I received this e-book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the author/publisher for the copy!

Childhood best friends, Evie & Theo, end up getting married. But it’s not your typical marriage. Theo gets to keep his apartment and Evie gets health insurance, which also means she can accept a fellowship that doesn’t include insurance! This marriage is out of convenience for both parties, but that doesn’t mean feelings aren’t involved. It only gets complicated from here.

This book kind of drug on. I can appreciate the concept and where the author wanted it to go, but it was just too much back and forth between the main characters. The characters also didn’t have a bunch of development until what seemed like the last minute.

Thanks to NetGalley and Celadon books for my advanced readers copy. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get into this and DNF around the 20% mark. I wasn’t connecting with the characters and found it to be a little slow.

This book was a solid 3.5 stars for me - but sadly goodreads doesn’t offer that as an option. I enjoyed the relationship that Evie and Theo shared, while also getting frustrated by their inability to communicate with each other. This book did a great job of looking at chronic illness and anxiety- and I appreciated how these topics were absorbed into the storyline and normalized. I found the story easy to read and it only took me two days to get through it because I kept wanting to return to it. I struggled with Evie always seeing herself as the victim and her seeming inability for much of the story, despite years of therapy, to see how her actions were affecting others. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this story!

This was a lovely sweet read. based on the description, i thought it would be a lighter fluffier story, but adding the complexities of medical trauma, gave it a really nice twist emotionally. It was a delight from start to finish, and I can't wait to recommend it to my readers.

I thought this was a good marriage of convenience story. Evie is a Foley artist and Theo is a school teacher. They decide to get married so Evie can use Theo’s benefits. They have been best friends for years and as a good romance story goes they eventually realize they love each other and then have to decide if they want to make the marriage permanent. I found Evie’s job as a Foley artist really interesting. I knew some of the aspects about the profession before but this book detailed more information. Theo sounds like a wonderful teacher and I admired his dedication and love of the profession.

This book is for anyone who loves romance with stakes, friendships with real history, and stories that wrap you up so fully, you forget you're reading and not just living it. There are some steamy scenes, but the real heart of the story is their connection, the fear of ruining their friendship, and finally choosing each other for real. I couldn't put it down.

My first book by this author and it won’t be my last.

Friends with Benefits was a well written story of two friends who enter a marriage of convenience and fall in love. You will fall in love with these characters while reading this book.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Celadon Books for letting me read this advanced copy!

The journey that some people have to go on to find themselves and love is always interesting. Evie and Theo are no exception.

⭐️⭐️💫2.5 rounded up. This had a fun premise—a marriage of convenience between longtime friends who (surprise!) have been harboring feelings for each other for years. I appreciated the slow shift from friendship to romance once they finally decided to communicate. That said, it didn’t fully click for me. The pacing dragged a bit, and the emotional payoff wasn’t as strong as I hoped. Cute moments, but overall just okay. It did have good representation of invisible disabilities.

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Explicit Open Door: At least two intimate scenes, explicit language with a variety of sexual acts.

Read if you like:
•Forced Proximity
•Friends to Lovers
•Marriage of Convenience
•Childhood Friends

The story dragged for me and it was a bit boring. I found it really get into it and ended up skipping through it

I was lucky enough to to get both the eARC of this and a physical copy from Celedon. On first glance, its a beautiful book with a great premise. It looked like it was going to be a fun easy read just in time for the summer kickoff. There were some things that I loved about this book and others that I didn’t.

Pros: I absolutely loved the representation and inclusion in this book. I am a mother of a chronically ill child who is battling with the healthcare system myself, and this book had great representation of the state of affairs in America. I loved the characters and the depth of their friendship. I loved the uniqueness in a genre where you can see the same things over and over.

Cons: It was slow and kind of boring. I went into this thinking it was going to be a comedy and a friends to lovers easy story. It wasn’t that. It was much more serious and sad.

Overall, I would recommend this to fans of fiction in addition to fans of romance. This leans heavily into the women’s fiction genre.

This is cute story of two friends who need decide to get married to help each other. One needs to be married to keep his apartment the other needs insurance. One of them is secretly in love with the other. This can only end one way. They just have to convince the other that being more than friends is the best thing for them both.

