Man, I love me a good friend-to-lovers storyline. This one, in particular, was really good in the chemistry and humor department. This story takes place in a small town in Ohio and follows best friends from childhood, Lexi and Trevor, who now live next door to each other. This book has some hilarious phrasing and real creativity as both characters go on various dates. This book does switch perspectives which I tend to not like as much as just one perspective, but for this particular book, I didn’t mind it.
Friend(shipped) by Savannah Scott: (paid link)
Review Criteria:
- Quality of work: 4/5 I really liked the voice of both Lexi and Trevor and I didn’t notice any grammar issues that brought me out of the story.
- Swoon Factor: 4.5/5 I love the friendship to becoming more eventually. The little moments were very sweet and swoon-inducing.
- Hook-ability: 4.5/5 This was an easy book to start, keep reading, and finish. I found myself reaching for this instead of scrolling on TikTok which for me, is a sign of good hook-ability. 🙂
- Likability of characters: 4.5/5 The characters felt very realistic. I really fell in love with Lexi and Trevor and their friendship as a whole.
- Realism: 3/5 I liked hearing the backstory of the times when their relationship was previously thwarted, my one criticism is that these two have been friends for forever, but why are they getting together now? I would have liked to see more memories of times when they did things that led up to now, instead of the whole story starting just now.
- Final rating: 4.1/5 I really enjoyed this book! It was sweet and clean and had good characters. It had funny one-liners and a cute storyline. I would definitely recommend this book!
More Thoughts:
I think my problem with differing perspectives is the fact that it can feel like lazy storytelling. It feels too “written by a woman” and not realistic enough. Women only know what it is like to be a woman, so I feel like generally, they are just projecting what they would like their romantic interest to feel, instead of looking at truly from a man’s perspective. That being said, I really liked this book as a whole and I think the story fit the duel perspectives. This did not feel like lazy storytelling to me.
Favorite Quotes:
“I might have never known how to actually say Bordeaux if I hadn’t learned about France in World History class and Bordeaux High School. Ever since I opened that textbook and saw the proper way the word should roll off the tongue, the name of our town uttered by any local has felt like the sound of Aunt Glenda clearing her throat when she eats too fast and swallows wrong. Just disgusting. Trust me.”
“There was so much tension in the movie, I was eating my popcorn with my head hunched over the bucket popping kernels into my mouth at rapid speed like a squirrel racing to hoard nuts for the winter. It was like I was in a popcorn eating contest and I was definitely winning. Fred would start to grab a fistful and I almost batted his hand away twice.”
“He stares at me, obviously torn between admiration for my ability to haiku on demand and his disappointment at my friend-zoning him.”
There are a few more lines that made me giggle, but I don’t want to spoil anything story-wise! Read it and then share your favorite lines in the comments!
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Come back after you read this book to get my final thoughts 🙂
1. I did feel like maybe there were a few too many pop culture references. I think putting in popular songs every couple of chapters almost distracts from the book as a whole. Maybe this is my own personal opinion. What do you think?
2. I didn’t really like how Trevor told the ENTIRE story of when he was rejected to his buddy like he was telling the reader. He used so much detail, even describing her hair. It felt a little unrealistic for two college buddies to bond over a story that was told like a romantic comedy.
3. I thought the 4th of July with Trevor’s ex-girlfriend, Meg was hilarious. The dynamic between Lexi and Meg really amused me.
4. I SWOONED when they were stuck together during the tornado warning.
I really enjoyed this book.
As an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases.
This book was really funny! I loved all the dates she went on😂 I agree with most of your points. I did find that there was almost too much detail at times that kind of took me out of it, and it was very predictable, but that’s to be expected.