User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Just what the world needs. Another problematic book masquerading as a cute read... *sigh* Admittedly in the early parts of this read I was really enjoying this book for what it was; a contemporary romance with a bittersweet core. So I laughed, I cried. I had a lot of feels. Yes I ignored the blatant stereotyping and negative portrayal of *the other woman* that the leading man dated who wasn't our sassy heroine because...
Well I liked the hunky leading man.
And I liked the sassy heroine! (Even though she was 100% a not like other girls stereotype which is of itself problematic)
Everyone in this book was so likeable really. I cared about the characters, I was rooting for them to get together and was very touched by the storyline...
But then that ill advised ending happened. And I'm unimpressed.
My review is going to be spoiler filled. I do apologise but it's the only way I can discuss this book honestly and to be able to openly draw attention to its problematic nature.
So the content warnings for this book are illnesses and difficulties surrounding female reproductivity.
Our leading female character is Kristin. One day she has a minor fender-bender with hunky fireman Josh and sparks fly! Their chemistry is off the charts and much sassy banter and flirting ensues. But Kristin has a boyfriend called Tyler. He's deployed overseas with the military but she loves him... Right? Wrong... She's settling for him. And we quickly learn why. Because Kristin suffers with fibroids and extremely heavy menstrual bleeding. She has been told that she is infertile and within weeks is planning to have a hysterectomy at age 26. So she can't have children, and Tyler doesn't want kids so he seems like a logical choice for a partner....
But she has all this chemistry with Josh and despite her best efforts she finds herself falling for him.
And it's likewise for Josh. He's getting over a breakup with his girlfriend Celeste because....she doesn't want to have children and that's a deal breaker for him because apparently he wants a baseball team's worth of kids!
So understandably Kristin feels that she is not the ideal woman for Josh but she won't reveal to him her reasons, much to Josh's disagreement...
Anyway the story evolves into a friends with benefit style relationship until we know that both characters are painfully in love with each other but Kristin resists until finally she believes that she is worthy of love. That her infertility should not deny her true happiness because to the right person (in this case Josh) it's not a sacrifice for him to not have kids because of her, because to him his life is incomplete without her.
This was great. Ah I loved this. Struggling with issues about your own fertility and the knowledge that you are possibly responsible for your future partner not becoming a fully genetic father to children is a theme that needs to be explored in books. And I was so touched by the storyline. I related to it. It's difficult to open yourself up to a relationship when you know you are infertile or have fertility struggles.
However, one of the reasons that Kristin finally accepted that she should be married to Josh and live happily ever after with him is because one of their best friends tragically dies......... CAN WE NOT HAVE THE PEOPLE DYING SO OTHERS CAN LEARN A LIFE LESSON TROPE???????????????
Honestly!!! *eye roll*
BUT IT GETS WORSE!!!!!!
Remember. This is a book that is about infertility and the acceptance of such... SO THE LAST THING YOU'D WANT IS FOR KRISTIN TO GET PREGNANT RIGHT??????
Well guess who gets pregnant miraculously at the end because apparently her IUD device was pushed out of her system with a heavy flow and the one time they don't use condoms his oh-so-virile sperm just says screw you (literally and figuratively) to her tumour-infested uterus and boom it's a boy.....
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
Look I read the author's note at the end of the book where she proclaimed the following (taken from the eARC copy) and I get what she was trying to say.... But I think when you have to spell this out for people in the hopes that your book won't be interpreted a certain way...well then you're on to a losing streak and no author's note is going to make up for your egregious storytelling.
Kristen's happy ending was never about getting pregnant. It was about her allowing herself to be loved, despite what she felt were shortcomings. It was about her recognising that she wasn't defined by her ability to have children, and that her worth went beyond the state of her uterus. That was her happily ever after.I can't seriously be the only one bothered by this right???? If discovering true happiness is when Kristin learns to... I guess it's almost learns to forgive herself for how her body is, then why would you utterly defeat the purpose of this character arc of growth, self love and happiness by having her fall pregnant in such an unrealistic manner?? Because therefore you are implying that the happy ever after is only when she has her own child born from her uterus!?!?!?!?! Go away. That's insulting. This message is problematic because of how it still places that happy emphasis on one method of having children. Could our cute couple not have gone through with surrogacy as planned? Fostered? Adopted??? I mean it's just such a ridiculous cop out that she gets pregnant at the end. Yes I know that these pregnancies can happen and that this is but one interpretation of a woman's struggles with fibroids BUT this is not the commonplace experience. Therefore, I think it would be very upsetting to someone who is reading this book who themselves are struggling to conceive and was hoping to find a happy ever after of a more realistic sort.
