Friends Without Benefits

Written by Penny Reid

Narrated by Devra Woodward

He’s always loved her . . .

From the New York Times Bestselling Author Penny Reid.

There are three things you need to know about Elizabeth Finney: 1) She suffers from severe sarcastic syndrome, especially when she’s unnerved, 2) No one unnerves her like Nico Manganiello, and 3) She knows how to knit.

Elizabeth Finney is almost always right about everything: the musical merits of boy bands are undervalued by society, “benefits” with human Ken dolls are better without friendship, and the sun has set on her once-in-a-lifetime chance for true love. But when Elizabeth’s plans for benefits without friendship are disarmed by the irritatingly charismatic and chauvinistic Nico Manganiello- her former nemesis- she finds herself struggling to maintain the electric fence around her heart while avoiding electrocution or, worse, falling in love.

Friends Without Benefits is book #2 in the Knitting in the City series. Each book is a standalone, full length (110k words), contemporary romantic comedy novel, and follows the misadventures and exploits of seven friends in Chicago, all members of the same knitting group.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cipher-Naught
• Release date: Jan 14, 2015
• ISBN: 9781094228259

Penny Reid

Sign up for the newsletter of awesome: www.pennyreid.ninja/newsletterPenny Reid is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of the Winston Brothers and Knitting in the City series. She used to spend her days writing federal grant proposals as a biomedical researcher, but now she writes kissing books. Penny is an obsessive knitter and manages the #OwnVoices-focused mentorship incubator / publishing imprint, Smartypants Romance. She lives in Seattle Washington with her husband, three kids, and dog named Hazel.FOLLOW PENNY:Facebook: www.facebook.com/pennyreidwriterTwitter: www.twitter.com/reidromanceInstagram: www.instagram.com/reidromanceJust Released:December 13th, 2022: Drama King, Three Kings Series, Book 2Upcoming Releases:2023: All Folked Up, Good Folk: Modern Folktales, Book 3Currently Working On:2023: Pride and Dad Jokes, Ideal Man, Book 1

Reviews for Friends Without Benefits

[richjj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Listening to the series the huffs, hooked mouths, swallowing difficulties, and arms across the chest get a bit repetitive. Also the reader decided to give the man who grew up in Iowa an Italian accent (?), as well as the Bostonian security guard a New York accent. But the story was interesting.

[Michelle Wong · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I cannot stand that the author keeps using the racial slur ‘gypsy eyes’. This is so offensive. At first I thought I heard it wrong, but I didn’t. I cannot finish the book.

[Kim L · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While I did enjoy the book, I was a bit disconcerted when there was an alternate elevator scene in the middle of the book and the duplicate scenes in the different voices at the end of the book. I feel like one of each should have been chosen.

[SerendipityReads · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I hated this book, and I'm giving it four stars.

LET ME EXPLAIN.

*I totally didn't understand the character of Nico. Nothing in the h's interactions with him seemed to reflect the side of him that was a big bully, egotistic underwear model, womanizing celebrity, or the supposedly hilarious off-color comedian whose show required the entire audience to be in their underwear, featured women wrestling nude in jello, ETC. THAT guy I would have hated. The Nico we actually got to see, I really liked.

But there was just a huge disconnect there. I mean, if you want to create a character who is a comedian, at LEAST make him funny ONCE in awhile. At least give them good banter! They didn't even have that!

*(also, I mean, pick ONE unrealistic lane and stick with it! Him being an underwear model OR a comedian didn't even seem to play into the plot at all, and the fact that he had a TV only seemed to serve as a plot device. All three of these together was just....too much).

*There was just soooo much (toooo much) blathering on about her hang up over her first boyfriend, and completely INadequate explanations about what it was Nico ever liked about her to begin with, WHY she chose him to lose her virginity to after he'd always bullied her so badly, and WHY he never forgot her and always fancied himself in love with her, even after ten years of a busy adult life including falling in love with someone else.

*The same descriptions were used over and over and over again. "Gypsy eyes", etc. Mariana Zapata does that, and I'm used to it with her, but it's definitely not a habit that other authors need to adopt. VARIETY, Y'ALL, GEEZ. THERE'S OTHER ADJECTIVES. AND THESAURUSES EXIST.

