Friends without Benefits

Knitting in the City, Book 2

By: Penny Reid

Narrated by: Devra Woodward

Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

There are three things you need to know about Elizabeth Finney: 1) She suffers from severe sarcastic syndrome, especially when she's unnerved, 2) No one unnerves her like Nico Manganiello, and 3) She knows how to knit.

Elizabeth Finney is almost always right about everything: the musical merits of boy bands are undervalued by society, "benefits" with human Ken dolls are better without friendship, and the sun has set on her once-in-a-lifetime chance for true love. But when Elizabeth's plans for benefits without friendship are disarmed by the irritatingly charismatic and chauvinistic Nico Manganiello- her former nemesis- she finds herself struggling to maintain the electric fence around her heart while avoiding electrocution or, worse, falling in love.

©2013, 2014 Cipher-Naught (P)2015 Cipher-Naught

Drunk?

The female narrator, when voicing the Italian characters, sounds like a drunk American pretending to be Italian. Irritating.
Story is solidly good though.

What can I say, I love these ladies.

And they all got me knitting again.
The best thing I am learning about this (fictional, seriously, let’s maintain perspective) group of ladies is that realistically there are supportive people you can surround yourself with, be honest with, and who are honest with you.
I’m not going to review the story, but suffice it to say that I fast forwarded through a few chapters the first time I listened to it. So the second time through I got to hear a lot more interesting details the second time through and am glad I didn’t fast forward again. I was too anxious to get to Fiona’s story.
You can have more than one great love, or you can experience your one great love a few times, so don’t waste time.
Also, I need to buy some lingerie. That’s also my takeaway.
And I’m going to have a “Nico’s playlist” in my music app.
I’ll never do the stilettos, but I can completely appreciate Janie’s choice of footwear, and I applaud her in every story for being 6’ tall and rocking the stilettos.
Lastly, Elizabeth deserves to be happy. We all do. Work out those issues, and embrace your glorious day and every glorious day thereafter. And Nico is a great character.

Thanks for sharing your gift of writing!

Great Series

I loved this series. So much, that I had to go and get all the Knitting in the City Series to listen to, and then the Winston Brothers. Penny Reid writes wonderful characters and quirky stories for each of her heroines. I would love to meet these people in real life. I also hear that there are others that now write in a "Penny Reid world" with Smarty Pants Romance. Will get those too. Very funny book...

Good book 2

What a great continuation to the series. Love Elizabeth…and of course her friends. Great to see all of them.

Chemistry galore

I was a little afraid to read this book, since I loved the 1st one in the series so very much! Would I still be interested without as much Janey? I was very happy to find that this book drew me in very quickly. Elizabeth and Nico have lots of chemistry! It's an interesting twist that he has always loved her, and she's the one with commitment issues. Nico irritated me sometimes though with the way he would tell Elizabeth what she was feeling or what she needed...that would make me angry if somebody was doing that to me! And as is often the case with commitment issue books, by the end I wanted to yell at them, "Enough already!" But overall I liked their interactions, I liked the "fancy stalker" storyline, and I loved the supporting characters. This author is on her way to becoming a favorite!

Great book

I just love how the guy is so into his girl. It's all or nothing. And actually he won't give up until he gets a yes because despite setbacks he is focused on his goal and knows what will make him happy. I like that the male is not a creeper, but a real person with complex feelings . I like the use of others from first book. Epilogue is great too!!!

love it

You can't go wrong with a Penny Reid story. Nico and Elizabeth are wonderful. just read/listen to it already.

Meh.

Narrator doesn’t give any depth to male voices. They all sound sleepy and monotone. Great voice otherwise.

Mmmm. I love italian!

Oh, Nico.... that man, he knows what he wants but isn't so smoothe in getting it. This is like my 3rd re-read of the series. Elizabeth cracks me up. They have a major love-hate relationship.
The knitting group welcomes him to her astonishment and a bit of dismay. As always the shenanigans are priceless.

Back and forth

I love this series, but this book.... 😩 The back and forth between the main characters drove me nuts! I adored Nico, though. He brought a new feel to the running list of characters. And there were tons of hilarious, jaw-dropping, OMG moments. Irelished in the drama and the added twist; however, Elizabeth.... Personally, I wanted to actually experience the love Elizabeth suffered through with her first love, as opposed to being told. Then again, I guess it was evident in the fact that Elizabeth believed she hadn’t been in any real relationship since 15. Honestly, I can’t put my finger on it, but there was a disconnect for me; Elizabeth seemed so surface.