I know, as a person who was and still is hesitant in relationships due to my own fertility status, I was personally very upset when I read the ending as it felt disingenuous to what I believed was the main theme of the book, that of the overall character arc of happiness through self acceptance and improving one's sense of self worth in the light of fertility problems. The ending simply cheapens the whole message of the book and is a slap in the face to the myriad of women for whom this is not possible no matter how much they hope and dream it to be.
It also is poor in that it tells women with horrific menstruation problems that cause them untoward amounts of pain, possibly damaging levels of anaemia and causes them to live lives 100% dictated by their menstrual cycles that if you hold off and continue putting your body and health at risk by not opting for a surgical option (ie hysterectomy in Kristin's case) then you'll be rewarded with your bundle of joy and not a life of pain and recurrent hospitalisations...
I am baffled by this book's unhealthily romanticised logic.
I had thought this would be a four star read half way through the book... Then it went to three stars with the dead friend but that ending hammered the proverbial nail in the coffin and it's one fat shiny star.
*An e-copy of this book was kindly provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
Rating: really liked it
JOSHUA AND TYLER DESERVED BETTER! WOMEN WITH INFERTILITY DERSERVED BETTER! BRANDON DERSERVED BETTER!So plus points first, before I get carried away in incandescent rage.
1) This was mostly well written, and the writing seemed to flow quite well throughout the book.
2) The start wasn't bad. I liked Josh, Kristin was funny, and the book spoke about periods and infertility, which isn't really ever addressed in other contemporary romances.
Now...Firstly Kristen..OMG when will authors realise that we don't want to read about 'the cool girl?' Kristen was described as an amazing girl who doesn't like drama, doesn't wear make up, ate cheeseburgers, drank beer, and was actually labelled a unicorn four times in the book.
"An honest, no-drama woman who didn't bullshit and drank beer and cussed and didn't care about what people thought about her. She was a unicorn, tucked in the body of an attractive woman with a great ass."Lets just address that first because OMFG I'm sick of reading about these so called perfect women, and then seeing the author compare them to other women who are "exhausting" or "crazy." Why do we need to put down other women in order to boost the heroine?!
Next she wasn't honest, and she did indeed care about what people think about her. She lied to her boyfriend, and to Josh repeatedly. She was selfish, self absorbed and manipulative! She was such a bitch to the men in her life.
Which leads me to Tyler. Kristen's long term boyfriend in the military. The author looked down on him because he was intelligent, highly educated, career driven, liked nice clothes and fancy restaurants. I mean how dare he?!🤣 Kristen did not technically cheat on Tyler,
BUT she was constantly thinking about another man instead of him, she didn't answer his calls so that she could hang out with another man, and within minutes of their relationship ending, she jumped into bed with that other man...Even after all of that, he was nice to her, and he ended up getting hurt. He deserved better.
Then there was Joshua (why are so many love interests called Josh btw?!) Kristen lead him on repeatedly. Yes she had medical issues, yes he wanted kids, but she was dishonest with him, didn't communicate with him, ran hot and cold with him and was just basically a bitch. She would have sex with him but then say no kissing, hand holding or hugging, but then want to be friends with him and hang out. She kept stringing him along. He was seriously some kind of saint! Kristen should have just been honest with him, and then let him make his own decision. He was an adult and he deserved better. The lack of communication between the two main characters really wound me up!
Ok now to the unnecessary death of Josh's best friend and Kristen's best friend Sloan's fiancé.
I HATE IT WHEN AUTHORS USE THE DEATH OF A CHARACTER AS A PLOT DEVICE FOR THE NEXT BOOK!!!!! I was reading, and thought I saw it coming, but thought no surely not, she wouldn't...She did. Brandon was killed off to bring the two main characters together, but also, the next book is about Sloan getting over his death *stares into the distance* It also really triggered me, as I lost a relative at the end of last year after they were placed in a medically induced coma. I shed many tears, and felt the whole scenario could have been avoided.
