Tracy’s review of Friends Without Benefits (Knitting in the City #2) by Penny Reid
There are three things you need to know about Elizabeth Finney: 1) She suffers from severe sarcastic syndrome, especially when she’s unnerved, 2) No one unnerves her like Nico Manganiello, and 3) She knows how to knit.
Elizabeth Finney is almost always right about everything: the musical merits of boy bands are undervalued by society, “benefits” with human Ken dolls are better without friendship, and the sun has set on her once-in-a-lifetime chance for true love. But when Elizabeth’s plans for benefits without friendship are disarmed by the irritatingly charismatic and chauvinistic Nico Manganiello- her former nemesis- she finds herself struggling to maintain the electric fence around her heart while avoiding electrocution or, worse, falling in love.
Elizabeth Finney is a girl who had three things during her childhood. Her father, who raised her alone after her mother died when she was nine, always told stories of her mother and how much he loved her. He constantly said that she was his one and only love. Nico, whose mother was best friends with her mother, was a year older than her and was the bane of her existence. They played together for a while but then he started teasing and bullying her and she did not have fond thoughts of him. Then there was Garrett who she met when she was just nine, right after her mother died, and they were attached at the hip. As they got older they fell in love and planned to get married. Unfortunately Garrett was diagnosed with a horrible disease and died when Elizabeth was just shy of 16.
It’s been 10 years since Elizabeth graduated from high school and she’s now a doctor. She’s shocked when Nico, his mother and his niece walk in to her hospital. Elizabeth is ashamed of how she acted after Garrett’s funeral but she really doesn’t know what to say to Nico. The niece, Angelica, begins a study at the hospital and this means that Elizabeth sees Nico constantly. He likes it that was as he’s really been in love with Elizabeth since before he could really remember. Yes, he was upset as he felt that she picked Garrett over him all those years ago but at the time Elizabeth didn’t even know that Nico liked her, much less loved her. Now that he’s back in her life he’s determined to get her to love him and stay with him forever.
Elizabeth is confused. She has never opened herself up to love as both of the people she’s loved have died – her mother and Garrett. She feels that if she loved someone and then lost them she wouldn’t know how to go on. This causes her to have stunted emotions and, well, great confusion. The more she talks to Nico the more she likes him and the more she likes him the more she realizes what a great person he is. She soon falls in love. But even that has her on an emotional roller coaster that causes problems in the relationship. Then her father tells her that he’s getting remarried and everything that she thought she knew about love is all topsy turvy. Throw in a stalker who is psycho and wants Nico for herself, bodyguards, freaky fellow doctors and you’ve got yourself a good story.
I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Neanderthal Seeks Human, so I was excited to read Friends Without Benefits. I really enjoyed getting to know Elizabeth after meeting her in book 1 and of course Nico was wonderful, if a little too hard on himself at times.
Elizabeth, I have to be honest, did get on my nerves a couple of times. She was just so confused – which I didn’t blame her for, but the way she acted at times really had me wanting to get into the pages of the book and shake her a time or two. lol I thought that she fought against her feelings for too long towards the end, of course Nico played a role in that as well.
Nico was a temperamental Italian and he was awesome. He was kind, funny, smart and uber-sexy. Was he a dick around Elizabeth when they were kids? Oh, absolutely, but he was at the age that he didn’t know how to express his feelings so they came out as teasing just to get her attention – it was just the wrong kind of attention. He did have his flaws but I still loved him.
The knitting club that Elizabeth belongs to is fantastic. I can’t tell you how much I love all of those women. They are the type of women who would do anything for a friend and I loved that about them. The support their friends but they also don’t beat around the bush – they tell it like they feel it – and that brought a whole other amazing element into the story that worked so well. The knitting club was woven seamlessly into the romance and I admired Reid for the effortless way she accomplished that.
FWB is a fun, funny, sexy book and is a book that I recommend. I can’t wait for the next book.
Rating: 4 out of 5
The Series:
This title is available from Caped Publishing. You can buy it here in e-format. This book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
