A review by tdotrenae
Barely Even Friends by Mae Bennett

lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.75

This was a solid read. I feel kinda indifferent about it. The first half was pretty slow and dry for me (but I might just be used to reading romance books, where the main characters are LOVEDDD DOWN!), BUT the second half kinda made up for it. I think the sex scenes were good, but a little vanilla for me. I feel like there are folks who are like "newer" to the romance world, who could really like this book and it be more their speed.

Things I enjoyed - I didn't realize at the time that this was like a Beauty and the Beast re-telling, but i think it was a cute spin on things. I also loved loved loved, the library scenes. I am a girl who is a sucker for the library in all its forms. I feel like the grumpy-sunshine things kinda works here, but then Bells is so far in her head, it sometimes doesnt work. I could see some people enjoying the slow burn and the banter. The side characters really helped me enjoy this book more.

Things that didnt work for me - I feel like the build up of Bellamy and Oliver, took wayyyyy too long for my opinion. I feel like it was supposed to be like a slow burn, but it in some places was just dragging for me. I also felt like the end just wrapped up too quickly, like we went from like almost every day enteries to skipping almost months. I just wanted a little more, Bell's inner dialogue and logic in some places was insufferable to me. like, I can see how she jumped to some of those conclusions, but ma'am LOL.

Anyways, thanks Netgalley and the publisher for this e-ARC. I would probably read something by this author again in the future :)