The Friend Zone

End of the Line, Book 1

By: Sariah Wilson

Narrated by: Whitney Dykhouse, Scott Merriman

Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

From the bestselling author of the #Lovestruck novels comes a rousing romance about following your dreams, second chances, and playing the game of love.

Disgraced college quarterback Logan Hunt was on his way to NFL stardom when he messed up big-time. Now the Texas star player with a bad temper has a new option: Seattle’s EOL College - as in End of the Line, to his fellow misfit recruits. It’s Logan’s last chance. If he can follow the rules. No parties, no fighting, no swearing, and oh, no dating the coach’s daughter, Jess. Simple. Yeah, right. For Logan, there has never been a rule he’s more tempted to break. 

The deal is “just friends.” The pretty, confident, and fiercely smart math whiz is fine with pizza, tutoring, and keeping Logan in line. But the closer Jess gets, the more receptive she is to his warm heart and spirit - not to mention his irresistible off-field passes. With defenses down, they’re both heading into the danger zone. 

It’s more than thrilling. It’s love. It’s also a game changer that could sideline Logan’s NFL goals - and more important, a future with Jess. But dreams are worth fighting for, right?

©2019 by Sariah Wilson. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Awww

This is such a great story and a wonderful way to start a new series. Jess and Logan are so funny and cute together. I found it interesting that characters from other series were mentioned in this one.

The narration was overall great EXCEPT for the swap of chapters 24 & 25. At first I thought chapter 24 had been skipped altogether. But then when the narration of chapter 25 ended and chapter 24 began I was disappointed but not as much as I was before when I thought it had been skipped.
I guess Audio editing was not completed.

Cute, but Heavier Emotionally Than Expected

CW: death of parents related to cancer (on page) and automobile accident (discussed/off page), slut shaming, cattty behavior, mentions of: attempted rape/being drugged, childhood abuse (physical and emotional), starvation, and poverty, parental drug addiction and imprisonment.

This was a cute new adult sports romance, but it also tackled some very serious issues as well. It was a great mix of some of my favorite tropes like tutor/forced proximity, helping the other get the attention of someone else, friends to lovers, and also some taboo thrown in since Jess is the daughter of the coach. I enjoyed the slow burn build up between Jess and Logan and how these two tried to keep each other in the friend zone. Logan had some of the funniest puns and I loved their banter. I did find that the story dragged at times though, as things went round and round. I also wasn't a fan of how long the Ben and Danielle storyline lasted, since they were only there to cause unnecessary drama. The ending was a little too perfect in how everything worked out, but it did leave me with a smile on my face. The narration by Whitney Dykhouse and Scott Merriman was enjoyable and I loved their southern accents. Overall, The Friend Zone was an entertaining read, but please make sure to note the content warnings, as many of the items mentioned play prominent roles in the story and character development.

Overall 3 stars
Performance 3.5 stars
Story 3 stars

Very bad

This was bad. So corny and full of cliches. The last third of the book was so predictable and boring, I was rolling my eyes so hard. The beginning was good, but as the story went on my enjoyment started to vanish.
I didn't like Jess at all, and Logan was sIightly better. We were supposed to think that Jess is so nice and quirky, and that's she's so much better than Danielle, but they were the same, maybe Jess was even worse with all her comments and remarks. I also think it was unnecessary to make Ben a loser. It would be so much better if he was a decent guy, and the love between Jess and Logan would be much more beIiveable.
I have to say that I really liked that Jess beat Logan at minigolf, because usually in romance novels, if the couple competes, the guy wins and I really liked that it wasn't the case here. Also, I liked that Jess paid for herself, and sometimes even for Logan. It was refreshing.
I didn't like the female narrator. Her interpretation felt so bland and boring.

Great

Made me cry multiple times! Such a great book with awesome characters and good plot lines

Wonderful!

I love this love story and it’s follow-up, with college football woven in. Logan and Jess are so sweet together and the story perfect. The things in life they are dealing with are REAL and give substance to the overall romance. The narrators were very good, though I prefer a single narrator, either all female or all male. There is a slight chapter hitch near the end where the story should continue “what is happening” but suddenly reverts to “yay, boss man changed his mind” then awkwardly switches back to “what is happening” to develop the final pages of the story. I don’t have the non-audio version so I do not know if this is a glitch on audible or is also present in written form. Nevertheless, I listen to this story at least once a week! I would love a third book focused on Ford and Keylani. Thank you Sariah Wilson!!

Enjoyable clean romance story

I enjoyed the story as the friendship developed into a strong love. I highly recommend this story for the young adult reader.

Rabid Reader

Loved this book! Laughed out loud many times during the read. A little steam but nothing uncomfortable. Very engaging side characters, and predictable but great ending!

Fun story!

This is a fun story with so many parts making me laugh out loud. There are also some serious issues the main characters have dealt with in their lives, but the humor and lightheartedness keeps it a fun, happy story. The narrators did a nice job.

Very cute

This was a very cute read. I loved listening to it. wasn't overly long and wordy.

enjoyable

I liked both narrators, they each did a good job with both voices. I liked the story too. the second chance for his life basically was interesting. it gave a little extra then just the relationship part of the book.