Friends without Benefits

by Evelyn Fenn

Academic Clare is in a rut. She is in her forties, her job is stressful, and she feels worn down by the personalities and politics in the university department where she works. She has also just broken up with her latest boyfriend.

During one of their regular get-togethers, Clare’s oldest friend shows Clare a newspaper article, pushing her into an exploration of what it means to be asexual.

As Clare figures things out, she meets homoromantic couple, Tristan and Matt, nonbinary Ollie, student Jack, aromantic Janice, and Matt’s cousin, Natalia.

Follow Clare and her new friends through a series of misadventures as they road trip, take part in Pride, suffer a series of misunderstandings, and forge new relationships.

Genres: Romance, Queer, LGBT, Contemporary, Adult, Asexual, Ebooks

389 pages, ebook

First published March 21, 2023

About the author

I lived in five different cities, spanning two continents, before leaving crowds and commuting behind, and settling somewhere that official statistics describe as “Very Remote Rural”.

I have worked in the public, private, and voluntary sectors, with roles ranging from number crunching and lecturing to mucking out cowsheds and toilet cleaning. I currently hold down a day job in local government and write in my spare time.

I have made up stories for as long as I can remember and have been writing them down for almost as long. I cut my creative writing teeth on fan fiction in the days of paper fanzines and, later, online. I had fun but eventually grew tired of playing in other people’s sandpits. It’s more fun creating sandpits of my own.

Reviews

[Amanda]

Firstly, I want to say I’m glad this book exists and I hope more stories about asexual, aromantics, and aces of all kind keep being shared. I wish there was a more clear narrative and deeper introspection throughout instead of rushed at the end, however it is worth a read for those who want to learn more about this community.

[aspeccharactersoftheday]

https://aspeccharactersoftheday.tumbl...

[Erin Templeton]

this novel delivers on its promise to give varied representation within the aspec community from a member of said community with lived experience, and for that, it is worth reading. i can't bring myself to say anything completely negative about it because any amount of ace-flavored literature needs to be encouraged. that said, i had to keep a list of thoughts in my notes app while i was reading this since highlighting wasn't enough

Pros:
- ace, aro, agender, and older ace rep
- an adorably sweet QPR relationship which develops throughout the entire novel, a homoromantic ace wedding, a questioning kid being protected by the group
- the descriptions of dating before realizing one is aspec
- the group is referred to as 'the aces' which i thought was cute
- getting emotional at the pride parade and stepping into one's identity with confidence at any age

Cons:
- reads like a series of loosely connected vignettes, timeline was confusing at times
- lots of telling rather than showing, lots of focus given to (subjectively unimportant) setting details rather than the MC's own introspection and internal world
- MC finds the ace label, does a few nights of research on it, then she just accepts it without seemingly any inner hesitation or doubt. could happen, but is rarely that fast/sure
- the content warning does include aphobia, but i wasn't prepared for like aphobia, little triggering
- LOTS of university politics, like a TON more than i was interested in or prepared for. oddly, there's a lot more attention given to this than things like the MC's feelings, character backstories, or the MC's initial engagement with people on the AVEN forums. those things are all breezed over in comparison
- the cover and summary led me to believe that the road trip was going to be the majority of the novel, and its maximum like 20%, so after that, i just had no idea where the plot was going
- static, cardboard side characters; aside from the aces, none of the side characters go through any kind of transformation or change as as result of the events in the story
- the VILLAIN, holy cow, is a hypersexual narcissist (and is literally slut-shamed by her entire family, their nickname for her is baracuda ffs) to the point where i no longer hate her, i just feel sorry for her that she's never received the help she so obviously needs
- little to no sex-positive ace or aro-only (not asexual) rep:/
- MC is meant to be progressive(?) yet judges the traditionally feminine characters around her (her best friend included) for dressing for male attention, enjoying fashion, wearing padded bras and two inch heels?? Also she scoffs at the idea of therapy for some reason? like, girl come on now
- 'Dr Who' might be okay for some fans, but 'a female Dr Who' is missing the point entirely because Doctor is a name and Doctor Who is a question, and YES i will die on that hill
- i get that the MC is in her 40's but jfc the 'kids and their phones these days' and 'back in my day, we actually talked to one another' narrative was incredibly alienating to a 20-something reader like myself

[Marie]

Through almost the first half of the book I thought this would be a very different review than I am going to write now. I really had trouble getting into it. The author is clearly not a trained, professional writer, and the writing style made no sense to me. There were so many irrelevant things, but on the other hand we kept jumping around from scene to unrelated scene, and there was no flow. Then Clare discovers asexuality, looks around a bit online, accepts it for herself, and after three pages we are done with the topic. Well, not really, but at that point I felt disappointed. I would have liked to learn more and have a deeper emotional process for Clare here, more along the lines of what we later get with Jack.

Then the road trip happened, and I actually enjoyed that – I kept looking at a map because aside from Inverness I have never been to that part of Scotland. But as soon as I was getting into it, stuff happens, the road trip is over, and the book goes back to jumping from scene to scene. Nevertheless, the characters had grown on me so much that I continued, and I enjoyed the second half of the book more.

I feel that the author put a lot of themselves into this book, and that requires courage. The story is important, and I am willing to overlook the writing style that didn't really work for me because of the important message. I just wish the villains had been written with a bit more nuance – they are just evil, very black and white, simplified, exaggerated, over the top.

Overall I doubled the original star rating that I had in mind because I ended up enjoying the book and the main characters and their stories.

[Susan Anne]

I wanted to read and review Friends Without Benefits by Evelyn Fenn because it is about asexual people and there aren’t enough fiction books about asexuality. The reader follows the main character, Clare, on her voyage of discovery about the asexual world. I especially enjoyed the broad spectrum of asexuality the author showed through the different secondary characters. It was entertaining to experience lots of firsts with Clare, including Pride. Most of the characters have suitable endings, both negative and positive, by the time the book is done, which is very satisfying. One in particular put a smile on my face (no spoilers). I received a copy of Friends Without Benefits by Evelyn Fenn from Indigo Marketing and Design and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Mandy Sheridan & John Sheridan]

A really good read

I enjoyed this book very much, just the thing for a relaxing holiday read. It tells the story of a woman who discovers that she is asexual and joins a group of like minded people. Adventures follow and relationships develop. Loved the characters and ended up caring about them.

[Lori S.]

Though a bit of a slow stater, once Clare meets the other aces in the group and makes friends, this is a really nice, low angst book about new friends, new relationships, and moving forward without preconceived ideas about how those friendships and relationships should proceed.

[J_4321]

I feel like I have so much in common with Clare. That's so nice to be able to identify with a character for once.

[Mx Phoebe]

Friends Without Benefits is an aroace journey into self-discovery. Clare has no idea that she is asexual until a long-time friend shows her an article about it. From that moment on, Clare is on a quest for more information and community.

Check out the rest of my review at Mx. Phoebe’s Viewpoint. Link in bio.

I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.