A Love Like the Sun

Lifelong best friends spend a fateful summer discovering what might happen if they were to be something more in this radiant, heart-clenching adult debut.

Laniah Thompson is a homebody who craves privacy. Issac Jordan is internet famous and spends his days followed by paparazzi. She runs a small business with her mom in her hometown. He runs an international brand.

And they've been best friends since childhood.

When Issac comes home to Providence for the first time in months and discovers Laniah's dream is slipping out of reach as she and her mom struggle to pay the bills at Wildly Green, their natural hair store, she refuses to take a dime from him. And so, he does what any self-respecting best friend would do: tells the world they're dating.

Suddenly business is booming, and Laniah agrees to his ridiculous plan to pretend to be lovers for the course of the summer. Just long enough to catch the eye of an investor and get her dream back on track, like she helped him do so many years ago, he reminds her.

Too soon, though, Laniah knows she's playing with fire, because for as long as they've been friends there's an undeniable pull they've never given in to. And as the lines between art and life—real and pretend—blur, it becomes harder and harder to see where friendship ends and something else begins....

Told over the course of three sizzling summer months, A Love Like the Sun is about shared history, those who make us our bravest selves, and love in its many forms.

About the Author

Riss M. Neilson is a magna cum laude graduate of Rhode Island College, where she won the English department's Jean Garrigue Award, which was judged by novelist Nick White. Her debut young adult novel, Deep in Providence, was a 2022 finalist for the New England Book Awards. She is from Providence and lives for the city's art and culture scene. A Love Like the Sun is her adult debut.

Reviews

"Sometimes you read a book and you just know that no other writer in the world could possibly have written it—that this story was destined to be told in just this way, at just this moment. Riss M. Neilson's A Love Like the Sun is one of those books. It's funny, heartfelt, and fresh, with dreamy prose and vibrant characters. Nielson has crafted something extraordinary in Laniah and Issac's story: a raw, vulnerable, breath-stealing love you can feel as you read." —Emily Henry, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Happy Place

"Dazzling, tender, and romantic, A Love Like the Sun is a beautiful story about taking risks, being brave, and letting the people who know us best, love us fully. I adored this friends-to-lovers romance!" —Carley Fortune, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Meet Me at the Lake

"A Love Like the Sun is a beautifully crafted and achingly tender story that offers a fresh take on the well loved friends to lovers trope. Laniah and Isaac's chemistry is undeniable, and I so enjoyed witnessing them find their way to each other. A must read!" —Kristina Forest, author of The Partner Plot

Dimensions: 13.2 x 1.96 x 20.22 cm