Just Friends
A Novel
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4.1 • 13 Ratings
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
A sexy and hilarious new novel from the bestselling author of Perfect Strangers.
British and ballsy, Freya is a free-spirited Manhattan art dealer who thinks her live-in lawyer boyfriend, Michael, is about to propose. So what if he's as straight-laced as she is fearless - who needs passion? But when she shows up for their romantic dinner in a thousand-dollar dress and a new hairstyle, he takes her hand, looks deeply into her eyes, and asks if they can be--just friends.
Next thing she knows, Freya is paying a desperate visit to her long-time friend Jack, crashing his poker game and bunking temporarily with him. Tensions inevitably begin to rise. Freya's caustic take on Candace, Jack's luscious new girlfriend, is cramping his style. Besides, he has to finish writing the great American novel, and prove himself to his wealthy father. But he is willing to help Freya out (of his apartment, that is).
Meanwhile, Freya's biggest dilemma is that she needs a date (and fast) for the wedding of the century: her younger sister has nabbed the most eligible bachelor in London. Freya desperately wants someone to show off, and suddenly, Jack, in all his sexy blond gorgeousness, is starting to look more and more like wedding - if not exactly marriage - material.
From New York to London, and all the urban hot spots, watering holes, and dating disaster grounds in between, Just Friends is a delightful, devilishly clever look at the enduring quest to find "the one."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
As she did in her previous novel, Perfect Strangers, published in Britain but not here, Sisman in her new novel focuses on singles life and the quest of 30-somethings for Mr. or Ms. Right. Freya Penrose, an energetic, trendy British transplant working in a Manhattan art gallery, believes she is on the verge of becoming engaged to longtime boyfriend and apartment-mate Michael Petersen, a lawyer whose stodgy outlook on life contrasts with Freya's more spontaneous approach. When their "romantic" dinner turns out to be a cool brush-off, a stunned Freya is forced to find a new home. Jack Madison, a promising writer and poker buddy whom Freya has known for 10 years, offers to share his apartment until Freya finds a new place. Freya's best friend Cat advises against it, declaring, "All men are pigs," but Freya insists she and Jack are like brother and sister. Jack, who has been stuck writing his novel for three years, ekes out a living teaching creative writing and subsists on an allowance from his wealthy, womanizing father. The two old friends take separate paths to love--Jack dates one of his students, Freya turns to the personals ads--and each finds themselves sabotaging the others' romantic efforts. When Jack volunteers to accompany Freya to her stepsister's wedding in the U.K., the nuptials bring up emotions that challenge the characters' integrity. Even Cat weighs in with a surprise of her own that forces Freya to reassess her life. With a dash of British humor and an adroit insight into family relationships and what really makes love work, Sisman's latest offering has what it takes.
