Bookworm Dreams

It’s not a secret that books about friends who fall in love, is one of the topics that make me instantly buy the book. And, as you can conclude based on the title alone, Better off Friends is just that kind of book.

Better off Friends is a cute contemporary novel. Chapters alternate between Macallan and Levi who talk about how they met, their friendship and all weird situations they got into, because people thought they were more than friends. If you ever had a very good friend of the opposite sex, you can totally relate to their problems.

Each chapter is preceded by a small dialog between Levi and Macallan. They comment, in friendly banter, on the events so far and what is going to happen next. These were my favorite parts of the book. I felt like I was sitting in a coffee shop with them while they were retelling their life story to me.

Um, yeah. Friends lie to make each other feel better. You didn’t know that? Have I told you that you look really cute today?
Thanks, I — Wait a second.

And that’s not the only banter in Better off Friends. The book is full of it! Not only between Levi and Macallan, but also between Macallan and her girlfriends.

“Hey!” I slapped my hand against the table. “Speak for yourself, but I’m a very fun time.”
“Yeah,” Danielle agreed, “read the stalls in the guy’s bathroom.”
“Ha, ha.” I shot her a dirty look.

Point of view for a chapter is represented by his or hers silhouette on a swing (from the cover). This little detail was super cute. I love it when books have something like that. It’s completely unrelated to the quality of the story, but makes it more unique. And I feel that publisher really put an effort to make me like the book.

The biggest flaw of Better off Friends is that, at around half of the book, Levi and Macallan start to realize that they feel more than friendship for each other. From that point, there will be a lot of misunderstandings and missed opportunities to delay the ending. I was bored at times and felt like the end, the final resolution, was dragging on. It could have been much better if their pure friendship continued longer, so we had more wonderful banter and less drama.

In The End…

Better of Friends is about all the problems you will encounter if you have a male best friend. From the annoying questions‘Why don’t you two just go out already?’ to the real danger of losing your heart. If you are looking for some literary depths you might be disappointed. But for a light, fluffy love story with a bit of banter and drama, Better off Friends is a perfect choice.

Recommended to fans of young adult contemporary romance novels about best friends who fall in love, good banter, high school setting, …