Can you trust yourself to make the best decisions when you're a little bit in love with your best friend? Probably not! But when your worst decision turns out to be the best decision for everyone in the long run... even if they don't know it... can it still be considered bad?

I loved the chronic illness rep in this book. The author did an exceptional job portraying it and its struggles. Ms. Kanter did a great job showing emotion and love in this book as well.

I've never read a book in which the character was a Foley artist, so this too was a real treat learning about the job and how it worked. I'm thankful the author put so much work into the research into this book.

I enjoyed listening to Gail Shalan and GM Hakim read this book. It felt like friends reading to me.

I'd like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I wanted to love this one more but it didn't quite hit the mark for me. Lifelong friends entering a marriage of convenience - hmm. I just didn't find myself falling in love with the characters - I was missing the connection with Evie. I'm all about a character's flaws because that's what the author wants to give us, but this one missed the connection mark for me.

Best friends Evelyn and Theo find themselves in a predicament that has a pretty simple solution--marriage. Evelyn has suddenly found herself homeless and has an opportunity of a lifetime that she can't take because it doesn't include benefits like health insurance, something she desperately needs as she lives with a chronic health condition. Theo is also facing homelessness because he can no longer afford his apartment now that his two roommates have moved out. The answer? Marry each other, of course. A clause in Theo's lease states that if he is married, the income requirement isn't as strict. Evelyn gets a home and benefits as Theo's spouse. Easy! Except feelings get in the way, of course. Theo and Evelyn have always secretly loved one another and some deep-seated abandonment issues make what should be a simple, transactional arrangement much, much more complicated.

I loved Theo's character so much. He was such a supportive guy for not only his friends but his students. He cared deeply for everyone almost to a fault, especially when it came to Evelyn. I found his constant need to make sure Evelyn was okay both endearing and frustrating because it allowed her to railroad him at times. He did make some boneheaded decisions but based on how he knew Evelyn would react, I don't really blame his character for it.

Evelyn was hard to love for me, personally. I understand how she became this way, but she was quite selfish and I found it hard to like her in some instances. She had a tough life, no doubt. Abandoned by both parents, ending her dance career before it could begin with an injury, and learning she had a chronic illness early in life would make anyone put themselves first. Having to navigate life in such a minute way would be so difficult. However, I felt she often overlooked the good she had in her life because she was so busy feeling sorry for herself. She was so afraid to take chances and that is valid. It just made her difficult to love for me.

There were so many instances of them being able to read each other easily yet there were also so many misunderstandings that I just wanted to reach into my phone and shake them both for being big dummies! It was especially frustrating when it felt like the characters just wanted to be miserable by doing things they knew would hurt the other.

I so wish I loved this one as much as everyone else 🫣

I think I would have enjoyed this story more had I eyeball read it. This isn’t anything against the audio or narration, there was just so many pieces to pay attention to. Audio is hard for me so I’m always careful about which novels I read on audio. I also am not a friends to lovers lover especially when that transition is years and years after they meet. This was a wrong timing, miscommunication, friends to lovers and I just didn’t give with it. I did enjoy the back story and Evelyn’s struggles with autoimmune disease. That was super unique. I also enjoyed the dual narration.

In Friends with Benefits, the two main characters love Survivor and watch it every week. They are childhood best friends in a will they, won’t they situation who enter into a sham marriage to get an apartment and health benefits. While this book sounds very romcommy, it was more than that. It deals with chronic illness and mental illness and what life is like living with each. Yes, it was charming and fun but heavy and emotional at times. My favorite part were Theo’s students and the things they said.

This was such a charming and enjoyable friends-to-lovers rom-com! Friends With Benefits tells the story of two best friends who decide to legally marry for practical reasons – health insurance and rent benefits. I enjoyed the flashback scenes that allowed backwards glance at the evolution of their friendship throughout the different phases of life. What made this book stand out was its ability to balance a lighthearted, quirky romance with some seriously emotionally deep topics.

The audiobook's dual narration was a great fit, with narrators who truly captured the essence of the characters. Gail Shalan truly never misses! I’m not a huge fan of third-person present tense stories, so that was something I had to overcome.

