Review: The Girlfriend Request by Jodie Andrefski

The Girlfriend Request
by Jodie Andrefski
Expected publication: January 11, 2016



Updating best friend to girlfriend is more than a change of status…

Emma has been best friends with Eli since she moved to his neighborhood ten years ago. Tired of being cast in the role of the girl next door, Emma creates a fake Facebook profile in the hopes of starting an online friendship with Eli, which would hopefully lead to more. Like...way more. From friend request to In a Relationship--it all seemed so completely logical when she'd planned it.

Eli can't figure out what Emma is up to. He’s pretty sure she's the one behind the Facebook profile, but then again, why would she do something so drastic instead of just admitting she wants to be more than friends? And who the heck is this new guy he saw her with? Eli starts to think that just maybe...he missed his chance with the girl next door.

Two best friends, one outlandish ruse. Their status is about to become way more than It’s Complicated…

This Entangled Teen Crush book contains one fake Facebook profile, two best friends who secretly crave each other, and a dreaded sex talk with parents…boy crush in the room included. Pushing a relationship beyond the friend zone has never been so crazy…

I always love a good ‘bestfriends falling for each other’ story. So as soon as I received a copy of The Girlfriend Request, I couldn’t resist picking it up. And I am glad that out of all the books I started reading this month, I actually managed to finish one.

The Girlfriend Request is a book I’m sure teens can relate to. The awkwardness, the embarrassing and dreaded sex talk with your parents - in front of the guy you are crushing on! - is here. And when you have this best-kept secret of being in love with your bestfriend but don’t know how to tell him or her for fear of being rejected, I’m sure the crazies will come out sooner or later. For Emma, that is in the form of creating a fake Facebook account in the hopes that it will lead to a more-than-friends relationship with Eli. It’s completely ridiculous and something I can see backfiring from a mile away but we all have our crazy moments especially when it comes to someone we love.

Eli and Emma are so adorable together that I totally shipped them right from the start. It was easy to relate to Emma and her current predicament. Being with Eli has been easy and fun when suddenly, it's not. It's like talking to your crush for the first time and blurting out whatever idiotic words your mouth decides to spew in that moment and obsessively thinking about it later, wishing a hole had swallowed you instead. As soon as Emma sent that friend request, she suddenly couldn't make sense of why she ever thought it would work. It sounded perfect when she was thinking about it. I'm pretty sure we've all been here at least once. And I loved that through it all Emma has her friend and her parents to keep her from going completely off the track.

I'm just disappointed that this book turned out to be more complicated, too heavy on drama, than it should be. There was a lot of miscommunication that at one point I couldn't make sense of anything Eli and Emma are even fighting about. Also, I ended up loving Jake. He's my guy here. And I kind of hated Eli for being so judgmental. I get that he's jealous but, dude, it's your mess. Don't put your hate on other people thankyouverymuch.

*Thank you NetGalley and Entangled Teen for the advance review copy of this book.