Next, the fucking surprise pregnancy. A pretty much infertile woman, with an IUD has unprotected sex once with a man, after 8 years of having unprotected sex, and boom she's preggo! And it's just explained that he has some super fucking strong sperm.
What a slap in the face for all of the women reading who have struggled with infertility. Honestly fuck the author's note at the end! The fact that she has written that to try to justify the ending tells me that she was probably aware of what she was doing. This book has already upset women who are struggling with their fertility, I can see that in the reviews. It isn't how most cases end up, and most people won't be able to relate to that fairy-tale ending. Why couldn't they have used a surrogate, or fostered/adopted a child?
I feel like the ending of the book undermined everything that happened before it. What was the point of all of that conflict? Why did we see a character suffer, but grow to accept her situation, and to start to think she was worthy, to then cancel out that arc, and undermine the important message?!
Other issues I had was the gushing about the man buying the tampons, I mean really? In this day and age, surely most men would? IDK I know my husband wouldn't be bothered, its not like the cashier would think he's on his period...🙄
The book felt like it was judging women who didn't want to have kids, and women who wore make-up. This goes back to the author trying to make the heroine look good a the expense of other women.
Instead of a funny, heart warming story, this book made me feel really angry. I think I have actually talked myself into changing my rating to a one star!
Rating: really liked it
[I think it is EXTREMELY harmful to market a book as having a strong infertile woman as the lead character, only to have her miraculously fall naturally pregnant at the end of the book. As much as I should have seen it coming, I was absol
Rating: really liked it
Wow, this book made me uncomfortable on so many levels. I'm going to try to unpack it all here, and put my thoughts into words.
The Friend Zone starts off likable enough. Kristen is your all-around cool girl with a medical condition that will make it hard for her to have children. She meets Josh in the midst of planning her best friend's wedding, and they hit it off instantly. But the problem is that Josh wants at least five biological children, but really nine is the ideal number (yep, you read that correctly).
First of all... nine?! I double-checked, just to be sure I wasn't reading a book from the 1800s written by a sexist dude. Josh's attitude seems to be that the only thing he values in a mate is how many children she will give him. But he's not the only one. Multiple characters in here put extreme value on having biological children over any other alternatives, and look down on females who either can't or won't have them.
But Kristen isn't blameless either. In fact, the main issue of the book is that Kristen keeps her medical condition from Josh. Instead of just telling him and having a conversation about it like adults, she jerks him around while using him for sex. Ah yes, the age-old trick of deceiving someone into falling for you by pretending to be someone you're not. Obviously, these two idiots deserve each other.
I think the book is trying to be feminist by saying that you can be a strong female and love yourself even if you struggle with infertility or don't have children. But it somehow came across as completely the opposite. And the ending (which I won't spoil) completely undoes everything the book is trying to accomplish anyways.
In addition to the unlikable characters with questionable views, there were a lot of little oddities that gave me weird vibes. Like at one point, Josh goes on a rant about how people who live in cities call 911 for anything, whereas in the small town he comes from, people know to only use 911 for legit emergencies because "small-town people had pride."
Also, the way Josh compliments Kristen is extremely off-putting. He praises her for being a cool girl who drinks beer (not wine) with the guys, doesn't need to wear makeup to be beautiful, and just wants to eat burgers and pizza, while putting down other women who aren't like that as "nuts." How this book managed to insult like 100% of the female population in one fell swoop is a headscratcher, for sure.
In the end, there were so many things in this book that were, quite frankly, offensive. It seems like the author is trying to say one thing, but everything in the book ends up saying the exact opposite. Just... no.
Rating: really liked it
there’s plenty of issues with this book and many people who have pointed them out, so i won’t.
instead i’ll ask why Josh is such a sexy name to romance authors.
Rating: really liked it
You might be tempted to write Abby Jimenez's new book
The Friend Zone off as fluffy "chick-lit," assuming it's not much different than the countless other books like it out there.
You'd be wrong. Sure, there is romance, humor, talk of soulmates and futures, but there is also an extra layer of emotional complexity in this book. It made me want to devour the book even quicker than I did, and now that I'm done, I can't believe I have to wait until 2020 for Jimenez's next book!!