If you’re looking for a fast-paced read, this probably isn’t the right book for you, but if you want a heartwarming story with deep roots, I’d definitely recommend!

There were some fun twists and turns in Marisa Kanter's Friends with Benefits. A traditional besties to lovers story, I enjoyed the way Kanter builds the attraction between the main characters. There are some nice memories between Evie and Theo from when they were kids, and the story of their families and Evie's battle with Crones is quite well done.

The audio version of Friends with Benefits is nicely performed by Gail Shalan and GM Hakim.

[alc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing an advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
Friends with Benefits releases May 6, 2025

Evie is a Foley artist who lives with an autoimmune disorder and is in need of health insurance, whereas Theo is a fourth grade teacher facing eviction, and would benefit from having a roommate to ease the cost of living.
As longtime best friends, Evie and Theo agree to enter a mutually beneficial marriage of convenience in order to meet the minimum salary threshold of their rent-controlled apartment.

This dual pov and dual narrated “rom-com” (it’s not a rom-com) is oversaturated with way too many themes, which takes away from the organic development and believability of a romance steeped in decades of unrequited love.
Unfortunately, the characters are intolerable and show little to no character growth. If they haven’t learned to effectively communicate with 20 years of friendship under their belts, then I think it’s fair to say they never will.

I think this title would’ve worked much better if it was framed as women’s fiction and only written from the fmc’s perspective. Sometimes less is more.

Read for the combination of:
- political undertones
- love of <I>Survivor</I>
- chronic illness, medical gaslighting, general health anxiety
- pansexuality
- parental neglect/abandonment + lasting trauma
- grief + fractured parental relationships
- severe lack of communication
- Jewish rep

A great read for those who love the friends to lovers trope, like myself.
I love the characters and their depth. The exploration of chronic illness with Evie and the sensitivity of Theo was refreshing and made them feel genuine.

I was able to listen to this as an audio. And the narrators did a fantastic job and were one of the reasons I finished this book.
This book I had such high hopes for didn’t like it. It definitely for me could’ve been cut down a whole lot and reformatted because there was so many flashback scenes that I feel it would’ve been better just to write it from the beginning and go to the end instead of doing all these flashbacks
It does have some chronic illness awareness in it, and that’s great as it shows some of stuff that someone with that condition goes through. But this was just not the book for me.

I had a hard time with this book, audio narration was good and story line held up but it was third person and made for a harder story to follow along with.

This is one of my favorite romance tropes, but unfortunately the plot was too slow for me. I really enjoyed the characters and their complexity.

3.75 stars

This was such a fun little rom-com. ‘Friends With Benefits’ follows the story of two best friends who legally marry each other for the health insurance and rent benefits. It is a great friends to lovers story, with some flashback scenes showing how the characters became friends and then navigated their friendship through different phases of life.

‘Friends With Benefits’ has many fun, quirky moments, such as all the Survivor references, but it also has depth, representing grief, absentee parents, and chronic illness. I thought all these topics were handled with care and accuracy. As someone with a chronic illness, I appreciated the commentary on dealing with the ins and outs of the American healthcare system. I do wish we got to see a little more of the extent of the fmc’s illness (I think I was just hoping for a a ‘he takes care of her’ microtrope haha).

The audiobook is dual narration, and the narrators’ voices fit the characters perfectly in my mind. During times when there was a lot of dialogue, it occasionally got difficult to distinguish who was talking, but it didn’t take away from the overall story. My biggest complaint is that this book is third person present tense, so I often felt like I was observing the characters rather than experiencing the events with them. It took me awhile to get used to the style.

Thank you to netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced listener’s copy.

Friends with Benefits is a heartfelt story about two lifelong best friends who have weathered trauma and challenges together. Through it all, they've remained constants in each other’s lives, quietly hiding the romantic feelings they’ve harbored since their teenage years. When both face sudden changes to their living situations, they decide that moving in together is the most practical solution.

There’s just one complication: Evelyn needs continuous medical care and, with it, access to health insurance. Coincidentally, Theo's benefits could cover her—if they were married. A marriage of convenience would not only secure Evelyn’s medical needs, but also allow them to keep Theo's apartment. As they try to navigate this arrangement, the attraction between them becomes harder to ignore. Despite the occasional casual hookup, they continue to insist they’re “just friends.”

While some may prefer lighthearted rom-coms that provide an escape from reality, I personally enjoy a slow-burn romance grounded in emotional depth. This book offers exactly that. The characters aren’t just falling in love—they’re learning who they are and healing from the wounds of their pasts. The way the story explores issues like chronic illness and complicated relationships with their mothers adds a layer of realism that many readers will find relatable.

This may not be the ideal pick for readers looking for a fast-paced, escapist romance, but for those who appreciate a love story rooted in life’s real complexities, Friends with Benefits is a compelling read. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would wholeheartedly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance audio copy. The dual narration brought the characters to life beautifully, with both narrators doing an excellent job personifying Evelyn and Theo.

First, a big thank you to Celadon Book, Macmillan Audio, & NetGalley for the E-ARC & the audio ARC for Friends with Benefits.

Unfortunately, I was not the target audience for this one. It just didn't pull me in like I wanted it to, but I can definitely see this being someone's favorite!

As for the audio version, it wasn't bad and maybe it's just me, but the female voice felt more mysterious than romantic. I have been listening to more domestic thrillers lately so this really could just be a personal thing. Other than that, it was a great performance.

Overall an enjoyable rom-com, big fan of the mental health/chronic illness representation depicted. I wish there was a bit less miscommunication between the FMC and MMC, but led to a classic HEA.

I ended up liking this a lot more than I anticipated and the audiobook narrators really animate the characters and make their frustrations empathetic. I really appreciated how the author built the main characters friendship throughout the novel and its different timelines, from childhood to the present. The portraits of dysfunctional parenting, grief, and chronic illness are really thoughtful and well-drawn. At times, the plot and pacing became frustrating, especially as it often relied on the characters simply not talking to each other or getting caught up in their own heads. Still, I really enjoyed the main characters, Theo and Evie, and their relationship. I look forward to reading more from this author and listening to more from these audiobook narrators!

This is a sweet story of best friends Evie and Theo. Evie and Theo met as children in dance school. After Theo left to go to college at NYU and came home to become an elementary school teacher. Evie has had to deal with some serious health problems and the issue of her mother running off and left her and her sister. Theo’s roommates move out, and Evie needs a place to stay. They move in and get married so they can stay in Theo’s apartment.
This is a sweet friends to lovers story.if you love friends to lovers issues along with issues with parents then I recommend this book.

Thanks t9 Netgalley and Macmillan audio for the opportunity to read this book.

I really enjoyed this friends to lovers romcom with depth. It’s got Abby Jiminez vibes in that it’s both light hearted and deals with some deep issues. I couldn’t wait to see what happens next. Highly recommend! Thanks to @netgalley for this arc!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 - 2 chili peppers

-childhood best friends to lovers
-marriage of convenience
-mental health rep
-chronic illness rep
-lgbtq+ rep
-duel narration
-forced proximity
-lots of angst and miscommunication

Lets start with the positives!
I loved seeing all the representation in this book. The fact that the fmc was actively in therapy and was shown going to sessions was great. I also think that all of the medical struggles both the fmc and mmc went through over the course of the book are very eye opening for most people. I can honestly say that I was not expecting to hear about how hypocritical the medical insurance companies are in a romance novel.

The narration was also great! Both narrators really embodied the characters and brought them to life. I would 100% listen to something that they narrated in the future.

That being said, I would have liked a better ending for Theo and his father. I think there was a lot there that could have been explored and expanded upon. The same with Evie and her mother. It just didn't feel finished.

I really, really wanted to like this book more than I did. By the end, the FMC was just so irritating. I understand that both the fmc and mmc had a lot of history and trauma but it was a romance novel. It shouldn't have been that complicated. This is not a book for someone who is looking for a lighthearted rom-com, which is how the book seems to be promoted. This was incredibly frustrating at times and the miscommunication trope is just not for me when it is happening continuously throughout the book . I just wanted to grab Evie and shake her at times to stop self sabotaging and let herself be loved.

Thank you to the publisher Macmillan Audio for the copy of an Advanced Listener Copy in exchange for my honest review!