The Cheat Sheet
Sarah Adams, 2021
Romance Graphic novels & humour
A ballet teacher and an NFL quarterback have been best friends since high school. The problem is she has been in love with him just as long. Warm, chatty and a little achey, with a slow-burn pull between two longtime friends and plenty of light jokes along the way.
Feels like longing and wonder. About friendship and society.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy friends-to-lovers romance where the longing has been building since high school. The tension runs long and the romance stays closed-door, so readers wanting heat or a quick resolution may find it slow.
Why read it
A good pick when you want something light that still has a real ache underneath: easy banter, a kind hero, and a friendship you can believe in.
A page from the book
The small gesture that quietly turns a friendship into something else.
We were on our final lap of that very first run together when his hand caught mine. He tugged me to a stop then bent down in front of me and tied my shoe. He could have just told me it was untied, but no—Nathan’s not like that. It doesn’t matter who you are or how famous he is; if your shoe is untied, he’s going to tie it for you. I’ve never met anyone else like that. I was so gone for him from day one. Sarah Adams.Sarah Adams writes closed-door romantic comedies, so the heat comes from banter and tension rather than explicit scenes.
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Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is The Cheat Sheet for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy friends-to-lovers romance where the longing has been building since high school. The tension runs long and the romance stays closed-door, so readers wanting heat or a quick resolution may find it slow.
- What is The Cheat Sheet like?
- Warm, chatty and a little achey, with a slow-burn pull between two longtime friends and plenty of light jokes along the way. Feels like longing and wonder. About friendship and society.
- What should I read after The Cheat Sheet?
- If you liked The Cheat Sheet, try Looking for Alaska (John Green), People We Meet on Vacation (Emily Henry) and Play Along (Liz Tomforde).
A taste of the feed
The case for being seventeen and certain nothing can end you.
When adults say, “Teenagers think they are invincible” with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don’t know how right they are. We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. We think that we are invincible because we are. We cannot be born, and we cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations. They forget that when they get old. They get scared of losing and failing. But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail.
Looking for Alaska · John Green
The oldest child who learned to keep everything buttoned up.
Alex Nilsen is a study in control. In that tall, broad, permanently slouched and/or pretzel-folded body of his, there’s a surplus of stoicism (the result of being the oldest child of a widower with the most vocal anxiety of anyone I’ve ever met) and a stockpile of repression (the result of a strict religious upbringing in direct opposition to most of his passions; namely, academia), alongside the most truly strange, secretly silly, and intensely softhearted goofball I’ve had the pleasure to know.
People We Meet on Vacation · Emily Henry
To be the one always understood, and never the one doing the understanding.
I never had to beg for your attention, and I’m not sure you’ll ever fully understand how safe that became for me, knowing you were giving it to me willingly. I never had to ask you to see me, to understand me, and I’m sorry that I haven’t allowed you to be able to say the same. But I promise you, Isaiah, now that my eyes have been opened, I can’t keep them off you.
Play Along · Liz Tomforde
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