Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Publishers and Macmillan audio for granting me access to an early copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, I give this book a solid ⭐⭐⭐. I love a great friends-to-lovers and marriage of convenience story, however I didn't love this book as much as I was hoping. With this novel being Marisa Kanter's first adult novel, I found the character development a little flat. The FMC (Evie) seemed overly juvenile and self-centered. Her internal struggle and thought process reminded me of an emotionally unstable teenager and many of the relationship struggles she experienced were a direct result of her selfish words and choices. I found it very difficult to connect with and root for her. The MMC (Theo) was very sweet and his love for Evie felt sincere, however, the author could have developed his character a little more. I found myself wanting him to write Evie off and move on to someone more deserving of his love.

I appreciate how the author addressed the issue of chronic pain/illness and the various struggles that come along with that reality. Having loved ones who suffer from chronic pain, I liked that she touched on how someone can truly be sick/ill even if they may not LOOK sick. Also, having been born and raised in Anaheim, it was fun to hear how much of the story took place in and around my old stomping grounds.

Overall, the story was good, but I found myself wanting a little more depth and emotional maturity.

Friends with Benefits by Marisa Kanter is a fresh take on the “marriage of convenience” trope, blending romance with real-world struggles. Evie Bloom, an aspiring artist, and Theo, an elementary school teacher, decide to marry - not for love, but for practical reasons. She needs health insurance to pursue her dream fellowship, and he needs to meet income requirements to keep his rent-controlled apartment. What starts as a logical arrangement soon turns into something much more complicated as their long-buried feelings start to surface.

I love the dual POV, which allows you to experience both Evie’s guarded independence and Theo’s quiet devotion. I love how Kanter highlights what people face in today’s world; challenges of healthcare access and financial instability, making you feel deeply relatable.

Overall, this book delivers both swoon-worthy moments and meaningful discussions about modern relationships.

Friends to lovers is definitely one of my favorite romance tropes, and this one was a lot of fun! Theodore and Evelyn have the sweetest, most in-depth friendship, and I loved learning their story and hearing their voices.

It wasn't only the fun banter and the inside jokes between these two that I loved; it was the way they grieved together and supported each other and faced health issues together, both mental and physical.

This book did have a little spice, which I honestly don't even need from my rom-coms, but I absolutely loved the way it ended--the message of starting over and second chances and figuring out what really matters.

I listened to this one, and the dual narration was such a great enrichment of the story. I loved the central characters, of course, but the supporting characters like Pep and Jen and Theo's precious students really brought the story to life for me.

Finally, this was a great read for Mental Health Awareness Month, as both Theo and Ev work hard to face their demons and work through their challenges in healthy ways. I think it's so important for mainstream media to positively shine a light on both mental health issues and their management.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and had so much fun growing up with these two.

I really wanted to love this book. I had it on my TBR list and then when it came up for review, I jumped to request it. It’s a friends to lovers, marriage if convenience story. I thought the author did a great job showcasing chronic illness and the struggles with our current health care system.
Unfortunately, this book just didn’t deliver like I thought it would. I wasn’t a huge fan of the male narrator. His voice was a bit monotone, but I enjoyed the female narrator. I loved that there were two narrators. This helps the story significantly. The characters and storyline just didn’t grab me like I’d hoped. Everything just feels a bit forced. I would definitely try another book by this author though. I received this book from Macmillan Audio books and Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

This book was fun and cute! It was just overall happy. I felt butterflies and was so giddy page to page, chapter to chapter.

This was a relatively predictable rom-com that fell somewhat flat for me. I will say, the audiobook narrators were great and I thoroughly enjoyed them! But the pacing of the story was a bit slow at times and while it was cute, and followed the friends-to-lovers formula… it didn’t give me all the feel-good butterflies I was looking for.

Evie and Theo are long-time best friends. They may also be in love with each other, but neither can admit it because every time they have come close, things have made it seem that the other wasn't interested. When Evie gets her dream opportunity and will have to turn it down due to the lack of health insurance to manage her autoimmune disease, and Theo loses his roommates and rent-controlled apartment, the two decide on a marriage of convenience. But two people who are secretly in love with each other cannot fake love without falling in deeper!