Josh and Kristen's meet-cute doesn't quite follow the traditional pattern: Josh, a recent transplant from South Dakota to Los Angeles, actually rear-ends Kristen when she has to stop suddenly in traffic. Kristen isn't any damsel-in-distress either—she's covered in coffee from the fender-bender and isn't afraid to let Josh know what a crappy driver he is, using every bit of flowery language she has at her disposal.
When they realize a little while later that Josh will be the best man at Kristen's best friend's wedding, both reluctantly admit they'll enjoy the prospect of spending time together. There's no doubt they're attracted to one another, and Kristen is awaiting the return of her Marine boyfriend, who will be moving in with her anyway, so there's no risk to their friendship.
The problem is, Kristen can't get enough of Josh, and the feeling is definitely mutual. Having been raised with six older sisters, Josh is more sensitive to what a woman wants—he knows that she needs to eat before she gets "hangry," they have the same sense of humor, and he even loves her little dog, Stuntman Mike. And the truth is, Kristen isn't even sure that her boyfriend Tyler is what she wants anyway, and the closer it draws to his discharge from the military, the more she starts to panic.
For his part, Josh has fallen in love with everything about Kristen. He can tell she doesn't seem into her boyfriend's return, and he knows they have serious chemistry? So why does she continue to keep him at arm's length?
Kristen has a debilitating medical condition, and it appears the only answer is a procedure which will make having children impossible. Josh has said more than once how he can't imagine not having a huge family of kids. How could Kristen deprive him of that, force him to choose her and give up his dreams? She wants him to have the life he so desperately desires, but she won't tell him why she keeps pushing him away, even when it's obvious how strongly she feels for him.
What I loved so much about
The Friend Zone is the complexity of its characters and their relationships. Even when the book took a surprisingly emotional turn, the characters remained utterly true to themselves and the story, and I became even more invested. Sure, Kristen's reluctance to share the truth with Josh gets really frustrating, but the way he handles it, and the way the other characters in the book do as well, felt realistic and not part of some glossy romantic fantasy.
This is definitely a book I'd love to see adapted for a movie or television series, because I loved this story. (Plus, I wouldn't mind seeing how some casting director envisions firemen/ex-Marines Josh and Brandon, as well as Kristen and Sloane. Especially the firemen, but whatever.) Jimenez's writing is funny and charming and hooked me from the get-go.
I've really been enjoying my forays into this genre over the last year. There are some really talented writers out there and while it's easy just to think "chick lit" is fluffy and meaningless, you might want to adjust that belief. And
The Friend Zone might be one that can help convince you.
Forever provided me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!
This book will be published June 11, 2019.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Check out my list of the best books I read in 2018 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2018.html.
You can follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
Rating: really liked it
Desperately seeking a sweet, soft, swoony romance with likable characters. It could include a sufficient amount of angst, groveling, crying, cuddling at the end. Butttt the book I wanted to read CANNOT BE FOUND AT THIS BLOODY MOMENT 😡😡😡
I HATED THIS MORON HEROINE SOOOOO MUCH! I want to write a script named “Ten Million Things I Hate About Her” and cast Anne Hathaway as Kristen or play the cover of Ugly Kid Joe’s “ I hate everything about you” song!
Oh boy! My hate for her is more than my total hate for Gwyneth Paltrow,Katherine Heigl, Lea Michele ( by the way all of them can play Kristen’s role on my hate-not love-pure hate movie!)
This is a record of my life! I start a book with intentions to give five stars because at the first pages I enjoyed hero and heroine’s chemistry. Then a deployed boyfriend involve into picture with several phone calls. And coolest heroine slowly turned into stubborn, spoiled, brainless douche-girl (a special title just invented for her) and lovely hero slowly turned into a doormat, miserable man! Their angsty love story kept repeated like this formula:
Oh honey- let’s make sex- oh let’s get emotional -oh no we cannot be together- for several days they stand far away from each other and you know the drill, they eventually make sex again. After douche-Kristen opens up her big secret to the my lovely, hot hero Josh, he still declared his love but heroine kept sledgehammered his heart into tiny pieces because she has insecurities about her own value because of her villanelle mother! Oh gimme a break honey!
