Book Review: King of the Friend Zone

Sheralynn Pratt is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Her book, The Kiss That Launched 1000 Gifs is one of my favorites, but King of the Friend Zone is not far behind.

Esme Taylor gets engaged and is excited to tell her lifelong best friend Hunter. Only Hunter isn't thrilled exactly, since he's had a crush on Esme for years but never told her. He sucks it up, though, and tries to be nice to the fiance, since he really only wants Esme's happiness. The problem is, the fiance picks up on the fact that Hunter loves her and wants to cut him out of Esme's life for good. And that's where the story gets good.

There are so many ups and downs and twists to this story, my emotions were all over the place! I loved Hunter and how amazing he was. He was a swoon-worthy hero and I really, really wanted him to get his happily-ever-after. Esme was a fun, quirky character that I could totally relate to and felt so bad for her with the situation she found herself in. Of course since this is part of the Power of the Matchmaker series, Miss Pearl is an integral part, and I loved how the author gave her a cookie cart to illustrate to her "customers" the differences in love.

Ms. Pratt truly shines in the witty dialogue and how down-to-earth her characters are. They have so much depth from every angle, it was easy to immerse myself in the story. There's just enough angst to keep me completely engrossed and turning pages. This is an awesome addition to the Matchmaker set and readers will come away with a happy sigh.

Here's the back copy:

Esme Taylor has an amazing fiancé, a lifelong best friend, and a problem. The problem stems from the fact that her best friend is named Hunter and, well. . .he’s kind of (totally) hot. It’s hate at first sight when her fiancé, Jon, and Hunter meet. Jon’s convinced that Hunter is in love with Esme, and that Hunter must be out of the picture if their upcoming marriage is to succeed.

Esme thinks Jon is paranoid.

The truth is, Jon’s not that far off. Hunter is in love with his best friend and always has been. What Jon has wrong, however, is that Hunter never had any plans of ruining Esme’s happily ever after. Hunter wants what’s best for Esme, even if that’s not him.

When Jon pushes hard to end Esme and Hunter’s friendship, opposition comes from the most unlikely of places. It’s an eccentric lady with a cookie cart who suggests a different solution to Esme’s problem: Hunter and Esme should give each other a chance.

They’ve both thought of the possibility over the years—of course they have. But with a ring already on Esme’s finger and a heap of hurt feelings and broken trust in the mix, there hasn’t been a worse time to explore the depths of their feelings for each other.

Both Esme and Hunter think it’s time to move on and leave childhood crushes in the past. The question is: Can one woman and the taste of one cookie change their minds?

Download your Kindle copy here