A well-paced romantic read. The situations and characters were well written. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to more from this author. Thank you NetGalley for providing the ARC.

Thanks so much Celadon Books and NetGalley for this ARC! This was such a fun read! I felt all of the emotions and mostly wanted to bop the characters on the back of the heads but BOY was this book a good read! I really enjoyed the characters and the overall plot. So good!

This was such a fun and sweet romance! It was a first time author for me too! I think the story was well written. It really was so enjoyable! Highly recommend this one!

This wasn't a love, but I definitely liked this one. It had a similar premise as Allison Ashley's Would You Rather, but the characters were so different that I didn't feel like I was rereading the same book. I loved learning about foley because that industry is so foreign to me, and I loved Theo's class and love of teaching. Evie drove me mad, but as we learned more about her abandonment issues, I understood her - but still found myself yelling at the book. The shared memories are done so well and I got mad that they didn't realize the other's feelings sooner, but also, they were so young and I think things wouldn't have worked out if they had gotten together in high school. Overall, I think this works because it was imperfect, which made it relatable.

I could not get past the first 10 pages. I wanted to like this book and I think I kept getting caught up in the FMC’s inner monologue to move forward with the book.

I will come back to it before the end of the year.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Lifelong best friends Evie and Theo enter a marriage of convenience for financial and health benefits, only to discover that their practical plan might upend everything they thought they knew about love, commitment, and each other.

A pretty average romance in a romance-heavy reading year. I really appreciated the Crohn’s representation and learning more about the challenges that the disease poses to individuals living with it, as well as the commentary surrounding chronic illness and health insure, but the romance was… meh. I didn’t believe that Evie and Theo actually liked one another? Great plot points, underwhelming execution.

2.5/5 stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

There were sweet aspects to this book, but I had a hard time getting connected to the storyline and characters.

I went into this book thinking it would be a light read and was surprised by the number of times I cried. It's description of a character with a chronic illness is spot on in a way that shows respect and caring for handling this topic and I truly appreciate it. This book was written with a simple concept in mind, which was then extrapolated into many complex subplots, and I loved following all of them. The "will they, won't they" part of the book was also well-written and I found myself needing to read faster to see how it all turned out. There were a few pages that I skimmed as they seemed like fluff, but overall, this book is a real winner, and I look forward to reading more from this author.

Such a fun read. Friends-to-lovers is always a fun trope to jump into, and this read did justice to the trope for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and the storyline. I cannot wait to read more books by Marisa Kanter.

Unfortunately this book wasn’t for me.

The writing was hard to follow, and I found myself confused sometimes who was talking or being talked about.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Friends-to-lovers is my favorite trope, so I was really excited when I got approved to read this book. This book definitely lived up to my expectations. I loved it!

This is such a sweet friends-to-lovers romance. I love the forced proximity and I want every good thing for Theo. This is the first book I’ve read by Kanter, but I will definitely look out for more of hers.

4⭐️

A cozy friends to lovers marriage of convenience! While I loved learning more about Foley artistry was fun, it definitely felt like Evie was the last to know that she and Theo were endgame. They were very sweet together. Love childhood best friends 🥺🥺

This book follows two friends who get married so that their income is enough to rent an apartment and also for the health insurance. This is a funny set up, made more complicated by the fact that some people think they’re really married and simply eloped.

What I liked: there are a lot of conversations throughout this book about how unfair the medical industry can be in what it’s like living with a chronic illness. The characters had clear chemistry strengthened by the fact that they had known each other for so long. Their lives outside of the relationship were complex and interesting with its own struggles and plot lines that I enjoyed following.

What I didn’t like: Evie was sometimes really hard to root for. While the mistake she made make sense because of her past and the traumatic experiences she’s had, by the end of the book it is relatively frustrating. More of those problems came out towards the end of the book and so it felt like they were dragging on more than if they had been addressed earlier. This book was doing a lot of different things which I enjoyed in some parts and struggled with others. Some of the smaller plot lines being given last time would’ve cleared up these issues.

Overall: this is a solid romance! It hits almost everything I’m looking for in a romance book (chemistry, interesting plot a window into a world different from my own) and if it was shorter I think it could have been a four star read.

This was a cute friends to lovers trope with really good chronic illness representation. I appreciated Crohn's representation, as someone who works with this population and sees how much it can interfere and how long it can sometimes take to get a diagnosis. The story was sweet, full of your favorite rom com situations, with soem unique spink on things.

Theo and Evie have been friends for years. When Theo's roommates moved out and Evie lost her apartment and was accepted into her dream fellowship. This might be her dream fellowship, but it doesn't provide health insurance. Theo found the solution to all their problems.... marriage.

I really enjoyed Theo and Evie's friendship. Marisa did a wonderful job showing their individual struggles and how they worked together to manage/overcome them. Marisa also showed the shortcomings of the healthcare system in the US and how this played a role in their relationship. Their love was supportive, cute, and cautious. I would recommend this read.

really enjoyed this book and the journey of the main character and all that they went through. It kept me on my toes and what would happen in the story.

Friends with Benefits is a wonderful debut into the adult fiction world for Marisa Kanter and I loved how perfectly she nailed the friends to lovers story.

Evie and Theo have been friends forever, but after a rough patch in both of their lives, they finally see a little hope on the horizon. Of course, there are problems however- Evie can’t accept an amazing opportunity that doesn’t provide her the healthcare she so desperately needs and Theo needs a roommate.

So what does Theo do ? He proposes to her, a proposal of marriage, so that they can help each other out. What follows is a lovely story filled with romance and humor and so so so much more.

My favorite thing about this story is that it is SO much more than just a romance. This book touches on so many hard hitting themes that are so honestly portrayed it’s amazing- grief, chronic illness, learning to let go, and moving on.

The way the romance slowly develops, and the flashbacks to the past, are just perfect- their romance just makes sense!

I will be recommending this book to everyone I know, and my only regret is that I didn’t read this book sooner.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a friends to lovers story with a little more meat.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the author, Marisa Kanter, and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

On paper this book was everything that I love. In execution this book didn't work at all for me. I cringed more than I smiled, and the lack of chemistry made me give up 30% in.