So my precious five stars slowly drop to the three and after reading the miraculous ending, I went back and forth between one and two, one and two (in the meantime I’m making my rhythmic dance moves to chill out!) So 1.5 stars rounded up because I’m truly sorry for my ideal, lovely hero who is bulldozed several times by this mean heroine!! And of course the beginning of the book is sooo promising.
Arrggghhkkk!!! I didn’t want to use a heroine’s face as a stress ball for squeezing in my hand and throwing against the wall or fantasizing different ways of killing her (of course my first solution make her eat one of my homemade food. I could only cook frozen pizza but I’m so competent to turn it into ashy frozen unidentified non-eatable object a.k.a UNO! Or I can make her smell my husbands’ socks for a minute and watch her gagging and coughing in disgust and then passing off!)
After Jewel E. Ann’s “Jersey” from “Jersey Six”, I haven’t pissed off so much to a heroine who is so adamant not to have her HEA! I shouted at her several times to get her head from her ass but she didn’t naturally hear me! ( I talked about my miscommunication with heroine to my shrink and he prescribed me seven cases of Sauvignon Blanc! Oh god! I love my shrink! I wish I didn’t eat all Sprinkle Cupcakes I bought for her!)
I know this is one of the nominees of Goodreads awards but hear me out, if you want to read a good, heart-wrenching, sweet romance, this is not your book if you a little bit trust my taste and too brutally honest reviews! There are too many angsty and edgy moments and of course tragic accident, life or death situation involve in the equation which is not necessary because this book started as a soft, swoony rom-com but it changed into a something too dramatic, tear-jerking story! I just felt like I wanted to throw book out of window and wear garbage bags to go for a jog as like Bradley Cooper did in the “Silver-linings Playbook” (I listened to I belong to you from Lumineers to calm my nerves accompanied by more cold white wine!)
Finally it ended! Yessssss!!! It was more torturing than attending “spinning classes” in the morning (as you can imagine I’m not a morning person! )
As a summary: For the love of your fragile, emotional feelings, try another book! Read “Well Met”, “Get A Life Chloe Brown” But not this one! Period.
Rating: really liked it
I haven't been this mad at a book since
Toil & Trouble . And I'm angry. Not irritated. Not disappointed. I. am. forking. angry. Furious, in fact.
I want to start out by saying that, as always, this isn't a bash on the author. I'm sure she's a lovely person and she does have talent but in this... this ain't it.
As I've said before, I save the powerful 1 star for only the worst books. The only books that get one star from me are books that are not only unenjoyable but are also dangerous. (On the note of enjoyability, I didn't not enjoy this book. It was pretty well-paced and I liked the characters up for a little bit but then everything went awry.)
To be completely honest, I had so many issues with this book that I barely know where to begin. I do want to start by saying that there will in fact be
MAJOR SPOILERS !!!! Do not continue if you don't want to be spoiled. Although, in my opinion, it doesn't matter because this book shouldn't be read but anyway... You've been warned.
➵
Kristen - Ah, Kristen. I wish I could say she was simply a I'm NoT lIkE oThEr GiRlS caricature but she had more depth than that. And that's not a good thing. From the first few pages, I was already pretty uncomfortable with Kristen. She shamelessly objectified Joshua and it was just brushed over. (I'll go more in-depth about it later)
Kristen was also so immature, selfish, and toxic. In case you don't know, Kristen has to get a procedure that will render her unable to have children. As she falls in love with Josh, a man who wants many children, she realizes that, even though she loves him and he loves her, she can't be with him because he wants many children (did I tell you he wants many children and she can't give him children?). But instead of telling Josh about her condition like any normal, functioning adult would, she continues to keep it a secret. She continues to admit to him that she has feelings for him but they can't be together and when he asks her why, she refuses to tell him BECAUSE THEN THEY WON'T BE TOGETHER.
Do you see the ridiculously flawed logic?
Kristen: I love you
Josh: I love you
Josh: Let's be together
Kristen: No, we can't
Josh: Why not?
Kristen: I can't tell you
Josh: Why not?
Kristen: Because then we won't be together.
Josh: But... your saying we won't ... be together anyway?
Kristen: ...
Josh: ...
