Fool Hearts by Emmy Sanders

Tropes: cowboy, friends to lovers, mm/gay romance, queer awakening, single dad, small town

Buy it on Amazon

☕️ Cozy ↔ Angst Scale

3: Good Healthy Cry

🔥 Heat Level

2/5 Open Door

💕 Instalove ↔ Slow Burn Pace

5: Glacial Burn

Synopsis

Wyatt and Easton have been best friends since childhood, and Wyatt has been quietly in love with Easton for just as long. When Easton — who’s straight, or so everyone assumes — gets engaged, Wyatt leaves town rather than watch it happen. Years later, tragedy brings them back together: Easton’s wife dies in childbirth, and Wyatt returns to help raise the baby and rebuild what’s left of his best friend’s life. The two of them build a quiet, devoted partnership raising a son together — until one unexpected moment forces them to reckon with feelings neither of them ever said out loud.

Why We Loved It

If you’re like Nikki and you love pining, run (or maybe gallop, since they’re cowboyws) to get this book.

It’s our Featured Pick for our Friends to Lovers Books because it’s like, FIFTEEN YEARS of Wyatt being totally in love with Easton, and Easton being totally oblivious while they co-parent Easton’s son … until one night, Easton gets jealous and moves through his version of the The Identity Disco.

No spoilers, but it’s possible Easton is the only one who doesn’t know he’s feeling this way.

Love this one and want more like? Emmy Sanders’ nails this same childhood-friends-to-lovers bi-awakening premise in To Catch a Firefly.