It's a slow burn, which i enjoyed. I did get a little frustrated with the characters at times, but they acted like most of us do when still trying to figure things out. And it was an easy and pretty quick read for me. The son and Aunt/Grandmother figure cracked me up many times, as well as Ruby's Friend/Boss, Fe. And any questions I had in my mind while reading was resolved by the end of the story. It was a pleasant and enjoyable read

I received a copy of the book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving my honest thoughts and opinions

A very belated review. This book was a light enjoyable read. The characters were easy to love. My only complaint is how long it took for the book to really get into the story.

The cover is beautiful and the book is a nice read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I love the cover and the premise of this one!
Ruby as a character is a bit of me and I loved getting to know her. I find these types of books easy going and fun to read and this was no exception. It's lighthearted, but also does cover important topics and gets deep at times. At times the pacing was a bit off, but i think it can be overlooked as the character development was great!

Definitely going to see what else Frances Mensah Williams has written and check them out!

I enjoyed This book. It was well written. I was able to engage with characters and plot. I would Read another book by this author and I recommend This book

The cover really drew me in, but I was pretty let down by Ruby being indecisive. I know this is how some people are in real life, but it was really hard to get through.

I found myself immersed in Ruby's journey as a single mother grappling with past wounds and seeking closure. Her struggles resonated deeply with me, reminding me of my own battles with adversity and the importance of leaning on loved ones for support.

While I appreciated the overall storyline, I couldn't help but feel frustrated by certain aspects of the plot. The transition from best friends to lovers felt forced at times, and Ruby's sudden turn against Griffin seemed unwarranted given their history of unwavering support for each other.

Moreover, the slow burn romance between the main characters left me feeling impatient, especially as Ruby's actions towards the MMC became increasingly frustrating. Despite rooting for their relationship, I found myself questioning whether they were truly meant to be together.

Despite these flaws, I appreciated the novel's emphasis on family reconciliation and the exploration of complex relationships. The bond between Ruby and her son, Jake, was particularly heartwarming, and I found myself cheering for their happiness throughout the story.

However, I couldn't shake the feeling that the novel could have benefited from tighter pacing and fewer unnecessary subplots. While there were moments of genuine warmth and humor, the excessive details and meandering arcs detracted from the overall enjoyment of the book.

In the end, "Strictly Friends" left me with mixed feelings. While I admired its themes of resilience and forgiveness, I couldn't overlook its pacing issues and underdeveloped romantic plotline. Despite its flaws, Miss Ida's endearing presence earns it a modest rating of 3 stars in my book.

This is a book with a captivating blurb, an engaging title, and so much potential -- but it's way too long for me to enjoy as much as I expected. The protagonist, Ruby, is indecisive and rather hypocritical, and I lost interest several times throughout the book. The plot is interesting, but the progression is so slow the intrigue is lost.

this is such an underwhelming book.

the beginning 10% was hard to get into and seemed longer than necessary. certain scenes could have been shorter and more concise i.e., the scene where ruby told fi of her decision. i also most dropped the book @ post-fight because ruby is so conflicting and hypocritical that it's frustrating. enough to say, i didn't like her very much.

the only silver lining was that i didn't expect kenny's reason for his departure. i thought it was entirely something else and i was pleasantly surprised.

I wish I'd liked this book more – and I might have if it was shorter.

In "Strictly friends" we have the story of Ruby, a single mother who had to take care of her son for 6 years practically alone after her husband abandoned her and she lost her parents, with only her aunt and her best childhood friend, Griffin as helpers in that mission. But after showing interest in meeting her father, Ruby needs to face the ghosts of the past so that her son - and even herself, can move forward.

The plot itself is good, but it has a lot of holes. I'm not going to say that I didn't like the book because that's a lie, I liked it, but the author takes so much time to have a conclusion that it ends up making the book tiring.

The main premise was supposed to be a "best friends to lovers" story, but that was the part that irritated me the most to be honest. The best friend has always been there for the main character and her son, and because of a single small slip of his, she completely turns against him – and for a very stupid reason in my opinion.

The main couple takes so long to get together and the fmc is such an idiot with the mmc that in the end I didn't even want them to be together anymore because she was just SO ANNOYING. Which is a shame because it could've been a lovely couple if she hadn't made such a fool of herself (on purpose) for something that was so absurdly obvious from the beginning of the book.

But less than romance, I realized that the book itself ended up being more focused on family reconciliation than on "friends to lovers", because everything revolves around Jake truly knowing his father and Ruby discovering why her husband abandoned her so abruptly. (and btw, the main reason isn't very tangible and even quite disappointing)

There were several parts of the book that I liked and it wasn't such a wasteful read at all, but it could easily have been 50 pages less and still be good, maybe even better.

The amount of details and descriptions also made the reading a bit dragging, as well as unnecessary arcs in the middle of the story. There are several things there that could easily be cut and/or adapted to contribute to the story without making it so long and confusing (Mac's arc, for example). 3 ⭐️ just because Miss Ida is a cutie.

Thanks so much for sharing this book with me.
I have said STRICTLY FRIENDS before but mostly that is not how it stays!!!

Thank you for the chance to read and review but after further consideration, I don’t think that this is the right book for me so I will not be completing it. At least, not at this time.

This was a easy, enjoyable read. A friends to lovers trope touching on the subjects of relationships, grief, self love, and motherhood. I could relate to the FMC in sense. Loved how the book ended.

This book was sadly a dnf at 50% for me. It didn't capture my interest as I had hoped it would and decided to stop reading.

I was drawn by this book for the cute cover and very promising premise, I enjoyed the dynamic between the main character and her son, but somehow it's hard for me to follow the story so i had to DNF. Maybe this is just not for me.

This book was just ok for me. I feel like it took a long time to progress through the plot. I wasn't overly enthused to get through the book and was very grateful when it ended. In the end, I felt like it was all over the place and don’t really know how we made it to the end.

I enjoyed the healing aspect and finding yourself and love

Loved it!!


Thank you soooooo much netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced review copy if this book💗

This was an enjoyable romance novel which hit on additional issues such as self love, abandonment, and self esteem. The author handled these issues well. The romance is good and I would love to visit this island.
Many thanks to Amazon Publishing UK and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you for my eARC of this book. Overall I enjoyed but didn’t love this. I wanted more from the characters, they felt a little 2 dimensional at times which made me struggle to care for them. Overall the story was enjoyable though and I loved the scene setting

This was my first book by Frances Mensah Williams and it hasn't been the last. I thought this was very well written and I quickly became invested in Ruby's world. The settings merged seemlessly and it really felt like you were travelling along with Ruby and Jake. I'm a sucker for a grumpy best friend who's been there all along so I fell quickly for Griffin! Witnessing Ruby go from insecure to confiden was great as well.

The book explores the themes of love, friendship, family, and microaggression. The only thing that I didn't particulary like was the whole 'a child needs a father' as there are plenty of people who grow into adult without a second parent. It didn't particulary impact my enjoyment of the book but it did make me pause a few times.

Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable read and I would recommend.