I love a secret relationship, people having to hide their attraction to each other, but this one felt a little bit lacking to me sadly. There wasn't anything specific that I didn't love about the book, it just didn't intrigue me as much as I was hoping that it would. The characters were fun, the concept interesting, and the romance steamy.

I had the highest expectations of this book. It took me awhile to get into it, the first 50% is really slow. The last 50% is really great. Lulu is me and everything I always feel with making friends, dealing with friends. It’s such a raw perspective on the difficulties of creating and maintaining friendships as an adult.

f you don’t have The Friendship Study by @rubybarrettwrite on your TBR, get it on there now!

Ruby’s newest book pubbed yesterday on Galentines day and I had the pleasure of attending the book launch which also featured the amazing @rosiedanan

I was fortunate to receive a copy of TFS early from @harlequinbooks @harlequinpublicityteam and knew I had to rebind it and take to the party with me.

Thankfully, Ruby loved it and while I had a bit more work to do on the book, I will gifting this rebound copy to her in the near future.

I love this book and it’s def one of my faves ever. The MCs, Jesse and Lulu are participating in a study for millennials who struggle to make friends, which is something I deal with and I know many others do, too. The two were set up on a blind date by a mutual friend before the study, but didn’t really follow up after the date despite being wildly attracted and drawn to each other. Now they are spending more time together but one of the rules of the study is no s3x between participants. But don’t you worry; Jesse and Lulu explore some ways to bed the rules. 😉😉

Tropes in the book include:
💋s3x for science
❤️friends to lovers/fated mates
🌳millennial angst
📖quiet/energetic pairing

There is also neurodiversity rep and both Jesse and Lulu are bi. Ruby writes these reps extremely well and I definitely saw a lot of my own neurodivergency in Lulu

In "The Friendship Study," Jesse Logan, and Lulu Banks participate in a cross discipline study on millennials and adult friendship. As they navigate the study's strict no romance rule, a *very* friendly connection is formed and they must navigate the thin line between friendship and something more.

"The Friendship Study" proved to be an easy read with unexpected depth from the two main characters. While the rapid progression of Jesse and Lulu's relationship challenged my preference for slower burn, the relatable characters and the emphasis on self-improvement kept me interested. The “forbidden love” connection added a layer of tension, making it an easy (and spicy) read.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5942984393

ARC review: The Friendship Study by Ruby Barrett

Did I stay up past 2am reading it in one sitting without realizing how late it was because I loved these characters so much and got sucked into their story? Absolutely.

These two MCs are so lovely and complicated and precious. Lulu and Jesse are both in their thirties and have a hard time meeting people for valid and traumatic reasons. A mutual friend sets them up on a date that doesn't go well and then they both end up in a study about millenials making friends that same mutual friend is running. They spent time together and their chemistry is clear but participants aren't supposed to fraternize beyond friendship.

The clear answer to this problem is: if we aren't touching each other, it doesn't count, right? They may not start off touching but it is still HOT and they obviously become comfortable and intimate with one another.

The book has neurodiversity rep, disability and mobility aid rep (go Team Canes!), anxiety rep, bi rep, and more. It's sweet, thoughtful, sexy, and funny. It felt different in a way I can't explain than what I'd read from Ruby Barrett before but still so good. I really recommend you read it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC and to Ruby Barrett for sharing her talent for storytelling with us.

What an absolute delight The Friendship Study was. The concept for the story was unlike anything I've read before. I loved the relationships explored, romantic and otherwise. The characters themselves were deeply complex. The academia undertones were immaculate...AND THE SPICE. Some of the best spice I have ever read. Didn't quite give me the five star feeling because the pacing was at times disjointed for my taste, but it was a very solid 4.

Wow! This book was everything. There were so many things I loved about it and I could not put it down once I picked it up. The people, the friendships, the adhd and anxiety representation all hit so close to home for me in the best possible way.

I say it all the time to people, it’s hard to make friends as an adult. Well Lulu and Jesse definitely feel the same. As an adult with ADHD and anxiety I struggle to find friends and second guess myself when I do. I am so happy that Ruby wrote Lulu because I fully see myself in her. And Jesse! I love that man with my whole heart. His struggle and growth with finding himself again was so inspiring to read. I loved these two together! And not only that but I loved the side friendships and family. George is the best meddling friend anyone could ask for and Lulu’s dad was so sweet!

