Cole and Laila Are Just Friends by Bethany Turner
Rating: 3
Spice: 0
Primary Genre: Romance
Trigger Warnings: Mention of terminal illness, abandonment, alchohol/prescription drug use, death of a family member/parent
Favorite Quote: Who knew romantic comedy was such a brutal sport?
Plot 3/5:
Slow burn, friends to lovers, closed door romance. And when I say slow burn, we’re talking the slowest. This story is about a girl and a guy who live in a small town in Colorado, have known each other since they were little kids, and are extremely close best friends. Unnaturally close, probably. The guy decides he's going to move across the country and the girl can't really go with but of course she doesn't want her bestie to move. They spend a week together in New York City pondering their future.
The Good:
* If you like the witty banter and pop culture references of The Gilmore Girls, you’re sure to love large portions of this book
* If you love the Luke and Lorelai characters of Gilmore Girls and their will they/won’t they, slow burn friends to lovers romance, you’ll like a large portion of this book
* I do enjoy that the characters are in their late 30’s, a lot of the pop culture references were relatable for me.
* Bethany has the ability to craft a romance without spice and still make it interesting
The Meh:
* I have a hard time finding the premise of this book to be believable. For Cole and Laila to be as close as described in the book, to their point that they have sleepovers as adults, it seems unnatural that Cole wouldn’t have ever had at least a fleeting romantic or even conscious sexual thought about Laila much sooner than the age of 39. I mean, have you met pretty much any man? On the flip side of the coin, the plot alludes to Laila being interested in Cole and just not saying anything. I don’t know anyone who could have feelings for someone for 25 years and say absolutely nothing.
* While I enjoyed the witty banter, this almost felt like I was reading a sitcom script. I think I might have enjoyed this more if I were watching it as a movie rather than reading it.
* While I can appreciate a good slow burn, the unrealistic cluelessness of these two left me feeling frustrated at times.
* This could be taken as an homage to the Gilmore Girls or just a remake of the Luke and Lorelai storyline of the Gilmore Girls because it is very similar with the pop culture references, the banter between Cole and Laila, etc.
Bottom Line:
This is a sweet closed door romance. The plot was well crafted and if you’re craving a trip to NYC this might help quell that craving for you. The main characters are well written, there’s also an extensive list of side characters that are really well written. A lot of the characters are endearingly quirky. You’ll probably like this if you enjoyed Friends and/or The Gilmore Girls.
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