seriously romantic: love in the friend zone by molly e. lee

looking for a book that reminds you of those epic nights of teenage fun? the ones that bring to mind nick and norah's infinite playlist or can't hardly wait or superbad? then love in the friend zone is that book. it seems to be kicking off a series of books, and i expect them to overlap because there is enough stuff happening offscreen here that you definitely want to keep reading.

in love in the friend zone, braylen and fynn have been best friends forever. since, like, the first day of kindergarten when fynn rescued braylen from a bully who broke her red crayon. she's the editor-in-chief of the newspaper and he's the star photographer. they do everything together. their mantra is "you're there, i'm there" and they stick to it.

they kissed once before, but instead of changing things, they both clung more deeply to their friendship. so fynn didn't let himself see braylen any other way. and braylen just lusted after fynn from afar.

but this night, it's their last hurrah. everything is changing in the fall. they're starting college and fynn isn't sure he wants to go to northwestern (where braylen is going). and he's had his eye on katy evans, he's built up a story around who she is, and he just needs to get the nerve up to talk to her. and braylen is his wingwoman.

and he has no idea that he is killing her with this request. and when their mutual friend zoe challenges braylen to tell fynn how she really feels, and that she has to do it by midnight or zoe will spill the beans herself, well that just adds to the pressure.

the thing about this story is that it flows almost cinematically. the way the characters move through scenes, what they are doing, what they are talking about, how they overlap, it's so well-constructed. i really enjoyed this story and the way it was building up to tell other stories about the people at this party. i want to know what is happening with zoe and gordon and lennon and jade. it's pretty cool that in such a constrained amount of time the author manages to give us a full sense of who these people are and what makes them tick. the fact that one night can change everything for braylen and fynn doesn't seem impossible. because you really get a sense of the twelve years of friendship that came before this moment.

**love in the friend zone will publish on august 14, 2017. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing (crush) in exchange for my honest review.