Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely wish I had better news regarding this book. In fact, this was one of my most anticipated reads…and well, it fell flat. The unfortunate thing is I don’t have much to say about this book. It wasn’t a DNF, but it was close. There were a few redeeming characteristics of this book.

This was an enemies to friends to lovers trope, queer Romeo and Juliet style. All of which were good things. Sadly, as I said, it all fell flat to me.

The biggest problem to be honest was the writing. I did not like or enjoy the writing. Something about it bugged me the whole time. It just wasn’t for me. If this hadn’t been an ARC it would have been very likely a DNF for me on the writing alone. However, I decided to continue to give it a chance and hope the plot made up for it.

The plot was fine, but the characters were one dimensional in terms of their development individually.

I liked the relationship, and their dialogue but again, I wish I had felt more for it. The rep was really good in this book, and I think it was prominent and naturally developed.

Overall, this book lands at a two star rating for the rep and the potential that it had.

The biggest thing was this was OwnVoices and had a queer relationship, which I thought was well written.

Note: I can’t speak to if the rep is accurate or good, as I am not a part of the target audience, although I did enjoy the rep as it was written.

I think that this story's plot held a lot of potential but the world and character building left me wanting more. The interactions between the characters felt a bit repetitive and overall I just wanted to know more about their motivations and the world that they lived in. If you are into books more for plot than characters, you'll probably enjoy this.

I love reading everything Cale Dietrich. His plots are glamorously outlandish and everything you craze from a well done 90's rom-com. His writing style fits perfectly with his big-hearted characters and the pop culture references are keeping me alive. I mean, You Me at Six? Musical genius. This book was just believeable enough to keep it troupe-y and I loved all the troupes. Bonus points for unapologetically feminist mobsters.

I cannot wait for his next book!

While this was better than Dietrich's debut effort, I had a hard time with the amount of suspension of disbelief needed to justify the plot as well as yet again, more weak characterization and world building. Most of the book involves the two guys circling each other, thinking each other is hot, and then backing off, leading to a lot of filler and wasted time that did not develop the characters. I really want to love Dietrich's novels because they always sound so intriguing. But again, the writing really needs to be better to make the book work.

Story: Matt is the son of the local crime family, the Millers. They deal in robberies and extortion but also have a rivalry with the Donovans, who corner the narcotics market. When Matt meets Jason in the bathroom of a local bar hangout for the Millers, he thinks he has found a kindred soul. But then the Millers find out that the Donovans have a strategy to take down the Millers from the inside through infiltration - a friend scheme. Is Jason a Donovan in disguise? Is he grooming Matt to find out Miller secrets?

If you are entertaining reading this book, I recommend avoiding reviews since the original blurb gave away a huge twist in the story (and so reviewers felt confident discussing the twist). The publisher has since fixed the description but you should be aware before reading so you don't spoil the story.

The biggest issues I had with the book are logic and world building. It is hard to believe the son of a mob boss would walk off with a stranger (especially one who came on to him abruptly in a bathroom) since sons are prime targets for kidnapping and extortion by rival gangs. But our protagonist is rather clueless - a little lamb who hates the family business and just wants to play video games. To be honest, the whole mob aspect of the story is barely present and only occasionally rears its ugly head. Mostly, it is Matt feeling like he is a disappointment to his father, wanting to see the hot Jason again, and then going on various 'dates' to get to know Jason better. It's really hard to justify Matt bringing Jason over to his house when he suspects Jason is a Donovan - the last thing you want to do is give the enemy a full layout of your home (as well as other important info like who lives there and where) so they can make a hit on you easier. And I find it REALLY hard to believe that the Donovans and the Millers have no idea about the children of the bosses - that Matt's family wouldn't know if there was a Jason Donovan and that the Donovans would not be aware of Matt. But yeah, out sweet little simpleton has absolutely no regard for safety or security and blithely goes to deserted beaches and lonely alleys with each other as if everything is AOK in the world. It began to veer into the ugly "too stupid to live' category, sadly.

Since most of the book was the dating/getting to know each other, it got kind of old having Jason hit on Matt and Matt pulling back. Rinse, repeat. I felt there was a lot more story that could be had for 80% of the book (the 80% of the boys going out, going to each other's houses, etc.). There are some mob hits and one scene of an execution/torture but that's about it. The twist at the end isn't explored and so there is a LOT of tell but no show.

At no time did I believe in either Matt or Jason as real people. Nor anyone else in the book - from the laid back older brother of Matt to the fellow mob family girl Cassidy. Matt's brother Luke is pretty much a surfer/stoner stereotype (which doesn't scream 'hard bitten mob eldest son' and Cassidy looked to have been able to have real impact but she only came in for brief scenes that gave us only a glimpse of what could have been.

What I can say is that it is an easy, if unsatisfying, read. The romance is silly, the plot twist not really interesting, and the end is so abrupt and so unrealistic as to be a real head-scratcher. There is just so much potential here but the writing aspects of world building, character growth, development, and plotting need to continue to improve. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

This novel is one of the best I’ve read this year! The characters are so dynamic yet relatable. I loved the flow of the story. It held my attention the whole time.

Let’s start with the positives...
The characters are cute! The MC is super sweet.

Unfortunately that’s about it. The writing is just.. immature? Like reading a Wattpad story? Honestly, I’m not really sure how to explain it. I STRUGGLED to read this book. I didn’t want to DNF because I feel like that’s all I’ve been doing lately but it was definitely a struggle-read. There’s no depth. The whole ‘mob/gang’ schtick is very poorly done. But I could see this book and it’s writing style appealing to a younger demographic, maybe 12-16.

I give The Friend Scheme 2 stars.

Matt and Jason meet in the most unconventional way, the bathroom at a bar. Both agree not to exchange last names because if Matt and Jason knew who the other was then they wouldn't be able to hang out. However, simple friendship grows into something much more and wanting to know more about the person that you are interested in gets messy and complicated.

Overall this book was a very quick read and had a lot of gut punches and twists but towards the end it became a little repetitive and finished way too quickly and little too neatly after a lot of build up. A solid read with some romance and family tension and is good for anyone looking for a fast paced novel.