With an adorable cast of characters and the harsh realities of America's BS healthcare system, this is a cute love story. I fell in love with the characters, and hearing about Theo with his students almost made me yearn for the classroom. Instead, I get to influence a whole school and build up our future readers, so I will stick with that!

The narration was excellent and really had me into the story. I listened to the whole thing in about a day.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Net Galley for the ALC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Macmillan audio for this ALC.

This one was just not for me. For a marriage of convenience and friends to lovers, there were too many conflicts and these two just needed to communicate desperately. The narrators were fine, but disconnected in this third person POV.

I'm not sure how Marisa wrote a book that was both sweet and swoony AND angsty but she did!

The mutual pining, the right person/wrong time, the missed connections, the emotional roller coaster this book took me on was a long one, but the HEA at the end makes the journey worth it.

The audio of this was easy to listen to. This was a duet narration (one voice narrating a chapter). It is narrated by Gail Shalan and GM Hakim. I enjoyed the audio!

This is the perfect quick gushy read with the perfect romance formula down pat.

Evie and Theo are lifelong best friends who secretly have had crushes on one another and bad timings kept on getting in their way. They were dance partners as kids and survivor watching buddies every Wednesday. Until Evie finds herself without a home, a new unpaid opportunity in the field she’s trying to pursue - foley artist which is such a cool job - while living with a chronic illness and she needs health insurance. Theo needs a roommate so they get married!

I love a marriage of convenience especially when it’s between two best friends that don’t know the other is in love with them just as much as they are! The only thing I don’t like is the miscommunication but I loved that Evie consulted a therapist!!

This book is more real life than a whirlwind romance and I really appreciate reading books like that once in a while!

I love that they are survivor fans and listen to survivor podcast. I am going to just assume they are RHAP fans 😌 and she has a torch tattoo for him?!?! 🤭

💜 Marriage of Convenience
🧡 Longtime Best Friends to lovers
💜 Chronic Illness Rep
🧡 Yearning + Pinning
💜 Flashbacks / Dual Timeline
🧡 Family issues/ drama
💜 Foley Artist x Teacher
🧡 Ex-dance partners

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review!

I appreciated the way Kanter skillfully wove together so many beloved tropes — friends to lovers, fake dating, marriage of convenience, and forced proximity — all within a story that also tackled the critical issue of the frustrating realities of America’s healthcare system. I applaud Kanter for striking a thoughtful balance between lighthearted romantic comedy and meaningful, grounded storytelling.

While I have no major criticisms, I have to admit the story didn’t leave a lasting impression or fully capture my engagement.

Read this if you like:
💍Marriage of Convenience
🥸Fake Dating
🧍‍♂️Friendship to Lovers
👏Chronic Illness Rep
📺Survivor
🏠Forced Proximity
💖HEA

We love a marriage of convenience!! Evie and Theo are best friends from childhood who end up in a fake marriage to keep an apartment and get health insurance. Sooo normal! I really enjoyed the health insurance/Crohn's disease plotline, highlighting just how valuable good insurance is and how debilitating invisible illness and disability can be. It really offers a great perspective on living with this and managing it firsthand. One aspect that was a bit too much for me was the focus on Theo's mom's cancer. Normally, this isn't a huge deal for me, but maybe it's triggering me because I finished it so close to Mother's Day. I think it was real and raw and relatable, but more so just heavy-handed at a hard time for me. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, though, and definitely recommend it!

Friends With Benefits was not what I expected based on the cover. The cover lead me to believe that this would be a light rom com. This turned out to be a much deeper dive into a friends to lovers troupe. The FMC and the MMC were well developed through the plot. There was an emphasis on the challenges of living with a chronic illness that made the story a bit heavier and complicated the plot and gave it depth. I did find the middle a little long but I was happy I saw the book through to the end.

The audio was a dual narration which delineated the perspective that the story was being told in very well. Although, some parts of the book were told twice but from each main character's perspective. The production was well done with extra details that made it even more realistic.

