First of all, Thank You, Netgalley for the ARC granted. And second... Everything that has to do with Beauty and the Beast vibes, use to caught my attention. So just by the titlle of this book, I could sense the aura haha AND i AM BEYOND GLAD TO CONFIRM THAT THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I tought it would be! It has a compelling narrative with some spicy scenes and an enjoyable story. The characters were well built and developed some of similarities with the famous tale from the Disney princess story. It was my first reading of the year and I loved a lot! Totally recommended. 5 stars <3

"Barely Even Friends" (are you belting out ala Celine Dion right now?) offers a modern take on the enemies-to-lovers classic tale, "Beauty and the Beast." So, how does a contemporary romance novel that doesn't have elements of fantasy retell a classic built on curses, magic, and talking objects?

Well, this book has an AI for a butler.

Bellamy Price wanted nothing more than to make her father proud. To prove to him that she can take on the reins of handling their restoration business, she sets off to the Killington estate-one, which could be her ticket to uphold her family legacy. With confidence and determination, Bellamy arrives at the estate, only to find the cantankerous but attractive caretaker, who will soon become the CEO, shunning her. Left with no choice, she must either endure Oliver Killington's rude behavior or forfeit the chance to prove herself capable of handling a usually male-dominated business. But would living with someone Bellamy despises affect her drive to restore the estate to its full glory? Or will sparks start flying when she finally gets to know the one person she considers a detriment to her ambition?

Since the book is an enemies-to-lovers, the slow burn scenes fit the bill perfectly. The high-level smut scenes? It's not for everyone, so if you're the type of reader who steers clear of steamy romances, you might need to choose a different book.

The author ensured that the plot exhibited parallelism to the source material. Instead of a castle in the French kingdom, we have a sprawling estate that is up for restoration. The daughter of a sought-after house restorator is our version of Belle, and for a prince, we have a recluse heir to a massive corporation. Another good thing is I find Bellamy's connection with the household staff reminiscent of Belle's relationship with Lumière and the gang, even without its magical core. The narrative exuded a sense of familiarity. With the addition of an eclectic mix of minor characters for diversity, the story felt more up to the times sans the nostalgic charm. There's still a curse, though - albeit nothing as enchanted as a spoiled prince transformed into a hideous beast. You have to read the book to find out.

The book covers timely themes and serves as a social commentary on how women are constantly frowned upon despite their skill, ambition, and hard work to succeed in a male-dominated world. Rightly so, Bellamy still reflects Belle's ambition and tenacity, while Oliver shares Beast's grumpy demeanor - one riddled with grief and guilt. At least there's that.

But the book lacks a clear villain; its conflict swirls around the protagonists' internal turmoils.

Overall, "Barely Even Friends" is a decent retelling of a Disney classic that doesn't fully uphold its backbone. The lack of a proper antagonist diminished the evil force meant to pose an actual threat. A retelling doesn't have to mirror everything from the source material, but it feels off-kilter without a key character like Gaston. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the story lacks a more exciting plot. It just didn't hit the right notes. I'm not saying the book is terrible; it has an appealing setup with likable protagonists. I might have been more forgiving with my thoughts if the storyline gave a more gripping point of conflict. It would have made all the difference had the book been marketed on its own and not as a retelling of a classic tale that people grew up with.

Thank you, #NetGalley and #AlcovePress, for the opportunity to read this book in advance in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

What a fun, yet deep, beauty and the beast retelling, with a side of girl boss power and construction. Somehow the author manages to keep their banter heated and sharp while also superimposing a thoughtful portrayal of grief and learning your own worth. The pacing was right on target, and heated scenes including face sitting were sprinkled well throughout. Highly recommend, and I will absolutely be reading anything Mae Bennett writes in the future!

Every single interaction between Bell and oliver was supercharged with spine-tingling feels and raw sexual tension. I was laughing out loud one moment, swooning the next, fanning myself, hyperventilating, tearing up, falling in love.

