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!

this had a lot of potential but in the end I wasn't engaged as much as I thought I would be honestly the two were better as friends

Loved!! My husband has crohns disease and it was nice seeing it mentioned in the book and how much it affects daily life! The MMC was precious and sooooo understanding. I don’t usually reach for friends to lovers but this was a hit! & the healthcare woes, totally relatable.

I thought this book would be wonderful, based on the synopsis but it was disappointing in every was possible.

I loved this book! it felt so immersive and i really couldnt stop listening. i thought the voices were clear even at 2.25x speed!

What a delightful romance! I loved that this book didn't shy away from the realities of healthcare in America, especially as it pertains to the lives of chronically ill people. The friends to lovers romance was executed fantastically!

I first want to thank Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to this ALC in exchange for a review. I was first drawn to story by the title and concept of two friends getting married for the benefits and potentially falling in love. However, I did not finish this ALC. while I understand the FMC has a disability and it’s a big part of the story, I felt that the parts talking about health insurance was too much. I wanted there to be more about the relationship between the two characters and less paperwork.

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.