No, We Can't Be Friends

Author: Sophie Ranald
Genre: Women's Fiction, Humour(?), Romance (?)
Type: ebook
Source: NetGalley
Publisher: Bookouture
First Published: January 10, 2020
Opening Lines: You know that creepy little kid in the movie who was like, 'I see dead people'? That was me, except what I was seeing was pregnant people.

Book Description from GoodReads: Everyone knows a girl like Sloane. She was always The Single One. She never brought a plus-one to weddings. She was the woman you’d set up with your single cousin. She joined ballroom dancing classes to meet men and was the queen of online dating.

But then she met Myles. Perfect Myles, with denim-blue eyes and a dazzling smile that melted her insides. She’d finally found The One.

Except she didn’t imagine that Myles’s idea of Happy Ever After would include Sloane battling an overflowing laundry basket, buying birthday cards for his family, and ironing his Calvin Klein underpants.

Then Sloane finds out that Myles has a secret.

The fairy tale is well and truly over. Her heart is blown to smithereens. Eating her weight in Ben & Jerry’s and large Meat Feast pizzas can only get Sloane so far before she has to make a decision… Can she learn to love herself more than she loved the love of her life?

No, We Can’t Be Friends is a brilliantly relatable, hilarious and feel-good novel that every woman with a waste-of-space ex HAS to read! If you’re a fan of romantic comedies by Sophie Kinsella and Lindsey Kelk, and TV shows like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Jane the Virgin, pick up this laugh-out-loud book – you won’t regret it.

My Rating: 2.5 stars

My Review: I requested to review No, We Can't Be Friends because I was in the mood for a lighter read. You know the kind - a story with funny situations, poor romantic choices and a satisfying, though predictable ending. But while No, We Can't Be Friends has the cover art, blurb and featured comments that make this book appear to be a light romantic read, those descriptions are very misleading. 

This isn't a humourous book at all. The focus is on a failing marriage with readers being given little info on the relationship's past. All we know is that Myles is a total jerk and Sloane is a whiny, unlikable person (making it hard for me to get behind her as the main character). Instead of the promised 'laugh out loud' moments (of which there were zilch), the story focuses on loss, death, cheating spouses and a story line that failed to capture my attention. I would have preferred more focus to be on Vivienne, the aging actress, because she was the one character that stood out from the lackluster group.

The story plods along like a bad movie of the week and left me hoping that things would pick up (they did not). This book had good bones, but the weak execution of the story, unlikable main character and misleading description overshadowed the story. Clearly, this just wasn't a book for me. 

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the publisher, Bookouture, for providing me with a complimentary digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.