This was such a cute Beauty and the Beast retelling. I loved Bellamy & Oliver’s character, it had heart, chemistry, and was told beautifully reminiscent of the tale we all know best while adding in some fun new elements. I highly enjoyed it and look forward to more Mae Bennett books in the future.

It may be time for me to finally throw in the towel and admit that I don't like contemporary romance, at least contemporary romance in its current form. Because the thing is, a lot of contemporary romances - certainly the sub-sub-genre that "Barely Even Friends" slots into - are repackaged fanfiction, not in the "written as fic and then scrubbed for identifying details" sense, but in the "writing a book specifically as fic, with that fic tie-in used as the main selling point" sense. It's too bitter a pill for me to swallow.

And look, I read fanfiction. I write fanfiction. I enjoy fanfiction. But the defining characteristic of fanfiction is that it is comfortingly familiar; the pleasure springs from the fact that the audience already knows and cares about these characters, and are essentially getting their fix of an existing dynamic. There's a creativity to it, but it is a very different type of creativity than what's required for original fiction. In fanfiction - specifically AU fanfiction, where the characters are placed in a different setting to play out the familiar story beats with a few tweaks - the audience feels like they're in on the joke when, for example, Avengers Tower is turned into Avengers Coffee Shop & Bakery. In a book packaged and sold as original, that in-joke feeling isn't there. I don't chuckle knowingly at the revelation that Oliver was known as "Beast" when he played football, because I don't expect the author of an original work to rely on someone else's creativity to bolster their characters. I feel cheated. These books don't fit the technical, legal definition of plagiarism (fortunately for their authors, otherwise they'd be getting some strongly-worded letters from Disney's legal department) but they are fundamentally lazy, and that's equally disappointing.

(I can hear you saying, "but it was pitched as a Beauty and the Beast retelling, what did you expect?" And that's another slippery little trick these publishers are playing: saying "Beauty and the Beast retelling" without specifically mentioning that they mean DISNEY'S Beauty and the Beast can imply any number of things. It's an old fairy tale, after all; lots of people have taken a run at it over the years. Robin McKinley's done it. Emma Donoghue's done it. Loretta Chase has done it. Hell, Sarah J. Maas has done it - and I'm not making any statements about the quality of ACOTAR, but at least she didn't rely on Disney iconography to make it!)

But okay - let's lay aside all the stuff about how this book functions as a retelling (ripoff) of the Disney movie. How does it work as a book? Honestly: not well. I know there's a certain amount of buy-in involved in the romance genre, where the reader accepts the heightened reality of it all and doesn't question people acting in ways that would raise eyebrows in the real world. But there is a limit, and this book exceeds it. Repeatedly. That's another clue about the fanfiction origins, honestly: the tropes of our leads getting shoved into a room together by matchmaking employees, or the heroine knowing, frankly, an unnerving amount about her best friend's sex life with his boyfriend (who exists to cheer on her relationship in a retrograde example of the gay best friend cliché). The implicit assumption is that the reader picked up this book for a regurgitation of existing plot beats and nothing more: no creativity, no originality, nothing. Here's the scene where we find out the hero is good with kids. Here's the scene where the leads get mistaken for boyfriend and girlfriend. A good romance novelist will build something new and interesting on this scaffolding, creating unique, compelling characters who the audience wants to spend time with. But there's none of that here. Oliver and Bellamy are ciphers; the extent of their personalities is that Bellamy wears suspenders and is fat (seriously, the suspenders get mentioned every other page) and Oliver is sad and grumpy. Everything about this book screams paint by numbers, a cynical grab on the publisher's part for an easy audience who will eat up the literary equivalent of a McDonald's Happy Meal. And not a good Happy Meal, either. The kind that's been left sitting in the backseat of your car for several hours, so the fries have gone cold and the burger is soggy.

I don't want to be mean to the author here, because the problems with "Barely Even Friends" go a lot deeper than an individual writer's failings. This book is emblematic of an ongoing trend where authors get picked up by publishers, not because they have a story to tell, but because they can be used as a cog in the assembly line of pre-packaged, disposable content. It's entirely possible that the author of this book has a great story in her, but in picking up this title, her publishers failed her. They shoved her out in front of an audience without any care for the quality of her work or how quickly she would get left behind once this current wave of fan-to-pro fiction dies, and honestly, it's irresponsible on their part. And it makes me feel bad for both the author, and the audience who publishers think so little of that they keep serving up slop in the assumption that it's all their readers deserve. Readers deserve better. Authors deserve better. We all deserve better.

Bennett will make you laugh, cry, and swoon in this highly addictive, swoon worthy and amazing debut romance. Bellamy and Oliver’s love story is brimming with emotion, intensity, and hotness that kept my heart racing.

For some reason I didn't expect the beauty and the beast retelling. I don't know why but that took me by surprise and unfortunately I didn't warm up to the book. I can't exactly point out whether it was the plot that was a bit too predictable or the characters because I didn't feel a connection to them, probably both.

this story was a very fun, very modern, a little spicyyyy spin on beauty and the beast and was a pretty great read!!

our mmc, the big grump nicknamed "the beast" in high school was the perfect grumpy, slightly intimidating man, with a lot of depth and sweet, soft, and sensitive sides under the mask that he had on for so so long. oliver's character arc, next to the actual love story itself was probably my favorite part of the story. it was really sweet to see him quite literally break out of his shell... or maybe in this case his comfort, emotional support mansion, and come back to himself, be more self assured, and stand up to his family while also making amends and healing from all the trauma from his past.
oliver was truly a bright spot in this story (along with the side characters!!! the perfect little found family), a truly dreamy fictional bf that listens to Taylor Swift bc his gf is a fan and *tries* to build her bookcases!! it’s impossible not to swoon!!!
and our fmc, bellamy, was such a strong, powerful, slightly stubborn woman and she was such an entertaining character to read about. i also really loved the plus size inclusion with her character and getting to see her comments and perspective!

Bellamy and Oliver's love story had all the mutual pining, forced proximity, slowish burn, enemies to lovers tropes that make for such a fun love story!! and while it was overall a great read it felt kind of hard to keep up with at times! oliver and bellamy were constantly going back and forth between hating each other and being obsessed and all over each other. which typically isn't all that bad except this seemed to go on for a little over half of the book and most times it didn't even seem to make sense why they weren't getting along or why one of them (bellamy) was upset. and for me the third act breakup was really frustrating and mainly just from extremeeeee jumping to conclusions and running before the other could change their mind.
also, still unsure how I feel about the AI house robot. she was very funny and entertaining but I don't really love the concept of AI in general and I found myself wondering just HOW much she was listening in on...

overall, a really fun retelling of the classic beloved Beauty and the Beast. the plot was brilliant but the followthrough just fell a tiny bit flat for me.

thank you so much to alcove press and net galley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!!

This was an enjoyable read, though I didn't get into it as much as I thought I would. I didn't love the two main characters; I found them both really hard to connect with. The story itself was obviously familiar. I enjoyed the twists that made it more relevant time wise, but that's about it. I didn't think the characters had any chemistry and they lacked the interactions needed to really build anything. Not my fave, but will definitely recommend when it's out.

This is a book with a modern take on beauty and the beast, but make it mansion renovation. The heroine is an expert in house preservation and Reno and our hero is a rich recluse that has been alone for too long.

I think it’s a good debut but what I struggled with was the telling and not showing regarding the characters pasts/fears.

Barely Even Friends, by Mae Bennett, is a fairytale adaptation of Beauty and the Beast with adult steamy content to spice things up. This is Mae Bennett’s debut romance novel, and hopefully won't be her last.
Thanks, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with the ARC ebook I read and reviewed. All opinions are my own.

