There’s a reason I’m obsessed with queer romances, and I’m so happy to add Ryan and Brian to that growing list of couples I can’t live without. This is my first time reading Bethany Monaco Smith, and if her MF romance series is as sweet, loving, and swoon-worthy as this MM romance, it won’t be my last.

It wasn’t love at first sight, but Brian has carried a torch for his best friend, Ryan Harding, far longer than is wise for a queer man to carry for a straight guy. He’s convinced himself there’s beauty in unrequited love and refuses to risk the friendship he treasures with his teammate and next-door neighbor. Then their building goes up for sale and Ryan suggests the one idea guaranteed to wreck Brian’s sanity: move in together. Distance was the only thing keeping him sane; sharing a roof with the man who fills every dream, every fantasy, every inch of his brain – impossible.

Meanwhile, Ryan can’t pinpoint when it happened, but somewhere along the way he fell for his best friend – or at least, that’s what it feels like. He’s always thought he was straight, yet he can’t shake the very real feelings growing for Brian. He wants answers, and when they need a new place, the perfect test presents itself: a penthouse, together. If he faces these feelings head-on, he’ll finally know whether it’s just a misguided closeness or if the man he’d do anything for is, in fact, his person.

If you’re craving an angst-free romance – with no third-act breakup and nonstop awws to the last page – you’re going to love The Last Person. The slow build as they navigate their feelings while protecting their friendship, the delicious distance and pining, the dual POV capturing every tiny shift – it’s so good. And when they finally cross the line, Bethany does not hold back. The tension, the unrequited longing, all that pent-up time – it bursts into one electrifying moment and incinerates the pages.

This is the only book I’ve read in the series, but it’s clear the earlier characters play meaningful roles in bringing these two together, which absolutely made me want to go back to the beginning with the Baker Girls. You can still enjoy this as a standalone – just know it will spoil the four prior books (all of which are MF romances).

I will say the love gets a little sappy at times – enough that I contemplated a drinking game for every use of the word “love” on the page – but that’s just the cynic in me talking, and we tend to ignore her.