Have you ever suffered from being too sarcastic with men and having way too tight ties with your friends? Well, that's what Kristen Petersen, the main protagonist of Abby Jiminez's debut novel is going through. And she simply doesn't make drama of it. All of her life she was ready to fight for to the death for her friends and she had no room in her life for romance. Actually, she has a fiancee who is deployed in Middle East, and they were planning to marry upon his return with an agreement that they are not going to have any kids. And she was absolutely convinced that she was okay with that, until things took an unexpected turn.
One of her best friends is soon to get married and Kristen eagerly agrees to help her in planning and organizing the wedding. And that's when the story starts taking off. She meets Josh who was the best man on the wedding. He is funny, sexy and Kristen's sharp sarcasm never manages to scare him off, like it had happened with other men before. And Kristen can't help but falls for him. But Kristen, being stubborn as always, decides to keep Josh in the friendzone. But there is one thing about love that Kristen is about to learn – one cannot control it.
And of course, despite all of her attempts to keep Josh as far away as possible and constantly hinting him that his better off with someone else, they start a romantic relationship.While everything seems to be quite okay, but nobody knows that Kristen has a little secret that she hides from everyone. The absence of kids that she and her fiancee had agreed on has to do with her fiancee not to have kids as much as with her big secret. She is about to have a medical procedure that may prevent her from having children ever. And ironically, Josh's dream is having a big family.
While the premise may seem a bit boring, the book is not. Abby Jiminez in managed to make her debut novel an actual emotional roller coaster ride. One moment you can't stop laughing, while next moment you are definitely going to need a napkin cause tears will pour down.
Jiminez manages to create a perfect journey to accepting one self. The story is full of well-developed characters, which is a rare occurrence in debut novels. Moreover, "The Friend Zone" maintains the perfect balance between being funny and dramatic, and you can enjoy reading it without getting the feeling that author falls to one side or another. Reading "The Friend Zone" is a sheer pleasure and the book didn't gain it high ratings on Good Readers and Amazon for nothing.