📝 What is Between Friends & Lovers About?:
Josephine Boateng, a social media health influencer, grapples with personal struggles, including a decade-long crush on her best friend, Ezra, whose new relationship pushes her to reevaluate her life. Meanwhile, literary sensation Malcolm Waters, who has admired Jo from afar, finally meets her, sparking a connection that challenges the blurred boundaries of friendship, love and public personas.
📚 Genre: romance
🎧 Format: E-Book
💞 Feels: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
I liked that Between Friends & Lovers had tropes and stereotypical romance setups that didn’t lead to typical solutions. The surprises and twists and turns were original and kept me reading the story of Jo, Mal and to a small extent Ezra.
I was lead to believe through the marketing that this was a love triangle. For instance, I saw some marketing saying that it would be hard for readers to choose between Mal and Ezra. It ended up that I very much disagreed with that sentiment. But I’m okay with the ploy, because Mal was just such a great romantic lead.
Very early in the book I was wondering if Ezra was really going to be a presence in the book. He was more of an afterthought; and the style of the chapters being dual POV very much set him up as being friend zoned. Telegraphing the plot points with the dual POV took away the mystery. So once I got past wondering why Ezra wasn’t getting a say in this triangle, I was fully on Mal’s side. Ezra coming back into the story actually annoyed me. But contrary to past romance’s I’ve read about the FMC being in love with her best friend, I didn’t end up hating Ezra at the end of the story – so maybe that was what the marketing was alluding to.
Not your typical trope
Okay so the love triangle trope was handled differently than I’d assumed it would be when I started. The same thing happened with Jo’s absentee mom. You know I can’t stand bad parents in these romance books, they totally kill the romantic escapism for me. The abandonment, trauma and clear need for therapy makes me anxious about what could be coming on the next page. This was definitely the longest it’s taken me to read a romance this year.
Anyway, Jo’s absentee mom did not go the way I imagined it would. And I’m grateful for that. There was resolution, or progress, without having to even have her mother physically present in the story for an extended amount of time. Time with horrible parents takes away from the romance that I signed up for. But this story of Jo and her mother was nuanced and it did feel necessary in explaining who Jo was as a person. How she dealt with things or didn’t; how she took care of everyone and neglected herself; and how her perception of herself and others worked in this story. I was glad her mother wasn’t in it just for the drama and difficulty she would cause for the main character in the present, and not just the past.
I did predict what the third act issue would be, but I didn’t see how it would come about or how Mal or Ezra would react to the problem. The third act was painful and hopeful at the same time. Once I got to that pivotal junction I was in for the “landing.”
Getting technical
Seeing how Jo and Ezra became friends was nice. I wish the flashbacks hadn’t come at the expense of her time with Mal. But I’m not sure what other natural way there would’ve been to layer the flashbacks in – other than making them Ezra’s chapters. The flashbacks made me like Ezra, but only in that I want him to get his own book.
I can’t really pinpoint my exact hesitation from giving this book 5 stars, other than my ability to put it down. There wasn’t a great need to finish the story at lightning speed or avoid the book simply because I didn’t want the story to end. I think I was probably triggered some by the heavy issues that the characters were dealing with in the book; depression, social anxiety and suicidal ideation were all part of this book.
It was a heavy and emotional book for being marketed as a romance. Romance books are starting to feel a lot more like therapy than escapism. And since I have a therapist for therapy, I’d like a little more of an escape when I crack open a romance book. Possibly why I drift more to romantasy – a little more magic than therapy speak gives me a great break from reality. Anyway, I really wanted to rate this book 5 stars, and was questioning why it didn’t feel right, until I realized how long it took me to finish this book and that I’m not absolutely obsessed with it. Ratings chart to the rescue to remind me!
You’ll like this book, if…
You’ll like this book if you’re a fan of original plot twists, and knowing for sure which person the lead should be with when there’s a love triangle.
✅ Spinoff novella nomination:
Can Dahlia and Ezra each get their own spinoffs? They each seem interesting and like they need their own love stories. Dahlia to learn to trust again and Ezra to have more confidence in himself.
I found Jo’s friends to be interesting characters and immediately thought, 3 friends, 3 love stories, makes a romance series; perfection! And they’re all influencers in different ways, so the stories can still be about the dynamics between friendship, love and public personas.
What are you reading? Let me know in the comments.
shop for Between Friends & Lovers by Shirlene Obuobi:
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