*fans myself* PHEW THIS WAS HOT!

Firstly, I think Ruby writes some of the sexiest and unique (is that the right word?) intimate scenes I've ever read, in that they're not the same sex scenes I feel like I read in every romance book. They're hot and they're surprising and they're well done. And she takes the friends with benefits trope and makes it into something fresh and utterly readable. (Like, a friendship study? So creative!) I've never really been into that kind of setup in a story before but Ruby GOT ME.

I thought this was a fun read with a surprising amount of depth in the narrative around how we feel about ourselves, what makes up our identities, the making of friendships, and the choices we make to belong. But still, it was a bit too shallow and underdeveloped with mid-level writing for the most part to make it a knockout read for me. I think, though, a majority of readers (especially those who love a spicy read) will adore this book!

Thank you to Carina Adores and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest, unbiased review. THE FRIENDSHIP STUDY is out February 13, 2024.

Ruby Barrett is so good at drawing characters who are so complex and so relatable. I completely fell in love with both of them and I really enjoyed watching them find their love for each other while also finding love for themselves.

This is the most Daylight and Afterglow coded romance book I’ve ever read and I’m truly lost for words, that’s how much I love this book. This has to be one of my favorite friends to lovers romance books I’ve read and that’s saying something because I don’t typically read those.

I knew right away from the dedication that this story would tear me apart and put me back together at the end because as someone who struggles to make friends or has lost too many friends throughout the years, this one hit a little too close to home. But that’s what I loved so much about it.

Lulu wants a fresh start after her boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend and Jesse wants to go back to his old life as a firefighter and when his grandpa remembered who he was before dementia. Lulu is very talkative and tends to mentally spiral when interacting with others and tends to hold back on her personality in fear of people not accepting her. Whereas Jesse stays silent and tends to say the wrong things or can’t gather the right words because he’s trying to figure who he is after a major car accident that happened a few years prior.

A mutual friend of theirs set them up on a date and it’s absolutely horrible and awkward, but the date ends with a steamy make out session (nice). The same mutual friend is also conducting a psychological study about millennials who struggle to make friends and Lulu and Jesse both sign up, feeling surprised yet excited when they see each other there after their nightmare of a date. However, it is clearly stated that participants cannot date or have any form of a romantic relationship during the study. Cue the sexual tension!

Throughout the story, we deep dive into their heads and learn about their fears, insecurities and hopes. I’ve never been called out and comforted so much while reading a single book and I genuinely want to go back and reread it again. There’s something about two fragile strangers who quickly become best friends and are learning how to belong in their community that just makes me so emotional. I loved watching Lulu and Jesse form new bonds and friendships with others, I felt like a proud friend of theirs and wanted to give them a hug.

“Loving you feels like…not too hot. Not like I’ll burn myself. It feels warm, like a sunbeam, and it feels hazy. And full. Your love feels safe.”

I was just constantly reminded of how much I crave to have that person with me in my life to do the exciting and mundane things together. To be “alone” in the same room together, but never lonely. To have that someone as an anchor and shining bright in your corner. When will it be my turn???

Of course the sexual tension and spice was phenomenal and honestly blew me away at some points because I wasn’t expecting it to be THAT good. I love the whole ‘friends get each other off, right? It doesn’t count if we’re not touching, right?’ vibes.

I think if I had to be nit picky about one thing, it’d be between the break up and grand gesture. I didn’t think there was enough groveling or discussion and it just kind of…happened? But it was very brief so I can’t complain too much.

I apologize for the person I’m about to become after reading this because once it’s fully out in the world for everyone to read, I am going to be recommending this to anyone I talk to. Sorry not sorry!

Thank you so much Harlequin Romance and NetGalley for sending an arc for my honest review! And shoutout to Ruby Barrett for writing such a tender love story.

I adored Jesse and Lulu! It was a very character driven story where some of the times I felt like I knew the characters more than myself lol and the developmente between them was super cute and spicy! Would totally recommend to everyone that want a romantic story with inner journey and healing some traumas.

