More Than Friends

by Erin Dutton

Evelyn Fisher thinks she has the perfect role model for a long-term relationship, until her best friends, Kendall and Melanie, split up and all three women must reevaluate their lives and their relationships.

Determined to be a good friend to both, Evelyn supports Kendall and Melanie while they move forward, separately. But when she finds herself falling for one of them the delicate balance shifts. Will loyalty keep Evelyn from pursuing an unexpected chance at love?

Genres: Lesbian, Romance, Audiobook, LGBT, Lesbian Romance, Queer Romance, Friends To Lovers

264 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2013

About the author

Born and raised in Upstate New York, Erin Dutton moved to Nashville, Tennessee several years ago. No longer a Yankee, and yet not a true Southerner, she remains somewhere between the two, and is happy to claim both places as home. Her days are spent earning a living, while her nights and weekends are divided between several of her favorite things: writing, reading, golf, and her friends. Erin is the author of ten romance novels and the recipient of the 2011 Alice B. Medal for body of work.

Reviews

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

When it comes to dating there are some rules that you just don't break. It doesn't matter how old you are or what your sexual orientation is, you simply don't do it because it's bound to end in disaster. Some of the most important rules are:

1 Don't date your best friend's ex.. ever!
2 Don't date your best friend's family members.
3 Don't date co-workers.
4 Don't date your ex. There's a reason you broke up!
5 Don't date anyone wearing a red hat with white letters that was made in China but the wearer claims it was made in the US!

So what if, despite fighting it, you break rule no. 1? This book does a good job of painting a fairly realistic picture of the complexities of such a triangle. Some deal with a break up by compartmentalizing everything and focusing on doing what is needed to move on while others whip out the victim card and start pointing fingers. You may find yourself identifying with one or more characters while wanting to shove a stick of dynamite into the hand of another character like I wanted to do.

Surprisingly there is little angst and drama in this book despite the possibility to become a soap opera. There were moments however when the story dragged a little and some scenes were clearly used as filler but luckily they were fairly short. Though Evelyn and the person she falls for have good chemistry, I wasn't exactly blown away by it either so feel free to read this out in public, it probably won't make you blush. (Or I've become desensitized by all the erotica I've read.)

This was not a bad read at all but I can't say there's anything really exciting about the story either. Overall rating is a 3,6*.

[Harrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting take on friends to lovers. Melanie is not only Evelyn's friend but also her best friend's ex-girlfriend. I was a bit reluctant to read this one but the falling for friend's ex was handled wonderfully. I do wish it would've taken them a little time to get the light-bulb moment of 'ahh I am falling for my friend'. But they spend most of the time trying to fight their attraction which I appreciate because slow-burn! Despite having a serious subject the book was light and barely had any angst.

[Farah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Break Up - If two people in a romantic relationship break up, their relationship ends.

We Were On A Break - Never let Ross and Rachel be your relationship gurus - Trust me, happened to a friend of a friend + Beyonce's No, No, No would be on replay.. Err, moving on..


Melanie and Kendall
After 7 years, Melanie and Kendall were not feeling 'it' anymore but they continued living in denial, hoping for whatever that was missing to return or something to escalate their relationship into the next levels. Then, in the wee small hours of the morning, Melanie woke up from a restless sleep and decided to grab the bull by its horn and did the right thing.

Evelyn and Kendall
Melanie and Evelyn were not secretly in love / lust / with each other prior to the break up, they were great friends, nothing more + nothing happened until months after. They were just two friends, maintaining a friendship when suddenly they began to feel and noticed more. I love them together. They were sweet, open and honest about their feelings and one of their sexy times happened on the couch, they were both fully clothed...just wow..

Kendall
Well she didn't get a guitar and began singing Happier by Ed as she wasn't totally cool about it. Thankfully, Kendall's reaction wasn't prolonged and dramatized too much.

I agree with Alexis' Rule #2 and #3 -

As for Rule #1, if that person means so much to you and vice versa, then to heck with everything and go for it.. Hang on, please check her / his birth certificate first or any documents relating to the divorce procedure. If you're okay with this story, maybe you should check out The Cruise by Lise Gold.

[Eliza · Rating 5 out of 5]

All I'm going to say is that I would not be able to rise above all that s**t, bitter to the end.

After her best friends break up out of nowhere, Evelyn Fisher finds herself in a most awkward situation, she starts to have feelings for one of them... what will she do and what will she risk.

Just reading the premise gave me anxiety, what a nightmare but I loved how they handled it, I expected a LOT more drama and misery but it was very nicely balanced.

The characters are great, Evelyn and Kendall are butch(soft?) police officers and have been best friends for five years, quite similar in that regard but as you get deeper into the story their differences become more apparent. Melanie, landscaper is more fem and is putting her chocolate in everyone's peanut butter but overall they seem like real people although the situation they find themselves in is the stuff of nightmare. The sex scenes were good, the secondary characters were acceptable, great stuff all around.

Sometimes I was screaming; walk away! other times, just F**k her already, let the cards fall where they may... neither option quite good enough really, such a clustef**k.

I liked the ending , felt honest. They hinted at a possible reconciliation but didn't make it a sure thing, I felt doing that did give the book some realism because a happy ever after right away would have felt cheap, honestly how do you get a friendship back after something like that.

I wanted to hug all the characters at different points in the books and didn't feel too much animosity towards any of the characters even with the rules that were BROKEN by some of these godless characters here and I think that should be a + in the authors favor.

So I'm going to be generous and give this one five stars, got it all over in one sitting, a thoroughly enjoyable read.

4.5/5.0

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A first for me reading about falling for a bestie who also happened to be your best friend’s ex. Can’t end well for everyone in the real world. This book tried to make it as realistic as it possibly can - kudos to Ms Dutton.

Ratings - 3.75 ⭐️

[Pin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sixth romance novel I have read by Erin Dutton and I liked them all. She just knows how to write a good love story and I look forward to more of them.

[D. Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've got to admit that the cover made me think this book was going to be about a threesome. Not something I could see in my reality, but I've read stories where it was done rather nicely (Meghan O'Brien's The Three) so I gave it a whirl. As it turns out, this book is about an even touchier subject. What happens when you fall for your best friend's very recent ex? This author is one of a handful I buy without even reading the back cover. She always delivers a great romance, and "More Than Friends" doesn't disappoint.

[Alexa Steli · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5
It was a interesting concept.I was very interested towards where this was going, it had a lot of potential.But I was as surprised as them about their feelings coming out of nowhere, litterly out of nowhere. How I'm I supposed to believe they're soulmates and meant for eachother when they had spent 5 years in eachother proximity and didn't felt anything.And besides that ,it wasn't anything memorable happening between them

[Sky Declur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erin Dutton never disappoints, this book was very nice. I loved swing how the love was developing between Mel and Ev it was really sweet. I still feel bad for Kendall though, I really liked her as a character

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy the romance in the book (and the premise of falling for your best friend’s ex didn’t bother me, personally). I’m glad that there was at least a few months gap after the break up written in before the romance storyline started though. The connection between the main characters came through clearly and I thought the pace of development worked well. They realized pretty quickly that their feelings were changing, but they did fight it for a bit.

The whole police shooting part near the ending just didn’t sit right with me and it just left me with a bad opinion on the book overall. I couldn’t get into the HEA following that part, felt too rushed.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a best friend becomes involved with an ex... Not sure what I expected with this one, but the authored handled the subject very well. This is my first time reading an Erin Dutton book. Think I will try another as I really liked the character development. Although it was just one scene in the whole story, loved the cops vs firefighters competition. It really has little to do with the storyline, but it is something I see all the time, so enjoyed it.

[Alealea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like how realistic the writer made the relationships in this book. It's complex and messy and mostly believable.
The beginning was a bit slow but once the break up is official, it gets a nice balance and is an enjoyable read overall.

[Cheryl B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the relationship dynamics in this book. The chemistry between Evelyn and Melanie was amazing.

