Friends Without Benefits (Knitting in the City #2) by Penny Reid

Blurb: 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.

 

3 stars

I was let down by this one I’m afraid.  I found Elizabeth contradictory, stubborn, and emotionally stunted.  And not in a charming, witty, sarcastic way.  She claimed to be super honest but habitually lied to herself.  It was frustrating and I got tired of it real fast.

And the male MC! Not really my kind of love interest.  I wasn’t attracted to him in the slightest so I had a hard time taking him seriously.  His past as a bully to her kept coming up and for some reason I just could’t let that go.  He played to love card too early and it came off as creepy than endearing.  Like real creepy.

Everything after that was fruit of the poisonous tree.  There were some funny parts that had me laughing like the panty party and whenever they had their knitting night.  The little girl gave it a bit more even if it felt like a gimic.

The backstory could have been a book in its own right and I would have liked to have had some flashbacks to get a better feel for Nico.  I think that might have helped me to know him on a deeper level.  Other than that, I was underwhelmed.