Ruby Barrett’s romances are always steamy but this one is not just steamy but also so wonderfully heartfelt and authentically romantic. Both main characters are well-written, flawed (in the best way) humans who just happen to fall in love. Lulu is neurodivergent (even though she is not aware of it) and Jesse has PTSD. Both have had incidents in the past that have caused them to feel lonely and alone, and left them struggling in their lives. A mutual friend sets them up on what turns out to be a disastrous date, and then they both end up enrolling in his study on adult friendships. Despite their disastrous date, the pair end up forming a close friendship that inevitably turns to more. It’s refreshing to see a real, complicated, authentic romance depicted in a book with relatable characters. Would definitely recommend The Friendship Study!

DNF at 41%. I thought this book looked fun, but I couldn’t get invested in the story. The characters were interesting but I didn’t see the tension so the spicy scenes came out of nowhere for me. I’m bummed I didn’t enjoy the story, but it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Carina Adores for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. [I will not be posting this review on social media or retail sites.]

Definitely more of an emotional journey than a carefree romp, which is perfect if that’s what you’re in the mood for. The spice was too spicy for me, personally. So that was a tough hurdle in reading.

This one’s more a moody but sweet romance for those who have read the trigger warnings.

Something about this didn't sit right with me. I loved Lulu and I liked Jesse but things felt incomplete and maybe incompatible. The talk about neruodivergence is just left sitting there with no resolution and I get he's supposed to be grumpy and she's supposed to be sunshine but it didn't work for me. Also I think I got the ick because they explicitly broke the rules of the study etc etc. The background for Jesse's character didn't make enough sense to me.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for the ArC

I am obsessed with the book. I love Lulu and Jesse SO MUCH. And the writing was so GOOD. It was soft and quiet and comfortable and GOOD. The story was full of love and loss and friendship and loneliness and trying so hard but somehow seemingly never being enough. It made my heart ACHE. But watching Lulu and Jesse figure it out?? Sort of?? Together?? Pure joy. I cannot wait to go back through and gather my favorite parts. Also shoutout to the whole book because being a millennial who feels like making friends is impossible this made me feel seen.

Both Lulu and Jesse are lost and feeling so alone. Lulu has always felt like too much, but somehow she’s never enough for the people in her life. And Jesse is lost and broken after his accident and unsure of who he is as a person anymore. Watching them be able to figure out those things together was beautiful. They needed that friendship study, (really they just needed George since he was the one they set them up in the first place) to force them to make friends, to create a safe place for them to start somewhere.

And the two of them together was PERFECT. They were so well matched. Lulu talked and Jesse liked that, and Lulu desperately needed someone to listen to her. How HAPPY they are together just BEING. They’re fun and sexy and SOFT and able to be open and honest with each other. I love them SO MUCH.

This was FULL of so many things in such a good way. Jesse and his grandfather. Jesse feeling lost after his accident and losing his career as a firefighter - something he felt he was destined to do. Lulu feeling like she wasn’t good enough. Lulu struggling to find her place in her life, in her work, even in her family. Lulu and Jesse figuring out she may be neurodivergent.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Harlequin - Carina Adores for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!!

This was a friends to lovers story that really ended up working for me! Both Jesse and Lulu are incredibly lonely and after their blind date ends with awkwardness, they both end up joining a study at the university about making friends. The only rule of the study? You can't have a sexual relationship with any of the other study participants.

I really liked both Jesse and Lulu at characters. They're both struggling in different ways and in desperate need of friendship and figuring out their lives after they each experience events that totally upend their plans.

I think the characters both really do some great growth throughout the book and really come into their own as they figure out what they both want. I loved how supportive they both were of each other, and it really felt like they saw each other more than anyone else in their lives. There's great representation here: ADHD, Bisexuality, physical disability, grief, caregiving. It's a really well rounded story that feels quite realistic and grounded in reality.

