I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

Female friendships are complex and sweet. They can nurturing and downright scary. This is Jess and Ren's story. We peek into their lives via their minds and actions. Things to note, the book is written in first person, yet the words and points of views are easy to follow. This is not a Steel Magnolias type of friendship, buckle up buttercup. This is a true testament to how friendships work and how friends can overcome any obstacle if they choose to do it together.

This book started off so strong and fell apart for me halfway through. The story of an extremely close friendship that begins to rip apart when one of the women becomes pregnant after a one night stand, the novel has a really interesting and unique premise. However, the execution was severely lacking and I found myself bored, wishing it had been edited a bit better.

The interesting relationship between friends Jess and Ren gets revealed to be more complicated as the story goes on, and I found that fascinating. They seem to be like sisters (roommates since college and into their 30s) but there is also some sexual tension. When Ren gets pregnant, something she has always wanted, secrets start to form and the idea of co-parenting with a friend is challenged. There aren't many books about friends co-parenting so I thought that was really great! But, spoiler-alert, it pretty much ruins their friendship (well, other things happen as well that don't help the situation) and I just found the whole thing pretty depressing.

As someone is who is pregnant now, it was fun going on the journey with Ren, but I also hated that it stalls out around 6 months and we don't see the pregnancy in full. I'm not sure about this book, I think it just wasn't for me but I also think the story would be done better in the hands of a more experience writer.

Jess and Ren were college roommates, and they have been inseparable ever since. That’s acceptable in college, but much less common when you’re in your late 30s, have bought a house together, and co-parent a dog. They’re committed to each other, but not dating—Jess is bisexual, and Ren is straight. Jess has always been the responsible one, taking care of Ren. While Jess has a successful career in real estate, Ren is aimless, working at a bar and teaching dance classes at a gym while looking for what to do next. When Ren accidentally gets pregnant after a hookup, she decides to keep the baby, and Jess—as she always does—agrees to help. Then the father of Ren’s unborn baby reappears in their lives, and everything gets a lot more complicated.

College had been full of friendships like ours, when it was natural, normal, to wear each other’s clothes, to do one another’s eyeliner with stoic concentration as warm breath washed over our faces in comforting waves. It was only later that we seemed to mystify people, as if the normalcy of our specific kind of closeness had an expiration date, like milk.

At the beginning of this story, it felt so cozy. I loved the idea of this found family and their unconventional living arrangement. They discuss how romantic relationships are seen as more reliable than their decades-long friendship, and even Ren’s brother, who lives with the two of them, thinks Jess must secretly be in love with Ren.

But despite their closeness, this isn’t an idyllic found family. There is so much under the surface of Jess and Ren’s relationship. Like with many relationships (romantic, familial, friendship) that have gone on for many years, every argument has a dozen other arguments bubbling beneath the surface. A lot of their dynamic with each other has been something they’ve passively let develop instead of actually questioning what they want from this relationship and why. The tension between that cozy, comforting notion of building a life together with a friend and the reality of their flawed relationship really got to me. There’s something so beautiful and sad about this story.

In the middle of the afternoon I might receive a snapshot of the remnants of her lunch. The grainy crust of a sandwich. A half-eaten container of yogurt. Killed it, the note would read. We’d had this type of exchange a thousand times. Two thousand. Unexceptional. Ordinary. The way truly intimate things usually are.

Then, of course, there’s the pregnancy—and the father, Quincy. Quincy is…fine. He’s not a terrible person. I can see how people could find him charming. But for me, when you’re getting a story about this complex relationship between two women and then some dude comes stumbling into it and messing everything up, I’m going to resent that guy! I own that as a flaw of mine as a reader. Despite him not at all being a villain, and in fact being similarly flawed and human to Ren and Jess, I never fully got over my irritation with him, even if ultimately he might have been a necessary catalyst.

I watched them for a bit trying to determine whether they were friends or partners, sisters, maybe cousins, before deciding it didn’t really matter, because there they were, enjoying one another.

Despite this not being a plot-driven book—it’s a portrait of these characters and how they interact with each other—I find it difficult to discuss without spoilers. (vague spoilers) I will say that this did make me cry, and that although the ending isn’t what I wanted, on reflection, it’s the one that makes sense. Was the connection between Jess and Ren an inspiring platonic partnership, or a codependent friendship? Both, of course, and maybe neither. This is a bittersweet story that left my heart aching. (end of spoilers)

One aspect I’m not sure how I feel about is that this is set in Hawaii, and protests and politics (about tourism, telescopes, water, colonialism, and more) are often mentioned, but they are playing out in the background, not a focus of the narrative.

If you’re looking for a fluffy story of found family and the power of friendship, this might not be the best choice: it gets into how these relationships are just as fraught as romances. But if you’re looking for a portrait of a complicated relationship between two women, I highly recommend this one.

This book was interesting to say the least. The story centers on two college friends who decide to live together. One of them later gets pregnant out of wedlock, and the balance of the book is how they raise a child together. Jess is the more successful of the two being a successful realtor, Ren is a bar tender who gets pregnant. The tensions and day to day life of family are explored in this book. It is a nice depiction of female friendships, warts and all.

Recommended for public libraries.