This was the first book I’ve read by ruby Bennet and I can’t wait to read more. Her writing style and humor make the pages fly by and make me hope I can live in the pages forever.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

Jesse Logan is still recovering from a car accident that took away his loved career as a firefighter. Lulu Banks has just gone through a nasty breakup. Both find their way into a paid psychological study. Being partnered up is awkward as a mutual friend set them up on a date and Jesse ghosted her after the fact. The study is about learning to make friends. But their attraction is sizzling. They try to keep to the rules of not being intimate but that leads them to doing steamy stuff that didn’t seem romantic to me. I like Jesse as a representation of being Bi but his old boyfriend being involved in their original setup and knowing about the study made me distrust him a lot. This book has good emotions. I especially like the reveal Jesse comes to in a therapy session. But there are moments I didn’t need as much. Still I’m giving it 3.5 stars and rounding up.

5 STARS 5 STARS 5 STARS!!!!!

If you've ever felt like you don't fit in, or have felt like you're "too much" to handle, or if you've ever been lonely, or if you just like to read well-written, incredible stories full of love and learning and betterment, "The Friendship Study" by Ruby Barrett is the book for you. My god, I absolutely *loved* this book. It is perfection. There's no doubt about it: this WILL BE one of the best books I read in 2024. It's as if author Ruby Barrett stole this book out of the depths of my heart, mind, and soul. I identified with it so deeply. It made me laugh, it made me BAWL, it made me cheer, and it made my poor lil' frozen heart thaw just a little bit. She elegantly, tenderly, and intricately balances the light and fluffy with spicy and sexy with heavy and important. The way she portrays growing old, growing up, growing apart, and growing in love... I just felt absolute elation reading this book. It all felt so true to life, so lived-in, so authentic to the human experience. I am going to be thinking about Lulu and Jesse for a long, long time to come. What a terrific pair of vulnerable, lovable, perfect characters! If you're a reader who dislikes insta-love, please know that you will change your mind about the trope by reading this book. Also, this book boasts some of the best bi-representation I have ever seen in romance. Being queer is not just a checkbox or a quick mention for Ruby Barrett. She fully commits to having her characters *be* queer. I loved the side characters. I loved the storylines, every last one of them. I loved every single solitary thing about this book. You are doing a disservice to yourself if you don't read this book! Ruby Barrett, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, so, so much for this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ruby Barrett, Harlequin - Romance, and Carina Adores for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

Sweet, spicy, heartwrenchingly real, Jesse and Lulu are the ultimate friends to lovers. The Friendship Study touches on the loneliness of adulthood and the ever present feeling that we should have it all figured out by now. Their emotional relationship blooms as they get to know each other and themselves, feeling less alone and more secure and turns into a gorgeous love that will definitely go the distance.

This was one of those books that I’m just really happy I got to read.

Ruby writes these onion layers of character and plot and setting and they’re all interwoven together into a single sentence. I’m basically reading A Brief History of Time all over again and everything is both cellular small and cosmically big at the same time.
Sure it’s not 9 sex scenes again but it’s horny and self discovery but more self acceptance and we’re all a little messy.

This book was stunning. I wanted to read it because I was seeing so much hype around it, and it did not disappoint. This one goes out to all my fellow millennials that struggle to make friends but still want to fall in love.

If you are looking for a fun queer friends-with-benefits-to-lovers, please check out The Friendship Study! I could not put it down. I appreciated the queer and neurodivergent rep, especially because it felt genuine. The author handled mental health issues with care and in a way that I could connect to. I loved the idea of this "friendship study", mostly because I 100% would have been one of the people that would've participated.

- I loved Ruby Barrett’s previous book, but THE FRIENDSHIP STUDY blows it out of the water. I adored Jesse and Lulu, who each felt like real, unique people.
- The friendship study itself is sort of vague, but it gives the characters such a great “we can’t be doing this” setup that I was willing to forgive how unscientific it felt, lol.
- Jesse is a bisexual man dealing with chronic pain after an injury, and Lulu is a queer woman just beginning to think she might have ADHD. Both are struggling with where their lives are going and the way making new friends as an adult seems impossible. And amid all these feelings, this book is HOT.

This was such a sweet, endearing friends to lovers story. It was more than that too. It was a story of understanding, finding yourself, struggling to make friends as an adult, being seen by another person in such a way that you understand yourself, being alone without feeling lonely.

Jesse is a bisexual firefighter who has had to find another identity after being injured. Not allowed to be a firefighter has changed his identity. Struggling to connect with people his one friend/ex-lover George enters him into The Friendship Study.

Lulu is a history professor and is struggling at her new college. After having left her old one due to her boyfriend and ex-best friend were caught together and both worked at the college. Feeling like her father’s position at the school got her the job and feeling invalidated by her peers. Her friend George pushes her to join the study.

While Lulu is talkative and loud, Jesse is the opposite. While they are different they are also very similar, drawn together.

This story covered so many topics that are relevant to most adults and I think the overall message of being seen was so beautifully done.

This is less will they or won’t they and more why don’t they already. The barriers keeping Jesse and Lulu apart did not feel as insurmountable to this reader as they did to the characters. They had great chemistry as friends (and more), but the obstacles seemed a little contrived.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

The Friendship Study is an emotionally charged romance featuring friends to lovers, hurt/comfort, friends w benefits, queer rep, grumpy x sunshine, adhd rep, and lots of steam. The story follows Lulu, a young college professor who feels lost in her life after moving back to her hometown, and Jesse, a former firefighter who is struggling to find direction in his life after a car accident left him jobless. When the two are set up on a blind date by their mutual friend, they spend the night awkwardly engaging, only to go their own ways. However, when they both join an experimental study on how to make friends, they quickly fall into step and find themselves falling for each other despite the studies' rule against dating.

This book tore me apart, body and soul. Flayed me, red and raw. And stitched me back together again more flawlessly than before. While that may sound dramatic, I swear everything about this book conspired to lay me bare and open me up to fall for Ruby Barrett's writing and the beautiful romance she concocted between the two hopelessly frail yet resilient characters that are Lulu and Jesse. The two had so much character development and I loved how they encouraged one another and grew for themselves before getting into a relationship. While there were some heavy moments throughout the story, they were perfectly balanced with the sweet and sensual romance; Lulu and Jesse just felt like they were in their own bubble and fell for each other so organically. This was my first Ruby Barrett book but it most certainly will not be my last, I'm going to have to read her whole catalogue!

📣 a contemporary with that sweet sweet balance of steam & feels.

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC & the publisher for the complimentary hardcopy. All opinions provided are my own.

📖 what’s your current read?

A story about two lonely people who become best friends & lovers? 🥹 Not only did the steam really get to me in Ruby Barrett’s The Friendship Study, but the emotions did too.

This book is hot. It also has a scene where the grumpy hero adopts a grumpy cat 🥹 & the adorable, brilliant heroine also has a fave tree & likes to talk to herself. They also paint each others’ freaking toenails & unbeknownst to me, this is something that makes me swoon.

Both of the leads, Jesse & Lulu, are at a bit of loose ends when the book opens. Jesse’s life status gives me some Roni Loren’s What If You & Me vibes (need I say more?). Lulu is trying to establish her own life as a professor outside of her brilliant professor-dad’s shadow.

When they find each other, there’s instant chemistry. But it’s the friendship they show to each other, the acceptance, the home they provide, that really got to me.

5 ⭐️. Out today!

Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.

[ID: Jess’s white hand holds the book in a greenhouse.]

Oh, how I love this book! It’s sweet, super romantic, and has LGBTQ representation. So many fantastic characters and stories along the way during a great friends to lovers journey.

Jesse is trying to find and redefine himself after a car accident and injury leave him unable to continue as a firefighter, and he recently had to put the grandfather who raised him into a care home for dimentia patients… he has only one friend who he often won’t even talk to. He’s isolated himself feeling frustrated and depressed. Lulu had a devastating breakup and has moved back with her parents. She also struggles with friendships and dating and self doubt.

A study at the university where Lulu works and her only work friend, who happens to be Jesse’s only friend and ex, George (who is running said study), about adult friendships, brings the pair together - and forbids fraternizing. The pair, with the other study participants, join in social activities, but can they be strictly friends and figure out everything else in their lives …

Such a beautiful storyline and I’m sure, like me, each of us will see parts of themselves in each of Jesse and Lulu, struggling to adapt in the modern world, making adult friendships and just plain adulting. A brilliant read, Barrett’s typical great storytelling, and my favourite of her books so far! Definitely recommend this to all.

I received an advance copy from NetGalley and Harlequin Romance (Carina Adores), and this is my honest feedback.

this book is perfect, no notes. I understand it’s the whole point of the book, but I really just loved how they built the friendship between them. They never really had awkward silences. They just learned how to be with the other person. Seeing Jesse slowly open up and figure out who he is again was everything. I just liked how vulnerable they were with each other from pretty early on. They didn’t let the bad ending to the date stop them from having a friendship. I kind of want to see a long epilogue after he has his nursing degree and just after they’ve been together for a while.

I received an arc through netgalley.

Heat Factor: An incredible display of non-penetrative intercourse

Character Chemistry: When she tells him, “You’re my person,” I believed it

Plot: Sad lonely millennials participate in a scientific study about adult friendship

Overall: I feel sad on the surface, but my heart is singing

I’m not going to lie: I found the set up for this book so depressing. Maybe because it cut a little too close to home, as I am a millennial who has gone through very lonely periods. Adult friendships are hard! So I really felt for Lulu and Jesse, who are both lonely and miserable at the beginning of this book. They’ve both recently gone through major upheavals—Jesse due to a car accident, Lulu due to a relationship that imploded spectacularly—that have them questioning their identities. Jesse can no longer physically do the work he always thought he would. Lulu only has her precarious non-tenure-track position because her dad pulled some strings. Jesse is pushing his old friends away. Lulu is struggling to connect with her new colleagues. It’s grim.

Anyways, Jesse and Lulu meet not-cute when their mutual friend sets them up on a date and it goes…kinda mediocre. Except for that hot kiss at the end. But they don’t exchange numbers, so that seems to be that. Until they both sign up to participate in a study on friendships (for which that same mutual friend is the coordinator, which kinda seems like a breach of ethics that the IRB would be interested in). This study requires the participants to take part in mandatory friend activities, so Lulu and Jesse start hanging out. A lot. The catch? As participants in the study, they all signed an agreement not to engage in sexual relations with other members of the study.

One thing that really works in this book is how well Barrett builds the rapport between Jesse and Lulu. While there are several subplots—the study, Jesse’s relationship with his grandfather, Lulu’s struggles in academia—the story feels very tightly focused on our main characters as they slowly develop a friendship. It’s very much an opposites attract dynamic: Jesse is the strong and silent type. He never went to college because he went straight into being a firefighter, just like his dad and grandpa. Lulu can talk about the history of witchcraft—she is a professor and this is her area of research—for literally hours without interruption. But that moment went Lulu mentioned Derrida and so Jesse got one of his books out of the library: guh, you know he’s got it bad.

So here they are, being friends and being very attracted to each other and definitely not supposed to be having sex. Enter the mutual masturbation session. You know. Because friends…help each other out. When they watch a movie and accidentally put on a sexy art house film and are feel pretty frisky. As one does. The sex writing here is pretty spectacular—especially with Erin’s recent post on where men ejaculate on my mind. Lulu and Jesse take things a little bit further each time they hook up, and Barrett successfully uses these scenes to build the intimacy between them. Yes, they do eventually have penetrative sex, and yes, it is an important moment in their relationship (it’s after they admit that they want to be together as not-friends), but it’s not the culminating sex act at the end of the book that shows that they’re in it to win it (that’s a BJ in his truck, if we exclude the pegging in the epilogue).

If I have one criticism of this book, it’s the Black Moment. I understand, from a narrative perspective, why Lulu and Jesse fight and break up: it’s to cue Jesse’s grand gesture slash grovel, which is perfectly executed. But they break up because that mutual friend who the IRB DEFINITELY needs to know about has boundary issues. He shows up at Jesse’s house uninvited (that’s how their friendship works, that’s not the issue), sees that Lulu has spent the night (it’s right after that pivotal sex scene), and DOESN’T LEAVE. Instead, he pushes the issue about them having sex and what it means for the study and basically forces them to have a conversation in front of him about whether it’s love or what. OF COURSE Jesse and Lulu, who we have already established are struggling, do not have a great conversation under those circumstances. Like, come on, dude. Maybe you should leave, let them figure themselves out without an audience, and then talk to them one-on-one about how each of them wants to handle their participation in this stupid study. It made me angry because it felt so avoidable and contrived; the friend hadn’t been excessively dumb about people before this moment, so I didn’t understand why he was acting this way. If you too feel angry reading this, take a deep breath with me, and know that the way they reconcile (almost entirely) makes up for it.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report.