3.5
The Friend Zone
ByPublisher Description
A slow burn, hilarious and heartwarming romantic comedy from the New York Times bestselling author of Yours Truly.
"A romance for the ages" —Tessa Bailey, bestselling author of It Happened One Summer
Kristen Peterson doesn't do drama, will fight to the death for her friends, and has no room in her life for guys who just don't get her. She's also keeping a big secret: facing a medically necessary procedure that will make it impossible for her to have children.
Planning her best friend's wedding is bittersweet for Kristen—especially when she meets the best man, Josh Copeland. He's funny, sexy, never offended by her mile-wide streak of sarcasm, and always one chicken enchilada ahead of her hangry. Even her dog, Stuntman Mike, adores him. The only catch: Josh wants a big family someday. Kristen knows he'd be better off with someone else, but as their attraction grows, it's harder and harder to keep him at arm's length.
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.
"Your next favorite romantic comedy ...The Friend Zone is that rare beach read with tons of heart that will make you laugh and cry in equal parts." —PopSugar
"Your next rom-com to obsess and cry over." —Cosmopolitan
"A romance for the ages" —Tessa Bailey, bestselling author of It Happened One Summer
Kristen Peterson doesn't do drama, will fight to the death for her friends, and has no room in her life for guys who just don't get her. She's also keeping a big secret: facing a medically necessary procedure that will make it impossible for her to have children.
Planning her best friend's wedding is bittersweet for Kristen—especially when she meets the best man, Josh Copeland. He's funny, sexy, never offended by her mile-wide streak of sarcasm, and always one chicken enchilada ahead of her hangry. Even her dog, Stuntman Mike, adores him. The only catch: Josh wants a big family someday. Kristen knows he'd be better off with someone else, but as their attraction grows, it's harder and harder to keep him at arm's length.
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.
"Your next favorite romantic comedy ...The Friend Zone is that rare beach read with tons of heart that will make you laugh and cry in equal parts." —PopSugar
"Your next rom-com to obsess and cry over." —Cosmopolitan
- Goodreads Choice Awards nominee - Best Romance, Best Debut
- O, The Oprah Magazine Best Romance Novels of the year
- Audie Award Finalist
- USA Today bestseller
- Bookish Best Books of the year
- SheReads Best Romances of the year
- Women's Health Best Romance Novels of the year
- Good Housekeeping Best New Books for Summer
- PopSugar Best Books of Summer
- Publishers Weekly Starred Review
- Booklist Starred Review
- Booklist Top 10 Romance Debuts
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Friend Zone Reviews
3.5
“Yikes, this is my lowest rated book. Kristen was not my favorite character, at all. She was extremely immature and selfish throughout this whole book. I did keep in mind that she is dealing with reproductive, health, and self esteem issues, but shit girl. I felt like Josh was very honest and straightforward for the most part (and yes he also has his flaws). I didn’t like how disorganized Kirsten’s feeling were. She didn’t want a romantic relationship with him (which was fine) because she didn’t want him to fall for her, but sex was supposed to fix this??? Make it make sense. She claimed that she didn’t know Josh liked her, but I feel like subconsciously she knew, since he agreed to casual sex, but was also blatantly trying to cuddle her, spend the night in her room, take her on dates… like come on bro. Kirsten was lowkey taking advantage of Josh because she didn’t want to deal with the shit going on in her life.
And 100% Josh is also a grown man and he should’ve set boundaries with Kristen, so they’re both to blame here. But it bothered me how Kristen was seriously playing with his feelings, especially when she would be affectionate then all of a sudden pull away because she was “doing what was best for Josh”, like how do you know what’s best for him?? Why not let Josh decide that? I absolutely hated when she did that, it felt very cold and dismissive. Kristen knew how he felt about her deep down, and instead of being honest about why she felt like they couldn’t be together, she gave him vague ass answers. I just hated that she wasn’t truthful and honest with him, and herself for that matter, especially because real feelings and love were involved. She was just playing with him and wasting his time, and that was really selfish of her regardless of what she was dealing with.
Even after ghosting him and ignoring his calls and texts, Kirsten finally decides to talk to Josh when Brandon is brain dead in the hospital because she needs to “help him get better and clean his apartment”, like are you deadass right now?? She won’t be in a relationship with him or talk to him, but she’s gonna show up unannounced after weeks to clean his fucking apartment??? She was absolutely using him as an excuse to avoid her grief about Brandon and Sloan, and that’s fucked up. By crossing the boundary that she herself put up between her and Josh, she’s made the situation 10x more confusing for the both of them.
Josh’s spontaneous proposal to her because she “respects marriage” was insane. If she was so quick to leave and ignore him when they were fwb, who’s to say that she wouldn’t do that while they were married? Josh was settling so bad and it was frustrating to read. And that’s not to say Kristen is a bad person, but she obviously has a lot of shit she needs to deal with, and the stress from her health issues was not helping. I don’t think her relationship with her mom was highlighted enough, we only see a small portion of their relationship. I don’t understand why she didn’t tell Josh about the hysterectomy earlier. I think that dragged on wayyyy too long, even for an Abby Jimenez book. Be a real fucking adult and lay all your cards out on the table. Kristen spent months putting herself and Josh through emotional turmoil, when all she needed to do was have a real conversation with him.
I think Brandon’s death was the best part of the book, not because I didn’t like him (i think he was a great character even though we didn’t see much of him), but because this was probably the only part of the book that didn’t make me want to rip my hair out. I have never been so heartbroken by a character death ever. This alone felt so raw and emotional, I think if Brandon had survived I would’ve rated this lower. I felt genuine grief for a few days after reading that chapter because it was so unexpected.”
About Abby Jimenez
Abby Jimenez is a Food Network winner and USA Today bestselling author. She founded Nadia Cakes out of her home kitchen back in 2007. The bakery has since gone on to win numerous Food Network competitions and has amassed an international cult following. Abby's wry literary wit was spotlighted as the admin behind the hilarious viral comments on the now famous Nadia Cakes Vageode ® cake.
Abby loves a good romance, coffee, doglets, and not leaving the house.
Abby loves a good romance, coffee, doglets, and not leaving the house.
Other books by Abby Jimenez
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