Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - The Friend Zone

Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez

16 reviews

hannahbrixton's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book was intense in a way I didn't see coming. I won't spoiler it but if you have medical trauma, consider that there's quite a lot of detail given in this book about a serious medical event and it was unfortunately quite close to something I experienced... so while I'm not triggered, it was pretty difficult to listen to and emotionally intense.

I loved the connection between Josh and Kristen but I felt like her steadfast refusal to be with him went on a little longer than necessary... even after they endured a traumatic event that should have been eye-opening, she stuck to her guns and it got a little frustrating.

The HEA ending was lovely for them and yet I would have liked to see it handled differently because it felt like the rug was pulled out from under the entire premise... I'm being vague on purpose so as to avoid spoilers here :)

The characters felt real, natural, and genuine and I loved the banter between the MCs. The writing was good, sometimes intense or suspenseful and emotionally evocative, which kept me listening and made it overall an enjoyable listen.

Content Warnings

megbert581's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I just kept getting annoyed at these characters. So much angst could have been avoided if they just TALKED to each other and stopped being a martyr for no reason. I kept saying UGH while reading this. Woman are so much more than their ability to have children; I wanted to see more of that in this book, but it felt like there was barely any progress in this line of thought throughout the story and was just the same thoughts over and over. I strongly disliked the ending

where she gets pregnant. It felt too easy and disregarded a bit of the struggle and growth the main character Kristen had gone through. I have not struggled with infertility, but if I was, I think I would have thrown the book across the room at that ending. Not everything works out like you want it to and I felt it would have been better with just Josh as her “happily ever after” and maybe they adopt.

. I also expected more growth from the main character throughout the book, it felt like she only had a smidge of progress and it was in the last few pages. Generally, I love any book Abby Jimenez writes, but this was a miss for me.

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menrk's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

It started off light and ended up with a lot of drama towards the end. I did find the drama unwanted as it seemed unfair to some of the characters somehow.

I preferred the first half because of the banter and chemistry, and I felt those scenes really would shine even without the plot lines about the boyfriend and infertility.

About the boyfriend plot. For me, they did cheat. They may not have acted on it physically (though that was also a grey line) but they cheated on an emotional level.

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danielletepool's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

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dlrosebyh's review against another edition

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challenging medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

If the cheating trope isn't one of your least favorite tropes, this novel is for you. Listen, I'm a sucker for good angst. I enjoy yearning, but not when someone is in a relationship. Not clear enough? Let me explain what happened in this book (contains spoilers).

Boom! A car accident occurred. Oh! This woman is fierce, but she's also rather attractive. But wait a minute, she has a boyfriend! However, I have a friend who is her friend's fiancé, so let me quickly approach him. Let me be her carpenter because she needs a new carpenter. Someone has stolen items from her home! Thanks for letting me enter alpha mode. I'll pull out my big gun! Oh no, her boyfriend is arriving in a few days. But that's good, since she's also emotionally cheating on me (though she doesn't realize it). Oh nooo, her boyfriend had dumped her. Hang on, I'll just make love to her. Well, I suppose we're now flings. Surprise, her ex-boyfriend has arrived. They're going on a date now? Oh no! This is unbelievable. She was simply shoving me away. HE INVITED HER TO MARRY HIM???? AND THEN SHE SAID MAYBE? But that's fine since it means I still get to have sex with her. But I'm also wasted. It's confession time!! She loves me as well? Hey, her ex can go for all I care. AAAA! Breakup check for the third act! But everything is all right now. We're still dating despite the fact that she didn't message me for 21 days!

I don't think I need to say anything further except that this book did a wonderful job of putting my moral compass to the test.

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readingwithmeredith's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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annahamburger's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book deals with heavy topics and I highly recommend checking the content warnings.

That being said I do feel the topics of infertility, mental illness, toxic parent child relationships, death, and grief were dealt with and presented gracefully, yet raw.

Infertility is discussed frequently and in detail with a variety of emotions and projected outcomes in this story.

I really enjoyed this book, and the writing was visceral and raw. Kristen was layered and real.

I wish Josh had had more layers to him, as his POV helped flesh out Kristen more than himself.

A thing I could have gone without was Josh's inner thoughts regarding Kristen as "not like other girls" and "cool and probably dated a college guy in high school".

I wish we could have spent more time in the "after" portion of the couples lives. I am hopeful to get glimpses of it in the sequels.

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rickireadss's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

⛔️WARNING: this is a VERY negative review, so if you are not into those, you haven’t read this book, or this is your favorite book, stop reading now. there are also MAJOR SPOILERS below. you have been warned.

let me start by saying i was very excited for this book and series after reading “part of your world” by jimenez which i absolutely LOVED. with that being said, i absolutely LOATHE this book and am very glad i never purchased a copy but instead borrowed from libby.

i’m just going to list each point that i hated and go into detail of why.

