The Friend Zone is a slow burn romance, that was a cute and short read for me. Having a "no sex" rule in place for Logan made for an interesting plot for how the romance would happen, but it was good. Jess is the coach's daughter (of course), but I liked her. She was a strong character, and I liked the relationship between her and Logan.

*Scroll to the bottom for content warnings*

I had a hard time reading this one and deciding if it should be 2 or 3 stars. At 30% I wanted to stop reading- I wasn't enjoying it, it was a slog through endless inner dialogue- but I pushed through because this was an ARC and I felt I owed the author my review. I am glad I finished it, because it did redeem itself *slightly* but I was flipping past a lot of what felt like filler after just skimming the page. So stick with me as I present my see-saw of feelings!
Love the premise- sports romance always makes me happy and I like the 'career building' stage. Sports romances are really the only college romances I'll read. I loved how smart the dialogue was between all the characters- there wasn't any 'bro' speak, no immaturity to be seen and Wilson writes FUNNY dialogue really well. This was shaping up to be a 3 or 4 star in my mind.
Then we see how the h interacts with her nemesis- the way she thinks, speaks to and about this other woman made me hate her. Not dislike, hate. *She barely redeems herself in my opinion at the end* Normally this would make it a 1 star review and get added to my DNF shelf, but the dialogue between h and H was so awesome I was feeling generous with 2 stars. I continued reading because again, I committed to a review, and for the H.
H was so sweet and such a MAN. So mature and the way he reacted to situations did not feel like I was reading a college romance. Because I didn't connect with the h at all I couldn't see what he saw and didn't really understand their relationship- until about 80%.
At this point Wilson starts moving faster (the pace the rest should have been at IMO!) and wraps everything up nicely. I start to like h again and love h&H together. So end result, I settled on 3 stars: I skipped most of the middle fluff to get the best parts but the best parts were so good it was worth the read.
I will definitely try another story by Wilson because the dialogue was just that good and maybe this story just wasn't my cup of tea.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my fair and honest review.
Content Warnings: A character is roofied, sexual assault, child abuse, parent death, cancer
#TheFriendZone #NetGalley

Another heart warming romance from Sariah Wilson. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Rich world populated with interesting, well developed characters. Definitely recommend.

The Friend Zone is another book by Sariah Wilson that I enjoyed reading and would recommend. As with all her books, The Friend Zone has wit, humor and laughs aplenty. Somehow though, this book was elevated and on another level. I have read almost all of Sariah's books and this is the first of her's that I can remember that has the dual first person perspective. I really enjoyed looking inside both of the character's heads, thoughts and emotions. You don't always get the male point of view and it was nice to know what Logan was thinking and feeling. I think because of this, I liked him as a character that much more. He had a drive to succeed, a strong determination and showed integrity at the end. He was going to be honest and do what he needed to do, no matter what. What woman doesn't want to be first on a man's priority list? The ending was satisfying and more emotional than other books and will stay with me. I know that each time I read it, it will be just as great as the first read through. I loved the "Ben" jokes. Those never got old and I'm surprised at how many Sariah could come up with. Jess was a great character, too. I think she and Logan fit well together. They each showed some growth in the book and I think it's important to see how characters grow and change throughout the story. The content of the book is overall clean and not graphic. I think there are some more innuendos or almost language that aren't in Sariah's other books, but nothing more than that. I loved this book and can't wait for Sariah's next book to come out.

Logan Hunt hasn't had an easy life, drug addict mother, obnoxious step-father, his only skill is playing American Football and he was on a dream trajectory until a bar fight got him kicked off the team and losing his scholarship meant he couldn't stay at school and graduate. A life of minimum wage construction beckoned until Coach Stan Oakley from Edwin O'Leary College offers him a final chance to play college football. Unfortunately EOL (or End of the Line as they call it) comes with some very strict rules, no drugs, no booze, no dating and maintain your GPA. Logan is all-in with any rules that will allow him to graduate, anything to avoid a life of construction work, he doesn't even care about getting drafted to the NFL, he wants to teach. Everything is going fine until he arrives in Seattle and meets Coach Oakley's daughter Jess, she won't take any of his cocky B-S and seems supremely unimpressed by football players in general, she has her eye on a poetry reading, math nerd called Ben.

