Publisher: Forever Romance

I received this book for free from Forever Romance in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Kristen Petersen doesn't do drama, will fight to the death for her friends, and has no room in her life for guys who just don't get her. She's also keeping a big secret: facing a medically necessary procedure that will make it impossible for her to have children.

Planning her best friend's wedding is bittersweet for Kristen -- especially when she meets the best man, Josh Copeland. He's funny, sexy, never offended by her mile-wide streak of sarcasm, and always one chicken enchilada ahead of her hangry. Even her dog, Stuntman Mike, adores him. The only catch: Josh wants a big family someday. Kristen knows he'd be better off with someone else, but as their attraction grows, it's harder and harder to keep him at arm's length.

The Friend Zone will have you laughing one moment and grabbing for tissues the next as it tackles the realities of infertility and loss with wit, heart, and a lot of sass.

I am still recovering from this book as I write this review so excuse the rambling but oh my god??? Why did this book want to HURT ME LIKE THAT??? I am genuinely feeling a little nauseous lol.

The nausea has nothing to do with how the book was, just about certain events I won’t dive into. Rest assured, if you do read this book and have some serious feelings afterwards, please talk to me so we can all cry together. A HAPPY CRYING CIRCLE.

If you are not a fan of any kind of angst, you should probably skip this book because there is a lot of it. Sometimes it felt unavoidable, other times it was frustrating but honestly it wasn’t actually an issue for me. I went into this book expecting angst so I was prepared.

Josh and Kristen are extremely perfect for each other in every single way. Except that he wants a very very big family and she cannot have kids. In fact, he broke up with his ex because she didn’t want to have kids. So, while Josh falls slowly in love, Kristen works her hardest to resist the attraction she feels (1. Because she has a boyfriend and also 2. Because she doesn’t want to put Josh in an awkward position by telling her the truth about her condition).

For a book that tries so hard to defy gender norms, it is somehow also still entrenched in them? Especially when Josh cannot stop talking about how different Kristen is from the other girls because she drinks beer and is unafraid to speak her mind. Chill out, Josh.

So yeah, this book isn’t perfect but it still managed to get my attention from the get-go and somehow the pages just flew by?? Both Josh and Kristen are such well-rounded characters. I love that their friends are such a major part of their lives, I love that they are passionate about their jobs, I love that they work SO WELL TOGETHER. Even when they cannot figure out how to be together.

There are tons of amazing sounding romance books coming out this summer and the one thing that makes this one stand out is how health/infertility issues are discussed. They aren’t just shoved to the back of the close never to be mentioned again. They are very much part of Kristen’s life so they become part of Josh’s life. I also love that this book is as much about Josh and Kristen falling in love as it is Kirsten learning to feel like she is worth loving.

I am reluctant to rate this book because I do have issues with this one event that gutted me and felt completely unnecessary. Please not that there is a HEA for Josh and Kristen and the one event aside, The Friend Zone is an adorable, thoughtful romcom absolutely worth reading.

3.5 Hot Espressos