First and Foremost: Thank you @MaeBennet, @Netgalley and @AlcovePress for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Secondly, this book...... i dont have a lot to say really as this book left a lot to be desired, the beginning was gripping and amzing, after that though, completely different story, as i struggled to keep up with the pacing of the book most of the time but it was a quick read, i liked the direct beauty and the beast refrences ofcoarse even though they were out of place and unnecessary sometimes, i somewhat liked the curvy girl representation, it was ok, i also didnt really seem to connect with the characters at all . overall the book was cute and i liked it enough to get through and finish but i expected a more creative spin on the story. 2.5/5

Sorry friends, this one felt like it was being told by multiple authors (who had never met or interacted in any way) and was a bit soulless as a result. In addition to the voice not coming together, the MC was kind of...meh.

Don't get me wrong, I thought this was cute and I did enjoy the romance between the two main characters. I just wasn't a huge fan of anything else. The plot was lacking something. I just didn't vibe with it, IDK.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for allowing me to review Barely Even Friends. This is a fun, sweet book and a nostalgic throwback for those of us who grew up watching Beauty and the Beast.
This book follows the protagonist, Bellamy Price, a contractor who is taking on a career-making job- the huge but decaying Killington Estate. And success good bring Bellamy everything she’s ever wanted professionally, but there are several challenges… including the handsome, reclusive, and unwelcoming tenant, Oliver Killington. As the renovation begins, Bellamy and Oliver find that being barely even friends is just the beginning.
There’s so much to recommend this book! The Beauty and the Beast references are a lot of fun (my personal favorite is that Bellamy’s fathers car is named Philippe), but the author also take on more difficult subjects, such as grief and sexism, in a way that feels authentic to Oliver and Bellamy. The supporting characters bring much humor to the book as well. Please note that this is definitely an “open door” romance- I only factor that into my overall review if it impacts the plot strongly, but it’s worth mentioning for those who might want a heads up. Overall, if you enjoy a romcom, I recommend giving this one a try.

Sadly this one wasn't for me. I love a Beauty and the Beast retelling but the setup/first 20% , although fun, left me struggling to get into the plot. This does deliver on the forced proximity/enemies to lovers tropes and the supporting characters fit the vibes of the retelling well.

3/5

I absolutely adored BARELY EVEN FRIENDS by Mae Bennett! This modern Beauty & the Beast inspired story with a fun Succession twist works so well because our two main characters are wonderful. Bellamy and Oliver have a great steamy rivals to lovers romance that had me swooning.

This book is cleary an homage to Disney's Beauty & The Beast, with clever work-arounds for modern times such as the AI system that speaks and acts as a sort of Cogsworth/Lumiere type lead. I had a little bit of difficulty with too much telling, not enough showing, which made it a bit disjointed at the beginning. But diehard fans of fairy tales will likely have no issue falling in love with this one!

read if you like

general fiction (adult)
contemporary romance
beauty and beast retelling
frenemies to lovers
grumpy X sunshine
socially awkward male X awkwardly social female
plus size rep

review

I grew up watching beauty and the beast- so my inner child was thrilled to read this retelling. Thank you @MaeBennet, @Netgalley and @AlcovePress for the ARC. I was thrilled to have it and here is my honest review.

The magic and hope of the original story were perfectly captured in this tale. When Bellamy enters the dilapidated manor house as part of a remodeling project, she is surprised to find it inhabited. The first meeting between social recluse Oliver Killington and firecracker Bellamy Price is what you would call - hate at first sight. One who has spent years hiding behind walls, and one who wants to break down the walls (of mansion ofc iykyk) - both trying their best to get rid of the other, but an ultimatum from Oliver's grandfather calls for a temporary truce.

I love the fact that this book deals with so many modern themes while still referencing the classics. All the characters in this book were broken in their own way and hid their mental trauma in order to live but, when the right person comes by the walls might come down- brick by brick. The magical element of the book was the love and healing.

A beast - no, just a misunderstood and blamed man with trauma.

A beauty - no, just an insecure, curvy woman who wants to prove herself. (She's beautiful in her own way, just not the way shitty society wants her to be).

captivity - no, just an unwilling partnership to save the damsel in distress - the castle.

the chemistry between Oliver and Bellamy was fantastic and the way they overcame all the challenges was great to read. Needless to say, I loved the book and am rooting for Mae and all her next bookish endeavors.