This was well-written, but the characters were not exactly my cups of tea and it ultimately fell flat. Thank you for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! I am working through my backlog, and will be momentarily posting reviews for the stories I have yet to get posted but have finished reading.

I really liked this book, the pace is a little slow but the characters are so beautifully developed it was worth reading. I liked the discussions of how childhood trauma shapes people into the adults, in positive and mostly negative ways. The MMC is a teddy bear and one of my new favorites!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley, I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own

Between Friends & Lovers by Shirlene Obuobi was very good in the aspect that it was diverse and a slow burn. I'm not usually into slow burns, but I always love a good hard to get story and the main character did her best to play hard to get. This book explored not only romance, but it was the first book about a love triangle that I actually found interesting. This story takes place in Chicago. Jo Boateng has been in love with her white best friend since college. In fact once, she saved his life. He has since been indebted to her. She is close with his mom, what else could be better for them? I can tell you: he is clueless. When Jo goes viral for her social media information, and she meets Malcolm at a party she gives up her love for Ezra and focuses it on Mal: a writer who wears his heart on his sleeve. This book is filled with a bunch of twists and turns. One doesn't really know how the ending is going to turn out until it ends.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of Between Friends and Lovers by Sirlene Obuobi!

This was a very unique romance and I loved every second of it! Jo was such an amazing character. She was strong, confident, intelligent, and I found her to be very easy to connect to early on in the story. The author touched on some very deep themes and I felt like they executed it perfectly. I believe that mental health is sooo important, especially in the black community and I appreciate the way that they author spotlighted this. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I would love to read more by this author!

I love characters who are stuck and unhappy and just don't know what to do with their lives, decide to make a change, and then bam. It all more or less blows up in their faces and gets more complicated. Jo isn't happy in medicine and being Dr.JoJo on IG isn't really making her happy either. She has a long-standing crush on her best friend, but when he brings her childhood bully to a party as his date, she decides it's time to move on, and who better to move on with than the cute author also not enjoying this party? Except suddenly her best friend wants her back. There might be a love triangle, but to me it felt less like a "who do I choose because they're both so great" and more like a "how do I let go of the things that aren't making me happy". So if love triangles are usually a Nope Trope for you, this one might work for you! I adored this book and I love Jo and her personal growth.

READ IT! I don’t care if it’s now or much later, READ IT!

Dr. Jo is trying to navigate success, both professionally and personally, romance, both platonic and sexual, along with abandonment and belonging. Then, as a Black woman, there’s always a dash racism and misogyny. She is truly torn between friends and lovers.

This is the first time in a long time that I enjoyed the woman character more than the male character! Shirlene Obuobi crafted such a relatable character that I found myself reflecting on my own actions. Mal was also the perfect balance to Jo’s imbalance. Do patient men like Mal exist in this world?!

Jo (aka Dr. Jojo) was such a complex and relatable character who I kept rooting for throughout. The things she grappled with when practicing medicine were real and things I saw first-hand during my ten years working in allied health. Now, working in community health, this resonated with me even more. I love a romance that makes you consider more than the love story.

“Hearing my colleagues who’d grown up with two doctor parents refer to poor patients as “not wanting to help themselves” when they showed up in our Emergency Rooms worse for wear?”

“It hadn’t been strength or talent that fueled me, but constant, crippling fear that I would miss something, do something wrong…”

Of course, the romance in here was crackling. It’s kind of a love triangle but not really…you’ll have to read it to get what I mean. Malcolm is clear top tier book boyfriend material and makes Ezra look like a schoolyard crush in comparison. I adored Jojo’s story and had to pick up a copy of my own for the shelves! Definitely recommend this one for romance readers! I Received an advanced reading copy, receipt of which did not impact my review.

I really enjoyed this book! the story line between the characters was amazing. I loved seeing the evolution of love legit between friends and lovers! it was so amazing! Also, I am glad with our girls choice in men at the end heheh

All in all, this was a great contemporary romance read and I would 10/10 recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager Publishing for allowing me an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

I’m a first-time reader of Shirlene Obuobi books. I must that I enjoyed reading about Mal and JoJo. JoJo is a doctor with many Instagram followers. On camera JoJo’s life is so much different than her life off air. JoJo has a lot going on whereas on camera she gives out good advice to her Instagram followers. Mal is an author. Ezra is an actor who JoJo has crushed on. JoJo and Mal meet at Ezra’s birthday party when he shows up with the girl who bullied JoJo. Didn’t really care for Ezra what was his game plan. Did he show up with the childhood bully to upset JoJo? Doesn’t really matter because JoJo met Mal hit it off rather well. This is rather entertaining read it deals with issues of everyday life.

I received an ARC via NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager and I am leaving my review voluntarily.

No lie, I was recommended this book by Lauren from the duo Christina Lauren. I genuinely adored it and was captivated from the start. It was fun, cute, feel good, and left me wanting more with each page. I adored the characters and loved their interactions. I can't recommend this book enough.

