Benjamin Oliver was the type of MMC to keep you turning pages. He was interesting, deep, just mysterious enough, and perfectly wonderful to Jess. Jess, who for most of the book was blind to what was in front of her. The ending of this book completely stole my heart. It was magical and sweet - the kind of thing you wish you saw more of in real life. The twist with Andrew was believable and just predictable enough. The character dynamic between Benjamin and Jess is peak enemies to lovers with the right amount of banter while still being believable. They're goals when creating enemies to lovers. This is an amazing fast-paced, spicy, and slightly naughty summer read.

A fantastic example of what a YA romcom should be like.
Jessie has a thing for Benjamin even though she hates him. He's popular with everyone especially the girls. She also fancies her brother's best friend Andrew who is coming to stay in a few weeks time. There's a problem. Jessie has no experience with boys and needs someone to show her and teach her. In steps Benjamin (Ben) who offers to cover all the bases with Jessie even though he has an enemies relationship with her
Delightful, fun all the way on every page. Even though this is a YA book I absolutely thoroughly enjoyed reading Jess and Ben's story and their friends too. It's all about growing up, experiencing life, love and friendship and how you realise what mean the most to you is actually as Ben would say, right in front of you.
The humor in this books is brilliant and the dialogue is superbly written. I was engaged from start to finish and read it in just over one sitting. At the end I felt like I really knew Jess and Ben as if they were younger cousins or niece and nephew. I really felt invested in their story and where it went. A lovely romance with a HEA.
Kerry Kennedy Author

This book is very cute and it is a good palette cleanser but for me it unfortunately was not more than that. While the writing was pretty fast paced it was also not really connecting with me. Some of the sentences and word choices kind of put me out of the book. But it was easy to understand!
I also went in to this book thinking I could relate to Jessie a bit who is not very sexually experienced and is a bit anxious about it but I didn't relate to her at all. I feel like a lot of teenagers won't relate to this because the whole book was about sex/being a virgin etc. It was a bit to heavy for me.

There was also no character/plot development which isn't a bad thing at all. It just depends on what you like of course.

I would recommend this to others because I feel like others might really enjoy this. It was just not for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Frenemies with benefits by Lydia Sharp is such an amazing read. The book got me hooked up from chapter 1. The book got a little hot and spicy from the sexual tension, a little of angst, and a happy ending.

This book are well written story with an interesting storyline. The book show the importance of safe sex. I'll definitely be reading more from Lydia Sharp and I'm looking forward to read the next story.

Wanting to shed her virginity in hopes of gaining the confidence to land her crush, Jess Webster enlists the aid of school nemesis Ben Oliver who agrees to teach her everything she needs to know about sex in exchange for an unspecified future favour. As you can imagine, there are complications.

There are some very positive things about this novel and some concerning things too. The banter between the characters is wonderful. The dialogue between Jess and Ben jumps off the page in places - they are clearly well matched in words play. Frenemies with Benefits maintains strong themes of consent and boundaries. There are open discussions about sex among the characters - which I think is healthy from a social perspective - but the lack of awareness of sexual health is concerning. Ben is reported engaging in sexual activity with different girls every week, but there is no discussion of the possibilities of STDs or STIs. Although I applaud the author for tackling the topic of teen sexual activity head on (insert bad pun here), I feel that authorship involves a certain amount of stewardship, which was lacking in this story. Every possible complication - sexual history, pregnancy, public nudity, getting caught, just sex to love - is addressed but the outcome is always best case scenario.

I do think this novel would work best as a new adult rather than teen.

Jess has no experience with boys but wants Ben to teach her so that she can win over Andrew, her brother's attractive Brazilian friend who is staying with them for the summer. I love a good enemies to lovers romcom, but as much as I liked the premise and wanted to like this one, I feel that it was too spicy and full on too fast for teens (the age group I'm assuming is the target audience). I enjoyed aspects like the cute flirting and banter between Jess and Ben, but lawdyyy it was frustrating how she was immediately ready to switch up and drop Ben for Andrew (despite the way they basically seem half in love) as soon as Andrew wants to talk. It's a cute story that probably borders more on New Adult than Young Adult.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the complimentary ARC in return for my honest review.

Socially awkward Jess has a summer plan—to claim her brother's friend, Andrew, as her man and possibly even lose her V card to him. If only she had the sexual confidence to go after what she wanted. Which is where sexy jock Benjamin comes in. He and Jess have been sparring for ages and although she despises him, she can't deny how attractive he is or how experienced he is (at least by reputation) in the bedroom. Which is how she ends up requesting his help to upskill in the sexy department.

Jess is surprised to discover Benjamin has hidden depth—he's tender, thoughtful, nerdy, and a skilled musician and it isn't long before the lines between their sex-education business relationship blurs into something more and Jess finds herself craving his company when they're apart and thinking less and less about Andrew.

Highly recommended this romance for the upper YA/NA audience. The story gives page space to important conversations such as consent, contraception, pregnancy, and different types of sex all through the eyes of a relatable protagonist.

Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you, Netgalley and Entangled Publishing, LLC, for this ARC.

