Best Friends with Benefits (Most Likely To) by Candy Sloane Series: Most Likely To #1
Published by Entangled: Brazen on March 14th 2016
Pages: 196
Amazon
Valerie Barkin and Alec Rogers survived bullies, awful parents, and seriously shitty social standing the only way best friends can—together. But with the unexpected sexual tension suddenly flaring between them, surviving their ten-year high school reunion might be a different story…
Val hasn’t changed. She still feels like the stringy-haired band geek the popular kids teased, but Alec has definitely changed. He’s now the front man for the Grammy-winning rock band Chronic Disharmony, with the sexual reputation to match. And he’s more than willing to help Val rock the reunion.
And then it happens—a drunken game of Seven Minutes in Heaven—and their fourteen-years-long foreplay comes crashing to the forefront…changing everything.
Seven minutes turns into a weekend of mind-blowing, no-strings-attached sex. But these best friends won't be able to leave their hearts out of it forever, not when the most meaningful benefit could change their relationship for good....
Best Friends With Benefits is a friends to lovers story set against a backdrop of a high school reunion. I like to live vicariously through stories about unpopular kids who make good, and then attend their class reunion only to find fawning, jealous former bullies. Toss in an unexpected hookup and it seems like the perfect combo. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel like the story lived up to its potential.
Alec and Valerie became best friends in high school. They were two social outcasts who bonded over a shared love of music. Alec was the scrawny kid everyone ignored, and Valerie was the band geek everyone teased. Now Alec is a hot, tattooed rock star, and Valerie is a successful flute player for the Philadelphia Philharmonic. Although they’ve stayed in touch through texts and phone calls, they haven’t seen each other since high school. When they both show up for their ten-year reunion, sparks fly.
I was disappointed Candy Sloane didn’t make more of Alec’s return as a rock god. The reactions of his classmates were underwhelming. Val is just as insecure as she was in high school so she can’t believe Alec could really be attracted to her, despite evidence to the contrary. Frankly, it grew a bit tiresome after awhile as did their constant inability to say how they felt about each other.
The reunion festivities are really fun, and the chemistry between Alex and his “Dirty Girl” is on point. This book definitely enters panty-melting territory. However, the plot is predictable and the narrative is rather clichéd at times.
“He never wanted to feel this again, but he also knew that if he had to, he could bear it. It was worth bearing for the pleasure on the other side of the knife of love.”
It’s a nice fluff read and although it’s not horrible, there are a few too many missed opportunities and not enough substance to make it more than average.
Recommended for fans of:
High school reunions
Friends to lovers romance
Steamy reads
**ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.**
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