This is a cute, sweet teen story of two people desperately trying to deny their attraction while Logan tries to Cyrano de Bergerac Jess in her relationship with Ben. Oh and there's a mean girl, a costume party, crazy golf and french films!

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I loved this book! It was my first by Sariah Wilson but it definitely will not be my last. Logan and Jess are both students at EOL. Logan is a football player and Jess’s dad is the football coach. A relationship between the two is forbidden.

I really liked that the relationship that was built between Logan and Jess was emotional before it turned physical. I feel like that is super rare nowadays so I really appreciated it. Both Logan and Jess were likeable and I definitely found myself rooting for them.

If you are looking for a cute YA/contemporary romance novel, I definitely recommend this one. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this free ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Friend Zone by Sariah Wilson was a terrific read. I enjoyed every last word. One of the few books I wish was longer than it was.

Logan Hunt has hit rock bottom in terms of being kicked out of college and playing football. He was given one final chance to go to school and play college football, but he and the team had so many rules to follow.

Jessica Oakley or Jess, was the coaches daughter and Logan's math tutor. Sparks were definitely flying with these two. This story just proves you can have a beautiful HEA without all the sex scenes. I heartily recommend this story.

I have adored everything I have read by this author, and this book doesn't disappoint. I love the authors way of writing characters that you want to become friends with. They are always a cute, sweet romance that keeps you wanting to read more. This book does have some errors but they do not take away from the story. Looking forward to reading more in this series!

This book was amazing! I'm not sure how Sariah continues to write books that are everything you want in a boo witty: swoony, real, conflict, emotional and makes you want to start over when you're finished. This author pulls the reader in and makes the characters come to life and makes you care about them. I love that there is swoon but no smut. This book is funny with well developed characters and plot that keeps you turning the page for more and then sorry when it's finished. Another book worth the read.

The friend zone is a clean sports romance that takes place in college. Meet the new Quarterback, Logan Hunt and the Coach's daughter Jess. The irresistible Logan Hunt came from a poor background and just trying to make something of himself. Jess has a secret of her past and this causes a no dating rule for anyone on the team. What they didn't expect was the game changer!

This new release by Sariah Wilson was star-worthy material. The characters, Logan Hunt and Jess, meet each other when he comes to play football for her father at a junior college in Washington after getting kicked off a superior college team in Texas for a bar brawl because of his temper. The new coach has rules—#1 being stay away from girls, especially his daughter. When Jess is paired up with him to tutor him in math, sparks sizzle, but they must keep their relationship strictly in the friend zone. But when the sparks ignite into flames the more they hang out together, will they be able to keep their feelings in check and keep her dad from discovering their forbidden romance?

I read this one in a day. It had me captivated. The characters were fun, their inner demons great, but my favorite part was the last quarter of the book when Logan really grows and determines to be the man he knows he can be so he can respect himself. Love-loved seeing his courage to do what was right in the end. The romance was swoon-worthy, and it was just a feel-good book overall with funny parts to make me laugh. I really like this author. She writes fun, clean romances that still have some sizzle.

I have read this author before and I really like her writing style though her books in the past are only from the woman s POV. This story was very different in that it has dual POV. Its also about some college students which is also nw, usually they have graduated.

Jess and Logan meet when she picks him up at the airport. Her dad is his new coach and this is his last chance to play football for a college team. Jess has had a bad experience with football players and so her dad pretty much says no dating to his players and that Jess is a no go there zone.

What ends up happening is Logana nd Jess become besties and I mean real besties. They are attracted but they love her dad and so they try to say just friends. This was an aewsome read. The characters while in college are mature and understand the risks they end up taking and they handle it very maturely.

It is very well written and I loved how the author explored the characters.

This was a sweet and innocent romance read that’s set in college and involves some sports and of course—the quarterback that is off-limits from his coach’s daughter. Overall, a cute friends to lovers romance if you’re in the right mood.

I think this book just wasn’t for me since I’m at that college age and nothing here was all that relatable or funny like it was supposed to be.

<i>ARC kindly provided by publisher via Netgalley <3 Thank you!</i>

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting my request for an ARC of this book. The review below is entirely my own opinion.

Sariah Wilson is one of my favorite authors. I love the way she tells a story! She has this way of stringing words together to make me just grin and laugh out loud and make my heart melt with all the feels. That is a gift and I'm so glad she's sharing it with us through all these wonderful, entertaining books.

