rameau's ramblings
A reader who’ll try anything once, including bad books in search of good ones. Eclectic as her tastes are, she tends to gravitate to historical romances, realistic contemporaries, and some fantasy novels.
Not Just Friends by Jay Northcote
At first, I thought the wonderful humour might earn this book a better rating than any of the author's previous works have got from me. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way.
The story relies solely on the dreaded miscommunication trope. It's only vaguely understandable because both Lewis and Max are still young, unsure, and in the process of discovering themselves. It didn't help that the book I read right after handled the same trope much better without ever tripping over the insta love Not Just Friends romance suffers from.
The friendship and physical attraction set up was done well, but I didn't think there was enough to show where that attraction turned into love. In the second half of the book it felt like the author was repeating a mantra to convince both Lewis and the reader that he was in fact in love with his roommate.
The final sex scenes were wholly unnecessary and an inorganic part of the story. It felt like the author was under an obligation to reward her readers patience with the penetrative sex and had to include the scene despite the story being over.
Aside from her humour, the descriptions of Bristol continue to be Northcote's strength.
6