
Title: The Friend Zone
Author: Abby Jimenez
Publisher: Forever (Grand Central Publishing)
Release date: June 11th, 2019
Page count: 372
Genre: Romance, Contemporary
Summary
Kristen Petersen doesnāt do drama, will fight to the death for her friends, and has no room in her life for guys who just donāt get her. Sheās also keeping a big secret: facing a medically necessary procedure that will make it imposible for her to have children.
Planning her best friendās wedding is bittersweet for Kristen āespecially when she meets the best man, Josh Copeland. Heās funny, sexy, never ofended by her mile-wide streak of sarcasm, and always one chicken enchilada ahead of her hangry. Even her dog, Struntman Mike, adores him. The only catch: Josh wants a big family someday. Kristen knows heād be better off with someone else, but as their attraction grows, itās harder and harder to keep him at arms lenght.
The Friend Zone will have you laughing one moment and grabbing for tissues the next as it tackles the realities of infertility and loss with wit, heart, and a lot of sass.
Review
As you already know from the summary, Kristen and Josh get to know each other because they have friends in common (their best friends happen to be engaged). This brings them together, and soon Josh stars to working as the carpenter of Kristenās dog house business. The chemistry between them is huge, and so the author takes us on their journey as Josh tries to find out why Kristen is being so evasive, and she tries to fight her feelings for Josh as they only grow bigger with time. This book deals with the subject of infertility, but also gives an inside look on the feelings of worthlessness, frustration and guilt that come with Kristenās health issue.
Iāll start with the things I liked about this book. First, the bookās essence and its pacing. This is a light-hearted, fun and sassy book full of sarcasm that will have you laughing at (almost) all times, but it will also make you want to rip off your hair at some points because of Kristenās stubbornness. You get easily into the book and the pages go by flying.
āI am not drunk. Iām just talking in cursiveā
Abby Jimenez, The Friend Zone
When it comes to the characters, I liked Kristen the most: sheās determined, caring, and as sarcastic as she can possibly be. If one word can describe her is practical: she lives her life listening to her mind, not to her heart. But on the other side, sheās also very blunt, stubborn, and kind of insecure because of her health problem. The author made her a flawed and morally gray character that was really interesting to read about. Now, about Josh, I had mixed feelings with him. Heās a kind, funny and friendly guy, but I didnāt like some of his behaviours during the book. Specially when it came to Kristenās boyfriend. They seemed to think that Kristen was an object they had to āgetā, and it pissed me off. Josh uses the āsheās mineā phrase way too much for my taste.
āDo you ever see yourself acting crazy, but you canāt stop because youāre not a quitter?ā
Abby Jimenez, The Friend Zone
Josh and Kristen have an amazing chemistry and you can see that from the very first pages. Theyāre both laid back, practical people. Theyāre happy with very little. And overall, you can see from the beggining that theyāre perfect for each other. Thatās why it was so hard to read how Kristen was being so reluctant to finally accept him into her heart. But if you ask me, I prefered their friendship rather than their romantic relationship. The beginning was rushed and felt off, and during the book they seemed to be too dependant on each other. The Friend Zone gives the message that without the other, they could never be happy, and I never appreciate that in a book.
About the main subject of this book (Kristenās infertility), I believe it couldāve been done with more delicacy and tact. The author used some words that came off as hurtful and unnecessary, and I think that if I was someone suffering Kristenās illness, I wouldāve been kind of offended. You can easily tell the author took someone elseās story and hasnāt experienced this herself, nor was documented well enough on how delicate this is.
āIād found my person. She was the foundation. She was the thing that all other things are built on.ā
Abby Jimenez, The Friend Zone
But thereās even more in this book! Something I did not expect was the subplot of Sloan and Brandonās story. I wonāt say much, because I donāt want to spoil it for you, but when the summary says this book will make you cry, trust me, it will. Having those two characters in the book made it better, gave us a chance to see some strong friendship bonds between the characters through the good and the bad. Sloanās story doesnāt have the depth Iād like here, but the good news is that sheāll have her own book! The Happy Ever After Playlist comes out on April 14th, and weāll get to see what happens with her next! Even if The Friend Zone had its ups and downs, iāll definitely be reading Sloanās book once it comes out.
This book was a rollercoaster. It made me laugh, it made me frustrated, depressed, and even pissed sometimes. Despite the lack of delicacy in it and some things that felt off with the romance, I enjoyed most of the book. The friendships in it were definitely the best part. The sass, the sarcasm and all the funny moments between Kristen and Josh makes it a good book to escape to. Would it be the first book iād recommend from this genre? No, but still, I donāt regret reading it.
Rating
Have you read The Friend Zone? What were your thoughts on it? Let me know in the comments!
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That sounds like a great book. Thanks for sharing. I have been looking for a new book to read here lately
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I hope you can read this one soon!
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Oooh, I loved how balanced your review was!!! Sitting on the fence about picking up this one – on the one hand, you mentioned a lot of things that are absolute winners for me, but guys saying ‘she’s mine’ is just one of my biggest pet peeves of all time. And it’s interesting that you enjoyed their friendship more than their romance!! š±
š Ngoc
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That possesiveness on Kristen really upset me while reading it š¦ but still, it was a reading I enjoyed. I know, it’s not usual to like the friendship the most, but this time it was inevitableš
I’m really glad you liked the review!š
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This honestly sounds like my book – I love rollercoaster books, and it sounds so funny as well! Thanks so much for the review – honestly would not have known about this book without the review!! ā¤
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I’m so glad you liked the review! This book was totally a rollercoaster, and I really had fun reading it. I recently finished reading its spin-off and loved it even more!
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