This book is also HOT! Though Jesse and Lulu can't have a sexual relationship because of the study, they find a "loophole" that involves quite a bit of mutual masturbation and no touching.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you to @netgalley @rubybarrettwrite @harlequinbooks for this ARC. It’s an amazing, unforgettable, mind-blowing book and I find myself feeling grateful for the opportunity to read it early. This book made me feel seen in a way that was shocking. Lulu, in her messy, physically clumsy, big feelings having, fear of being too much way, felt like looking into the mirror, especially at my ADHD and how it’s shaped my perception of the world. Lulu has her PhD, she’s a professor, and she’s still a mess. She’s got imposter syndrome, her coworkers suck, and her ex best friend cheated with her ex. She moves home, and enrolls in a study of millennial friendships in hopes of making new friends because making new friends as an adult sucks, and it sucks especially hard when you’re looking for an innate sense of belonging that never really exists (because your rejection sensitive dysphoria doesn’t let it exist).

Her blind date (that ended SO awkwardly) Jesse also enrolls in the study (they have a mutual friend in George, Jesse’s ex, Jesse is bi 🩷💙💜). They strike up a friendship despite the early awkwardness. They’re opposites. He is quiet where she is chatty, loud, and a nervous talker - but his quiet hides a lot of pain too. Jesse lost his career as a firefighter, his social life, and his sense of self after a car accident left him disabled (he walks with a cane). He’s cut himself off from his life from before, focusing on handling his Pop’s advanced Alzheimer’s. It’s also a feeling I personally understand - my grandmother had Alzheimer’s dementia and we lost her four years before she died. I remember the heartbreak well.

I’m gripped by how uplifting this book is. Jesse and Lulu both rise from their melancholy to find a quiet version of home and love in the person who’s been a friend the whole time. I didn’t even consider myself a friends to lovers person, and admittedly, it was sort of a friends with attraction and some physical benefits to lovers situation — it was great. It was just a soft, secret, whispered connection in the dark type of delight.

What did I like about this book? Uhhh everything?? Both characters have lost their trust. Jesse gets in an accident and can’t be a firefighter — needs to find his purpose. Lulu’s best friend and boyfriend betray her and she has to flee to the only job in her field she can get, the history contract professorship where her dad works. But not trusting in people, your body, your path will lead to… it’s hard to make friendships! So they both sign up to be in the university friendship study! (After a date gone wrong between them, how will that go…?)

It’s steamy steamy steamy!! 🥵 and also queer M/F romance and authentic bi and neurodivergent experiences! Love it!!!

I have so many thoughts about this book. I have never read anything so relatable.
Lulu and Jesse are our main characters and they're both lonely. Their mutual friend George sets them up on a date that ends pretty amicably, in my opinion. They part ways with no real intention to see each other again, until they find out that they've both enrolled in the same study that George is running. A friendship blossoms from there, with all the natural progressions of a romance book.

I am a SUCKER for friends to lovers. It's probably my favorite type of romance in a book, and I EAT IT UP EVERY TIME. Lulu and Jesse build this bond that felt so natural and organic. It didn't feel forced or unrealistic. I loved watching them grow closer as friends, then as more. I wanted the buildup to never end.

Lulu is truly a relatable character. She spends so much of this book learning that she does belong and building that trust in herself to take up space and be her full self. It actually hurt at some parts just because of how much I relate to her and her struggles. I did cry at one point, so that's a plus for this book. If you can make me cry, then you know it's good.

Jesse is also a relatable character, just in different ways. They both have that gnawing sense of loneliness, but with Jesse it was more complex, I think. He didn't have the same journey Lulu had. He had once felt whole. He felt like he belonged. After his accident, that all changed. Which made his growth even more rewarding.

I loved this book and these characters and their growth. I liked our side characters and the dynamics that came with it. I appreciated the family conflicts, as those too, felt extremely real. Both Lulu and Jesse had complex issues with their families that we get to watch them work through. We get to see that resolution, and I loved it.