I liked that Between Friends & Lovers had tropes and stereotypical romance setups that didn't lead to typical solutions. The surprises and twists and turns were original and kept me reading the story of Jo, Mal and to a small extent Ezra.

4 stars.

"Between Friends and Lovers" by Shirlene Obuobi is an interesting story. Based on the title and cover alone, I was intrigued. I have heard good things about Shirlene Obuobi's book "On Rotation," so I was excited to read this one. It did not disappoint. It is full of friction and tension, of longing and could-have-beens. I really liked Mal and Jo as a couple, as well as individuals. Jo is vulnerable but strong, smart and quick-witted. Mal is peak book boyfriend material, nurturing and sweet but willing to give Jo space when she needs it. Ezra definitely threw a wrench in Mal's plans, but not nearly as much as he thought he was. Ezra and Jo have insane chemistry with one another because they have been friends for so long. But, Ezra does not seeminglt stand a chance against Mal... or does he?? I also liked the influencer aspect of this story as well. Usually, "Instagram influencer life" is an overused and overdone trope in the romance genre, but the exploration of how it can go so wrong and lead people to a dark place is an interesting twist. I like the honest, forthright conversation Obuobi has about how social media can lead people into a deep, dark depression if they listen to what strangers tell them about who they are. This book is well-developed, engaging, and sexy. Definitely recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley, Shirlene Obuobi, Avon, and Harper Voyager for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

An emotionally deep friends to lovers romance between a social media influencer and a best-selling author with anxiety. The mental health rep in this book was excellent (depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation)! And I loved the dual POV exchanges between the two main characters. Great on audio narrated by JD Jackson and Mela Lee and highly recommended for fans of authors like Tia Williams. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Ok so I enjoyed this book but I have to be honest it felt like something was missing. I just didn’t believe the romance between Malcolm and Jo…..and for it to be a love triangle I needed to feel that so I could root for them and I don’t care for Ezra so it should have been easy for me to do and I just didn’t. I liked them as individuals but them together just didn’t hit for me. I will say the author did a great job with banter and really fleshing each character out. Malcolm is such a cinnamon bun MMC, he really liked Jo and I appreciated that he really wanted to take the time to get to know her and build something real with her. I liked the side plots too and I was glad they didn’t feel forced. This is my first read from this author but I’ll definitely read more from her!

Between Friends & Lovers was the first book I've read by Shirlene Obuobi and it will certainly not be my last. I thought the story was intriguing and fast paced, which made for a great read.

I thought it was great that the FMC Jo didn't have what she wanted to do with her life worked out. Not sure she wanted to continue to be a doctor and unhappy with being an influencer feels like a real life situation. The pressure of being a doctor can be intense and being in the spotlight all the time can be exhausting. While both can be extremely rewarding, there is so much for to each job than what's on the surface. I also found her to be extremely relatable, as I myself was bullied as a child. I can only imagine what it would do to me to see my best friend show up with one of my bullies as a date and then pick her over me.

I also really liked Malcolm Waters, the MMC. He was sweet, understanding, and just an all around great guy. I couldn't help but root for him in the love triangle.

Now Ezra Adelman was extremely unlikable for the majority of the book. It was frustrating to me how much Jo was hung up on him, but it wouldn't be a love triangle without the third person, right?

I think that Obuobi was really good at making the reader guess if Jo would pick one of the guys or herself. I'm sure everyone, like me, will have their favorite. The fun is in finding out who she ends up picking and the journey Jo takes to get there.

If you're looking for a fun love triangle, with some heavy character growth, I would highly recommend Between Friends & Lovers.

This book is so important! I went to a event where the author was speaking about her book. She said that portraying soft black men in books is so important, and I just love Mal (the male lead). We love a good book boyfriend. I do want Ezra (the secondary lead) to have a redemption arc in a second book.

For people who don't like love triangles (that's me), this is actually the perfect book. The 2nd lead is not really a lead, more like a prior romantic interest that the female main character has to get over emotionally.

Avon give us a sequel!

Loved this novel, the characters were witty and well fleshed out and the story.ine was engaging. The “do they or do t they” aspect played out very well.

I needed to sit with my thoughts before writing this review. Right off the bat, I immediately hated Ezra. Dating your bestie’s bully—are you crazy?! But I was also really annoyed with Jo for having feelings for a man-child who clearly spent years showing he wasn’t ready to settle down and now displays a serious lack of emotional intelligence.

Then there’s Malcolm. Sure, he has a history of social anxiety and staying in relationships with overbearing women for too long, but other than that, he’s written almost too perfectly. I wasn’t convinced he was going to be a good thing for Jo either. And don’t even get me started on Ezra, who kept buzzing around like a garage fly, trying to justify his trash behavior.

All in all, this was a good book. I wouldn’t say it’s a love triangle in the traditional sense—it’s more about three people overcoming trauma to move forward toward something healthier and better. I definitely recommend this book.

I really enjoyed this romance novel! I read it in one day. I appreciated the expertise of the mc and Shirlene and resonated with what she was going through. I loved both male leads and lived for this love triangle. Can’t wait to read more from Obuobi!