carolesrandomlife

2/24/15: Now Available!

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life.

4 Stars!

I think that this is the first friends with benefits story that I have read even though I have seen quite a few movies based on that theme. I will admit that I had a pretty good guess about where this story was going to go when I started because I have watched enough of those movies to figure a few things out. Despite the fact that some parts of the book could be considered predictable, I loved the journey. It was so easy to just forget about everything else going on in my life and enjoy this story.

Joss, or Jocelyn, meets Matt at a dorm party as a college freshman. There is a spark between the pair right away but Joss has a boyfriend and Matt respects that because he is honestly a nice guy. Joss and Matt have a class together and become friends. When Joss is dumped by her boyfriends, she looks for a physical encounter with someone just so that her ex-boyfriend will not be the last person she had in her bed. Joss and Matt soon come to an agreement. They will be there for each other when needed to help cleanse each other's palates after a bad breakup. They enter into an agreement for sorbet sex with a few rules laid out and it seems to work for both of them.

This story is told from Joss's point of few and while at times I would have liked to know what Matt was thinking, I think that the single point of view was really the best choice for this story. The story is told from different points in time - some set in the present with others over the seven year course of their arrangement. I loved that this story took place over such an extended period of time. We really get to see each of the characters grow during the course of the story. I think that if they had started dating as college freshman there is no way their relationship would have been as likely to work in the end.

The writing in this book quickly pulled me into the story and I really had a hard time putting this book down. I loved Joss and Matt. I loved that even though we saw them doing some really stupid things during the time period that the book covers, they always treat each other well. There was never a moment where I thought either one was taking advantage of the other. I loved the fact that their friendship was so important that they protected it and were always there when needed.

I had a pretty good idea where the book was headed before I read the first paragraph. I was so happy to see both of them so happy and loved the way that it happened. I really don't care that it was a bit predictable. Most books are in one way or another. There were a few things that happened in the story that I wasn't a fan of but those things did not stop my enjoyment of the story.

I would highly recommend this book to fans of contemporary romance. This is the first book by Ellie Cahill that I have had a chance to read but I plan to keep my open for more in the future.

I received an advance reader edition of this book from Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine via NetGalley for the purpose of providing an honest review.