Thank you Net Galley, Marisa Kanter, Caledon Books and Macmillian Audio for the opportunity to preview this title. The opinions shared are my own.
Friends with Benefits is now available.
I gave a 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars

This is a book follows an aspiring foley artist trying to get her break and her childhood best friend , an elementary school teacher when their lives get unexpectedly shook up they enter in a marriage of convenience

This is such a great book and so well written I love the concept and I love the little add touch of survivor
The audiobook book is also really well done!!

I received a copy of the audiobook via NetGalley and exchange for an honest review and this in no way affects my

This was cute and fun to listen to, but my biggest complaint was that they miscommunicated so much half of the problem could’ve been solved if they just kinda talked and I get that that’s part of the book resolution and stuff, but I just hate this trope so much and I wish there was a better job doing that so I would’ve known that coming in. Evelyn was annoying with how unwilling she was willing to communicate with Theo. I do wish I would’ve seen more growth from her. I feel like Theo had a lot of character growth from the beginning to the end. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend it. And I would read other things by the author as well.

This was not your typical romantic comedy. There is serious subject matter woven in dealing with death or abandonment of a parent, heath issues and the challenges of medical insurance in America, and pursuing career aspirations. I appreciated those parts of the novel. About three quarters of the way through, it delves into the romantic side and gives very explicit descriptions of the encounters.

I did like the characters, Theodore in particular, I thought was a catch. He was the cool teacher that all the fourth graders wanted to have because he made learning for fun. I thought it was hilarious that he used the Bowling for Soup song, 1985, to punish his class. He is sensitive and thoughtful and makes special meals to accommodate Evelyn's sensitivities due to her Crohn's disease.

Overall, I think this book is well written and multi-layered and not just a superficial romance.

There's some rep going on here that might appeal to some readers- bisexual fmc and chronic illness

This book also has:
A bit of childhood trauma (absent parents)
Best friends to lovers
Marriage of convenience

Overall, I'm glad I don't have to hear the phrase "I need a beat" ever again. I cannot imagine saying that to my kids and then literally leaving them 🥺
I normally love the best friends to lovers trope, but this just felt like too many missed opportunities.
I do think fans of Katherine Center will like this one, I could definitely see similarities.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio for the ALC!

Evie Bloom wanted to be a dancer. She worked hard and trained, despite being in pain much of the time. Her grandmother had taken her to doctor after doctor, and none of them found anything wrong. They told her that she was okay, that she just had a low tolerance for pain, that there was nothing they could do for her. So she kept on. It was during a performance with her best friend Theo Cohen that she fell and hurt her ankle. After that hospital visit, a doctor took her seriously and ran more tests. That’s when she found out she had Chron’s disease. And that’s how she knew her dreams of being a dancer on Broadway were over.

She had planned on moving to New York to chase her dreams, and Theo was going there to chase his. He got into college in New York, and even though Evie’s dreams were crushed, she wanted to make sure that Theo still went after his. She had watched him as his mother had battled cancer, and now that she was better, Evie wanted him to follow his dreams, even if that meant he was moving across the country to study education.

Evie stayed in California and eventually found another dream job, being a Foley artist. She loved the idea of adding the sound effects to movies and television shows, and her dance training helped a lot. It had taught her precision and timing, key traits of a Foley artist. But it was a difficult career to break into, especially since she needed a job with health insurance. So Evie worked as an editor for podcasters, a job that offered her the health insurance she needed, while trying to chase after freelance Foley jobs.

Evie and Theo had grown up together, and even during Theo’s years of college in New York, they stayed in touch. They watched Survivor together every week. And when his mother’s cancer came back, Evie was there for him. After college, Theo moved back to California and got a job teaching at the same elementary school where his mother taught. But when his roommates told him they were moving out, he needed a new roommate fast. And then he learned that the lease had a rider, that each person living in the apartment had to make three times the rent payment. But that was only for singles.

