“Just” Friends

Shaela Kay’s an author who solidly publishes in the Romance genre, though this is her first contemporary!

Now, I’ll be honest; I know Shaela. She’s in my writing group, and she’s my cover artist. (Super talented lady–check out her work on bluewaterbooks.com). That said, I’ll continue to be honest with this review.

Knowing Mrs. Kay to be a people-pleaser (like myself), she did a really good job of characterizing Amie. Amie is a people-pleaser, like Maggie from “Runaway Bride” (1999). She thinks she’s found Mr. Right, but then he dumps her only weeks before their wedding! So, like any sensible and sensitive woman, she takes a break from the city that reminds her of her ex and spends the summer with her family.

Jason is the childhood friend who was only ever a friend. He has problems like Jack from “While You Were Sleeping” (1995), but has goals like Bobby McFlay. I had a little trouble at first not portraying my own “only ever friend” onto him, but he quickly became his own character.

There’s an incident referenced in the story (which I can’t mention because that would give spoilers) that I wanted to say was unrealistic. Then I remembered my own guy friends in high school and realized, “Yep, that is exactly what a high school boy would do.”

Funny enough, when I mentioned this to Mrs. Kay, she said the “book is actually FULL of real life scenarios,” including Ebenezer the cat, dumping a muffin mix on someone’s head, and even the crazy bird lady.
Yep, it’s a true-to-life Romantic Comedy.

I had extra fun with this story because it’s set in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Spokane, Washington. I’ve lived within two hours-driving distance from both of these cities. Saying they’re very different is kind of a no-brainer because I don’t know any other city that’s quite like Vegas, and Spokane is such a beautiful city that feels like an old-town with majestic waterfalls running through the middle of it.

All in all, well written plot with the right amount of humor and characters that could be real people. *****4.9 Stars*****

To whom it may concern: “Only Ever Friends” is written in present tense (like this blog post). This may throw some readers off because most stories are written in past tense. Present tense can be tricky, but Mrs. Kay does it well.