Review: Between Friends by Amanda Cowen

Between Friends by Amanda Cowen

Author: Amanda Cowen Website
Published: 21 March 2013
Format: Kindle e-book
Pages: 233
Buy the e-book: Kindle|Smashwords

Source: Kindle freebie

Plot Summary (from Goodreads):
The only way to have a friend is to be one…especially between the sheets…

When neurotically challenged and unlucky in love Megan Daniels, is propositioned by her life-long friend Ben Romano with a coin toss (heads, they sleep together, tails they don’t) the night before they are about to attend a destination wedding, she drunkenly accepts his challenge. But when Megan wakes up the next morning with a bad hang-over and Ben in her bed, she is more than mortified. It isn’t until the tropical heat begins to ignite emotions Megan never ever believed she could possibly have, that she starts to question if risking their friendship is the answer to finding true love

My Review:
I've had this book on my Kindle for a while and was so pleased to get round to it during the NA readathon! Between Friends tells the story of Megan and Ben, who finally cross that line of friends to more than friends after a one night stand. But can they keep their relationship casual? Or has sleeping with each other destroyed their friendship for good?

The characters in this book are in their early-to-mid twenties with Megan, the main character, being twenty four. Whilst it's billed as New Adult, and it does fit that age category, it also fits the bill for adult chick-lit. I'm a fan of that genre so I easily fell into the story and the style of writing. As soon as I started reading it I could picture it in my head as a film so if you love your rom-coms then this book is for you!

When I started this book I instantly loved the relationship between Megan and Ben. They have this undeniable chemistry and more importantly they share a brilliant sense of humour. Instantly I was invested in their relationship and I couldn't wait to see their story play out. It's a pretty intense and passionate relationship at times and there were plenty of steamy scenes to get your teeth stuck into and a fair few heated arguments. Not once did I feel it was an unhealthy relationship though which made such a nice change. These guys are just in a really challenging situation. They've been friends for years and crossing that boundary has thrown their feelings all over the place.

I really loved the two of them as characters as well. Megan has always been quite sensible when it comes to previous relationships and has always had steady boyfriends. Her relationship with Ben sees her being a bit more laid back and relaxed, but I loved that she sticks to her principles. Ben has a history of being a bit of a womaniser which usually would probably put me off, but I actually really liked him. I think everyone has a turning point in their life and this was Ben's.

The plot revolves around Megan and Ben's friends getting married, and it made for a great backdrop to their own problems. There was romance in the air and you could see how everyone was taking a look at their own love lives and comparing it to the soon-to-be husband and wife.  The wedding is taking place in Costa Rica and that made a fantastic setting for the book. It made me want to be reading Between Friends out on a beach somewhere in the sun! I'd definitely recommend it as a holiday read.

There was the perfect mix of humour and drama throughout the story. I loved how much of a bridezilla Jessica was as she prepares for her big day. I was giggling away at some of her crazy demands! And there were plenty of friendship crises and secrets coming out to keep me on the edge of my seat. I really loved the group of friends that take centre stage and how there's all these different dramas going on with each of them.

There were only a few niggles for me with Between Friends and that was mainly grammatical errors dotted throughout the book. I have no idea whether these have been corrected since I downloaded my copy. I hope they have! But things like "eww" being spelt as "ewe" and "aww" as "awe" just kept popping up and distracting me a little bit.

Overall Between Friends was a sweet, fun read that I'd recommend to chick-lit fans as the perfect read for the summer months. I shall carry on dreaming of there being a film of it one day because I know it would be exactly my kind of thing!

Rating: 4*
Books like this: The Edge of Never by J. A. Redmerski, Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding