This was pretty good. It was a tad too long & slow at times but nothing I couldn't push through. I'm really intrigued with Ghost! ( )

i liked this book a whole lot it was funny and upbeat and i loved that it switched charector to charector ( )

What does one need for a sweet as, romantic, sexy and all around a good book???? A Croatian women.....

Nuff said.

:D ( )

I'm finding it difficult to figure out how to review this book. It is a feel-good romantic comedy with so much potential that didn't come to pass. I rate this book 2.5 stars; the benefit of the doubt - a half-star credit - is being given because of other books I enjoyed by Ms Aurora. This isn't a bad book, per se. It simply isn't as well written as others Ms Aurora wrote, nor a book I see myself rereading; it just wasn't as good as two of her others. I realize this doesn't seem just - to review a book not simply on its own merits, but review it in comparison with others. Well....

The reason I chose to read this book was because I read Raw by Belle Aurora and loved it (I didn't think it was very "dark" and I did think it was a love story, despite the back cover summary). Liking Raw, I then read Willing Captive. also by Belle Aurora, and liked it a lot, not quite as much as Raw, but it is a very good read with an HEA. I still wanted more and so, I began Friend-Zoned. I should have stopped while I was ahead.

Aside from the need of an editor to review this book for typos, and remove or rephrase repetitive sentences, the first half was so sweet that I thought I was developing a cavity -- not flat-out bad, just so very sweet it was difficult to imagine how any conflict could arise -- no build-up and all peaches and cream, or rather cupcakes. With all of his tats and his once being a member of a New York gang/brotherhood, Nik could never, for one moment, be considered a "bad boy". This story is set in New York, but it doesn't have the New York City feel, instead a small-town urban location far from the big city. It was "nice" that misunderstandings and wrong conclusions were quickly resolved. It was fun and funny how well the four girls and four guys got along so well. I truly wished for this gang of friends to be my friends. "Hearing" Tina's and Nik's thoughts, jokes, voices made this a romantic comedy.

So why not a better rating? The story had a ton of potential that wasn't developed!

The voices given to the characters simply did not seem to fit, with the exception of Tina's dad, and Ceecee. Why bother bringing in Jace? To give Tina closure? That story line went no where! Why give Nik and his brothers the history of being in a gang? Max and Nik were too lovable for their past history to be believable. Tina's non-cussing personality was cute, but, then, Nik would utter a f*ck that seemed so very out of place, even for a "tough" guy. I'm glad Ghost and Nat have their own story (and, yes, I do plan on reading it! Just because I didn't think this story lived up to its potential does not mean I am not interested in Ghost's and Nat's story).

This is a good HEA beach read -- an uncomplicated, romance with moments that make you laugh, others that make you cry and a bit of awkwardly placed cussing and moments of tame sex.

Had I read this book first, I imagine I would still want to read Ghost's and Nat's story. I am not sure that I would immediately look into the other books by Ms Aurora, though. So take my 2.5 rating with a grain of salt.

( )

Man, this was just a plain train wreck for me. It takes a lot for me to find a book bad after I'm finished with it, but this one went almost all the way to DNF. The writing was bad and very amaturish, the editing was almost inexistent, the characters were as far from compelling and relatable, the story was pretty much a whole clichê, but that's okay because I was expecting it to be actually. The main characters didn't have depth, apart from one detail in Tina's life which I think was the only damn thing that gave the story some real emotion. I really liked some of the secondary characters, but I'm not sure I want to read the sequel to this series if the writing on that one is as bad as the one presented here. The story had some potencial, but I think the author wanted to make something almost surreal out of the main characters' relationship and ended up bombing the whole thing altogether. ( )