Talk about a slow burn… with little payoff? I would have LOVED for there to be more spice in this story. We had all that tension but the finale was lacking. 3.5 stars

Karla Sorensen's latest release, "The Best of All," is a captivating read that quickly earned a spot among my favorites. As a newcomer to Sorensen's work, I was thoroughly impressed by the engaging storyline, well-developed characters, and overall charm of the book.
The romance between Liam and Zoe is beautifully crafted, with Liam's deep affection for Zoe apparent from the beginning. The journey that brings them together and allows Liam to finally express his feelings is both heartwarming and satisfying.
Sorensen's writing effortlessly draws you into the world she creates, making it easy to become emotionally invested in the characters' lives. I highly recommend "The Best of All" to anyone looking for a delightful and heartwarming romance novel.

The Best of All by Karla Sorensen

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Tropes i adore:
•enemies to lovers
•forced proximity
•he falls first and harder
•fun banter
•found family/friends

This was such a great sloooooow burn. The feelings, love, and support that this book had were amazing. I absolutely loved the writing and emotions that went into this book. Zoe was so relatable and i loved getting her inner thoughts. I loved the rawness in Liam. He was so scared and while hesitant at first, really showed up and i loved that. The connection and chemistry they shared just in looks alone was 🔥🥵. I loved Zoe’s book club, they were freaking hilarious. They gave her a safe space and i loved it!

Quotes i loved:

“𝙃𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙧”

“𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙, 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙝𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙙, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙤 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙡𝙮 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧.”

“𝙂𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙮. 𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙗𝙖𝙙 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙙.“

If you love a heartfelt slow burn, this book is for you!

4.5⭐️ I’m brand new to Karla‘s work and was able to have the fortune to read this as an advanced copy.

Why you’ll love it:

🔥hate to love
🔥forced roommates
🔥single 'parent'/guardianship
🔥adorable little girl who will melt your heart
🔥grumpy/sunshine
🔥he falls first
🔥slow burn (the slowest!!)
🔥football player/sports romance
🔥grumpy, secret cinnamon roll Brit hero

The book was heartbreaking in its beginning — and it slowly put my heart back together throughout the course of the story. Liam and Zoe are thrown into an impossible situation as guardians of their best friends’ two-year-old daughter when tragedy strikes. We follow their lives as they come to terms with their responsibility, the future that lies ahead and the impact it has on both of their lives, from a guardianship standpoint as well as their relationship with each other.

I loved every minute of this book. I thought Karla did an amazing job weaving a narrative that was full of depth and kept me turning the page. I was especially touched by Liam‘s evolution as a man, as a father figure and as someone so deserving of love, but never allowing himself to reach for it due to deeply ingrained childhood trauma.

His relationship with Zoe was delicate, frustrating at times, but always full of the kind of angst that I love to read about in story like this. Add to that his growth as a guardian to Mira — going from the point where he didn’t feel comfortable even hugging her to being her protector with endless love for her — amazing.

When we see that a book is a slow burn, we assume it’s gonna take a while for things to heat up. Karla saw the term,”slow burn” and said “hold my beer.” 🤣 In fact, Liam and Zoe‘s relationship did not culminate in any kind of physical sense until 95% into the book. Karla is the queen of slow burn! And honestly, it was perfect. The book was not lacking at all. And in fact, was made all the better in its gracefulness and realism.

I can say after reading this remarkable story that there isn’t anything Karla has or will write that I won’t read. She’s got a die-hard fan in me now. 🫶

This book consumed me. It pulled out so many emotions and really pulled at my heart strings. Karla Sorensen made me cry and that’s a really hard thing to do when it comes to reading for me. This was such a great slow burn with the added bonus of watching these two find a new normal being co guardians. I loved how they both were with Mira and the part she played in this book. I just loved this book and the way it captivated me.

Liam is such a grumpy British football player. This grumpy guy softening for Mira made my heart melt. He had so much personal growth through this book. By the end of the book he had me melting with how he took care of Mira and Zoe and how he opened up to being more of a family unit.

Zoe is such a rock in this book. She’s dependable, jumped in head first to taking care of Mira and took Liam’s reluctance and absence in the beginning in stride because it was what Mira needed. She was so selfless when it came to Mira and I loved how she didn’t back down when it came to Liam but let him be himself. Watching her fall for Liam was just the best especially since they started out completely as enemies.

This book is a very slow burn but it took me until the very end of the book to figure that out because there is so much more to this story than what is happening between Liam and Zoe. It’s such a beautiful story born from such a heartbreaking circumstance.

I love that this book is connected to The Best Laid Plans as Chris and Amie leave a house being renovated to Chris’s best friend from college. But these both can be read as complete standalone books or in any order.