Ugh it makes me so maddddddddddddddddd. Listen, I will not deny that having a condition like Kristen's is hard and it would definitely be hard to share but no matter how many time Josh asked her why and how many times he reassured her of his love, she didn't tell. She kept pulling the "I want you but I can't have you and you can't know why"
She was so ridiculously toxic and selfish. Josh deserves so much better.
Anyways, onto the next point.
➵
Infertility / Uterus struggles - Let me start by saying that, being male, I am in no way attempting to comment or understand what it is like to menstruate, bleed, or have other uterus related problems. I am however very well versed in plots, characters, and general bookish bullsh*t.
I was really looking forward to this overall theme. Romance novels very rarely acknowledge periods, menstruation and the female reproductive system in general. And although the theme started out okay, it went downhill very quickly.
I already said how annoying Kristen was with her timing and secretiveness but you know that. My problem was that, in the end, Kristen gets magically pregnant. Like... excuse me. What? The whole point of this book was that Kristen would accept herself and her body and be content even if she couldn't naturally get pregnant but nope. She gets magically pregnant because Josh's sperm is oh so strong. (no joke. there's an entire scene where Kristen and Josh are laughing about how the doctor said his sperm is perfect.)
Even the author seems to have sensed that something was wrong about that because in the author's note she said:
"Kristen's happy ending was never about getting pregnant. It was about her allowing herself to be loved, despite what she felt were shortcomings. It was about her recognizing that she wasn't defined by her ability to have children, and that her worth went beyond the state of her uterus. That was her happily ever after.
Okay, there's so much wrong with this statement. First of all, if her happy ending wasn't about her getting pregant, THEN WHY DID SHE GET PREGNANT? What's the point? The readers out there that do struggle with fertility and finally felt like the found a character like them are just gonna feel smacked in the face when even the character who has tumors in her uterus got pregnant. Like, why? WHY did you feel that was necessary.
Second, she never did "realize her worth". Even up to the last freaking page, she was just like "wow, I can't believe Josh loves me. He's dumb. I guess I'll just enjoy it until he realizes how worthless I am and leaves me."
Listen, I understand that everyone has issues with self-worth. I do. You do. Everyone does. But the fact that Kristen's toxic, insecure behavior is supposed to be thought of as a happy ending and that nothing about her needs to be changed or worked on is dangerous.
➵
Objectification - This'll be a shorter point. From the first page, there was shameless objectification. Coming from to both genders from both genders. I got the vibe that it was meant to be "haha, she's so honest and quirky lol"
No. It's obviously okay to think someone's hot and it's okay to say so without treating someone like an object but objectification is not okay and it made me uncomfortable. There was a running joke where Josh and Kristen were literally saying "Ha, you should go have sex with that sexy yoga instructor." I just. Ugh
➵
Brandon - Okay, I warned you earlier but I'm going to warn you again. HUGE SPOILER.
Okay, so towards the end Brandon, Sloan's (Kristen's BFF) fiance dies. This plot point didn't make me sad. It made me mad. This was actually the straw that broke the camels back. I literally threw up my hands and said
That's it. I give up. This book is awful.Brandon's death was only there to move the plot forward. And the only reason the plot needed that shove was because, in my opinion, the author had written herself into a corner. Kristen was so. forking. stubborn. that she literally needed someone to die to realize that she was being way to frickin stubborn.
Ugh. To quote Fran's awesome review, Josh deserved better. Brandon deserved better. Sloan deserved better. All of them suffered because Kristen is the worst.
➵
OCD - The representation of OCD in this book was so disappointingly stereotypical and was completely brushed over. I don't have much to say other than I felt almost made fun because of the way OCD was shown.
Overall, this book is really bad. Don't read it.
Read You Were There Too. Read You Deserve Each Other. Read Get a Life, Chloe Brown. Read One Minute Later. Just don't read this.
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Rating: really liked it
5 stars 
The Friend Zone is one of the best debut novels I’ve read this year. This one got me right in the feels and I loved it so much. It’s one of those books I picked up and could not put down. I laughed, smiled, and sobbed my way through it and by the end, I couldn’t have loved it more.
Kristen and Josh have an interesting meet-cute. It starts with a fender bender, then they realize they’re in the same wedding. Kristen’s best friend is marrying Josh’s best friend.
“You and I might just be the perfect best man–maid of honor match ever.”