Thank you to the publisher and author. All thoughts are my own.
I enjoyed this. I found both Evie and Theo to be relatable. Both characters were written with care. I appreciated Evie’s chronic illness battles and Theo’s caring nature.

I feel like there was a lot of research that went into this novel in terms of the chronic illness rep.

This is a 3rd person POV, but I didn’t find the world build or story to be too surface level.

I enjoyed this book!

While I appreciate the chronic illness rep in this novel, I felt that I couldn’t connect to Evie. I am also someone who live with a chronic illness and I consistently try to not let my illness define me. I felt like Evie wasn’t afforded the tools to become a complex character, but rather defined herself according to her illness when she could have been so much more.
What is perplexing to me is that Theo’s character is as handled with much more care in terms of development. He was relatable and endearing, where Evie fell flat.
As their relationship progressed, I noticed how inorganic it felt. The language the used with each other in the intimate scenes really threw me off, as it was a far cry to how they normally speak.

Normally I love a friends-to-lovers romance with a marriage of convenience, which is why I requested this ARC. Unfortunately due to the relationship dynamics, character development and overall pacing of this novel, I can only give this book 1 star.

A beautifully written friends to lovers, marriage of convenience romance that transcends tropes and bring something deep and meaningful to life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I initially requested this because I recognized the author’s name as one of my favorite audiobook narrators and was intrigued! I liked learning about the Foley profession, how it raised critiques of the healthcare system and raised awareness about Crohns, and the characters were mostly likeable. I’m also a fan of childhood friends to lovers and marriage of convenience. What I didn’t like as much was the flashback chapters — they slowed down the story and I felt like they didn’t contribute anything. The events could be conferred. I also found some elements of the writing style to be annoying, like the constant repetition, but that’s likely a personal tick! I’ll definitely read Kanter’s next book. 3.5 rounded up

Friends with Benefits came out earlier this month, and I finished it a few days after publication, doing a mix of the ebook and the audio. Many thanks to Celadon Books, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for early access. This is a really nice mix of a bunch of tropes (friends to lovers is the main one, of course!), and I enjoyed it more than I expected. This is my first book by the author, and I believe she has only published YA before this adult romance debut.
Evie and Theo have been best friends, growing up dancing together and remaining friends through college on opposite coasts. They both live in LA, and they spend their Wednesday nights watching Survivor together. Each has harbored secret feelings for the other and, occasionally, shown those feelings at specific instances in their history. When Evie has the possibility to pursue an amazing internship but needs health insurance, which is not provided, Theo offers a marriage of convenience to share his great health insurance through his teaching job. (Sidenote: This teacher wishes the health insurance plan described at the cost stated was available for her!)
I don’t read a lot of marriage of convenience books, but I thought that trope worked well for this one. And I thought the author did a good job explaining Theo and Evie’s history through alternate chapters from the past every once in a while. I thought both narrators were great, too. The audiobook was a bit long, considering the physical book is under 300 pages, and it felt like the plot could have been condensed and feel less drawn-out. There are some steamy scenes, with some kink discovery, but if you prefer a closed door romance, I think you could skip those scenes without missing any plot points.
If you’re looking for a fun romance, I recommend it - I enjoyed my time spent with this book!

3.5 ⭐️I enjoyed this romantic novel, but I think it would be better without the flashback chapters, which dragged the book and were uninteresting for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for this ARC! Who would’ve thought romance and chronic illness could work so well in a story of marriage of convenience? Evie is trying to make a living in the competitive entertainment industry while navigating her Crohn’s disease and health insurance. Cut to Theo her best friend who has a job with great health insurance but is soon to be without a roommate. I loved the reality of healthcare that was portrayed for those who are unfamiliar with the system. Their sweet friends to lovers storyline keep me interested until the end.

This was such a fun rom-com with a surprising amount of depth! I’m usually not a huge fan of the marriage of convenience trope, but the author did a fantastic job executing it here. What really made it work for me was that Theo and Evie were friends before their arrangement—it made their relationship and connection feel much more genuine and believable.

I also appreciated that the story didn’t shy away from more serious topics. The emotional layers gave the book more substance than I expected. The flashbacks sprinkled throughout were a really sweet touch, showing how Theo and Evie’s bond developed over the years. It made their journey feel even more heartfelt and authentic.

Overall, a great balance of humor, romance, and emotional depth!