Helpful Score: 4
It's hard to warm up to these characters, but by the end you really do. Freya is cold, but by the end of the book you understand why. Jack is fairly worthless, but he improves. Cat isn't much of a friend for most of the book, but her actions after her wedding make her a standout best friend. If you enjoy chick-lit, it's worth reading.
It sounds like a predictible common story, but it has lots of surprises and twists and turns. I liked all of the characters. It was a quick read....I wanted to get back to it. I finished in two days...which is quick for me and my lifestyle.
Helpful Score: 2
Freya is a thirtysomething, transplanted Brit in New York, focused on survival. Jack is her friend of ten years, a writer trying to work through his block. Their relationship is based on mutual humor, and a surprising innocence from when they first met, but the story opens after Freya has been publicly dumped by the man she'd expected to ask her to marry him. She is determined not to let it break her, and crashes Jack's poker game, desperate for distraction. When Jack discovers she doesn't have a place to stay, he offers to let her stay with him for a couple weeks while she rebounds.
It doesn't exactly work out. Freya and Jack get on each other's nerves almost from the start, primarily because of the different places they are in their lives. Freya is in a place where her normal emotional walls are even higher than usual, and she has little tolerance for the freestyle way Jack leads his life. He dates young twentysomethings he meets through his teaching, and he floats along, subsidized by a monthly allowance from his father. They pull caustic pranks on the other, though their friendship seems to eventually weather all of them, enough at least for Freya to ask him to pose as her boyfriend at her stepsister's wedding.
The writing is sharp and humorous, and the scenarios laugh out loud funny even while they made me cringe at how mean they could be. Freya and Jack are often quite unlikeable in the stunts they pull, though my annoyance with them was never enough to pull me from enjoying the story. It just made them more realistic for me, and easier to wish a happy ending for (though the truncated and mildly ambiguous ending is probably the one thing I dislike most about this book).
It doesn't exactly work out. Freya and Jack get on each other's nerves almost from the start, primarily because of the different places they are in their lives. Freya is in a place where her normal emotional walls are even higher than usual, and she has little tolerance for the freestyle way Jack leads his life. He dates young twentysomethings he meets through his teaching, and he floats along, subsidized by a monthly allowance from his father. They pull caustic pranks on the other, though their friendship seems to eventually weather all of them, enough at least for Freya to ask him to pose as her boyfriend at her stepsister's wedding.
The writing is sharp and humorous, and the scenarios laugh out loud funny even while they made me cringe at how mean they could be. Freya and Jack are often quite unlikeable in the stunts they pull, though my annoyance with them was never enough to pull me from enjoying the story. It just made them more realistic for me, and easier to wish a happy ending for (though the truncated and mildly ambiguous ending is probably the one thing I dislike most about this book).
Fun, light read.
The heroine's long-time buddy agrees to play the loving beau and escort the heroine home for her evil step-sister's wedding. Of course, thrown into this close proximity, sparks fly. The couple denies the attraction; they argue; nearly step over the line; back away, and then . . . Then, to my total dismay, the hero allows the truly evil step-sister to seduce him on the eve of her wedding.
I finished the book. Mostly to see if the writer could recover from this misstep. I was skeptical that it could be done. In the end, though she came close, the author failed to rescue the story. Why? Not because he had sex with someone other than the heroine (although that would be enough for some readers) but because the hero betrayed the heroine with her arch-rival. He slept with the one person who was capable of and willing to drive a stake through her heart. Even though, in his mind, it was "only sex," the magnitude of this betrayal made it unforgivable. Some things are.
I finished the book. Mostly to see if the writer could recover from this misstep. I was skeptical that it could be done. In the end, though she came close, the author failed to rescue the story. Why? Not because he had sex with someone other than the heroine (although that would be enough for some readers) but because the hero betrayed the heroine with her arch-rival. He slept with the one person who was capable of and willing to drive a stake through her heart. Even though, in his mind, it was "only sex," the magnitude of this betrayal made it unforgivable. Some things are.
This is such a great book... a must read
Better than expected. I enjoyed this and it rang more true than some 'friend love' books. Cute.
A chick lit book. A fun and easy read,
I really enjoyed this book. Totally a chick lit book but with enough of a male voice to keep it real. Great story (although there is one part I didn't feel but that would ruin it if I told). A quick read that is strong yet has a teeny bit of fluff. Great read for the beach, the road, or a rainy day.
I loved it...beautifully written, witty, wonderful characters!
Two thirtysomethings trying to make their dreams come true meet 10 years ago. Now, ten years later, Freya moves in with Jack after a shocking break up with her shy, "safe" boyfriend.
Freya, more upset about losing her date for her wicked stepsister's wedding in three weeks than losing her boyfriend and apartment, answers a few personal ads in the paper. Roommate fights about food and overnight guests ensue.
In one desperate moment, Freya argees to bring Jack home to England as her date hoping her famliy will never know they are "just friends." Unfortunately for them, the family knows more than they let on and so the laughs continue.
Freya, more upset about losing her date for her wicked stepsister's wedding in three weeks than losing her boyfriend and apartment, answers a few personal ads in the paper. Roommate fights about food and overnight guests ensue.
In one desperate moment, Freya argees to bring Jack home to England as her date hoping her famliy will never know they are "just friends." Unfortunately for them, the family knows more than they let on and so the laughs continue.
Thirtysomethings Freya and Jack have been "just friends" for more than 10 years. When Freya, dumped by her lawyer boyfriend, moves into Jack's appartment temporarily, tensions simmer.
