FRIENDS LIKE US by Lauren Fox

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Friends Like Us

Lauren Fox

Here’s a book I’m soooo excited to bring to you, and this is one of those that I really devoured! (Yeah, I hate that phrase but I seriously did that with this book). I snuck it to basketball practice – like it was one of those where I was all, “I’LL TAKE LUKE TO BASKETBALL AND SIT THERE FOR AN HOUR AND A HALF!” Because I knew I could sit there for an hour and a half and READ Lauren’s book. 

Her characters, Ben and Willa, were best friends in high school, but then lost touch for seven years. At an impromptu reunion, they are, well yeah, reunited, and let’s just say, old feelings might have re-emerged that someone might not have known about. 

Enter Willa’s best friend and roommate, Jane. Willa gets the bright idea to set Ben and Jane up. Watch as everyone’s world explodes! And I thought that was all the book was going to be about. And for me, that was going to be PLENTY! But then there was so much more to Friends Like Us. There was Willa’s family – her messed up brother Seth. Which, interestingly, I HAVE A BROTHER NAMED SETH! (he’s not messed up though!) And Willa’s parents, and a hot guy named Declan from Ireland. Seriously, all these other additions to this book, and I could not put it down. 

It is a sad book of rediscovering of a friendship long ago lost and what happens when the main character sets her best friends up together. Recipe? Disaster. But it’s so much more than that. It’s a delicate balance of relationships and how we are formed by our own parent’s relationships, and how our siblings shape the way we behave – so many things I wasn’t expected as I dove into and fell in love with this book. I also fell in love with Lauren’s first book, Still Life With Husband. 

If you haven’t read her first book, Still Life With Husband you have to read that one – it was an amazing book too!

More things I love about Lauren’s writing is that she can be humorous one minute, and have you laughing out loud, but the very next line, she can make you think, really think about life, and the way things could be, or should have been, or might never have been, if you’d taken one other option. And the options in the book Friends Like Us, are so real, There’s nothing contrite or made up, nothing that sounds like, “Oh THAT would NEVER happen.” I love books like this, and although you may not feel like everything was wrapped up all happy in a perfect bow at the end, it’s books like Lauren’s that sit with you long after you close them, and characters like Ben, Jane and Willa, that really make you wonder, well after you’ve read them, that you’ll be sitting there doing something totally not book related, and you’ll think, “Wow, I wonder how they’re doing,” as if they are actual real people with real lives. And that’s the very best part of a book, in my opinion.

It’s an amazing read. I wish I had a copy to give to each and every one of you.

Here’s the blurb:

Best friends Willa and Jane are often mistaken for sisters, a comparison Willa secretly enjoys. They share a small apartment, paying the rent with freelance jobs while waiting for something better to come along. Willa sells flowers and writes advertising copy for a tea company (“The path to enlightenment is steep” and “Oolong! Farewell!”); Jane cleans houses and writes bad poetry about it, rhyming “clog of hair” with “fog of despair.” Together they are a fortress of private jokes and shared opinions, so close that there’s hardly room for anyone else. Until Willa’s closest cohort and confidant from high school—dorky then, handsome and confident now—falls in love with Jane.

To enter to win Friends Like Us tell me if you ever tried to set up friends, or if you ever lived with a friend and if it worked out or not -- just tell me a fun friend story and you'll be entered to win! I roomed with my best friend in high school when we went to college, and we survived. We lived together for four years in college, and yeah, there were some rough spots, of course, but we're still the closest of friends! In fact, when I went to Vegas in November, she came with and we had a blast! We've been friends since we were juniors in high school and we've shared so many incredible times and have so many great stories to share! We crack up every time we're together, and I'll be seeing her next month too! Friends are the BEST!

Remember, MaNiC MoMMy is aiming to feature great books each and every week this year, and you’ll have a chance to win it as well! Please stop by often AND MAKE SURE TO CHECK THE PREVIOUS POSTS as I’m now posting new books more than once a week! Open to US/Canada residents only, and thanks to all the participating authors and publicists for providing the books.

Check back on this post in a few days to see if you’ve been chosen, and as long as there is not a highlighted winner’s name on the top of the blog post, you may enter to win any of the previous books being offered. One entry per person as always! Please include an email address or a uniquely identifying user name when entering to win!