Publisher: ForeverRelease Date: June 11, 2019
Source of my copy: publisher
Series: standalone
My rating:
Synopsis
Kristen Petersen 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.
The publisher kindly sent The Friend Zone to me way back in April, and I was so excited because I kept seeing it everywhere. There were a lot of bookstagrammers and booktubers whose opinions I trust giving it high ratings and gushing about it, but there were also a few on Twitter and Goodreads who gave it super low ratings. Some people get even more excited when reviews are polarizing and pick up the book right away to see where they stand, but not me. I get nervous and play the avoidance game. All throughout May and June, I picked up The Friend Zone only to put it down after reading several chapters. But, last week I finally made myself pick it up by making it one of my books for a reading challenge during the Reading Rush read-a-thon.
So, I read it from start to finish, and the verdict is--while there were some parts that made me cringe, and my feelings for the heroine Kristen was a roller coaster of wanting to hug her, shake her, slap some sense into her, root for her, and yell at her, and I thought some of the characters deserved better, and I wished the ending went a different way--I like it!
Before I get into the plot and characters, I do want to say that I absolutely loved Abby Jimenez's writing and voice. Her writing was so readable and consumable that it's one of those where you don't realize how many pages you've read until you stopped and go "whoa I've read that many pages?!" I love the banter between the characters, and each had a distinct personality that made you care for each of them. The story's pacing flowed all the way through with never a dull moment.
The Friend Zone is about Kristen Petersen, an online dog boutique owner and the maid of honor in her best friend Sloan's wedding, and Josh Copeland, firefighter and best man in his best friend Brandon's wedding to Sloan. Kristen and Josh's meeting didn't start out well, but beyond their wedding duties, they ended up spending more time together after Kristen reluctantly hires Josh to build custom dog products for her store. But, the more time they spend together, a genuine friendship start to grow between them. They're also fighting their instant mutual attraction to each other because Kristen has a boyfriend, Tyler, who was currently deployed. Kristen, who (unbeknownst to Josh) suffers from severe uterine fibroids and struggles with infertility, knows its for the best she and Josh can't be together anyway because he's constantly mentioning that he wants a big family with a slew of kids.
I liked Josh from start to finish--what's not to like about a sexy firefighter who is also a carpenter and genuinely a good guy who cares deeply for his friends. Kristen was a different story--I liked her but she also frustrated me. I didn't get why she just didn't tell Josh the truth about what she was going through, putting them through this cycle of miscommunication that was so aggravating. I felt so bad for Josh. Kristen, in the name of saving him from a future without his dream family with a passel of kids, put him through the wringer for sure, all the way to the end. Then, there was the whole Tyler situation. Sloan was always saying how Kristen deserved better than Tyler, but I think the opposite is true: Tyler deserved better than Kristen. I felt so bad for the guy--I mean, yeah, Kristen didn't physically cheat on him but it straddled the line of emotional cheating. But at the end of the day, Tyler was basically a plot device to keep Kristen and Josh from getting together, and I hope he gets his due in a future book and get his own happily-ever-after because he deserved it.
Other characters who deserve better also include Sloan and Brandon. My heart broke for those two. I can't say anymore because of spoilers, but, man, was that completely necessary though? I guess we'll find out in the companion book.
The big issue this book tackled was infertility, which I'm very much here for because I haven't come across all that many romance novel/rom-coms that discusses this prevalent issue. I appreciated the author's note at the end of the novel where she talked about where she got the inspiration for Kristen's struggles from. I understand why she took the direction she did with Kristen's journey and, yes, The Friend Zone is a romance novel and we expect that happily-ever-after ending, but personally I wish she took it in a different direction. Kristen's situation was still bittersweet but since this book was about a character's struggles infertility I thought it would've been a much more powerful and realistic ending without that icing and cherry on top. I don't want to give the ending away but if you've read it, I think you'll understand what I mean...
Like I said, I'm excited for Abby Jimenez's next book which will be about one of the characters introduced in The Friend Zone. I don't actually know how to rate this book--right after reading it, my initial reaction was to give it four stars but now that I have put down my thoughts I'm unsure about that four stars. I did have issues with this book, but I did still genuinely like it despite my frustrations. Take it with a grain of salt, but I'll keep that rating for now...
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