Book Review
Title: Call You Mine by Kendra Mase
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Rating: 4 Stars
Call You Mine wasn’t something I would normally pick up, but I have been coming to enjoy the friends to lovers trope a lot more and decided to give it a go. We are introduced to Sylvia and Kieran who have been friends since they were small children, however, Sylvia moved away from their hometown for work which is where we meet her. In the first chapter alone, she ends up losing her job and finds her boyfriend cheating on her which prompts her to return home for the holidays and give herself time to figure out what she is going to do going forward. One thing to note is that we have dual timelines in this book, bouncing between the past and the present which introduces us to Kieran long before we meet in him in the present. We get to see the childhood and friendship of these two which was honestly, adorable but it indicates that something happened between them, and they haven’t spoken in years because of it.
I got a sense that Sylvia had some strong feelings of loss regarding Kieran, but we don’t know why at this time. Upon returning home, Sylvia’s parents are away on a trip, so she is alone. In such a small town it doesn’t take long before she and Kieran meets again but it seems that old wounds haven’t healed with Kieran giving her the cold shoulder at best, and at worst, being outright mean to her. Sylvia is very lonely during this time, and we see from the flashbacks that she felt like she never really fitted in and didn’t really try because she has Kieran. She feels more alone than ever now her life is falling apart and she is craving the support that Kieran used to give her. These flashbacks also strongly hint at Sylvia’s feelings for her best friend, but she never makes a move to act on them.
Kieran doesn’t seem to realise anything or if he doesn’t, he doesn’t say anything about it. He ends up dating other girls becoming quite popular as they enter their teens which makes Sylvia jealous even though she won’t show it. It is around here that the cracks in their friendship are beginning to show, and we know the reason why even if they refuse to admit it to themselves and each other. In the present, Sylvia decides to go for a drink and ends up running into Kieran again but this time he is at a bar with friends from school who are surprised to see Sylvia. Sylvia ends up getting drunk to the point that Kieran must take her home where she tries to voice her feelings to him, but the words won’t come out. Due to her heating being down, Kieran ends up taking her back to his place for a few nights, but he isn’t happy about it.
There we can see the pair still care about each other and need to talk about the issues they have, instead Sylvia comes up with the most idiotic plan to get Kieran back as a friend. She creates a list of things to do over the holiday, a tradition of theirs and manages to convince Kieran to do these things with her and surprisingly he agrees despite being angry with her. As we continue to bounce between the past and present, it becomes painfully obvious that Sylvia is in love with her best friend and that he’s in love with her too, but they won’t speak about it or acknowledge it. Sylvia doesn’t want to admit these feelings despite the growing tension between them because she doesn’t want to risk losing his friendship again now, she is slowly starting to earn his trust back. In the past, the pair are preparing for college, and it seems their views have changed. In the beginning, it was Sylvia who was excited to leave the town and now it’s Kieran. It doesn’t help that Kieran has been getting into all the schools he applied for while Sylvia hasn’t, most likely due to her lack of effort in school. She does get one acceptance in New York, and she ends up taking it despite not really wanting to leave.
Even in college, Sylvia doesn’t have any friends but keeps in contact with Kieran and he even comes to visit her at one point. Her feelings towards him are still there despite the years and now distance between them. She ends up discussing her situation with him about not having any friends and not needing any because she has him. However, we can see that she is still jealous of his on again off again relationship with Amy. eventually she begins dating Kieran but accepts a job in New York without telling him causing everything to fall apart but she tries to live her ideal life even after distancing herself from him. The reason Kieran is angry with her in the present is that she wouldn’t answer his phone calls after the breakup not even when is mother was diagnosed with cancer.
After discussing this, Sylvia ends up apologising to Lori for not being there when she was ill and confesses her feelings towards Kieran. Lori as his mother tells her not to wait any longer because she knows what she wants and if she doesn’t take the chance, then someone else will. The pair are learning to be friends again, but Sylvia is slowly moving towards her goal of confessing her love for Kieran. This is a slow burn since it takes almost three quarters of the book for the confession and romance to begin. However, when it does, it really takes off and even the smutty scenes are on point. I adored the romance when it finally began, and I didn’t mind the long build up either as it allowed us to really get to know Sylvia and Kieran. This is the perfect romance to read around the holiday period especially if you like a little angst with your romance.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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