A hard-to-follow premise and stilted dialogue make Barely Even Friends a pass for me.

I was really excited to start BEF for three reasons 1) I love retellings (this one is a beauty and the beast retelling) 2) I love home restoration romances and 3) I love Mae Bennett (I'm a longtime follower of hers on social media). Unfortunately, this book was a miss for me. Bellamy was a likable character with clear stakes but the rest of the plot/characters were quite strange (in a bad way, not a funny/cool way). The pacing felt rushed at times and slow at others, the dialogue was stilted and sometimes cringey, and I wasn't sensing the connection between the two MCs.

I really, really wanted to like this one :(

Thank you Net Galley and Alcove Press for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. I really hate to say this especially with Beauty & The Beast being one of my all-time favorites, but this book did not live up to that premise. I could not connect with either of the main characters and it was just . . .meh. It was one of my rare DNFs --after about 25%. I tried but just couldn't get pulled into the storyline.

This book was a cute one. I could definitely see the comparisons throughout the book to Beauty and the Beast.

Ok um, it’s a no from me.
I knew this was a Beauty & the Beast retelling but I wasn’t prepared for this, this was a um well I have no words except it’s you not me, the writing style was just awful in my opinion I got like 30% thru this before I had to say DNF.

Not a lot of chemistry between Bellamy and Oliver and it dragged down my enjoyment of this. Lots of potential--loved the character names and the setting. The suspenders are mentioned way too many times. Bennett was trying too hard to hit so many boxes for this. Again, lots of potential but didn't deliver

It's a solid 3.5 ⭐It's a nice easy story with a nice happy ever after. I didn't fall in love with either character which made it hard for me to root for them through the story. The beauty and the beast element is started but then it falls away a bit (although I read a lot of spicy fairytale retellings so maybe I have high standards).

The first half is pretty strong, the will they won't they tension works well and I loved the grumpy version of Oliver. However, it quickly goes from 0-100 and at one point I felt myself going back and checking I hadn't missed a chapter. It falls a little flat in a few places and definitely left me wanting a little bit more.

A few ideas were touched on, but then left - like her dad and the nurse references and Ambrose's fashion designs, Nick's AI inventions - they mostly all got dropped or references briefly and it would have been nice to flesh this out a little more.

It was an enjoyable read and a good beach or airport novel.

I really enjoyed this book!
It was a nice easy read, perfect to give me a break in between the heavy fantasy books I’ve been reading.
I absolutely loved the story line and the characters! Bellamy was such a relatable character and her personality and banta made the book have an element of humour to it.
The writing style was very easy going which made it a quick easy read for me.
I loved seeing Oliver grow, I enjoyed that the male character was the one who was portrayed to have a bit of anxiety and mental health issues ect.
The only reason for my lower rating was due to the fact in the middle I thought it dragged on a little bit. I wanted to see the sexual tension brought to life a little more and I felt there was a lot of build up of this in the middle without it being carried through.
I would recommend this book definitely if you have just read a really heavy book before hand and need a a bit of a refresh!

Barely Even Friends by Mae Bennett is a delightful reimagining of Beauty and the Beast. Bellamy is a historical restorationist and Oliver is an emotional damaged recluse hiding in his family’s crumbling mansion. His grandfather has hired Bellamy’s father to restore the mansion. Her father too sick for the project, she makes the trip. The deadline is impossible and Oliver is a grouch not able to move past the accident that killed his parents and ended his football career. The banter is clever and the steam is steamy (and very careful with both of the MCs body issues). It got a little lost at the end, as Bennett tried to bring every possible thread together and have a third act breakup. But even so it was super fun to read. And everyone that loves Beauty and the Beast, but would love their to be less Stockholm Syndrome vibes, should check this out. (I received an ARC)

2.5 stars rounded up to 3. I was whelmed by this book, not over or uner, just meh. The characters were fun, although rather flat, and it felt like there were some major jumps in the story where we missed soemthing. The spice was there and pretty decent, but I just kept waiting to care about the characters as a whole and I didn't. I enjoyed everyone on the page, but there was nothing that stuck out to me about any of them. It all wrapped up very quickly with a time jump that surprised me. Overall, this book was just fine. I have no major complaints about it (though the direct B&B References that were forced in the beginning really grated on me) but also no major praise. I would definitely read more from Mae Bennett as I think she can only grow from here.

Ohmygoshhhhh!!!! This book is utterly sweet 🧁🌹⭐.

He was described as grumpy but the reality is that he's a beautiful cinnamon roll!!! He's so cheesy, sweet and sooooo beautifully awkward - it's a compliment 💕🫶🏼.

And she's the really grumpy person in this relationship!! Love IT!

This is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, however I really loved the modern elements. Loveeee that it wasn't so much drama- sometimes the only book you need a light one to warm your heart 🙌🏽🥹💘.

Did I say he falls first? Well he does 👀.

And if you think there's no magic in this book because it's a modern retelling - you're wrong - the magic is here and it is thanks to these wonderful characters, especially my dear Lumiere - oops! sorry -Bl8ze 😉.

