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A review by shelfishchar
The Friendship Study by Ruby Barrett
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
this is my first book by ruby barrett and i have to go back and read the rest of her work. the way she writes and tells a story is so, SO beautiful. everything about this felt so pure and wholesome, even the sex scenes felt emotionally driven and landed on me pretty heavily. the way she writes vulnerability in both her characters literally made me sob in my bed at eleven o'clock at night -- sorry karma (my dog who had to bear witness very uncomfortably).
lulu and jesse are right - it's hard and, let's face it, sometimes awful making new friends. it sometimes feels especially hard (and, for me though i don't know why) a little embarrassing, making new friends now that i'm 26. it's especially hard when you grew up finding it so easy to walk up to people and talk to them. i'm still considered a social butterfly in my family even though i would rather jump off a bridge without a cord/harness than interact with the person taking my order on the other side of the drive-thru speaker most of the time.
reading about why lulu and jesse find it so hard to make friends (trauma, too self-critical, over-expecting or putting too much pressure on yourself and other people) almost made me feel like i was the one who was going through therapy. this was a good reminder that most of the dread that's going on in your head, all the worst case scenarios and the talk of being too much or too less of yourself for other people, is just that: in /your/ head. people are much too busy worrying the same thing about themselves to worry about whatever baggage you think you're carrying and whether it's too much for someone else to shoulder.
like most of my reviews, i've probably ranted too much about a whole lot of nothing, but it's so special when you can relate to characters, see yourself in characters, and learnt o appreciate and love yourself a little more because you see so much of yourself in these characters -- that you wholeheartedly love and want to defend. and i love and want to defend the hell out of lulu and jesse. friends to lovers done so right it hurt in a lot of ways.
also they're both really, really hot. my bi ass was LIVING.
thank you netgalley and harlequin for the ARC in exchange for an honest review !
lulu and jesse are right - it's hard and, let's face it, sometimes awful making new friends. it sometimes feels especially hard (and, for me though i don't know why) a little embarrassing, making new friends now that i'm 26. it's especially hard when you grew up finding it so easy to walk up to people and talk to them. i'm still considered a social butterfly in my family even though i would rather jump off a bridge without a cord/harness than interact with the person taking my order on the other side of the drive-thru speaker most of the time.
reading about why lulu and jesse find it so hard to make friends (trauma, too self-critical, over-expecting or putting too much pressure on yourself and other people) almost made me feel like i was the one who was going through therapy. this was a good reminder that most of the dread that's going on in your head, all the worst case scenarios and the talk of being too much or too less of yourself for other people, is just that: in /your/ head. people are much too busy worrying the same thing about themselves to worry about whatever baggage you think you're carrying and whether it's too much for someone else to shoulder.
like most of my reviews, i've probably ranted too much about a whole lot of nothing, but it's so special when you can relate to characters, see yourself in characters, and learnt o appreciate and love yourself a little more because you see so much of yourself in these characters -- that you wholeheartedly love and want to defend. and i love and want to defend the hell out of lulu and jesse. friends to lovers done so right it hurt in a lot of ways.
also they're both really, really hot. my bi ass was LIVING.
thank you netgalley and harlequin for the ARC in exchange for an honest review !