*Also see: the many (MANY MANY MANY) mentions of "DrKenMiles". We get it, she never thinks of him any more personally than that, even though she wants to sex him up. But MAN was that conceit overworked.

*Elizabeth's pranks sounded super immature, unprofessional, and did nothing to make me like the character better.

*There's a random reference to Elizabeth suddenly realizing that Nico's mother is literally insane....and then it's dropped and never brought up again. If that was supposed to be a humorous moment, it flopped.

*There needed to be way more of the niece, and them bonding over her! She ended up being little more than a device to reunite them after so many years.

*She's literally almost [traumatic spoiler omitted here] and all of a sudden the previously highly protective Nico couldn't spare her the time of day?

*And good god that completely horrific ending where she shows up at his show, and.....okay, I'll avoid spoilers again, but as a romance reader I'm used to reading all kinds of unrealistic stuff, and that was just.....the worst. THE WORST. By the time it got to the epilogues, I just didn't even care about this couple anymore. That whole over the top scene in the Howard Stern-esque setting was SUCH a giant turn-off.

*And the audio just had....issues. Others here have described them, but yeah, it was....weird. Not the least of which, the epilogues repeated in both male and female voices, and we finally actually hear "Nico's" voice, and he suddenly DOESN'T have an accent?!

I'm sure there's even more that I hated but have now forgotten, ANNNNNND YEEEEEETTTTT.....

The book kept me engaged start to finish, even though it was loooong. Hence my four stars, for Penny Reid, who I really do love. Because she took a very flawed story that I constantly found myself disliking, and made me ENJOY it. I know that's a huge paradox, but that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Ultimately, I'm going to say that if his career(s) don't sound like something that would bother you, and if you think you can get past the h still REALLY needing therapy to get past the death of her highschool boyfriend, then go ahead and read this. It's a flawed book, but dang it, I really was rooting for this couple the whole time, and only the grand gesture moment at the end REALLY turned me off.

(also, I personally liked Devra Woodward's "Nico" voice and accent. And this comes right on the tail of me not being able to get past the first few chapters of Elena Armas's new book because I couldn't staaaaand the male narrator's fake accent/sexy voice.)

[Phuong · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The book is more or a 3/5 stars but the audiobook is really weird cause scenes were out of order or some scenes were repetitive

[Dominika · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I read this book ages ago and now decided to give the audiobook a go. Elizabeth is just a whining, immature womanchild. And spoilers, after loosing her mother and her first love, no one said "hey bro, maybe see a professional and talk with them". Her whole character development is that she realises you love more than just 1 person your whole life. Disappointing.
Honestly, reading books in this series now makes me question their popularity.

[Ruthi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Really loved the book! Now, I want to read the series!
Edited- finished the series! Love them!

[vincent fleming · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

DO NOT SKIP THIS BOOK. I like the story, just not the actress. She makes it sound to melancholy and to drawled out. For almost all the characters. If you like Twilight, the movies, or Kristen Stewart, this actress is for you. There's no change pitch for different characters. You wouldn't know unless it was written that this guy is a celebrity. It is a great concrete love book that's super sweet. It's just the way it was narrated that makes it hard to get through.

[Marta · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I think this is my favorite book I’ve read from the autor! Nico is just the best!

[Kamila · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Audiobook has a few errors but the narrator is really good so the listening isn't a problem. The book is. It's cliche upon cliche, heroine is very unlikeable and I didn't feel chemistry between main characters.

[krzychknlady · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Oh my gosh It! It was like a very bad version of 50 Shades of Grey without all the sex. Not that great of narration as Niko would have the same voice as Elizabeth's dad and they weren't Italian. I just don't think the story line was that great. A little cheesy if you ask me. The way narration was of Nikos voice and trying to make him sound like this smooth slow talker deep voiced Italian just wasn't doing it for me. It actually made me laugh and question how this was able to get 4.5 stars. It was also slow for me but I continued to listen because I wanted to be able to give it this review. Wow.

[Alberto Kathleen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Penny reids’s story has always been long.
This is my second book for the series.
I didn’t listen to it in order.
But still I love everything about it ❤️❤️

[Dara · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent book! Couldn't put it down! There's drama and comedy! Loved it!