Better off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg

Point | February 25, 2014 | 288 pages

Procurement

eARC via NetGalley

My Grade

Plot: 3

Setting: 4

Writing: 3

Originality: 3

Characters: 3

Romance: 3

Overall: 19/30 = 63% D

Title/Cover Bonus: 5

Overall

A 100% predictable best friend boy and girl duo that have to overcome an array of obstacles to stay friends when their (romantic) feelings for each other cause issues. No dramatic revelations or heart pounding scenes.

 Summary

WHEN HARRY MET SALLY . . . for teens, from romantic comedy star Elizabeth Eulberg.

For Macallan and Levi, it was friends at first sight. Everyone says guys and girls can’t be just friends, but these two are. They hang out after school, share tons of inside jokes, their families are super close, and Levi even starts dating one of Macallan’s friends. They are platonic and happy that way.

Eventually they realize they’re best friends — which wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t keep getting in each other’s way. Guys won’t ask Macallan out because they think she’s with Levi, and Levi spends too much time joking around with Macallan, and maybe not enough time with his date. They can’t help but wonder . . . are they more than friends or are they better off without making it even more complicated?

From romantic comedy superstar Elizabeth Eulberg comes a fresh, fun examination of a question for the ages: Can guys and girls ever really be just friends? Or are they always one fight away from not speaking again — and one kiss away from true love?

Trailer

None available at time of review.

First Line

Guys and girls can be friends.

Most Memorable Scene

Christmas cheese ball. For some reason that was one of the truest scenes of the book.

Plot

It’s pretty self explanatory. Boy and girl are friends. They develop romantic feelings for each other but decide it would be best for everyone to ignore those feelings. Of course feelings are pretty hard to control and likewise, ignore. Therefore, issues arise presenting conflict and a storyline.

The plot covers a large span of time from Macallan and Levi in middle school to high school. This time frame was a bit difficult to navigate and to assimilate the reader to the correct time and age. I must admit that I did not enjoy the gap from middle school to high school. This read very much like a middle grade book than a high school book.

Setting

Wisconsin. Lots of Green Bay Packers and cheese references. Most of the plot took place in their high school, Mac’s house and Levi’s house and of course on the sport’s fields.

Writing

Most of the chapters were told in alternating point of views from Macallan and Levi. The very last chapter smushed them both together and got quite confusing. I did not love that at all. Again, I didn’t like the span of middle school through high school. I would have preferred just the high school stories maybe with flash backs to some of the more important times from their pasts.

Originality

Nothing original except for the character name that I changed to just simply “Mac” instead of Macallan because it was just too hard and tripped me up EVERY SINGLE TIME, until I just made it Mac.

Characters

So, I guess I didn’t love either of the characters. They were both just okay. I think I would have liked them more if the plot was done differently. There was not any “awww” or heart pounding moments of discovery. It’s like we go in knowing what’s going to happen (HEA) but all kinds of obstacles are thrown at our couple. I eventually got to the point of “Okay, what next?”.

Romance

The romance and the heart pounding reactions were not in this book. If you enjoy those “aww” moments this is not the book for you. I found it all too slow and uneventful.

Very PG and suitable for younger readers.

Title/Cover Bonus

The title pretty much sums up the entire book, so I suppose that is okay. The cover is perfect. I loved the incorporation of the swinging silhouettes used as the chapter headers to indicate which character was the narrator.

Ending

100% predictable and incredibly uneventful.

Series

A standalone as I can see.