Friend Zone Hell

Hellman Brothers, Book 3

By: Marika Ray

Narrated by: Kyle Mason, Angelina Rocca

The town's most eligible bachelor just saved my life. I paid him back by puking on him.

Callan Hellman. Mr. Nice Guy paramedic. My best friend.

He buys my friends flowers when he knows they've had a hard day. Who does that? Callan's the guy every girl wants to date and take home to mama. Not me though. We're just friends. Have been since elementary school. I was the weird girl who kept him laughing with my antics, even when his father abandoned his family and Callan hid those scars behind his smile.

But due to my sudden medical diagnosis at twenty-four, Callan insists I move in with him. I accept and soon regret it. Since when did he grow all those muscles, and why is he allergic to wearing shirts? I'm getting white-picket-fences-feelings I have no business feeling, and try as I might to suppress them, Callan makes a bold move that proves he's carried a love-shaped torch for me for years.

Turns out, best friends make the best lovers, but when Callan's daddy issues come between us, will his well-meaning brothers be able to patch us up and get our hearts beating together again? Or have I just lost the best friend I'll ever have?

©2022 Marika Ray (P)2023 Tantor

Swoony romance perfection

I love loved Cricket and Callan best friends to lovers romance with a side of daddy issues. Callan and Cricket have been best friends since kindergarten. Callen has been in Love with Cricket since HS but she still sees him just as her friend. But fate, through the guise of a new medical diagnosis resulting in Cricket moving in with Callan, jump starts their journey to their HEA. The book does a phenomenal job of taking us on the journey of Cricket and Callan as they struggle to transition from their friends to forever. The story has plenty of steamy scenes, sweet moments, stupid choices, laughter, crazy and quirky townspeople, painful pasts, and simmering and overwhelming feelings, all wrapped up in swoony heart squeezing love. The story was well written with relatable characters with depth who grow and an engaging storyline that made me feel all the things. I love this series and the town of Hell.

Kyle Mason and Angelina Rocca did a wonderful job narrating the story and characters into life with enough change of inflection, tone and cadence to voice multiple characters quite well.

Third in a row with parental issues

At 24 years old Cricket’s oblivious acceptance of her dad’s money and management was age appropriate. Her dad’s manipulation and unwarranted bias against Callan, however, was unrealistic. Furthermore, isn’t this the third book in a row where the conflict is built upon immature parents and the need for the young adults to finally stand up for themselves?

There’s a certain sameness to these stories that goes beyond the series featuring the five Hellman brothers. The use of the same narrators, who use the same voicing for each couple, also contributes to the sameness. Even the way each couple has sex is the same. As such, the minor tweaks to each couple didn’t do enough to make this story engaging.