🏈 Football Player
🩷 Grumpy x Sunshine
🏈 Enemies to Lovers
🩷 Hate to Love
🏈 Co-Guardianship
🩷 Forced Proximity

I don't know how, but the emotions Karla Sorenson poured into this book absolutely wrecked me. She built a perfectly beautiful love story for two imperfect people, thrown into an imperfect situation. I'll be obsessed with Liam and Zoe for so long. Watching Liam warm to Mira, and knowing their bond gave him the strength to pursue Zoe was such an incredible way to weak these three characters lives together. I loved seeing them interact with Chris and Amie in the beginning. The secret of Liam's past was just enough to keep me interest, while also giving a solid reasoning behind his actions. I sobbed. I laughed. My heart was so full!

~Quack

Did Chris and Amie play matchmaker? I’d like to think they did 😍.

When Liam and Zoe discover that they are the guardians of Mira, they didn’t expect that their feelings for each other would develop.

I had so many feelings reading this book I didn’t want it to end. I absolutely loved it 🥰.

It’s probably the slowest of burns but you overlook that as you get to know the characters better.

I would also go so far as to say that Mira in her own two year old way played both therapist and matchmaker 🥹. She was the cutest little duck in this story.

Liam blooming and dealing with his past really got my heart in a knot. He struggled so much to be himself and not a reflection of who people thought he might be. And Zoe, like the super woman she is, took things in her stride. She stepped up and became what was needed for both Mira and Liam.

In this story you’ll get:

🩷 co-guardianship
🤍 instant family
🩷 slow slow slow burn
🤍 banter at its best
🩷 interfering teammates
🤍 a golden girls book club
🩷 a little girl who loves ducks
🤍 feelings all over the place 🥹

I loved it.

I gave Zoe, Liam and Mira 4,75 🦋

4.25 STARS
Emotional, solid story and extremely likable characters.
I loved the characters, I think they are the reason I didn’t mind that it was SO SLOW BURN!
I know it’s a trope that’s really liked or not; I don’t love it… I really loved it in this book,
The characters are vivid, multidimensional and relatable.
I think it lacked solid secondary characters, which for the storyline is either very understandable or a missed opportunity. I’m still not sure how I feel about.
I liked the MMC’s history, I liked the slow unraveling of his character.
I think the secondary characters rare appearances were fun, necessary and likable.
I think it’s a very emotional story with mild heat.
The toddler as a new addition was so heartwarming, heartbreaking and adorable.
I’m not usually a big fan of babies or kids being major characters…. It MADE this story. It worked so well and I swooned, teared up and felt my heart break.
It’s such a lovely story if you are okay with mild spice/heat and a child being a major factor,
I loved it!

What happens when your prince charming is more of a dark knight? Sometimes fairytale love is just that a fairytale. This is such an incredible book cram packed with emotions. The slow burn is perfection but you may just burst into flames reading this book. The characters are amazing as always and the plot was so well planned out. I couldn't put this book down. I don't want to give anything away but you need this book in your life. I can't wait to read what Karla has next.

please note that the trigger warnings and topes/themes may contain spoilers
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
HEA: HEA
POV: dual 1st person POV
spice: several open-door spicy scenes
TWs: anger management, anxiety, child abuse (recounted), death, divorce, orphaned child, spousal abuse (recounted), therapy
standalone: book 2 of The Best Men series
final thoughts: this book was a super angsty read that had such sweet moments with a secret cinnamon roll MMC who is beyond broken and finally gets the help he needs. Please note that the triggers are major plot points in this book and are consistent throughout the entire story.
I love a grumpy/sunshine slowburn but I was hoping for a bigger burn with all the tension laid out in this story! Still a great read and I look forward to reading more about the rest of the team and hopefully seeing Mira as a side character in other stories!

read this book if you love
😬 angst
😆 banter
🍪 secret cinnamon roll MMC
🏝️ forced proximity
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 found family
🎁 grand gestures
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 great side characters
😎 good girl/bad boy
😡 grumpy/sunshine
👦 he falls first and hard
🤫 hidden secrets
🧠 “it’s always been you”
😜 jealous, possessive MMC
👕 jersey scene
💞 mutual pining
🔀 opposites attract
🤜 rivals-to-friends-to-lovers
🛌 roommates
👩‍👦 single parent (kinda)
💓 slowburn
🏈 sports romance (football)

oh my heart!

what a beautiful story of grief and grace. heart and healing. Liam & Zoe are given the monumental task of becoming primary guardians for their sweet god daughter, Mira. their struggle to not only become joint caregivers who can hardly stand to breathe the same air, but to also heal from their own personal hurts in the process is real and raw and so vulnerable. their love for Mira becomes of the catalyst for an achingly slowww burn, but the beauty of that kind of simmering romance is when the tension breaks, the butterflies are *breathtaking*.

Karla writes the way home feels, and there will never be a day where I’m not homesick for her words.

book was filled with so much emotion but written so beautifully. There was so much sadness and grief but you see so much love with these characters. Liam and Zoe both lost their best friends to a tragic accident and are now the guardians to a toddler. My heart broke for Mira, grieving the loss of both her parents. Liam and Zoe hate each other and to see their relationship growth was so good. I loved everything about this book.