While I really wanted to love this book, it felt too slow and drawn out for me. I could see my patrons liking it though, so I will recommend it be purchased for circulation at my library.

This was a solid read about friendship and what makes a family. I appreciated the realness of the characters. I’ve also never read a book set in Hawaii so I really enjoyed that setting. All of the characters seemed much younger than mid-thirties to me. This book also felt a bit slow and meandering, and the ending felt very unresolved. I enjoyed this one but felt it was missing more depth in the plot.

Significant Others by Zoë Eisenberg. Thanks to @mirabooks for the gifted Arc ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Jess and Ren have a very close relationship. When Ren gets pregnant, they decide to raise the child together. Then the father resurfaces.

I loved the concept and plot of this one. I usually really enjoy friendship books. I had a hard time connecting with the characters and story. It was a little too slow paced for me.

“She felt like a gift for which I had no one to thank.”

Significant Others comes out 2/6.

while the writing flowed well, this book went too slow for me. i had a hard time connecting the story progression with the characters. i think i lost a lot of interest once she became pregnant and it turned into a motherhood story.

This book just wasn't for me although the premise sounded interesting. I felt like the writing could have been better and I wasn't convinced by the relationship of the protagonists. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC of this novel.

This sounded good! But I wasn’t impressed. I didn’t finish it but what I did read wasn’t great. I can see from other reviews that the feeling is mutual. Sorry!

This book has a gorgeous cover, but the story itself didn't really draw me in. It was a little slow and I didn't connect with the story or the characters.

What makes a family? Significant Others invites us to examine the line between friendship and family. Though Ren and Jess’s relationship is untraditional (and codependent), the family they create works beautifully for them. Until it doesn’t.

I found the story compelling, though I was slightly disappointed in the turn it took toward the end. I loved the Hawaiian backdrop and the beautiful writing. The pacing of the story was good, but I found it difficult to relate to any of the characters.

Thank you to @NetGalley and @HarlequinTradePublishing for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I feel like this book wanted to be a Sally Rooney novel but fell into the trap of most chick-lit books.

Two friends since college, basically codependent.. They meet a tourist at a bar, both are attracted to him - one hooks up and ...of course, becomes pregnant.

Years pass, etc etc. you know what happens.

This book needed something to make it more interesting, something different. it wanted to be deep and moving but it's two annoying people living annoying lives.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was a DNF for me. I thought this was a book about female friendship and did not expect it to take the turn that it did. I accept that I am not the target audience for such stories, and I know there are many who would enjoy this more than I did.

It has a gorgeous cover and an entertaining story. I liked the characters and thought the book flowed well. Thanks to NetGalley for the arc.

Thank you so much to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley.

Jess and Ron have been roommates and best friends since college. They have a strong relationship, although it's sometimes codependent. A one night stand with a tourist leaves Ren pregnant and the friends soon make a pact to raise this baby together. The baby's father resurfaces which complicates things and makes Jess realize that she and Ren may not want the same things.

I really appreciated how honest this book was. The author really captures both characters and they are both likable. I was rooting for both of them. Jess is anxious and driven. Ren has been bartending and teaching dance at the same place for years. Even in writing this review and reflecting on the book, I am realizing new things. At times, it was sloppy but I felt that it was supposed to represent how sloppy life is as well as how sloppy a relationship can be when people get messy. I am kind of wanting a sequel to see these characters continue on.

The plot of this first novel is original, but the writing could be better. Jess and Ren have been more than friends since they first met as Freshman roommates at the University of Hawaii. They are now, almost 20 years later, living in Hawaii in a house that Jess bought.

Jess is a successful realtor, while Ren is a bartender who drinks and a part-time aerobics instructor who lives like a slob. She and Jess, although their relationship is platonic, are more like family, with Jess caring for Ren both financially and in cleaning up after her. Both women have no living parents, though Ren has a brother (who also lives with them.)

One drunken night, Ren sleeps with a visitor to the bar that Jess had first been attracted to. Since this is chick lit, you can guess what happens. Ren becomes pregnant and the plot spins into being. So far, so good. It's an original idea as the women plot out their future, raising a child together. But then....you can guess what happens.

What drove me up the wall was Eisenberg's repetitive descriptions of Jess, who in times of anxiety, has a chest full of bees, or feels a buzzing inside her rib cage, or has some other symptom of being invaded internally by a hive. After a while, this became an irritant.

Of the two, Jess is much more three-dimensional while Ren is much flimsier a character. It made the book feel too lengthy and repetitive. Perhaps others will not be bothered by my reservations as the story is original. I would wish for better editing next time around for Zoe Eisenberg.

Thank you NetGalley and HaarperCollins for the chance to read and review this book.

This was a great chick-lit book that could get anyone out of a reading slump! I really loved Jess and Ren and found that I could relate to them in a lot of ways, especially being a new(ish) mom in my early 30s - female friendships are some of the most important parts of my life and it can be scary and upsetting when it feels like I'm growing apart from people who choose different life paths than the one I'm currently on. The pacing was quick but I was a little bummed out by the ending - it felt abrupt and not in line with the rest of the story development. Changing that would have easily added another star for me. Thanks for the ARC in exchange for my review!