Theo comes up with the perfect solution: he and Evie can get married. He has excellent health insurance, and if they’re married, it’s her insurance too. That will free her up to take a fellowship with an established Foley artist and make the connections she needs to move ahead with her dreams. And he can stay in his apartment. It’s a perfect solution. Except for one tiny problem. He’s a little in love with her and always has been. And Evie is a little in love with Theo and always has been. But if they agree to keep it casual, then it will all work out in the end. I mean, what could go wrong?

Friends with Benefits is a rom com where the benefits in the relationship are literally health insurance. This romance deals with a lot of serious issues, like chronic illness, cancer, the death of a parent, and the abandonment of a parent. Evie and Theo both have had to deal with heavy problems when they were teenagers, and that has repercussions in their friendship and in their marriage. There is a lot of laughter and joy in these pages, but there is darkness also.

I listened to the audio book of Friends with Benefits, narrated in alternating chapters by Gail Shalan and GM. Hakim. I thought they both did a really good job with the humor and with the challenging issues these characters faced. I liked that some of the chapters overlapped, with the end of one giving one character’s perspective on the scene with the opening of the next chapter telling the other character’s perspective on the same situation, and the narrators handled those transitions perfectly. I really enjoyed Friend with Benefits. I appreciated how the Chron’s disease was handled with gentleness, and the childhood trauma was talked about with grace.

Egalleys for Friends with Benefits were provided by Celadon Books and an early copy of the audio was provided by Macmillan Audio through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.

Lifelong friends Evie and Theo decide to get married because Evie needs health insurance and a place to live while she does a non-paid internship in Hollywood.

Theo, an elementary school teacher, would do anything for Evie. He has been in love with her since high school. I think you can see where this predictable book is going.

I actually enjoyed most of this story and would have given it ⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars if it were not for the open door sex and the F-bomb being dropped constantly throughout the book. I personally don’t care for it while reading, however if you do you may enjoy this book. TW: chronic illness, language

Thank you @marisakanter @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for providing me with an advance copy of the audiobook of Friends with Benefits which will be published May 6, 2025.

Evie Bloom and Theo Cohen have been best friends for most of their lives. When Evie, a Foley artist, is offered a prestigious fellowship that could be a turning point in her career, she’s forced to make a difficult decision. The opportunity comes without health insurance, and living with Crohn’s disease means going without coverage isn’t an option.
Theo, a public school teacher with excellent benefits and rent he can no longer afford, proposes a solution: they get married. It’s a practical arrangement—nothing more. But there’s a complication neither of them wants to admit out loud: they’ve been in love with each other for years.
Now, sharing a home and a legal commitment forces them to confront what they’ve been avoiding.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4
What I loved:
Theo was so charming! He was cute, dependable, and the way he kept showing up for Evie was incredibly endearing. Basically, the perfect book boyfriend—total swoon material. Who wouldn't want to marry a former dancer and current elementary school teacher? I also really enjoyed the flashbacks to the early days of their friendship- from both POVs. There were lot's of missed opportunities that felt realistic when they were young. They added a nice emotional layer and made the progression of their relationship feel more grounded. I also appreciate that the author included a realistic representation of chronic illness. The depiction of life with Crohn’s, and the impossible choices people face under the broken U.S. healthcare system, felt honest and important. Not to mention the medical gaslighting that is especially so prevalent for women. So many people can relate—or know someone who can.

What didn’t quite land:
Evie was a bit of a struggle for me, especially in the last third of the book. Her choices during the third-act breakup felt more like forced drama than something rooted in reality. The choices she made didn't seem age appropriate at all. I had a hard time relating to her concerns, and honestly, even the other characters in the book seemed confused by her actions—and I was right there with them. I wanted to shake her by the end! It pulled me out of the story a bit and weakened the emotional impact of the ending.

As far as the voice actors go, I enjoyed the production although sometimes when they tried to do an old person accent or NYC accent it felt a little silly but overall I think they did a great job.

Still, there’s a lot to appreciate here, especially if you enjoy friends-to-lovers, fake marriage tropes, and heartfelt stories with a dose of real-world issues.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.