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Verdict: A cosy, low-angst friends-to-lovers story about two childhood best friends who practise dating each other after their engagements collapse, held back by a romance that only properly ignites in the final fifth and editing that needed another pass.
Best for: Readers who want a gentle comfort read, a queer awakening between lifelong friends, and a small-town Maine setting full of supportive people, and who do not mind a late payoff.
Heat level: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5 — low until late, then at least one on-page scene)
Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.6/5 — a 3.92 Goodreads average across about 540 ratings, docked for pacing and editing)
Tropes: Friends to lovers, childhood best friends, practice dating, queer awakening, everyone knows but them, small town, broken engagements, found family, low angst, dual POV.
Who We Could Be by Chelsea M. Cameron is a short standalone friends-to-lovers romance from 2020 — a small-town story set in Maine, in which two lifelong best friends, a bookseller and a librarian, both lose their fiancés and decide to practise dating each other.
It holds a 3.92 average across about 540 Goodreads ratings and earned Smart Bitches, Trashy Books’ top grade. The author pitches it as the Anne-and-Diana romance readers always wanted. Readers love its warmth and argue about its timing, and both are worth knowing before you start.
What Is Who We Could Be About?
Who We Could Be is a gentle, character-driven romance with almost no villainy in it. The small Maine town is supportive, the families are kind, and the conflict is internal: two women realising, slowly and then quickly, that the person they love most has been beside them all along. The book’s Anne of Green Gables framing — kindred spirits, bosom friends — sets the tone.
Tessa O’Connell works in a bookstore; Monty Ford is a librarian. They have been inseparable since childhood, they are both engaged to men, and both engagements fall apart. The story alternates between their first-person voices, which lets the reader see each woman’s awakening from the inside — though several readers found the two voices hard to tell apart.
What Makes This Sapphic Friends-to-Lovers Romance Work
- The comfort: The most praised element. Around nine readers call it low-angst or zero-angst comfort reading.
- The friendship: About eight love the everyone-knows-but-them setup, and the long shared history gives the romance a solid foundation.
- The Anne of Green Gables angle: Around seven readers delight in the kindred-spirits framing.
- The supporting cast: Readers praise a warm, diverse small-town community, including queer, trans and asexual characters.
- Critical approval: Smart Bitches, Trashy Books gave it its top grade, with only a slow middle as a quibble.
Book Synopsis
Tessa O’Connell and Monty Ford have been best friends for as long as either can remember — through school, through small-town gossip, through every major decision of their lives. They have also, as of this year, both been engaged. Then, one after the other, the engagements fall apart, and the two of them are left sorting through what is left.
Heartbroken, a little lost and very much tired of the dating scene, they come up with a plan that sounds perfectly sensible after a glass of wine: practise. If they are going to start over, they might as well rehearse with the one person who already knows them better than anyone.
Practice dates turn into real conversations, and real conversations turn into questions neither of them has ever let herself ask. The town has opinions. Their families have opinions. And for two women who have always known exactly who they are to each other, the hardest thing may be admitting they could be something else entirely.
My Review
The friendship is the heart of this book, and it is lovely. Cameron writes two women with a lifetime of shared jokes and quiet loyalty, and the slow realisation that what they have is love feels earned rather than invented. The small-town Maine setting and its warm community make it a genuinely restful read.
The low-angst approach is the second strength. There is no villain between the leads, no manufactured breakup and very little drama — just two people working out their hearts, surrounded by family and friends who support them. For readers who want comfort, this is exactly the right book.
Where it struggles is timing and polish, and these are the consistent complaints. Around eight readers say the romance only arrives in the final fifth, after which the ending feels rushed — a problem made sharper by the book’s short length. About five flag editing errors, including name mix-ups and typos, and about as many say the two first-person voices are hard to tell apart. A single reader felt an asexual character was handled flippantly, and StoryGraph readers, a smaller group, rate it noticeably lower than Goodreads readers do.
One expectation to reset: the premise of practice dating suggests romantic tension from early on. It is mostly friendship until late. If you came for a charged slow burn, calibrate; if you came for a soft friends-to-lovers comfort read, it delivers.
My honest note: A sweet, gentle friends-to-lovers story whose romance comes late and whose prose needed another edit. If you need the love story on the page early, it will frustrate you. If you want a cosy, low-stakes read about two best friends, it is a pleasure.
| Element | In Who We Could Be |
|---|---|
| Central relationship | Tessa O’Connell & Monty Ford — a bookseller and a librarian, childhood best friends to lovers |
| Core tropes | Friends to lovers, practice dating, queer awakening, everyone knows but them, small town, broken engagements |
| Setting | A small town in Maine, with a trip to Savannah |
| Heat level | 2/5 — low until late, then at least one on-page scene |
| Series | Standalone — happy ending, no cliffhanger |
| Content notes | Infidelity by a fiancé, sexual content, pregnancy and fertility themes among side characters (StoryGraph and reader reviews) |
How Spicy Is Who We Could Be?
A 2/5. I could not get a romance.io reading for this title, so the number comes from readers: the heat is minimal for most of the book, and then, near the end, there is at least one on-page scene that reviewers call hot and satisfying. StoryGraph users tag the sexual content as moderate. Because the romance arrives so late, so does the heat.
No reviewer flags kink content. If you want a friends-to-lovers romance with more heat throughout, A Little Kissing Between Friends sits in a much higher band; Cameron’s own Anyone but You is short, silly and spicier too.
