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A review by meg_
The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
I think this book is up there for one of the worst books I have ever read. There were so many elements that were so bad but the one that stands out to me is how absolutely and completely misogynistic the male love interest is. He regularly has internally monologues of how our female main character is "not like other girls" and each time I lost a few brain cells. He's also very much giving the energy that all women need a man to protect them and not just any man, a man with a gun. Which like, no thank you. I feel like this is such a specific thing to say but I feel like this is a romance book that a Republican would love without there being any overt political commentary in here.
Beyond that, for me, this book had very clear cheating elements. Even if you just view the emotional cheating as the only element of cheating (which I do) our main female character was literally falling in love with this dude while prepping for her military boyfriend to come home from deployment and move in with her. And then when she and her boyfriend "broke up" there wasn't even a clear and direct conversation between the two regarding their break up before she quite literally jumped this other dude. I was waiting for her boyfriend to come home and be like, wtf we never even officially broke up but that never happened.
Lastly, the ending of this book was uber fucking sad out of nowhere which was really jarring. Obviously in real life events like what happens at the end of this book can't be predicted but damn that shit sucked and our poor bestie Sloan was totally left in the lurch while our main female character rides off into the sunset with her new bae and her new baby and that just sucked for me knowing how devastated Sloan was while our main character fully got her happily ever after at the exact same time. Granted, I think book two is Sloan's book but I don't have any desire to read book two after this one because it was ass.
Beyond that, for me, this book had very clear cheating elements. Even if you just view the emotional cheating as the only element of cheating (which I do) our main female character was literally falling in love with this dude while prepping for her military boyfriend to come home from deployment and move in with her. And then when she and her boyfriend "broke up" there wasn't even a clear and direct conversation between the two regarding their break up before she quite literally jumped this other dude. I was waiting for her boyfriend to come home and be like, wtf we never even officially broke up but that never happened.
Lastly, the ending of this book was uber fucking sad out of nowhere which was really jarring. Obviously in real life events like what happens at the end of this book can't be predicted but damn that shit sucked and our poor bestie Sloan was totally left in the lurch while our main female character rides off into the sunset with her new bae and her new baby and that just sucked for me knowing how devastated Sloan was while our main character fully got her happily ever after at the exact same time. Granted, I think book two is Sloan's book but I don't have any desire to read book two after this one because it was ass.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Death, Grief, Infertility, Misogyny, and Sexual content