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A review by mspilesofpaper
Escaping the Friendzone by Emily Antoinette
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Ari planned to go to an escape room with friends on Valentine's Day but didn't expect everyone to bail on her, which left her alone with her brother's best friend Wesley, a minotaur, and her crush. Being alone in the escape room leads to them acting on their sexual attraction and finding out that it is more than just sexual attraction, which leaves them to navigate their new relationship with all its issues.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
Escaping the Friendzone is a paranormal romance set in the USA where monsters, such as minotaurs, mothmen, werewolves, ... exist. It plays in Moonvale, a fictional town with a high population of monsters. It is the third book in a series, and while the couples from the previous two books appear in it, it can be considered standalone. There's not much on the world-building aside from it.
Concerning the characters: originally, I liked Ari and Wes because she was snarky and he was caring soft dom. Unfortunately, the constant focus on Ari's anxiety about everything (her body, her life, her work, her brother, etc) got rather exhausting with time because she views herself as the issue for pretty much everything, which leads to her being hyper-independent. As much as I like independent women, she was sometimes very whiny and went even too far in the "I'm not like other girls" direction. Wes meanwhile? He's pretty much everything you might want in a monster. He's kind, soft-hearted and a consent king. You have to like dominance with him, though, because while he isn't super dominant, he sometimes takes charge without talking about it with Ari.
As for the romance, I didn't like how both acted in the first chapter (when the reader meets them). I think the escape room setting could have been more extended to build up to them acting on their sexual attraction instead of going directly into it. If you are worried about the daddy/baby girl kink: there's no age play involved. Ari is occasionally a brat in scenes, so she does get punished, but both are adults (I think he's ~40 and she's ~30) and set up boundaries for everything.
Overall, I think the book could have been a good 50 pages shorter because the end was dragging on after the 200 page mark.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
TWs & CWs: oral and vaginal sex, internalised fatphobia, fatphobia from previous partner, discussion of cheating & gaslighting afterwards (concerning side characters), anxiety episodes, BDSM, age gap, daddy kink/baby girl, spanking, cum play, oversized monster dick, discussion of food shaming, sex in a semi-public setting, masturbation, no condom, breeding kink
Trope(s): brother's best friend
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Monster Romance
Heat/Spice: 3 🌶️(gets a bit repetitive)
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
Escaping the Friendzone is a paranormal romance set in the USA where monsters, such as minotaurs, mothmen, werewolves, ... exist. It plays in Moonvale, a fictional town with a high population of monsters. It is the third book in a series, and while the couples from the previous two books appear in it, it can be considered standalone. There's not much on the world-building aside from it.
Concerning the characters: originally, I liked Ari and Wes because she was snarky and he was caring soft dom. Unfortunately, the constant focus on Ari's anxiety about everything (her body, her life, her work, her brother, etc) got rather exhausting with time because she views herself as the issue for pretty much everything, which leads to her being hyper-independent. As much as I like independent women, she was sometimes very whiny and went even too far in the "I'm not like other girls" direction. Wes meanwhile? He's pretty much everything you might want in a monster. He's kind, soft-hearted and a consent king. You have to like dominance with him, though, because while he isn't super dominant, he sometimes takes charge without talking about it with Ari.
As for the romance, I didn't like how both acted in the first chapter (when the reader meets them). I think the escape room setting could have been more extended to build up to them acting on their sexual attraction instead of going directly into it. If you are worried about the daddy/baby girl kink: there's no age play involved. Ari is occasionally a brat in scenes, so she does get punished, but both are adults (I think he's ~40 and she's ~30) and set up boundaries for everything.
Overall, I think the book could have been a good 50 pages shorter because the end was dragging on after the 200 page mark.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
TWs & CWs: oral and vaginal sex, internalised fatphobia, fatphobia from previous partner, discussion of cheating & gaslighting afterwards (concerning side characters), anxiety episodes, BDSM, age gap, daddy kink/baby girl, spanking, cum play, oversized monster dick, discussion of food shaming, sex in a semi-public setting, masturbation, no condom, breeding kink
Trope(s): brother's best friend
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Monster Romance
Heat/Spice: 3 🌶️(gets a bit repetitive)