A stunningly beautiful follow-up to the first book in this series. Don’t be concerned as far as content if you have not read the first book, but if you haven’t…you really should – it was great too! Liam Davies has lost his best friend and he has been appointed co-guardian to his friend’s almost three-year-old daughter, Mira. He doesn’t believe he is the right person to care for her and offers to provide money instead. He has a long-time contentious past with the other guardian, Zoe Valentine, and Zoe believes that he owes it to his friend to honor his wishes. No matter their past issues, Zoe believes that is important that they raise Mira together. Amazing, emotional and often laugh out loud dialog between the two main characters (and Mira, what an absolute joy) as they both come to terms with their pasts as they navigate what is best for Mira. He is dealing with past issues of abuse when he was younger and she with the end of her marriage. Can these two come together to do what is best to care for their friend’s young daughter? Will Liam finally decide that both Mira and Zoe are his to love and protect? I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (paytonpuppy)

Talk about a slow burn romance. This book was such an emotional read that definitely tugged on my heartstrings, and had me a mess while reading.

There is so much push and pull and tension between Zoe and Liam. They have known each other for years through their mutual friends, but cannot stand one another. When tragedy strikes, Liam and Zoe are forced together to raise the cutest little girl…except fears and doubts keep Liam from believing that he can do this. There is a lot of character growth throughout this book, and by the end, actions and reservations make a lot more sense.

This book is raw, and it captures the characters’ grief and the different stages of healing from their loss. The journey is messy and hard, but watching Zoe and Liam’s relationship unfold them learn to co-parent, was so heartwarming and beautiful.

Wow! I absolutely loved this book. Amazing characters and wonderful plot. Very beautifully written and easy to read.

Liam Davies and Zoe Valentine detest each other for ten years. They have nothing in common. Liam is a professional football player and is not interested in relationships and commitment. Zoe is a hopeless romantic and wants a fairy tale romance. They are forced to interact, when their mutual friends pass away leaving them as co-guardians of their little daughter, Mira. Spending time together opens their eyes and they see each other in a new light. Little Mira is precious and she helps them build their relationship. I loved the chemistry and passion between Liam and Zoe. They were made for each other.

Overall I loved this book very much. If you’re looking for an enemies to lovers, football, forced proximity romance then you’re going to love it.

Easily the best 5 star read of the year for me. Absolutely adored this book!

I loved the in depth progression of Liam and Zoe’s relationship. Karla did such a good job getting these two characters from hate to love. And the banter in between. Spot on! I highlighted so much of this book!

Beautifully poignant instant family, slow burn romance dealing with blending lives, grief and heartbreak - all whilst a potential spark of romance blooms.

Liam and Zoe’s have held a grudge for a decade but when their respective best friends die and leave them joint custody of their little girl, Mira, they try to put aside the snide remarks and grievances to be the parental influences she needs.

Liam is a huge grump but he loves Mira and only wants to protect her from more hurt. Zoe is like sunlight in human form and she'll do her best to make everyone around her happy. But there are other forces afoot to try and push these broken hearted guardians together - Zoe's elderly book clubbers!

Heart-breaking, life affirming and ultimately a HEA for this brand new little family!

"The Best of All" by Karla Sorensen is a great story about two people who start out as enemies and then fall in love. It definitely has a Grumpy X Sunshine vibe. I loved watching Liam and Zoe become a family when they are both given custody of their friends' little girl after a terrible accident. It's a slow burn, but well worth it.

Karla is such a fantastic story teller. She tells such beautiful stories that encompass so much more than just the love story. I love the way the tension and everything is built up. Zoe and Liam met each other through their friends Charlie & Amie. We see a little bit of their past with them, but then in the present, Charlie and Amie tragically pass away leaving behind a young daughter. Zoe immediately steps in to take care of Mira. Soon Zoe & Liam find out that their friends wanted both of them to raise their daughter if something happened to them.

I loved Liam’s journey in this story. He wasn’t initially willing to take care of Mira but eventually came around. Liam and Mira actually had the cutest and the funniest relationship. Liam isn’t used to kids, he curses all the time around her and maintains his grumpy disposition but Mira absolutely loves it and always wants to go hang out with him.

Liam & Zoe are navigating their grief together while also having to adjust to not only becoming the guardians of Mira but figuring out a co-parenting relationship. Together dealing with their grief and loss as well as Mira’s they find comfort in each other. There is a lot of sexual chemistry and Liam & Zoe get closer and closer as time goes on. I loved that their journey to love and parenting was also one that provided healing and a promise for a future. This was an incredible slow burn and was absolutely worth it!

5 Star Review The Best Of All by Karla Sorensen

This is Liam Davies and Zoe Valentine’s enemies to lovers’ story and what an entertaining story it was. From the first paragraph to the last I was riveted to the story that Ms. Sorensen wove.

When fate delivers a cruel blow, both Liam and Zoe will have to put aside their differences to raise their late friends toddler, Mia.

This was a beautifully written love story with plenty of romance, angst, and was a heartwarming and heartbreakingly emotional story that left me with a smile on my face and is everything I could've asked for in a romance.