Thanks to NetGalley, Alcove Press and Mae Bennett for the opportunity to read this book before everyone else 💓.

I was excited to see that this was a modern re-telling of Beauty & The Beast as that was one of my fave Disney movies growing up. The first third of the book was promising to me, but it fell kinda flat after that. There just wasn’t enough tension for me, and I wished there were more B&TB elements in there.

Thanks as always to NetGalley for the ARC.

I really loved this book! I fell in love with the characters, all of them and loved learning about them! A little smut, not a whole lot was well placed into the book. It was definitely a slow burn of a read! Again, well done and I would definitely read it again!

Barely Even Friends was unfortunately a miss for me. I love the Beauty and the Beast trope, but even this was too on the nose and was a bit flat.

2⭐️

This was one unfortunately right out of the gate I was not enjoying it. I do really love a beauty and beast retelling, this one though was just really on the nose for the source material but didn't seem to take the time to lay the foundation of the characters or at least the lead character. I As readers we basically get thrown in with the grumpy Gus the first chapter but there was no really depth.

Oliver just came off more as a giant ahole rather than grumpy. I really disliked him for most of the book. The main FMC just immediately was like ughh why does he have to be so hot. He's so hot and so on. This one just really sadly just wasn't what I was looking for in this book. It had great potential but fell flat.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove for this advanced reader copy. My review is voluntarily my own.

not to be dramatic, but this book put the romance in romance. 😍 the beginning was a bit slow, but picked up with a little more focus and a couple more chapters. right off the bat, the plot is introduced and i loved seeing the characters, and being able to develop with them throughout the book. the banter was so bantering, and despite the mmc's supreme grouchiness, i thought the author handled that aspect really well, and there were a lot of moments where i found myself laughing out loud because of how silly they were. overall such a fun book with a steamy + swoony romance, and i loved loved LOVED the beauty & the beast references. what a fantastic debut, and excited for more to come from this author!

tBellamy Price has one chance to get her dream job right. The only issue with this dream job is the grumpy son of the estate who is giving Bellamy trouble at every turn.

Give me a Beauty and The Beast retelling and I am happy. I thought this book was really cute and enjoyable!

Things i enjoyed:
the representation
the tropes (enemies to lovers)
steamy

Things i did not like:
lacked a connection to characters personally

Thank you to Net Galley for this ARC!

Barely Even Friends is a Beauty and the Beast retelling with Oliver, a reclusive billionaire, traumatised after the death of his parents and his football career in a sudden car accident, and Bellamy, a contractor in charge of a house restoration business. Our favorite side characters are at play here too, with a spunky and kind chef and her daughter and a very lovable AI wired through the house, fully of sassy comments.

Bellamy is on a tight deadline to get this house restored and to make sure her father's business doesn't flop. Due to a series of fortunate events, our main characters are forced together for a relatively uneventful dinner and later, forced to share a bedroom after a plumbing accident. There's a decent amount of spice in the lead-up to our characters' happily ever after that feels realistic and not repetitive. The author did a great job of bringing Beauty and the Beast elements into a non-fantasy world. It was so easy to sink into this world, and the plot moved just fast enough to keep my attention. Knowing how the story goes though, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the third-act breakup, a trope I'm not a huge fan of. And I have to say, that particular scene felt a bit rushed - I was left at the end of the chapter feeling confused, in a "what just happened?" moment. That being said, the conflict is resolved within a chapter and we get our happy ending without the whole event being frustrating or like either of our main characters was being stupid - still, I could do without it (or perhaps a rework to make it make more sense??)

Overall, this book had great representation: we get multiple LGBTQ+ characters without it feeling like forced representation; our heroine is plus-sized but doesn't feel the need to mention it every other sentence (nor the need to tell the readers that THIS IS HER LOVING HER BODY, or for our MMC to be the confidence boost). I wish we got more time with our side characters, namely the Killington sisters and our coding prodigy and her mother - potential for spin-offs? I'd give this book a 3.75 stars with a 2/5 for spice!

In her debut novel, Mae provides a lovely retelling of Beauty and the Beast. This story features Bellamy Price a passionate, hard working, and joyful lead who is working to prove herself in a male-dominated field. Oliver Killington is the reclusive heir to the Killington dynasty. This book is filled with a cheerful cast (including a rather sassy AI) who will have you chuckling to yourself throughout as they deal with Oliver’s grumpy antics in stark contrast with Bellamy’s bright and spirited personality.

This book is perfect for Beauty and the Beast fans who want a more adult take on the tale as old as time. A fun romantic comedy take of a classic

It is going to have to be a big nope for me.
Not a book for me.
I wanted home reno nit beauty and the beast retelling with aI Lumier

I would like to thank NetGalley, and Alcove Press for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

Sadly this was a DNF for me! I just find the dialogue boring and vague in my opinion.. I made it about 30% in and I’m still feeling no tension between the 2 main characters.. I think I just needed to feel more and I didn’t?