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The Happy Ever After Playlist (The Friend Zone #2) by Abby Jimenez

 

Summary (from the publisher): From the USA Today bestselling author of The Friend Zone comes an adorable and fresh romantic comedy about one trouble-making dog who brings together two perfect strangers.

Two years after losing her fiancé, Sloan Monroe still can't seem to get her life back on track. But one trouble-making pup with a "take me home" look in his eyes is about to change everything. With her new pet by her side, Sloan finally starts to feel more like herself. Then, after weeks of unanswered texts, Tucker's owner reaches out. He's a musician on tour in Australia. And bottom line: He wants Tucker back.

Well, Sloan's not about to give up her dog without a fight. But what if this Jason guy really loves Tucker? As their flirty texts turn into long calls, Sloan can't deny a connection. Jason is hot and nice and funny. There's no telling what could happen when they meet in person. The question is: With his music career on the rise, how long will Jason really stick around? And is it possible for Sloan to survive another heartbreak?

Review: Ok, I have a lot of complicated feelings about this one! 

The good: 

- Sloan and Jason have SUCH an adorable meet-cute! She rescues his dog, who has escaped from a sitter while he is out of town. They have such great banter and chemistry and get to know each other over the phone in communicating about his dog before they even meet. It feels authentic and deeper than just appearances. 

- I loved that this story connects to The Friend Zone. We meet Sloan in that book and get her backstory. She deserves another shot at love, and I was so happy to see that happen in this book! It was also fun to get to see Kristen and other characters from that first book in the series show back up in this book and continue their story somewhat. 

- This was such a lovely representation of grief, both moving through it and forward from it. Sloan has been through it! She is coming to love in this book from a place of profound loss. I found the way grief hits her in random moments very true to life and moving. 

- I loved Jimenez's note about this being technically her first book she's every written! In light of that, I feel kinder to this book. She only moved onwards and upwards from here and this was a wonderful jumping off point that launched her stellar career!

- I loved that Sloan was a talented painter and decided to pick her career back up after her period of grief. 

- The way the two reconciled was absolutely screen worthy! 

- This was beautifully done on audio. All of her books are dual narration and keep me riveted. Top tier audiobook entertainment. 

Regrettably, I do also have a list of things I wasn't as big a fan of and spoiler, most of them have to do with Jason himself: 

- Jason bugged me. He undoubtedly loves Sloan! But he is rarely honest or totally honest with her. He hides his career, his history, his background, etc. from her. I hatedddd the way he dealt with pushing Sloan away "for her own good," specifically how he did it. 

- I also got red flags about how Jason was like 'sell your house,' 'have my baby,' 'drop it all and come away with me" almost immediately after dating. I get that they were love and sometimes it does truly happen that fast! But asking her to give everything up for him, including all security and stability that comes with having a home made my eyes go SO wide with alarm for her. 

- I didn't feel like Jason was as understanding of what Sloan has been through as he could have been. He pays lip service to taking it slow and giving her space, but I didn't think he really made space for the fact that she had lost the last person she was in a relationship with and moving on for her was extremely painful. 

- The lying honestly needs its own bullet here. Jason lying to Sloan was just not cool. Sloan deserved better. 

- Much of the plotline of the pair being on tour, the evil machinations of his recording company, drunk musicians, the grueling schedule and travel, etc. just did not interest me. I know it's not what Jason wanted for Sloan, but it certainly was not what I had much interest in reading about. 

- The huntsman's wife blog that Sloan maintains was just a weird addition for me. I'm not a hunter and just didn't care for the game recipes. Also, Sloan is both beautiful, an insanely talented artist, and maintains a well-known online recipe blog that he just happens to be a fan of? Oh, and he just happens to be famous? It just felt like an everything and the kitchen sink plot element. 

- The epilogue to this gave me serious whiplash. Way too over the top fairytale level stuff for me. I'm here for a happily ever after but just wanted it dialed back a notch into the realm of realistic. 

Stars: 3.5

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