This one is a slow-burn, sports, college romance that, for me, just hits all the right notes. It's sweet. It's got heat. It's got that push-pull, witty, and snarky banter/scenes that I love. It has humorous moments and great lines/dialogue. Jess and Logan are both so relatable and adorable. And the secondary characters are also people you want to get to know better. In fact, I can't wait for Bash's story!

So if you're looking for a college, sports, friends-to-lovers romance then I would definitely recommend this book.

I have read several of Sariah Wilson’s books and it never fails to amaze me how she can write such an engaging romance novel yet keep it clean. The Friend Zone is no exception. Jess and Logan both have things in their pasts they are trying to rise above. They both have dreams they are pursuing and obstacles to overcome to get there. They begin a friendship to help each other succeed but soon realize they want to be more than friends. But being more than friends will mean giving up their dreams. Is it worth the risk?

Sariah did it again! The Friend Zone is filled with swoony chemistry and lots of laugh out loud descriptions. I loved reading Jess and Logans’s journey as they tried to fight off their attraction to one another. My only criticism is that now I’m going to have to wait forever to read a new book from Sariah!

Sariah Wilson’s ‘The Friend Zone’ harks back to a time when I remember YA/NA reads to be a lot more innocent and docile, both in speech and thoughts and deeds—or at least, when more risqué activities were kept firmly behind closed doors and stayed there, where the hottest things got were kisses and monologue-driven, self-actualising type of pining and many, many scorching looks.

It does take getting used to though, having this version of sparkly clean YA/NA sports romance graze my e-reader after being inured to a million sex scenes, to the uninhibited partying lifestyles of manwhore athletes and the women who prostrate themselves without care at their feet. So much so, that I kept wondering if Logan Hunt and Jess were going to go beyond censoring themselves and feeling hot under the collar after their bouts of denial, the chest-heaving sense of attraction, the running away and the pushing and pulling.

The answer, in short, is…no.

Wilson instead, does it the old school, slow-burn way: through friendship with some romantic, underlying tension and lets it grow and grow and…well, grow, with some bouts of humour in between. There isn’t a climax that ends up in torn clothes and smexy times (that did leave me somewhat disappointed anyhow) and with an ending that felt a little rushed and one that by-passed the physical nature of their relationship, I turned the last page still somehow wishing there had been more.

Am I a sucker for football/NFL stories? Yes. Add one of my favourite authors to the mix and hey presto, a book I’m chomping at the bit to read.

And, as per Ms Wilson’s talent, I was not disappointed.

The Friend Zone is a brilliantly written tale about a talented college student on his last chance or bust.

Logan arrives at EOL knowing this is it, his entire future rests on not blowing this second and only chance to graduate and change the direction of his life. A life, a past he so desperately needs to escape. His new Football coach is willing to throw him a life line - that is as long as Logan follows a very strict set of rules. Rules that cumulate to the most important one - Don’t date, especially not the coaches daughter, Jess.

Easily done right? That is until Logan starts spending time with Jess and realises this girl is everything he never knew he needed.

Now, this is a pretty great premise right? Trust me, Ms Wilson does it justice. There were a few tiny plots that I felt bordered on a touch immature but then again, these are college students so it was understandable.
It’s a solidly good book with incredible writing and such a heartbreaking backstory that pulled on my heartstrings.

To be completely honest, I’m so glad I enjoyed it. In my tiny opinion, this is a much stronger story than #Awestruck and I couldn’t be more relieved.

What pushes it to a four star book? The page scorching chemistry between Jess and Logan. Good grief lady! Ms Wilson has outdone herself proving sex is not a requirement for two characters to sizzle. I needed to fan myself just from the minigolf scene. And they didn’t even kiss! But then, what did I expect from the ever talented Sariah Wilson?

Another amazing story from Sariah Wilson! This story was told from multiple points of view and it was great watching how their relationship grew. You can feel the attraction build between the two and it was done without using raunchy details. It wasn't just all about the initial attraction though, but rather the trust that took time to build between two people that had very difficult pasts. I also loved how neither character used their past as an excuse - both wanting to overcome them and be stronger people.

What a fun and delightful book! Sariah Wilson scores (pun intended) again with another funny, sweet and romantic book filled with relatable and rootable main and secondary characters. If you're looking for something light and sweet you can get lost in, look no further. This is a must buy author for me!