Review: Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg

Looking for a light, warm-and-fuzzy read? Better Off Friends is a great choice! We've all had a friend (or several) whom we've wondered if we could ever be more than friends with that person. Here's a story where those wonderful thoughts play out for the best. It's basically the book version of Taylor Swift's You Belong With Me.

Summary: For Macallan and Levi, it was friends at first sight. Everyone says guys and girls can't be just friends, but these two are. They hang out after school, share tons of inside jokes, their families are super close, and Levi even starts dating one of Mac's friends. They are platonic and happy that way.

Eventually they realize they're best friends — which wouldn't be so bad if they didn't keep getting in each other's way. Guys won't ask Mac out because they think she's with Levi, and Levi spends too much time joking around with Mac, and maybe not enough time with his date. They can't help but wonder . . . are they more than friends or are they better off without making it even more complicated?

From romantic comedy superstar Elizabeth Eulberg comes a fresh, fun examination of a question for the ages: Can guys and girls ever really be just friends? Or are they always one fight away from not speaking again — and one kiss away from true love?

Better Off Friends is told in alternating narratives, and is divided into sections of major plot points. Each section opens with a conversation between Mac and Levi reflecting back on what just happened in the story. Never does the reader doubt the happy ending that's coming, but the story plays out wonderfully for the reader.

Like all love stories, there's quite a bit of back and forth. Mac and Levi get close to their happily-ever-after, only to be dragged apart again by fear, by other relationships, by doubt, etc. Mac and Levi are fairly 2D, making them incredibly relatable and it makes it easy for the reader to project their own feelings or similar situations into the happily-ever-after between Mac and Levi.

Better Off Friends isn't anything special, but it is an enjoyable, PG-beach read. Elizabeth Eulberg is incredibly good at writing teen chick lit. Better Off Friends is a perfect option for the YA reader interested in the romance genre.

Better Off Friends will be published March 1, 2014.

4 Stars