JustFriends

I received this through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Just Friends: ★☆☆☆☆
Old Friends: ★☆☆☆☆
Fast Friends: ★★★☆☆
Friends Again:★★☆☆☆
I rounded a bit for an overall 1.5 stars

Just Friends and Old Friends is about Elly and Kent... dear god. I hated them with a passion. I'm in the boat of – get your feelings off your chest and just tell the person OR get over it. Also, I'm totally against rape WHICH EVERYONE SHOULD BE AND IF YOU THINK ELLY DOESN'T RAPE KENT THEN YOU ARE IGNORANT. Seriously, if things had been reversed with Kent making an unconscious Elly give him a handjob everyone would be effing screaming. THIS IS NOT OKAY! And then she is angry at him for not telling her he was conscious during the end of it, when honestly he should be pissed! She instigated him cheating on his GF and Elly is pissed because.... ??????? God I hate her.
deep breathe So, if that all doesn't bother you, let me explain some more why I did not like these first books.
Everything revolves around the romance, which I understand because it is a romance, but there is no world-building (what state are they in? What is the scenery like?), there is barely friendships and when they exist they seem forced, I still have no idea what Kent's major is, being in college you would think more of college life would make it into the book (spoiler: no), and I really wanted to learn about Elly living life alone or trying to reach her dream which we barely... no, I have no idea what she wants to end up doing since she repeatedly said she did not think she could become pro.

So, these books move super fast– from one encounter to the next, which leaves the characters feeling bland and flat.

Fast Friends is my favorite out of the bunch. We still hear about how shitty of a person Kent is (no surprise), but we get to see flawed characters here with a little more depth. Still overly dramatic at times? Yes sighs but I could handle it, because it is much better than the previous relationship. Stacy has dreams–RIO HAS DREAMS, they both have goals and real-life concerns, so they seemed like real people (dear god this is a stretch, but kinda). It was insta-love-ish, but in then end I thought it was really sweet and I absolutely loved this couple. Rio is a sweetheart and Stacy is so cute. They are kinda #relationshipgoals.

Friends Again...sigh
Everyone hates Jen after coming from Elly & Kent's story, so it was a bit difficult to get into this novella. Her and Dominic... might work out? But, I honestly feel like Jen needs to figure out who she is and what she wants before anything else. This Jen did not make sense to me– she seems different from the dark hole she was in the first book. So, I feel she should get a relationship, yes, but I feel more that she needs to be ready for one.
So, what I'm trying to say is, if I did not think of her as Jen from the previous books, then this was much easy to read, even if it was fast all the way around.


Also, Jesus, if anyone drinks AS MUCH AS ALL OF THESE PEOPLE I'm surprised they aren't dead, AND maybe that is why there is so many misunderstanding and unwillingness to talk or explain or act like an adult. Towards the end there they are mid 20s and 30s, sooooo groans I just don't understand, so I will leave it at this.
I will say, the author made this easy to read and it was not boring, considering I actually finished it all.