A Little Kissing Between Friends

By: Chencia C. Higgins

Narrated by: Lauryn Nichols, J. Shani Michaels

“Triumphantly Black, queer and contemporary… The dialogue snaps and shimmers.” —New York Times Book Review on D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding

Music producer on the rise Cyn Tha Starr knows what she likes, from her sickening beats in the studio to the flirty femmes she fools around with. Her ever-rotating roster has never been a problem until her latest fling clashes with Jucee, her best friend and the most popular dancer at strip club Sanity.

It makes Cyn see Jucee in a different light. One with far fewer boundaries and a lot more kissing.

Juleesa Jones makes great money dancing the early shift and spends most evenings with her son, her Sanity family or at Cyn’s house. Relationships are not high on the priority list—until she’s forced to admit that maybe friendship isn’t the only thing she wants from her bestie.

But hooking up with your ride-or-die is risky. Jucee isn’t just Cyn’s best friend—Jucee is her muse. When Cyn lays down her tracks, it’s Jucee she imagines in the club throwing it back to every note. If they aren’t careful, this could crash and burn…but isn’t real love worth it?

©2024 Chencia C. Higgins (P)2024 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

I love it..

I love it! Only one or two things that I wish had more depth. The beginning of the two characters trying to date.. it was like yes I wanna try and then nope it’s over I’m ending it. I’m disconnecting from her fam and all, when I felt like more story could have been there. Maybe, a little more pull and tug to really see the characters try out in the open before ending it. And the second thing being at the end I would have loved to read more about what happened, them trying for real and a different conclusion showing they really made it work.. more story on the happiness after and what they experienced.. maybe a move in or some strong conclusion proving they made it.

Cute but….

Mild Spoilers Ahead



Listen, this was a nice story. I’m always happy to find more books with some black wlw love.
However, I’m giving this four stars, across-the-board for story and performance because there were several parts of the book where the actresses would repeat whole sentences or phrases as if they lost their place and it did take me out a bit a couple of times.
Also, I know that with the rise “Booktok” there is a pressure to have a story that is “spicy” and while the scenes were good I felt like there were a few too many when the leading ladies really just needed to have a moment to actually talk about how they felt.

On the ending…….

Spoiler


It was left, semi ambiguous with a positive tone, but, I feel like several threads from the earlier chapters weren’t addressed. Like the groupie, the incident at the strip club, what happened with the other musical artist? Also, there was never really confirmation that anything was going to change. I would’ve liked the book to end with them both firmly saying “OK yes XYNZ is happening and this is how we’re gonna move forward” rather than “yeah we have love for each other and we’re gonna work it out” , I guess sometimes don’t want to be unrealistic. Overall, I would definitely read more by this author, but this book probably won’t get a relisten from me..

a little kissing between friends

The writing was a amazing and the narration, the narrator voice was very seductive. i had to read this book in private

I loved it

I enjoyed this a lot. Watching their relationship grow was so good. I look forward to more from this writer.

The depth of characters

Thank you Author! I often look for reads that my wife and I can share. It can be so difficult to find books that we can see ourselves in. Not only as lesbians but also as black women. This story was layered, erotic, honest, and so damn good! Looking forward to reading more.

Black Queer Content

I enjoyed this story immensely. The author brought me into a world so familiar with people I felt like I knew, a strong sense of family and community held this story together and the sex/romance between the main characters was so hot! I'm looking forward to rewarding more from this author.

Amazing!

Great storyline and overall amazing. Could not stop listening. Great validation for lgbtq and sex work. Great narration as well.

5⭐️

Five stars for real!!! This book gave real emotion. Everything that you're thinking in your head. This was simply a friend's to lovers book no gender involved. Really well written. The narrators we're on point. I'm about to go through all Chencia C. Higgins whole catalog.

Good narrators

The book was decent overall. There were spots that threw me off, like the friends screwing more than once although it was referenced they slept together one time. Overall the storyline was decent and would love have seen a bit more depth. Great narrating to give it more life.

Love

Ugh! I love this book. A friends to lovers is always great but the way she navigated the characters and also called attention to real life issues such as bi-phobia in the LGBTQ+ community was amazing