Friends with Partial Benefits

Friends with Benefits Series, Book 1

By: Luke Young

Narrated by: Summer Morton

Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Jillian Grayson is a disillusioned divorcée and best-selling romance novelist who suddenly can't write a chapter without her hunky male heartthrob suffering ED, an STD, or even worse. Brian Nash is a tennis-obsessed college senior who's unlucky in love and the roommate and best friend of Jillian's son, Rob. When Rob brings Brian home for Spring Break, and Brian meets the surprisingly young and tennis passionate Jillian, their shared interest quickly develops into an intense mutual attraction. After nearly giving in to their feelings, they hatch a plan, while under the influence (of something more than just the perfect Miami night), to be Friends With Partial Benefits, complete with rules to define the boundaries. Will the lonely pair continue with this distinctive relationship, actually explore their desires, or discover all of it is a really bad idea?

NOTE: This book contains explicit language, sexual content, slightly inappropriate humor and is recommended for mature audiences who like that sorta thing. This book is also a less explicit version of Ian Dalton's novel Inappropriate Thoughts. For more information, please see Luke Young's Amazon author page.

©2011 Luke Young (P)2014 Luke Young

Laugh out loud moments are merely the beginning...

I totally enjoyed the whole thing! The characters were well developed and the story kept me involved all the way to the end! I'll definitely be reading more by Luke! Hearing it only made it better!

Giving an Additional Star

Jillian’s son brought a friend (Brian) home from college on break. Brian is lovesick and Jillian has writer’s block. They form a bond over tennis.

This was an odd story. It wasn't funny. It didn’t flow well. The events didn’t seem to fit. I didn’t like it.

At the end, the author included some information about the story which softened my heart, thus the three stars. It’s so much easier to rate lower, when you feel disconnected from the author, but that snippet from Luke Young has produced an additional star.

Unexpectedly Good

This was one of my girl Sasha's choices and I approached it with caution, which means I made sure not to get stuck with this book being the only one I had downloaded on my I-Pod. Oh well as it turned out I didn't need to worry about it; this audio was just fine. An older woman, her son in college, and the son's suitmate at the university in Atlanta. My dad tells me that it's an update on a 1983 movie 'Class' if you've seen it you decide. There are some facets that are always in books or films with this theme; all the should I, shouldn't I back and forth particularly when it's one of those older woman younger man relationships that freak straight women out so bad. There were some great characters in this book; the best is Victoria Wilde, Jillian's wild, oversexed bestie. The Worst is Rob, Brian's friend and Jillian's son; a seriously unlikable character, who i hope will be more or less written out of this series. This book is set in 2011 and I had hopes that there would be some girl-on-girl contact between Jillian and Victoria; sadly there wasn't but I have hopes for book two. Evidently there are no bisexuals or sexually experimental girls in romantic fiction. Looking forward strongly to the next installment in this series; recommend this one strongly.

graffic language

More about sex than story or romance. Not complaining, just telling it like I heard it.

enjoyable book

really enjoyed this book. kept me hanging for more. got upset with characters at one point but happy with the ending.

Funny Unconventional Light Romance

What made the experience of listening to Friends with Partial Benefits the most enjoyable?

It was funny. Expect it to have some really awkward nude scenes that are going to have you blushing and giggling/ laughing like a crazy person. Well at least it did for me!
This story also covers a pretty wide range of, let's say, unconventional (some people may find tabooish) sexual situations and relationships. If you really aren't comfortable with sex scenes or well the above statement you may want to skip this one. It also containscontains recreational and accidental drug use/ misuse and porn.

Now that we got that out of the way, let's get into what made this slice-of-life story a good listen for me. I love how it approaches what could be rather touchy subjects, and makes them into a so-funny-I-think-I-peed-myself, light hearted, believable situation. The main one being the I fell for my best friends mother a much older woman (who happens to write erotica). Although that's not what it seems to be either. There are so many more "unconventional" topics thrown in here I can't even count them all. The absolutely goofy completely awkward situations are so out there it was entertaining to say the least. Yet somehowsomehow it stayed realistic, like you could actually see that happeninghappening to you (although it would probably be one of those memories you'd rather never see the light of day).

I will note I found the H way too wishy washy for me, but what can you do? He balances out in the second book.

At the end of the day I'd say this was well worth the listen and had a really great plot with more depth then I figured it would have. Definitely worth the buy at the fantastic whispersync price especially since the kindle book was free! My only complaint is that audible only has this one book and you are pretty much left hanging with loose ends. Not cool at all :/ But the second book is on kindle so I will go ahead and read it. Definitely worth it!

Which scene was your favorite?

I thought the work out room scene with the treadmill was hilarious.

Luke Young Rocks!!!

This really had those laugh out loaf moments I love in a book. You cant help but love the different characters from the beginning. The dynamic is totally believable. The moments when you were on the edge waiting for them to get caught. I love the twists in the story and how the friends were able to over come certain issues. I also have to add I really enjoyed the explanation from the other about where this story can from making it that much more perfect. Love the narrator. But this book Now you don't know what your missing :-) :-) :-)

Reads like a 14 year old boy's fantasy

The characters are one dimensional and the story reads like a teenage boy's fantasy.

The female characters are all sexist tropes. Jillian's aggressive cougar friend whose behavior is prompted by the loss of a man. Rob's selfish, controlling girlfriend who's jealous and resentful of any time he spends away from her. Brian's girlfriend who's "manipulative" because she won't touch him ~down there. And Jillian whose main quality seems to be that she's 'not like other girls', ie, a normal person rather than a crazy B.

And equally bad, the male characters are terrible in a way that's presented as normal/empathetic. Brian is immature and shallow, only liking his girlfriend because she can do this thing with her leg. He claims to love her, but there's nothing on their relationship other than him talking about how hot she is. There's nothing about liking her as a person, just her tight butt in leggings, etc, etc, etc. Her only personality trait is that she has some sort of implied sexual abuse in her past keeping her from being intimate, which the male characters see as her being manipulative.

The dialogue is unnatural. The narrator does her best but there's only so much you can do with bad source material. There's also a lot of "boobied breastily down the stairs" type narrative descriptions. Way too many gratuitous descriptions of female body parts even in the scenes with two women talking. And those talks are always about sex. But even the male interactions are awkward. The conversation among college seniors reads more like sophomores in high school.

I didn't finish this book. In the beginning I had hopes that the point might be that Jillian gets to have some fun/cure her writer's block and Brian grows up. Which is still problematic (female character exists only to further male char's plotline/personal growth), but would have at least been something. But as I listened and the storyline got more disturbing rather than less, I checked out a few reviews here on audible and saw there's little hope that it'll get better.

When You Can’t Say Anything Nice

I really tried to like this book. I just could not finish.
The narrator was good.🤷🏽‍♀️

Like some inexperienced erotica

I listened to the whole story because I thought it would get better. There were humorous, but it over shared owed any type of romance. Maybe that's where I missed the mark. I thought I was listening to an erotic romance, but it sounded more like a erotic fantasy that involved a bit of tennis and a May/December fetish. I wish I wouldn't have wasted my time on it, but I will be hesitant to buy romance written from a man.