Review: Best Friends with Benefits by Candy Sloane

I was looking forward to this book, because the premise sounded interesting. Two high school best friends reconnect at their 10 year reunion and discover that there is way more than friendship between them. Ms. Sloan delivered on the premise, but I felt like things could have been a little bit better.

Valerie and Alec both had a tough time in high school. For her it was bullying and for him it was an abusive home life with his best friend, Val, being his refuge. Fast forward 10 years and Valerie is a successful flautist and Alec a rock star, but inside they still carry the wounds for high school. To make things more interesting – this is the first time they have seen each other in person since graduation.

I enjoyed and completely understood how both Al and Val struggled with the idea of being physically attracted to their best friend. Dealing with that in the context of a high school reunion that brings old insecurities and feeling to the surface added some interesting moments too.

What I found frustrating was how hot and cold Val seemed to run with Alec. She seemed to have massive blinders on when it came to how he felt about her and was almost clinical is approaching a physical relationship with him. I didn’t understand how her sense of self-worth could be so low as to not believe he could be attracted to her and love her.

Overall, this was an okay read. It had it’s fun moments and was fairly light.