Who Should Read This Book?
You’ll likely love it if: you want a low-angst comfort read, you love best-friends-to-lovers stories, you enjoy small-town settings with supportive communities, and you like an Anne of Green Gables wink.
You may want to skip it if: you need romantic tension early, typos and name mix-ups pull you out, you want distinct dual narrators, or a rushed ending frustrates you.
In short: a sweet, cosy best-friends romance whose love story arrives late.
What Readers Are Actually Saying (October 2026)
This is a small, well-liked indie book with a modest readership. I found no trade reviews and no Reddit or BookTok conversation; the one significant review is from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, which gave it its highest grade and quibbled only with a slow middle. The numbers: a 3.92 average across about 540 Goodreads ratings, 3.5 across 21 StoryGraph reviews with a 6% did-not-finish rate — a small sample, so read it carefully — and 4.4 from 517 Amazon ratings. An audiobook exists, though I could not find its runtime, and the one listener comment I found was critical of the narration.
Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The comfort, first — around nine readers call it low or zero angst. Then the everyone-knows-but-them friendship, which about eight praise, and the Anne of Green Gables angle, which about seven enjoy. Readers also appreciate the supportive, diverse cast, including queer and trans characters, and the warmth of the small-town setting.
What readers argue about and complain about: Timing, above everything. About eight readers say the romance only arrives around 78–85% of the way through and is then rushed to a close. Second: editing, with about five flagging typos and mixed-up names. Third: the two first-person narrators, which about five found hard to distinguish. One low-star reader objected to how an asexual character is treated. Notably, Smart Bitches did not mention the editing errors that readers flag, which suggests the issue may depend on edition or tolerance.
The standalone question worth asking first: it is complete, with a happy ending and no cliffhanger. Cameron has written many more sapphic romances; readers who want her with more heat and less waiting can try Anyone but You.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Who We Could Be a slow burn?
Very. Readers consistently say the romantic tension only really arrives around 80% of the way through, after a long build of friendship.
How spicy is Who We Could Be?
Low — a 2/5. The heat is minimal until late in the book, when there is at least one on-page scene readers describe as satisfying.
Is Who We Could Be a standalone?
Yes. It is a complete standalone that ends happily, with no cliffhanger.
Is it really like Anne of Green Gables?
In spirit. The author pitches it as an Anne-and-Diana love story, and around seven readers enjoyed that kindred-spirits framing.
How long is Who We Could Be?
It is short — about 190 pages — which is part of why some readers felt the late romance was rushed.
If You Loved Who We Could Be, Read These Next
For more friends-to-lovers with a strong community around it, A Little Kissing Between Friends is the closest match on warmth, with far more heat. If it was Cameron’s voice you liked, Anyone but You swaps best friends for enemies. And for a long, low-angst romance with no third-act breakup, The Snowball Effect is a good next step.
For more like this, browse our list of lesbian romance without a third-act breakup or the full Book Reviews collection.
The Bottom Line
Who We Could Be is a book with a big heart and a slow clock. The friendship is lovely, the community is kind, and the low-angst approach makes it a genuine comfort read. It is also late to its own romance, short enough that the ending feels rushed, and in need of a firmer edit. If you want a gentle best-friends-to-lovers story and do not mind waiting, it is worth an afternoon. Check Who We Could Be on Amazon →
The Eikna Overall Ranking
On the Eikna scale, Who We Could Be ranks as a sweet indie sapphic friends-to-lovers comfort read — warm, low-angst and genuinely kind, held back by a late romance and editing slips, and best approached as a cosy friendship story rather than a slow burn.
The Evidence Scorecard
Overall ★★★★☆ 3.6/5
- ✓ 3.92 average across 543 Goodreads ratings
- ✓ Top grade from Smart Bitches
- ✓ 4.4 from 517 Amazon ratings
- ✓ Late romance the main complaint
Romance ★★★☆☆ 3.4/5
- ✓ Lifelong friendship gives a strong base
- ✓ Practice-dating premise charming
- ✓ Happy ending
- ✓ Romance arrives around 80%
Characters ★★★★☆ 3.7/5
- ✓ Tessa and Monty warmly drawn
- ✓ Supportive, diverse cast
- ✓ Queer awakening handled gently
- ✓ Two voices hard to tell apart
Writing ★★★☆☆ 3.2/5
- ✓ Light, easy prose
- ✓ Anne of Green Gables wink lands
- ✓ Small-town atmosphere cosy
- ✓ Typos and name mix-ups
Emotional Impact ★★★★☆ 3.7/5
- ✓ Comfort-read warmth
- ✓ Broken engagements give stakes
- ✓ Families supportive and kind
- ✓ Little tension until late
Heat Level ★★☆☆☆ 2/5
- ✓ Minimal for most of the book
- ✓ At least one on-page scene late
- ✓ Readers call it satisfying
- ✓ Not for readers seeking spice
Ending ★★★★☆ 3.6/5
- ✓ Happy ending, no cliffhanger
- ✓ Standalone
- ✓ Satisfying for fans
- ✓ Rushed after a late start
Re-read Value ★★★★☆ 3.6/5
- ✓ Short and cosy to revisit
- ✓ Comfort-read quality
- ✓ Kind small-town world
- ✓ Editing slips noticeable again
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