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A review by jillkaarlela
The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Taylor Swift: “peace”!!
Age rating: 16+ (2 short spicy scenes 1/5🌶️)
Please check content warnings!!!
This was a story that really needed to be heard, and I’m glad that Abby Jimenez wrote it. It’s so frustrating that not being able to have kids or not wanting to have kids limits your dating pool so much but it DOES. And the struggle of not wanting to burden your loved ones or potential romantic partners with your health issues is SO REAL. It was very cathartic to see Kristen’s healing journey, as she became more accepting of herself and her worth despite her health issues. I also loved how Jimenez mentioned in the author’s note that this story was heavily inspired by her best friend who struggled with the same issues, making it as true and honest as possible.
This is a sort of FWB to lovers story, but they both secretly want it to be more. It was so sad seeing Kristen pushing Josh away, when he clearly wanted to be with her, but I completely understand why she did. For those who have not struggled personally with chronic health issues themselves, or something of that nature, her choices will probably be frustrating and not make sense, but it is so extremely real and accurate.
I will be honest, at the beginning, Josh seemed like such a tool. There were a few comments that made me really irritated at him, particularly his comments about women being “too much work” right now. But we do see him quickly change/grow into an extremely caring and kind man as he falls for Kristen. He quickly became the embodiment of “if he wanted to, he would”, I mean he was SO DOWN BAD for her, you don’t understand!!
Another thing I didn’t love was that there were so many references to Kristen as being a “cool girl” because she didn’t like many of the other things that girls typically enjoy (flowers, candles, etc.). Which, would be okay, if Josh didn’t act like she was superior over other women because she “wasn’t like other women”, ie. she was blunt and emotionally guarded, etc. It just kind of left a bad taste in my mouth, especially after seeing the Barbie movie, this subtle misogyny is frustrating.
One more thing I didn’t love was how heavily it talked about Kristen tying her worth with how many children she can bear, which is a misogynistic agenda that is literally shoved down women’s throats. I’m not negating that Kristen would feel this way, she definitely is valid in those feelings, and Josh’s constant comments about wanting a baseball team sized family do not help the issue. It’s not as bad as it was in the past decades, but Yeesh, I can’t believe that we still need to be having this conversation in 2023. This is not really a critique on the author, but on society in general. It’s so sad that women STILL have to deal with this misogynistic ideal.
Overall, it was a sweet story that dealt with an extremely important issue that you could tell was done with great care. These characters really and truly loved each other so much. However, it definitely wasn’t my favorite Abby Jimenez book because of the issues mentioned above.
CW: infertility, chronic uterus pain, emotional abuse from parent, misogyny, death, and medical content
Age rating: 16+ (2 short spicy scenes 1/5🌶️)
Please check content warnings!!!
This was a story that really needed to be heard, and I’m glad that Abby Jimenez wrote it. It’s so frustrating that not being able to have kids or not wanting to have kids limits your dating pool so much but it DOES. And the struggle of not wanting to burden your loved ones or potential romantic partners with your health issues is SO REAL. It was very cathartic to see Kristen’s healing journey, as she became more accepting of herself and her worth despite her health issues. I also loved how Jimenez mentioned in the author’s note that this story was heavily inspired by her best friend who struggled with the same issues, making it as true and honest as possible.
This is a sort of FWB to lovers story, but they both secretly want it to be more. It was so sad seeing Kristen pushing Josh away, when he clearly wanted to be with her, but I completely understand why she did. For those who have not struggled personally with chronic health issues themselves, or something of that nature, her choices will probably be frustrating and not make sense, but it is so extremely real and accurate.
I will be honest, at the beginning, Josh seemed like such a tool. There were a few comments that made me really irritated at him, particularly his comments about women being “too much work” right now. But we do see him quickly change/grow into an extremely caring and kind man as he falls for Kristen. He quickly became the embodiment of “if he wanted to, he would”, I mean he was SO DOWN BAD for her, you don’t understand!!
Another thing I didn’t love was that there were so many references to Kristen as being a “cool girl” because she didn’t like many of the other things that girls typically enjoy (flowers, candles, etc.). Which, would be okay, if Josh didn’t act like she was superior over other women because she “wasn’t like other women”, ie. she was blunt and emotionally guarded, etc. It just kind of left a bad taste in my mouth, especially after seeing the Barbie movie, this subtle misogyny is frustrating.
One more thing I didn’t love was how heavily it talked about Kristen tying her worth with how many children she can bear, which is a misogynistic agenda that is literally shoved down women’s throats. I’m not negating that Kristen would feel this way, she definitely is valid in those feelings, and Josh’s constant comments about wanting a baseball team sized family do not help the issue. It’s not as bad as it was in the past decades, but Yeesh, I can’t believe that we still need to be having this conversation in 2023. This is not really a critique on the author, but on society in general. It’s so sad that women STILL have to deal with this misogynistic ideal.
Overall, it was a sweet story that dealt with an extremely important issue that you could tell was done with great care. These characters really and truly loved each other so much. However, it definitely wasn’t my favorite Abby Jimenez book because of the issues mentioned above.
CW: infertility, chronic uterus pain, emotional abuse from parent, misogyny, death, and medical content
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infertility
Moderate: Misogyny, Death, Emotional abuse, and Medical content