other. Sabrina has an attitude of not caring about her studies or any extracurricular things that are happening at school. Her mother becomes frustrated with this and decides to send her to boarding school in which Sabrina throws a fit. I’ve read some reviews how she acted like a brat, and although I agree with them to a certain degree, I think I would throw a fit if I knew my parents were going to send me away to some school. Eli, Sabrina’s best friend, is the exact opposite of Sabrina. He’s good in school, and so she gets him to help her study to raise her grades. Her cousin, Jaxson, helps her with the extra curricular activities. Together they help improve Sabrina‘s life.

The one thing I like about the writing in the series is that the teenagers actually act like teenagers. Sabrina doesn’t get along with her mother. Because she doesn’t do well in school, she panics and cheats, and she has a crush on her best friend. I have read books where the kids are in high school and they basically act like college students. This was just a really good wholesome book that teenagers will enjoy.

I was given an advance copy of this book for free, and I’m leaving my review voluntarily.

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

In My Secret Crush On My Best Friend, we meet Sabrina, a girl who is struggling with her classes in school. I think it's more of a matter of her being lazy and unmotivated more than anything. Her parents are frustrated by her lack of caring and think the best solution for her and her future is to send her to boarding school.

I liked the story overall. It was a quick read and I loved that Sabrina had friends that wanted to help her prove to her parents that she was working to be better at school so they wouldn't send her to boarding school. But I wish the book had been a little longer - long enough to show a little bit more of the dynamics of her and Eli's relationship changing.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Ayezu Tamarapreye Okoko · Rating 4 out of 5]

BOOK:MY SECRET CRUSH ON MY BEST FRIEND BY CLARA NIELSEN
BOOK REVIEWER-OKOKO AYEZU TAMARAPREYE
SYNOPSIS
This is a short novel on exam malpractice;apt way of delivery of bad news;parental supervision of child's school performance; teen dates and betting amongst others.The story looks at Eli's crush on Sabrina his class mate while discussing other very salient issues .In the story we see Sabrina's parents worry over her grades propelling them to suggest she changes school and a later turn of events.
LESSONS LEARNT FROM THE STORY
🤸Need to reassure the recipient before delivery of bad news
🤸The importance of an educational trust fund and it's benefit on recipient.
🤸Group assignment and it's potential on students.
🤸 Not Reaching students full potential as a ground to change school.

[Ayezu Tamarapreye Okoko · Rating 4 out of 5]

BOOK:MY SECRET CRUSH ON MY BEST FRIEND BY CLARA NIELSEN
BOOK REVIEWER-OKOKO AYEZU TAMARAPREYE
SYNOPSIS
This is a short novel on exam malpractice;apt way of delivery of bad news;parental supervision of child's school performance; teen dates and betting amongst others.The story looks at Eli's crush on Sabrina his class mate while discussing other very salient issues .In the story we see Sabrina's parents worry over her grades propelling them to suggest she changes school and a later turn of events.
LESSONS LEARNT FROM THE STORY
🤸Need to reassure the recipient before delivery of bad news
🤸The importance of an educational trust fund and it's benefit on recipient.
🤸Group assignment and it's potential on students.
🤸 Not Reaching students full potential as a ground to change school.

[Brit’s Bookstagram · Rating 3 out of 5]

Over all the book was okay. It had really cute moments but it also had moments that didn’t fit the story. I didn’t like how the MMC was Bi out of nowhere and it wasn’t ever addressed again. There were more loopholes and I felt like I was trying to connect the dots.



I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Rach3l · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay read. It was sweet but very predictable.

Side note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review

[Luna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story was really good. I loved the characters 😍

If you love YA romance with best friends to lovers trope the you should read this book!!

(I don't want to write too much because I'm afraid I will spoiler something 😅)

[alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

a re read. i am sad to say, this was not my favourite of the series. i LOVE this series and the book overall but it just didn’t give me the vibes i love. sabrina is such a CUTIE. like she was badass. love eli because he just is wholesome and such a golden retriever!! sabrina’s mum honestly pissed me off half the time, like sabrina goes and works hard then the mum like “i’m so glad you what to go to boarding school” WHAT. NO SHE DOESNT. i loved the cameos and scenes with violet, jaxon and madison because it’s before any of their books in the timeline and it’s just so cute. i feel like at points sabrina just got on my nerves and she just wasn’t the best. like sometimes how she acted, talked i really do LOVE her but in this book? not my favourite. i did love the tutor trope although it’s unrealistic how much your grade can become a B when you did three weeks of hard work. like it takes more than that. still adore jaxon, and sabrina’s dad was so fun! like he was THE BEST. i overall still LOVE this series with all my heart. so good!

[♡Chee♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good romance for a 100 page novel. I got some cute moments, some ~secret~ glances, family conflict, and a HEA without meaningless breakup and conflicts scenes. I've always loved the childhood friend to lovers trope, but I would've liked this more if we got to see the romance from Eli's pov. While we got an insight into Sabrina's feelings towards Eli, the lack of focus on Eli made the romance a bit too forced on his part. I don't think I'm the target audience for this book, even though the FMC is a junior this is more of a 15-16 age group romance book. Overall I liked the romance plot, and I especially loved how the author handled parent-child conflict issues. The writing is nice and easy to read. :)

I received an ARC from BookSirens in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.

[Rebecca Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

My Secret Crush On My Best Friend was a short novella, no more than 150 pages so it was quick and easy to read. It was an interesting story and I loved the friendship between Sabrina and Eli. I liked the character Jaxon and saw there is a book showcasing his story so would definitely be keen to read that too.

I found one sentence mentioning a conversation devolving into a fight and think the author may have used the wrong word in this case. Otherwise I liked her writing style and like I said earlier would be keen to read more if her YA books.

Would recommend this book especially as an quick and easy way to see if you like her story telling and writing style before delving into one of her longer stories.

[Delphia Von Heeder · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Secret Crush on my Best Friend is a YA romance novella by Clara Nielsen. I felt that this story was realistic in the inner action of Sabrina's parents as well as her relationship with her best friend, Eli. When Sabrina is told that she is going to boarding school for her senior year, she asks Eli to tutor her in hopes of improving her grades. This begins a new Sabrina who desperately wants to stay home next school year. I believe that the author has written an excellent romance with the trials of parent vs teenage daughter! I received an arc for free and am leaving my review voluntarily.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Secret Crush On My Best Friend by Clara Nielsen is a good, and enjoyable sweet young adult friends to lovers romance read. The story has a good story line. The characters are good, and they have good chemistry. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Christina Bowling · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a pretty cute book for the most part and I enjoyed it.