Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez

4 reviews

bookishspy's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Who'd have thought a Josh could be this sweet?

I'm going to have a hard time rating this one, but I'll try. 

The first 80% of The Friend Zone was very much like your standard romance book. A stubborn FMC, a persistent alpha male MMC, and some issues and misunderstandings preventing them from being together.

This part was pretty frustrating at times. If these two could've just sat down and had a frank conversation like adults, they could've been together so much sooner. I understand not wanting to share this kind of thing firsthand, but personally, I felt this book went a bit too far with it. 

I did love Josh, though. He was sweet and thoughtful. A bit overly alpha male bordering on stalkerish at times, but that's pretty standard for a book boyfriend

Then, the last 20% of this book happened, and honestly, it hit too close to home for me personally. My own fault, I should've looked closer at the trigger warnings than I did. 

Objectively, it was well written, pretty close to accurate, and it definitely gave me feels. 

Overall, I did enjoy The Friend Zone. I may not read the rest, but if this was before my sister had her stroke, I probably would've really enjoyed it and continued 

βž› πŸ’ 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬

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cady_sass's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Tears. Pain. My heart is exploding. I love everything about this except for the title - calling this β€œthe friend zone” is SUCH a disservice! This is so much more than that. A rom com at the core, but, just like every other novel I’ve read by this author, there is so much nuance and depth in the character work and the representation. 

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the_vegan_bookworm's review

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This book is layered with internalized misogyny and the praising of the "cool girl" over all other women (while shaming those other  women for daring to exist and/or interact with the men of the novel). The main character is also emotionally unfaithful, because she meets a hot guy and likes him better than her partner. Monogamy isn't for everyone, but cheating on your partner (even if not physically) is immoral and cruel. There is also a huge focus on being a successful woman only if you're able to have kids biologically.

There are more interesting romance books that don't rely on such obvious and disappointing tropes.

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mypatronusisajedi's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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