Things have a rough start for them, but they actually end up becoming super close friends. You know when you meet someone and putting romantic feelings aside, they just become your person. That is the relationship they have. Of course, they are insanely attracted to each other, but they are friends first and I love that. Though it seems friends is all they’ll ever be… Josh broke up with his last girlfriend because she didn’t want children. He’s from a big family and he wants nothing more than to have a ton of little ones running around. Kristen would love that too, but it’s not in the cards for her. And she loves Josh too much to hold him back.
Cue the sobs. This book. It really did have me bawling my eyes out. I know, I’m extra emotional when it comes to stuff like this but it really got me all in my feels. These two belonged together, Josh could see it, I just wanted Kristen to see that she was good enough. That she was everything to Josh even if she couldn’t give him the one thing she thought he wanted above all.
I’d found my person. She was the foundation. She was the thing that all other things are built on. Everything was secondary to being with her.
I loved both Josh and Kristen so much. Their banter was fantastic, I loved Josh with her little dog, and Kristen’s sarcasm and fun-loving attitude. I think there will be some people that read this book and maybe they won’t understand Kristen and will be frustrated with her, but I got her. She never bothered or frustrated me personally.
Reading books about infertility is hit or miss for me. As someone who has dealt with it for 7+ years, I have to be in the right mind set to read it and it has to be written right. This was written perfectly. I love romances that have real life problems in them and aren’t all fluff. Abby Jimenez wrote this perfectly. There were many obstacles this couple faced, and I love the way she wrote it and resolved it. That last 20-30% was rough in more than one way, but by the end I had a big smile on my face, even if it was a tad bittersweet in some regards.
The writing in this book was outstanding and the story was equal parts emotional, funny, heartbreaking, angsty, and romantic. I can’t remember another time a book that had me laughing out loud and bawling my eyes out equally. It was a book I fell in love with and can’t recommend it enough!!
Rating: really liked it
I've been crying for the last hour, everything hurts, and I'm SO glad I chose to pick up this book. It's in my top three favorites of the year.
I don't even know where to start but this is the exact brand of romance that I'm obsessed with. The two main characters are snarky and sarcastic and headstrong, but it never comes off as cheesy or unrealistic. Their romance is fraught with tension and angst, but I was invested in their story. Their relationship was SOFT!!!! SO SOFT!!!!!!
This book follows a woman with uterine fibroids, and that representation and seeing how that both affected her having chronic pain and the way that Josh supported her was so, so beautifully done. I was laughing out loud for most of this book, and I cried my entire way through the end. There were some spotty lines every now and then with some distasteful possessiveness or jokes, but the characters and the angst in this really shone through.
If you are a fan of The Hating Game or Josh & Hazel's Guide to Not Dating or anything similar, you HAVE to pick this book up. I think it's my new favorite romance book, and it's getting a full five stars from me.
(view spoiler)
[I will say that I guessed the ending from a mile away, but it was still so beautiful and meaningful and the author's note cleared it up so I ended up not minding it. (hide spoiler)]
Rating: really liked it
Too Damn Sad! Kristen meets her soulmate, Josh, but she has a secret that makes her a less than perfect match for him, so she does her best to keep him in “the friend zone.” Things don’t go as planned and she finds herself falling for the man she needs to keep at bay. She can either keep him as a friend or reveal her secret and risk losing him forever.
As a result of Kristen’s secret, there is a lot of back and forth/will they won’t they, which was fun for a while, but at a certain point, I couldn’t take it anymore! I was ready to give up but then the storyline had a major shift and I was happy for that, but then it was just sad and awful.
After seeing amazing reviews and ratings on my GR friends’ feeds,
The Friend Zone became a must read. I read bits and pieces about the plot but went in mostly blind. I was thinking that this was going to be a typical, light-hearted chick-lit novel,
so I wasn’t expecting to go on an emotional rollercoaster ride. I felt everything from wanting to throttle the main character (I just wanted her to tell him already!), to getting annoyed over some of the narrative tropes, to feeling happy, back to annoyed, to shifting to an intense level of sadness, back to happy sadness, to happiness, to annoyance. I am not sure I am over the sadness. I did not like the ending--the author’s note did help explain her choice for having THAT happen, but it took away from the message of what this book could have been about.
