Review: Friends without Benefits by Penny Reid

This is the second book in the Knitting in the City Series by Penny Reid. I found the first book, Neanderthal Seeks Human, through some twist of fate and really, really liked the book.  If I thought that this book was going to be a remake of the first one, I was in for a huge shock.

To start off with, this is the story of Elizabeth, the roommate and best friend of Janie from Neanderthal Seeks Human.  While Janie and Elizabeth are friends, they are nothing alike, and neither are their stories. I spent much of NSH giggling and snarking with the character, but this one was more moody, emotional and high strung.  There were several times that I had to put the book down and walk away, I was so upset with the way Elizabeth was behaving. It wasn't that the writing was bad or that I didn't think the character was being true to herself. Because she was. Even though the character was screwing things up left, right and sideways, you understood why, hell, I was commiserating with her, but she just couldn't seem to stop herself.

Elizabeth is almost a doctor, who while finishing up her residency, runs into an old flame.  As the two of them collide and strike sparks, we delve into the ancient history between them, including the boy who changed both of their lives and died way too young. I gave up counting how many times my heart was squeezed, during this book.  The subject matter is not pretty, but then childhood cancer and dangerous stalkers just don't make for light-hearted reading.

All of the ladies from the knitting club are back in this one, including Janie and Quinn.  And there are several awesome scenes with Janie being Janie that I adored. The next book will center on Sandra and we get some really great insights into her, teasing the next book. While I hope the next book has a lighter note, this was a very good read and I gave it 4 stars.

Friends Without Benefits can be read as a standalone, is a full length 120k word novel, and is book#2 in the Knitting in the City Series.

There are three things you need to know about Elizabeth Finney: 1) She suffers from severe sarcastic syndrome, especially when she's unnerved, 2) No one unnerves her like Nico Manganiello, and 3) She knows how to knit.

Elizabeth Finney is almost always right about everything: the musical merits of boy bands are undervalued by society, “benefits” with human Ken dolls are better without friendship, and the sun has set on her once-in-a-lifetime chance for true love. But when Elizabeth’s plans for benefits without friendship are disarmed by the irritatingly charismatic and chauvinistic Nico Manganiello- her former nemesis- she finds herself struggling to maintain the electric fence around her heart while avoiding electrocution or, worse, falling in love.

Available at the following retailers:
Amazon