Friends with Benefits by Marisa Kanter

Narrated by Gail Shalen & GM Hakim

Standalone contemporary romance

I was offered an ALC of Friends with Benefits by Marisa Kanter from Macmillan and grabbed it because she has been an author on my TBR list and I saw the character names were Jewish. As a non-practicing Jew, I still like to read books with characters like me (see my list of romances with Jewish characters).

Evie and Theo have been best friends since they met in dance school as kids, and they’ve been pining for each other ever since. Now adults, Theo teaches grade school, and Evie works as a Foley artist—creating sound effects for film and television. I really enjoyed learning about her behind-the-scenes job.

Evie also lives with Crohn’s disease, which, beyond the expected GI issues, causes chronic pain and fatigue. As someone who deals with an autoimmune condition and IBS, I found her incredibly relatable. When her grandparents sell her house and she gets offered a dream fellowship, things should be looking up—except she has to turn it down because the fellowship doesn’t offer health insurance which she needs for her very expensive condition.

Meanwhile, Theo’s roommates are moving out and buying a condo together, which leaves him without a place to live. Evie moving in makes sense, but they don’t qualify financially as roommates. As a married couple, though, Evie could go on Theo’s insurance and they’d also qualify for the apartment.

So begins a marriage of convenience between two lifelong best friends who are clearly in love. You’d think the path would be smooth after that, but no—the emotional angst keeps coming.

I saw a review mention this book was too political. Personally, I didn’t find that to be true. Yes, the healthcare system is criticized, the heroine is bisexual, and her sister is gay. If that reads as political to some, I’d argue it’s more about human rights—access to healthcare and being who you are.

I liked the story. I just didn’t LOVE the characters. Theo was almost too mild-mannered, and Evie wasn’t that easy to root for. I didn’t dislike either of them, but I tend to need a strong emotional connection to the heroine to fully connect with the book, and I didn’t get that here.

Likes:

Chronic illness rep—Crohn’s and chronic pain.
Frank discussion on how bad the US healthcare system is.
Learning about being a Foley artist.
Banter.
Theo’s classroom scenes.
Their obsession with Survivor.
Mental health rep handled well.
Jewish characters—subtly included in a very real, lived-in way–you may not even notice if you aren’t Jewish yourself.
I loved her grandparents and sister.

Dislikes:

3rd person present tense made it hard for me to connect emotionally.
I just didn’t love Evie.
A lot of depressing family dynamics weighed the story down.
Characters felt younger and way more immature than their stated age.

The Narration:

Both Gail Shalen and GM Hakim were new to me. They gave solid performances, but nothing that made me feel the audio was a must-listen. That might be due to the third person present tense, which often creates a bit of distance.

The Down & Dirty:

I really wanted to love Friends with Benefits by Marisa Kanter. Unfortunately, I just liked it. It’s rare for me to finish a book without highlighting anything or taking notes, but that was the case here. Nothing stood out, and even though I finished recently, I had to read the blurb again to recall the plot. The romance didn’t feel passionate—it felt more inevitable, like they ended up together because they were supposed to. I enjoyed it enough while reading, but I was ready for it to wrap up. At over 11 hours (or 384 pages), this story would have worked better for me if it had been tightened to 7 or 8 hours.