I am spent. I need a nap. While I didn’t wholly the love the plot or the ending and found parts of The Friend Zone to be problematic, I did love Abby Jimenez's writing style. She has created sharp, quick-witted characters with strong voices I do look forward to her next book featuring Kristen’s best friend, Sloan.
Rating: really liked it
Guys, this hurt. I'm not going to come at you if you loved this book, and I hope you won't come at me for being in the minority in finding
The Friend Zone offensive. I didn't even want to write a review for this book, because it seems like everywhere I see it, people are talking about the characters with stars in their eyes and boasting what a strong infertile female is featured within its pages. Perhaps that's where I went wrong; I had completely different expectations for this book. I went in thinking this would be an anthem for the ladies who struggled with their fertility, wherever they fall on that spectrum, but instead we end up with another unrealistic cliche of an ending.
To be fair to the author, I've only read one book headlining an infertile woman that didn't end in a similar manner. Up until (view spoiler)
[the death of a character to forward the plot (hide spoiler)], I was heading in 4-4.5 star territory, but then that ending came, and I couldn't shake the shock that it really wrapped up that way. (view spoiler)
[I understand that in EXTREMELY rare cases, infertile women can in fact end up pregnant, as my mom was one of those cases, but to tout a book as championing a woman coming to terms with her infertility and then ending the book with her becoming pregnant after having unprotected sex ONCE and the explanation is that this man has super sperm? And the whole IUD thing? GTFO. I'm glad I didn't read this while undergoing my own fertility treatments, and I've heard similar dialogue from other women with fertility issues, so it's clearly not just me. (hide spoiler)]I was hoping for a story where an infertile woman comes to terms with her barren state, but instead what I was served is a heavy dose of (view spoiler)
[romanticizing a woman "coming to terms with her fertility struggles" by receiving her little bundle of joy in the end. (hide spoiler)]
Rating: really liked it
I personally just really didn't like how the sensitive subject was handled in this book, and I think it could be very hurtful to people living with infertility. Also, the friend was done so dirty. I don't know, this was just a miss for me.
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Buddy read with Paloma, Chelsea, & Joce! ❤
I read this for SummerAThon! ❤
Rating: really liked it
an ending can make or break a book for me and, in this case, the last 1/5 of this completely deflated my opinion of the story. it kind of feels like it was straw that broke the camels back, as they say.
normally, i can overlook an annoyance or two. no one book is going to meet all of my exact personal preferences and ideals, so im flexible. but there were multiple times when i was questioning the authors reasoning for including certain things or writing a character a certain way.
thing that annoyed me:
- constantly labelling other female characters as ‘crazy’ or ‘exhausting’ to make the MC seem ‘cool’ and ‘perfect’
- the unnecessarily unfair and unjust way the guy characters are treated - they all deserved better
- certain events added for shock value only and nothing else
- the fact that josh was friendzoned for maybe like a whole 10 minutes, so i consider the title false advertising
- and finally, the insensitive way infertility is handled at the end (the authors note really made me mad)
its such a shame there is so much that really drags the story under because i actually really enjoyed the fun and flirty banter between josh and kristen. i found myself actively rooting for them (even though i was constantly complaining about the authors decision for many things) and their relationship had nice pacing/was easy to read, for the most part.
i might give this author another chance in the future but, right now, considering this almost was a 4 star read, im more disappointed than anything.
↠ 2.5 stars
Rating: really liked it
UPDATED…
You’ve read the synopsis.
The book alternates between the two very distinct voices of Josh and Kristen.
For 212 pages, I wanted to grab Kristen, shake her and yell: TELL HIM!!
LET HIM DECIDE!
After, that, I spent much of the rest of the book crying. 😭
Big, fat ugly tears.
This is a sweet and sassy, sexy and steamy Rom-Com that delves a bit deeper than most, taking on the theme of infertility .
I highly recommend this if you read these types of books...And, maybe even if you don’t-since they are not usually my thing either!
DO NOT peak at page 212 now that I told you this!!
DO read the author’s note at the end of the book!! (It will make you feel better!)
⭐️ I just read the sequel “The Happily Ever After Playlist” and I can assure you...Abby makes good on the promise she made in the author’s note!
READ both books back to back!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
