Barely Even Friends

For many months, I’ve been looking forward to Barely Even Friends, the debut novel by Mae Bennett. A contemporary romance that reimagines Beauty and the Beast and combines it with restoring an old mansion, I thought this would be a book I’d immediately love.

Special thanks to Alcove Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Summary

Bellamy Price has been working with her dad on old home restorations for years, but now she has the opportunity to lead a project herself for the first time. She’ll be renovating the Killington Estate in upstate New York, working with an impossibly short deadline in order to have the home done before an important celebration. This could be the make-it-or-break-it of her career, potentially leading to her dream job. But Oliver Killington, the grandson of the man who hired Bellamy, is a thorn in her side from day one. He opposes the restoration and wants her gone immediately. But he’s also tied up by his controlling grandfather’s demands and reluctantly agrees to help Bellamy. Is Oliver as beastly as he at first seems? Could he and Bellamy move past their mutual antagonism to become friends… or maybe something more?

Review

I was really excited to read Barely Even Friends. A modern romance retelling of one of my favorite stories of all time, Beauty and the Beast? Yes, please! I wanted to like this so much, but the further I got in the book, the less satisfied I felt.

Let’s start with the positives. I love all the nods to Beauty and the Beast, from the more obvious ones (Bellamy’s dad naming his Ford Mustang Phillippe, for example) to the more subtle. Despite some other reviewers saying it was too much of a rip-off of the Disney movie, I actually thought it only borrowed the necessary parts. Indeed, it could have done with even more references and allusions to the original source of inspiration.

The setting is wonderful, a dilapidated mansion that should have been renovated years, if not decades, ago. And I loved getting to see Bellamy and her crew doing a full renovation on the house, from needing to replace the roof to restoring old furniture and wallpaper. I’ve never done anything like that, but it certainly captured my interest while reading! The characters, too, are generally fun, if quirky. Easily the most surprising is the advanced AI system in the old mansion, going by the name of Bl8z3 (“blaze”). We could all use an omniscient, ever-listening home system, right?

I also appreciated some of the background and nuance in our main characters. Oliver has gone through some major traumas involving the death of his parents and his guilt over that. He also lost his career, suffered a major injury, and become a recluse, all in one fell swoop. Bellamy has had a nomadic lifestyle and is closed off to long-term love. She and Oliver both have a lot to overcome in developing a friendship, let alone a romantic relationship.

However, Barely Even Friends had some issues that became harder to ignore as the story progressed. The dialogue between characters often just didn’t make much sense to me. Frequently, a character’s response to what another character just said didn’t seem like a normal reply; I’d find myself rereading the previous bit of dialogue to make sure I didn’t misinterpret it. I’ve rarely had this problem with other books, so I’m not sure what was going on with the at times illogical dialogue here.

I also found the characters frustrating in their inability to talk things out like adults. The whole book is told from Bellamy’s perspective, and she’s constantly making random assumptions, failing to say what she actually means, and generally being inept at communication. Miscommunication is (unfortunately) a fairly common trope in romance, but it was too much for my liking here. Especially when we get to the third-act breakup. Just… spend two minutes talking about it instead of running away? Please?

Final Thoughts

Barely Even Friends has some real positives woven throughout, but it’s also offset by some awkward dialogue and characters who can’t communicate. If you can get past those particular issues, it’s an enjoyable read for people who like Beauty and the Beast, home remodels, and plus-size representation.

Get the Book

You can buy Barely Even Friends here – it’s available as a paperback and ebook.

Barely Even Friends by Mae Bennett
Audience	Adult
Genre	Romance
Setting	New York
Number of Pages	336
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley ARC)
Original Publication Date	June 4, 2024
Publisher	Alcove Press

Official Summary

A grumpy, rich recluse meets his match in this steamy Beauty and the Beast retelling—with a Succession twist. Fans of fairy tale adaptations, and readers of Julie Murphy and Falon Ballard, will adore Mae Bennett’s debut romance.

Bellamy Price has just been offered the job of a lifetime: lead contractor on the restoration of the mysterious and sprawling Killington Estate. If she meets the owner’s ridiculous timeline, she’ll finally make a name for herself in this male-dominated industry. But when she rolls up her sleeves, slips on her suspenders, and shows up at the crumbling mansion, Bellamy finds the estate very much occupied. 

After a traumatic car accident that left his parents dead and himself injured, Oliver Killington, heir to the Killington empire, took up residence as the grumpy caretaker of his grandfather’s mansion. None too pleased by the presence of the hammer-wielding woman who’s moved into his house, Oliver tries to block her at every turn.

But when Bellamy discovers Oliver’s facing his own ultimatum from his grandfather, the two form a cautious truce, which leads to flying sparks that are definitely not from faulty wiring. As Bellamy restores the gleam to the Killington Estate, she’ll have to decide if the walls she’s built around herself are worth knocking down to make space for someone else.

Perfect for fans of Tessa Bailey, this clever, steamy debut novel will have readers rooting for this Beauty and her Beast until the very last page.