Ben and Jessie hate each other but they are always stuck together because their best friends are dating each other. Jessie basically has social anxiety that is amplified around the opposite sex, so when she finds out that her brothers super hot, brazilian friend will be spending the summer at her place she makes a deal with frenemy Ben to "practice" with so she won't be inexperienced when she tries to win over super hot, Brazilian Andrew. This story has so many of my favorite tropes like enemies-to-lovers and fake dating turned real dating.
I had a lot of conflicting thoughts while reading this book, though. For starters, I didn't really understand WHY Jessie "hated" Ben so much... even when it's revealed later on how they ended up getting off on the wrong foot I don't understand why they didn't just communicate from the beginning? I guess if they had done that we wouldn't have an entire novel about their relationship, though. About halfway through, I really started to love Jessie and Ben and felt like they were so cute together but then *SPOILER*SPOILER*SPOILER* after seeing them basically fall in love and bang each other daily, multiple times a day, Andrew mentions he wants to talk and she throws everything with Ben out the window on a whim???? WHAT? Totally didn't understand her thought process there. However, I totally saw Andrews reveal coming basically from the first chapter he is introduced. That was a roller coaster and I ended up being super annoyed with Jessie. However, she did redeem herself toward the end.
One more thing, this isn't really a *spicy* book because I feel like the *spiciness* is discussed among the characters more than actually done but like I couldn't relate to that at all. I don't recall ever putting so much emphasis on myself or my friends being a virgin or not being a virgin or knowing about their sex lives when I was a teenager. There's also a scene in the book that takes place in a fitting room and I was like, "Woah, I'm an adult, married woman and I wouldn't even do that". Maybe I am a prude and a scaredy cat but I'm struggling to imagine teenagers doing some of the stuff they did in this book.

Overall, I enjoyed the writing style. It was easy to understand and a quick read. I finished the book in about a day. The characters, while I couldn't really relate to them, did interest me enough to finish the book and finish it pretty quickly. I loved Ben and Jessie's brother, Chris.

Cute YA/NA novel ( there both eighteen and graduated and felt more like a new adult novel than young adult) I loved the relationship and dynamic between Ben and Jess!

However there were a few things I didn’t like:

1.) the whole Andrew mess- she didn’t know him at all and really hadn’t spoken to him either so how was she so in love with him? It was legit just cause he was attractive, because he never showed her any interest and they only ever had small talk. Plus the fact that she didn’t admit anything about her feelings until after the big reveal ( which made me think of that shocking reveal didn’t happen she wouldn’t of tried to back track and go back to Ben)

2.) … Jess towards the end of the book

3.)Ben was too good for her, honestly.

4.) Ben’s family dynamic

5.) the ‘spicy’ scenes



Things I did enjoy

1.) the humour/ banter between the two MC’s I legit laughed out loud a lotttt

2.) the relationship and dynamic between the two MC’s when Jess wasn’t being an idiot

3.) the supporting characters

4.) BEN

I’m conclusion I actually quite enjoyed this book overall and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good NA romance, the enemies to lovers trope lovers, and anyone that just wants a good book that is easy to read and written well.

4/5

Frenemies with benefits was such a cute read, had some of the best tropes, and the makings of a rom-com (👀 Hollywood?)

Newly graduated Jess is feeling inexperienced when she finds out her long time older crush (and brothers best friend) is coming into town. In anticipation for his arrival, and the interest of being prepared, Jess decides to use the summer to catch up and explore herself. And who better to do that with than Ben, her high school enemy.

A big thank you to @netgalley @entangled_publishing and Lydia Sharp for an ARC of this very cute book. (It had me smiling on the train ride home 🤪)

A fun and lovely story. With two head strong characters, the story follows them when they try to find their own way in life. This story was a super fun ride till the end. Kept you wanting to read more and more.

Super happy with the author’s note on the front end of this book because it let me know immediately that I am not the reader for it, and it is not the book for me. I skimmed through to find out just how “sex positive” this book was, and to do my due diligence as an ARC reader. YA books have dealt with sex before and been sex positive and teens are having sex, but I don’t think they’re having sex like the author is under the impression—and I teach high school.

I thought the plot sounded cute, but I didn’t realize it was a very open door YA novel in which the FMC literally sleeps with her enemy to learn how to have sex with her college crush. I mean, this book can’t even be promoted on Reddit of all corners of the internet—let that sink in for a second.

For the record, I wouldn’t have liked this as a teen either.

But yay for nepotism when you’re an editor at the publishing house publishing your book, I guess. I doubt this would’ve found a home elsewhere.

What a wonderful way to come back to my YA-loving roots!

Ben and Jessie are quite literally the epitome of frenemies-to-lovers. This book is the perfect mix of “it was always you” with some major “A Cinderella Story” feels. The plot itself was easy, but the overall themes shined through.

Most importantly, the way this book captured the true essence of what teenagers/young adults are like was phenomenal. I appreciate how she didn’t shy away from giving her characters real-world problems, whether the world wants to acknowledge young adults are going through them or not.

This type of book enlightens the young mind through fun storytelling.

Reviewed by: SchlenkReads31 on IG!

This book is a spicy romp through the summer with a sizzling dynamic between Ben and Jess. She asks him for help getting up to speed sexually before trying to seduce her brother's sexy college friend. The tropes at play here all work really well, and this book is such a fun, mostly light read. I loved Jess, as oblivious as she was, and Ben was swoonworthy. Most notable is the excellent consent depictions and the realistic portrayals of that side of things. I would have flown through this book when I was in high school-- it was definitely spicy, but upper YA readers can handle that and I'd argue need something that is so sex positive. As an older reader (25) and as an OG Wattpad girlie (before parts were even compiled into one post and put in order-- these kids have it easy these days!) there were some parts that were really reminiscent of books I read on there. So often that's an insult and I really don't mean it that way; the writing here is great, the story really works, and I really enjoyed it. Some of the dynamic-- Ben buying things for Jess and being so rich in high school the way he is-- were a little less believable for me but something I was more than happy to overlook as a reader. I can think of a specific Wattpad book that the whole "I may be a player but you're the only girl I've brought home" and "the rumors are vastly over-exaggerated" thing mirrors, but I suspect these are pretty widespread across romances both on and off Wattpad.
If you're interested in reading, definitely give this a go!

Frenemies with Benefits is a coming-of-age story... but not one I would be comfortable recommending for teens. I think this would be a nice New Adult book, but I'm not sure if I would suggest teens read it. There will be some (plenty!) who are ready and waiting for this kind of content, but there will be some who are just not mature enough to handle it... yet.
That being said, Jess is adorable and you can't help but love Ben. They are very sweet together. My main concern would be the suggestion that s*x can be emotionless and transactional as the two MCs are attempting. There is more to it than right time/right place... as they soon figure out (and hopefully readers will too!) Overall a cute story with lots of humor and heart. Easy to read!
Thank you NetGalley and Entangled Publishing, LLC, Entangled: Teen for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

"Relationship coach" is one of my favorite tropes, and this novel is really well-written... However, as a librarian I don't feel comfortable recommending this book to the teenagers. I would rather recommend EIGHT NIGHTS OF FLIRTING by Hannah Reynolds. This novel is too explicit and mature for a YA book and not explicit enough for a New Adult book. I don't feel comfortable reading about an 18-year-old boy who is not usually with the same girl more than a week or two. A teenager who has already slept with so many different partners. IMHO, the main characters get naked too fast. Hand jobs right away, without even getting to know each other. Sex in public places.

It could be a wonderful New Adult book about college. But not YA.

Super cute YA Rom-com. Jess has zero boy experience but her heart set on her older brother's friend Andrew. Jess is about to graduate high school in a few weeks and her brother in coming home to see her graduate. He is bringing Andrew with him, so this is her chance to get him to notice her. The problem that arises in Jess's mind, how does she keep the interest of a hot, college guy when she has never even been kissed? Enter Benjamin Oliver, school jock, heartthrob and Jess's biggest frenemy. When Ben hears Jess discussing the dilemma with her BFF and offers to help Jess with her virginal problems, Jess laughs him off but after giving it some serious thought, decides to take him up on his offer. The rules are simple, their friends can never know, if either decides they want to stop, they stop and no falling in love. How could this go wrong?
This was really cute. I actually enjoyed it much more than I thought I would and read it in a day or two. It was well written with good characters. This is exactly what you would want to read in a YA Rom-com book. It does have some spice, so age-appropriate readers beware.

I liked this book, but it was so unrealistic in many places. While sex in YA books is good and what's happening with real teenagers, the characters seemed like they should be in college.

I really loved the plot to this story! I love a good frenemies-to-lovers story, especially because frenemies usually have a kind and respectful foundation to their relationship and aren't fully enemies. I also love the trope of falling for the guy you never thought you liked that much, only to find out they've known and loved you all these years and will continue to do so forever.
This story had a cute premise, but I didn't love the writing style. Some of the phrasing and character traits felt a little inauthentic to me (like how this high school boy has this sculpted mans body and is somehow amazing at sex and has had many partners...would work better on an adult romance to me). I also didn't love how Jess and her friends placed so much emphasis on good looks and sexual experience as the key to finding love. Jess and Ben also weren't that compatible to me. They really were more full enemies than frenemies, actually hating on each other except for expressing their enjoyment at the others bodies (again, I don't know how high schoolers are so comfortable in their bodies, couldn't be me).
Overall, I liked the concept but just couldn't click with this particular story, but could be for you if you like enemies-to-lovers and adult romance vibes to newly graduated young adults.

A fun rom-com! This book is definitely for older teens due to its mature content. I loved the dynamics between Benjamin and Jess! I appreciated the positivity the author gave supporting that a healthy relationship should be based on consent, honesty, and trust. I'm not sure that the beginning needed to have such strong language and Jess didn't come off as someone that I really liked. As the story progressed, I grew to like her, especially her playfulness, charm, and ability to conquer her fears. Like the author noted in the beginning there are teens out there that would enjoy and benefit from this book.