Just Friends
By: Tiffany Pitcock
Published Year: 2017
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Pages: 317
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): A new spin on the classic smart-girl-and-bad-boy setup, this witty contemporary romance shows how easily a friendship – even one built on an elaborate lie – can become so much more.
Jenny meets Chance for the very first time when she is assigned as his partner in their Junior Oral Communications class. But after they rescue a doomed assignment with one clever lie, the whole school is suddenly convinced that Little-Miss-Really-Likes-Having-A’s and the most scandalous heartbreaker in school have been best friends forever. It’s amazing how quickly a lie can grow―especially when you really, really want it to be the truth.
With Jenny, Chance can live the normal life he’s always kind of wanted. And with Chance, Jenny can have the exciting teen experiences that TV shows and movies have always promised. Through it all, they hold on to the fact that they are “just friends.” But that might be the biggest lie of all.
First Impressions
Love this cover! It gives me all the feels and is definitely the type of cover that speaks to me. Add to the fact that it counts towards the Debut Author Challenge (which admittedly, I’ve been slacking on this year), and it immediately found a spot on my TBR list.
What I thought
Quick disclosure, I finished this book about a month ago and apparently forgot to write a review. I typically write my reviews immediately following the reading of a book because otherwise, I forget a lot of what I read. I promise I will do my best to give you guys a quality review on this one!
Jenny and Chance are juniors in high school. Jenny is miss perfect and Chance is the bad boy man-whore. In their oral communications class they are assigned as partners on the first day of school to talk about what they did over the summer. Chance asks Jenny to wing it with him and they bounce off each other, spontaneously creating a story about how they’ve been best friends since they were children, even though they only knew of each other vaguely before that moment. What starts as a spur of the moment story, becomes a truth, as two acquaintances grow to become best friends.
Jenny and Chance are an interested duo. Jenny is a perfectionist when it comes to school, but she doesn’t really have any friends. Chance seemingly has all the friends, but none who truly know him or the struggles he has at home. I loved that what began as fiction became reality.
I think I preferred Chance to Jenny overall. I liked Chance and was a sucker for his struggles with his home life (the broken boy). Jenny was ok, but she has some naïve moments that ended up irritating me a little.
The way that their relationship grew was definitely unique. I liked that they immediately clicked, showing you that you don’t always know who will become your friends. The romance, in my opinion, was a little bit too much of a slow burn. There are points where they both start dating other people and those lasted a little too long for my taste. I definitely started feeling a little anxious for them to finally get together.
This was a fun summer read and I think a lot of people will connect with it. I think it’s a strong debut and I look forward to seeing Pitcock’s writing get stronger. I think the longer she writes the more she’ll find her voice and her stories will only get better. Jenny and Chance had some realy fun moments and banter. I especially loved how vivid the moments in the barn were. They made me wish that that could have been my life as a teenager! If you enjoy young adult love stories, you will love this book. It wasn’t quite perfection for me, but I would recommend it to people who like opposites attract romances.