I will absolutely be buying a physical copy of this book once it's released. I'm so excited to annotate it and watch it be just the most emotional parts.

I'm not quite sure I've ever read a book that addressed its adult characters' loneliness with as much care and compassion as this one does; in this regard, I think Ruby Barrett sets the standard. I've never read anything by this author before, but I'm extremely excited to dive into her backlist now, if her other books are anything like this one.

Throughout the book, we really feel for both Jesse and Lulu as they struggle to become friends (with each other and others around them, as well) in spite of or alongside other challenges they're facing, like social discomfort, isolation, disability, and family struggles.

I honestly wasn't sold on their chemistry at first, but around the first study group outing, something just clicked for me. I think it's seeing how much Jesse admires Lulu's passion and knowledge when he feels so lacking; how Lulu seems to understand Jesse's needs and boundaries without him having to explain all of his baggage. It's the way they support each other, yes, but also push each other to do things they're afraid of. It's not the kind of relationship where one person is doing all of the emotional labor, or one person is trying to "fix" the other; rather, both of these are people healing from different kinds of wounds, and they work best together to soothe the pain.

While I had some minor issues with pacing and (mis)communication between characters, it honestly doesn't matter in the long run; I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will probably reread it as soon as I get my hands on a physical copy (just in time for Valentine's Day)!

Ruby Barrett proves once again why she is at the top of every TBR with The Friendship Study!

With a fresh voice and laugh out like moments, Barrett creates a queer love story that will hit home with anyone who has every been told they are too much with this blind date to enemies to friends to lovers story.

This was overall cute, just not for me. Academia romances aren’t my area. I would definitely read another title by this author, though.

This was such a swoony, bantery, sweet romance—I love Barrett's character development, tension, and emotional depth!

This friends-to-lovers story between Lulu and Jesse is so beautiful. My heart actually hurt at times because of what they were feeling and what they were going through. It’s all so much, and at the same time, just right.

I received a copy of this book from Carina Adores/Harlequin.

I had the absolute best time reading this book! Lulu and Jesse are set up by their mutual friend George on a blind date, but it doesn’t exactly work out. Later on they meet up again as part of a psychological study about adults having problems making new friends. Part of the rules of the study say that participants cannot have sex with one another. So it’s a good thing that Lulu and Jesse are just going to be friends with one another… right?

Ugh. This just had everything that I want from a romance. Individually compelling main characters who have their own stories outside of the romance, amazing chemistry between the couple, interesting side characters who are important to the story, and conflict that makes sense and isn’t shoehorned in for no reason.

Jesse has had a rough go of it, he’s no longer a firefighter after an injury meant he couldn’t continue in that line of work, his grandfather has Alzheimer’s and doesn’t recognize who he is anymore, and he never got to come out to his grandfather as bi. Lulu is back in her hometown after a bad breakup. Her job at the university isn’t all that she thought it would be. She feels like she’s too loud, too out there, and that her colleagues don’t respect her because she got the job because of her father.

I really loved the journey of seeing Jesse and Lulu open up to one another. They share hard things that happened in their pasts, but they also have a lot of fun times as well. I appreciated the themes of loneliness and belonging within the story. I also always love when stories have the sex scenes feel different than what is typically seen in romance novels. Their intimate scenes feel like something that is unique to their characters and not something that could just be swapped in from a different story.

Overall I just had a blast reading this. It has humor, depth, swoony moments, queerness, and amazing characters. I definitely recommend checking this one out!

Two millennials who struggle with friendships meeting in a friendship study and not only becoming friends but falling in love??? I adored this! The concept was so unique and yet so universal. Watching Jesse and Lulu heal from their pasts and open up to one another was so sweet and heartwarming.

This book has:
-Friends to lovers 👩‍❤️‍👨
-Forbidden romance
-Sunshine heroine and grumpy hero ☀️
-A major slow-burn

Thank you to Harlequin and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars