The Friend Zone

An honest, emotional debut that tackles real-world issues with wit and heart. It reminded me of some of my favorite Kristan Higgins reads. CW: Infertility. Loss.

I’ve been thinking about how I would put into words all the emotions and thoughts I experienced while reading The Friend Zone.

I’ll start with my rating:

Tears:
Feels:

While I was reading, I started txting my girlfriend who had read it already….I needed the emotional support. I gravitate towards books that give me all the feels….I’m a strange bird because I enjoy a great ugly cry story, The Friend Zone gave me that. Kristen’s life could be any of ours and it was mine on a different scale but the same end result. I adored Joshua right from page 1. He gave so much to Kristen because he knew she was is and he was hers. He just needed Kristen to open her eyes to see that.

As a reader, there’s always a risk when you pick up a book by a new author and for that book to be their very first published work, you hope that it keep you hooked….my hope was answered with TFZ. I have found a new author that will be auto purchase for me. I’m anxiously awaiting Ms. Jimenez’s next book.

I don’t have any highlights to share because I read the paperback, but that didn’t stop me from saving a few of my favorite quotes:

“I want someone to be my universe”

“I finally understood the kind of love that made men give up everything”

“……I didn’t have to hold the world up anymore now that he was here”

What a story! You knew from fender bender, that Kristen and Josh were going to meet again. As best man and maid of honor for their best friends’ wedding, they meet again. So much back and forth on Kristen’s part on her willingness to be with Josh. The last portion of the book just had the tears flowing, it was ugly snot crying. I’ve followed the author so that I can be sure to know when Sloan’s book is available.

I just had the pleasure of reading a different kind of book, a book where a woman’s health condition is front and center in the plot of the story. Kristen suffers from uterine fibroids and has had a bad time of it. Very long and painful periods, anemia caused by the excessive flow, loss of social life due to the condition, difficulty in sustaining a sexual relation with a boyfriend, and most probably infertility. I had never read a woman condition portrayed in such a compassionate and realistic manner, a condition that is more common than we realize.

Josh moved from South Dakota to California to get away from a nuclear girlfriend he broke up with. He moved to be near his best friend Brandon who is about to marry the love of his life, Sloan. On his arrival day, he has a rear bender and the woman whose car he hit was very snarky and strange. He liked her on the spot. Later they meet again, as best man and maid of honor of their best friends, Brandon and Sloan. The snark, the witty repartee, the joking start immediately, with Kristen scowling and Josh enjoying himself immensely.

Kristen is immediately very off-putting with Josh, but since he has six sisters, he’s an expert managing snarky females so he’s at home managing her. He’s so great at it that they form a friendship and get along extremely well. Kristen recognized in Josh a perfect partner, but she has a boyfriend who’s deployed and arriving soon to move in with her. She’s torn because Josh is so much more compatible with her, he understands her because he observes her so closely as if she’s very important to him. She’s finding she feels for him more than for her actual boyfriend. Her problem: Josh wants kids in a future relation and she has none to offer due to her defective uterus.

Here we have the situation of a woman who feels defective because she doesn’t have healthy uterus. She settles for what she can have instead of what she wants and refuses to see any other alternative. Even though Josh is falling for her, she is extremely obstinate and will not compromise on her position.

There were many funny moments and other heartbreaking ones. Kristen is a very creative prankster and Josh is an exceptional accomplice. Fun times! The author draws you into the life of these characters and you’re delighted and irritated and angered at the many human situations portrayed. I was specially irritated by Kristen’s stubbornness in not having an open mind and frequently wanted to hit her on the head. I felt that the situation was stringed on a little longer than was necessary but maybe that was my impatience to get them to communicate. I felt for Josh who was the perfect boyfriend and didn’t seem to get a chance.

I loved this author’s writing, I found it refreshing and human and loved that she approached a sensitive subject matter with accuracy and sensitivity. I think any woman who has ever had a painful period sympathized and identified with her disorder. Great reading!

Absolutely fantastic!!! Abby Jimenez takes you on an emotional journey that will linger long after you a finished reading. Kristen was such a badda$$…until it came to her mother. Josh…I have no words…he is a unicorn. He knew immediately that Kristen was different and embraced it wholeheartedly. Their banter and connection was freaking incredible. I cried, I laughed, and I cried some more. This is such an amazing debut novel and I am anxiously waiting for more from this author.

This book gave me all the feels. It felt real and I loved all the angst. It had drama and tragedy and was just outright fun at some points. I even started to google for Kristen’s website. I devoured this book, could not put it down and have a serious book hangover after reading it. One of the best romances I’ve read lately.

I’ve been sitting on my review for The Friend Zone so long that I’m actually ashamed. I delayed writing it originally because I read it so far in advance of release, but then release day came and went and still no review. Now I’ve waited so long I’m afraid I’m not going to do it any justice. When I really love a book, I have a hard time putting my thoughts into words. Especially when it’s one that made me feel as many things as The Friend Zone did. Because boy did it make me feel. (Also smile, laugh and cry. Sometimes at the same time.)

After all the hype, my expectations for The Friend Zone were sky high. It surpassed every single one of them, too. It’s one of my favorite books of 2019 now and I suspect the same will be true at the end of the year. I fell in love with every single thing about this book. With characters I fell in love with almost immediately, friendships that were enviable and a friends-first romance that made me swoon all over the place, it was the total package.

I adored Kristen. She and I would be friends IRL. Without getting too personal, I can honestly say her health struggles made me think a whole lot about some of my own choices in life. I think that’s part of the reason I connected with her so much and it’s absolutely one of the reasons this book spoke to me as much as it did. I explored all those emotions while I was reading, I’m not going to do it again here.

What is it about heroes named Josh? I mean, for real. This isn’t the first book I’ve read with a totally swoony hero named Josh and I expect it won’t be the last. Note to self: seek out Joshes IRL and see if they live up. (Even though I’m sure they won’t.) Anywho, Josh was amazing. He was so sweet and thoughtful. I started shipping him and Kristen almost immediately. Their chemistry, banter and the way they so obviously cared for each other as friends won me over early on. Theirs was a slow burn romance and it was the opposite of simple, but I couldn’t get enough.

The Friend Zone was basically the ultimate emotional roller coaster book. I can’t tell you the last time a book put me through it like this one did. I’m not going to get down into the nitty gritty because everything you need to know going in is in the blurb. (Seriously, just experience this one.) I found the light moments and the heavier ones balanced out pretty perfectly here. I giggled and cheesy-grinned like a fool and I also sobbed my eyes out. There was one scene near the end where I was laughing through my sobs because I swear I just felt every single emotion.

The Friend Zone was a gorgeous, heartfelt debut. I’ve chatted with Abby some about the follow-up book and I have ALL THE GRABBY HANDS for it. It can’t get here soon enough. While I wait, I figure I’ll read this one again… and again. So much love for this book.

Favorite Quotes:

Josh was the human version of ice cream in the freezer when you’re on a diet.

“Welcome to my brain. Strap in and keep your arms inside the ride at all times.”

Food was my currency. Hungry was an emotion for me. I felt that shit in my soul.

“I am not drunk. I’m just talking in cursive.”

“Why won’t you just let me love you?”

“And what does love have to do with it? Love is completely impractical, Josh. It’s stupid. And you should never use it to make decisions.”

One of the best books I’ve read this year! I stayed up way too late reading this, and it can’t wait for the next book!

Bravo Abby Jimenez! What an excellent debut novel. I laughed, cried, got angry, cried some more, then ugly cried all in a matter of a few hours!

I loved getting to know Kristen and Josh. Their story wasn’t an easy one, but Ms. Jimenez had a way of writing how women really feel when dealt a pretty crappy hand, and how one couple rose above it.

I look forward to what this author writes next! Already added it to my tbr list!

I’d heard the hype surrounding this book, but was waiting to see a copy on the shelf and skim it a bit before deciding if I really wanted to read it.

Holy Batman, I fell in love with Kristen, Josh, and Stuntman Mike-the tiny terrier whose bark was probably as bad as his bite, but his sarcastic T-shirt’s made him irresistible:)

Kristen was blunt, so you were never left guessing what she was thinking. And because she was fighting her attraction to Josh, we also get to see her at her worst early on. She had a host of insecurities and methods of dealing with them. I could relate to her so easily that I did so without a second thought.

Josh was just an all around great guy I’d love to say I was besties with! His charm and easy going nature captured my attention, but his willingness to lay himself out there emotionally for Kristen, over and over… I don’t know that I’d have had the same dedication to be hurt and hope the endgame was worth everything, but darned if I could respect his determination to have his heart’s desire.

I loved a lot about this book, especially the sarcastic, sassy banter and friendship that developed between Kristen and Josh. Their relationship happened on a realistic timetable that had me more then invested in the end results. Did the end wrap up a little too easily? Basically, yes, but I was just happy to not be put through a painful wringer. There’s a reason why I prefer fiction.

The Friend Zone blew me away with the characters, the range of emotions, and heartfelt issues. I can’t wait to see what’s up next!