[Candice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this book. Definitely my favorite by this author and I'm not a fan of lesbian cops at all.. but I have yet to read a story like this where girl falls in love with bf recent ex.. read the dead friend or dead sister.. but not this and I really enjoyed the angst in it. Wished there was more to it.. more of Melanie (even if she was a little self centered in the right scene she was my favorite) and less of Kendall and more of an ending maybe an epilogue would have been nice. And some editing like when she had on sweats and then they were boxers all of the sudden or the pronouns were confusing not knowing who was who sometimes.. but I liked it enough to keep it at 5 stars even with that.

[Dash Stryker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably the most interesting premise Erin Dutton has started with yet. I just wish I had found the falling-in-love phase to be more believable. It was all surface comments about how attracted they were to each other and oh how have I never noticed you in this way before? There's no sense of how a single perception of a person can go from being rooted in platonic love to being rooted in the other kind - or how that happens to everything these characters think about one another.

I did like the "Ooops I've been assuming you and my ex are the same because you're both cops and both badasses" angle.

[Brooklyn Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable, but not memorable. It all seemed so predictable. Couple has a close friend, couple breaks up, friend moves in. All too common a tale. Realistic, certainly, and enjoyable in that the writing was good, but over all, I just felt let down at the end. I expected more from Kendall, more interaction after the fact, I guess, and it never came. The "Radclyffian" excitement at the end was good, but not gripping. I know that the author has been mentored by her, so it was not a surprise. A good read for sure, but as I said, not a memorable one.

[Kaye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Evelyn Fisher is friends and works as a police officer with Kendall on the police force in Nashville. Kendall and Melanie have been together as a couple for seven years. But when they break up Evelyn tries to keep being a friend to both. But soonish (several months) Evelyn realizes that she is attracted to Melanie. Can she betray Kendall? Is it a rebound relationship for Melanie? Pretty straight forward romance with good characters. No one is a bad person and you want everyone to be happy.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buena. Sirve para entretener. No es de esas historias que una va a leer y decir: ¡me encantó!, pero que se quedan dentro de las que están bien y dejan un buen recuerdo.
En otros comentarios sobre el libro leí que algunas personas decían que no la terminaron o la dejaban de lado por haber engaño... supongo que dependerá de lo que cada una considere qué es un engaño, pero les aseguro que no van a encontrar eso acá. Por lo menos, yo no considero que haya habido cuernos.

[Natsu · Rating 3 out of 5]

What happens the unspoken dating/friendship rule is broken?

You don't date a friend's (moreover, a bestfriend's) ex.

That's the story of bestfriends Kendall, Melanie and Evelyn. After a long time of being together, Kendall and Melanie sort of drifted apart to the point where Melanie ended the relationship.

Evelyn, who only saw the couple as perfect and ideal, was saddened but doesn't want to take sides. Spending time individually with her 2 closest friends made her realise things she never thought of before. She eventually falls for one of them.

Secrets are kept and eventually busted. Trouble ensues and doubts arise. What will you do when all the options seem to involve losing a friend/lover or both?

[Jane Ng · Rating 5 out of 5]

First time reader of Erin Dutton, but not the last. I loved her style of writing and that she writes about something that anyone (well, almost) can relate to. Innitially I felt it was a little hard to get into, but guess my mind were just elsewhere because after the fist 2 chapters I got the feeling of the characters, and was not able to put it away before I was done at 2am last night.

[Cheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I would have liked this one more if the POV didn't switch up in the middle of sections. It was sometimes tough to figure out which "she" was giving us her POV.

I enjoyed the plot, though. It's not one of my favorites from the author but if you're a fan, you'll likely enjoy this one.

[Ezra · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars for an easy lazy read. Definitely enjoyed it.

[Chand · Rating 3 out of 5]

A difficult subject handled well. Rules are silly but relationships are not. Complicated situations can be worked through if the people involved are sensible about it.

[Elisa Rolle · Rating 5 out of 5]

2013 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention (5* from at least 1 judge)

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the premise of this story really uncomfortable but, unfortunately, not unfamiliar. Lesbian romance with extra added awkwardness.