⚠️tw/cw: infertility, car accident, death of side character, chronic illness, medical trauma, injury/injury detail, grief, emotional abuse, toxic relationship, infidelity (not mcs), gaslighting, miscarriage, pregnancy, body shaming, sexism, stalking/breaking in, war

⛔️SPOILERS BELOW⛔️

⛔️SPOILERS BELOW⛔️

⛔️SPOILERS BELOW⛔️

both mcs: i honestly found them both to be insufferable at times - mostly kristen but josh also pissed me off at times. i am also not a fan of the miscommunication trope - especially in contemporary romances WITH ADULT MAIN CHARACTERS.

infertility/fertility issues: this was the MAIN (and really only) conflict between kristen and josh. he wanted kids, made it abundantly clear in multiple conversations (by saying he wanted them the “natural way” and didn’t want to adopt… RED FLAG, BRO, RED FLAG), and it was why he left his ex girlfriend because she didn’t want them. BECAUSE OF THIS, kristen decided to keep her fertility issues from josh - which is in her right - and made it clear to josh that if they were to have any type of relationship, it would only be a friends-with-benefits deal, no romantic feelings. they both enter that and then of course both catch really feelings for each other. my issue is that she doesn’t disclose WHY she can’t be with josh until like the 80-85% mark. he repeatedly confronted her to see why she felt like they couldn’t be together and she just kept not telling him. MISCOMMUNICATION AT ITS FINEST. i was getting so upset at her for not just saying it because she felt like it would break his heart and he wouldn’t want to be with her, but she kept pushing him away???? like girl, you’re are confusing yourself and everybody around you.

ALSO- with that being a main conflict between them but then they finally decided to get together and that it was okay, they have a miracle baby…. are. you. fvcking . kidding. me. i understand that this is fiction. i understand miracle babies happen. but i wanted a more realistic outcome and ending. it felt like the fertility issues at that point were just thrown into the plot to create conflict and used as a ploy. why did they have to miraculously have a baby??? why couldn’t they just be happy with the two of them?? why couldn’t they have adopted children?? why couldn’t they have used one of the sisters (like they talked about) as a surrogate??? just that entire thing made me angry.

OCD representation: it wasn’t revealed until the like 85/90% mark that kristen had OCD and i felt like it was a vvvvvvery poor and stereotypical portrayal of someone with OCD. when she first said something about her “manic-bess” and “OCD self”, i thought it was one of those times where people just use ACTUAL MENTAL ILLNESSES/DISORDERS in everyday convo and i was about to get really angry. come to find out, she has OCD??? where? how? why is this JUST now being brought up?

brandon’s death: i felt like this came out of left field to create chaos. it also felt like a ploy to shove the two mcs together like “this made us realize how short life is” and josh even mentions how he doesn’t want her to end up like sloane and having no say over him if he were to just die AND THEN PROPOSES??? fvçk no.

impromptu proposal: literally wtf. this was unnecessary, way too fast, and made the ending that much worse.

family trauma / lack of therapy: kristen’s mom was a grade-A b!tch and a horrible mother. we were introduced to the sh!tshow that was her, but then it was never addressed again until sloane told kristen to grow tf up and go after josh. um excuse me??? why was that not unpacked at all… like her mother clearly fvcked her up with her comments and how she treated kristen but also kristen mentioned that she didn’t go to therapy (or did a long time ago but doesn’t anymore, i honestly don’t remember) but also if she has OCD, i would think going to therapy on a regular basis would be normal for her because she has the means to go to therapy - she makes good money this is referenced several times throughout the book, and the fact that she doesn’t go to therapy regularly makes the whole OCD diagnosis feel like it was also just thrown in there for sh!ts and giggles.

okay, i’m done. i honestly don’t want to expend anymore brain power on this. i did not like this book. i would not recommend if any of the cw listed below trigger you. the 2 stars are for the mere fact that i did not DNF this, and the fact that this could have been a good book if the author had taken a few different approaches and had some good sensitivity readers (idk if she had some or not, but if she did, i do not feel like she had the right ones.)

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strawbaeby's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

4.5⭐

I loved it. The chemistry and banters between the characters were amazing.

There were definitely a few problems that have already been pointed out by many people. And I wish and wish that ending was not how it was but I understand. These are two flawed people with a flawed story and I'm a grown adult with my own opinions on mindset. I don't find it harmful on me but I kinda worry what it will do to others. But I still love this book nevertheless.

It was an amazing experience I flew through it only just over 24 hours. It's so engaging and hard to put down and I was constantly smiling during the first half and ugly sobbing during the last. Abby Jimenez's writing is absolutely amazing.

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