This time last year, I was reviewing Erin Hahn’s Built To Last, and I can’t believe almost a year has flown by… where has the time gone? I seem to be on a romantic-comedy spree these days, so Hahn’s latest, Friends Don’t Fall In Love (being released in October), was a nice companion to what I’ve been reading lately. I remember the main character, Lorelai, from the first book, and I was excited to learn more about her—especially because she’s a musician!

Lorelai Jones had it all: a thriving country music career and a superstar fiancé. Then she played one teenie tiny protest song at a concert and ruined her entire future, including her impending celebrity marriage. But five years later, she refuses to be done with her dreams and calls up the one person who stuck by her, her dear friend and her former fiancé’s co-writer and bandmate, Craig.

Craig Boseman’s held a torch for Lorelai for years, but even he knows the backup bass player never gets the girl. Things are different now, though. Craig owns his own indie record label and his songwriting career is taking off. If he can confront his past and embrace his gifts, he might just be able to help Lorelai earn the comeback she deserves―and maybe win her heart in the process.

But when the two reunite to rebuild her career and finally scratch that itch that’s been building between them for years, Lorelai realizes a lot about what friends don’t do. For one, friends don’t have scratch-that-itch sex. They also don’t almost-kiss on street corners, publish secret erotic poetry about each other, have counter-top sex, write songs for each other, have no-strings motorcycle sex, or go on dates. And they sure as heck don’t fall in love… right?

At first, I didn’t think I was going to like this as much as Built To Last because of the pacing, but in the end, I might have liked this one more. I’m enjoying that Erin Hahn writes love stories for people who aren’t right out of college and who have had some time to figure themselves out. It’s refreshing.

What didn’t work for me

The beginning: It started off really slow, which was surprising because I already really liked Lorelai from Built To Last. I think it might have been the flashbacks or the constant need to go back and drive home what had happened in the past…but it really dragged on.

Lorelai’s “mistake”: Call this a bit of a spoiler, but I really don’t think the country music world would have shunned Lorelai that much for what she did. Is the audience generally pretty right-wing? Yes. But there are people of all kinds who listen to country music—and on the heels of a tragic school shooting, people would have agreed with her.

What I liked

The “music”: Not only did Hahn basically give us a playlist for listening to this book (or being immersed into the world) by naming every chapter after a country song, but without even giving us the music, the lyrics written in the book felt like they were real songs. It felt a little bit like Daisy Jones and the Six in that regard.

The supporting characters: Sure, I already knew Shelby and Cameron from the first book, but they weren’t even my favourites here. Craig’s coworker and his husband kept making me chuckle, Craig’s sister seemed really cool and we got to know Marin a bit more this time around—I really hope there’s another book coming that focuses on her. There was some foreshadowing.

3.5 STARS

“Hearts just do whatever the fuck they feel like, and mine felt like loving Huck. And now that’s done/ So brave, Heart, you bitch.” —Erin Hahn, Friends Don’t Fall In Love

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced book copy in exchange for my honest review.