I really enjoyed Laura Brown's book Signs of Attraction, so when I saw that she had a new book coming out I was excited to read it. As much as I liked Signs of Attraction though, Friend (With Benefits) Zone was really hard for me to get through and I was very frustrated while reading this book. I wanted to give up several times, but ultimately I pushed through to see how things would turn out.
Jasmine and Devon have been friends since they were children and both of them are deaf.
fter her father died Jasmine's family fell apart and while Devon and his family were there for her, she quickly learned that she could only rely on herself. So when she comes home after work to find an eviction notice, the last thing she wants to do is ask her best friend for help. Devon can't help the fact that he is a helper by nature, and of course there is no one he wants to help more than Jasmine. So when he offers his place for her to crash at while she figures out what to do next, he views it as a chance to finally have her close to explore the growing attraction between them while she views it as a temporary imposition that she plans to change as soon as possible. Can Devon show her that she is exactly where she should be with him, or will Jasmine's determination to do everything alone be what destroys not only a chance at a future together but their friendship as well?
I loved Devon. He was sweet and caring, a good person to the core. He was a great friend and was always considering others before himself. Jasmine on the other hand got off to a good start but quickly grew irritating and did nothing but get on my nerves. I really loved her strong sense of independence at first, but that quickly turned into being one of the most stubborn and unlikable heroines I have ever read about. She was bullheaded to a fault and I got tired of reading about her friends trying to help her when she did nothing but push them away. She refused to accept help and often used sex to deflect actually dealing with the problem. I hated that, and I wish that Dev wouldn't have allowed her to get away with that either. I still loved him, but he should have handled that differently.
Overall, this story was just a miss for me. While I liked Dev and this book had a ton of promise, it unfortunately just frustrated me to no end and I honestly grew so sick of Jasmine that I wished she would wind up alone in the end. She was impossible for me to like and it just got worse of the course of the book. I loved Signs of Attraction and that is definitely one I would recommend, I just wish I could say the same for Friend (With Benefits) Zone.
**ARC Provided by Publisher**
I totally understand the irritation with Jasmine. While I loved the book, there were times when I was not a fan of her. She came off as too stubborn sometimes. I do really want to read Laura's 1st book. Great review!
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