The Friend Zone Experiment by Zen Cho is the first modern contemporary romance book by the author who mainly wrote fantasy and I was so excited to pick this up when I first heard the news about it. This is a second chance romance with family dramas mixed in and working on each others' goals in life.

Honestly, this is just an okay book for me. The romance is not so swoon worthy but it is very realistic. I'm not a huge fan of going back and forth between present and past but I understand why it had to be the way that it is.

I was expecting what happened to Stephan to be more unexpected and wowed but again, this is quite a realistic book and as we Malaysians say it: pijak di bumi yang nyata. The same goes with Renee's decision with the family business.

All in all, I recommend you to read this book.

I enjoyed this one a lot! It wasn't amazing AMAZING, but still a good read overall. I found the themes of ethics, corruption and family struggles quite interesting to add in a romance novel and I enjoyed the romance plot as well, although, I'd say it sometimes felt like it was actually a subplot more than the main plot of this book. Still a great story and I would definitely recommend it.

Renee Goh has an enviable life, growing her own Instagram-friendly clothing business, Virtu, dating a Taiwanese pop star and living in a posh London flat left her by her aunt.

But she's estranged from her family, ends up working extremely long days and has just been dumped by the boyfriend. So it's perhaps not suprising that when she bumps into another ex, Yap Ket Siong, at a V&A do, she spends a night with him. Surely they can just remain friends?

Unfortunately, there is unfinished business from their previous breakup - business which touches on Renee's father's desire to hand on his own firm, a major conglomerate based back home in Malaysia, to one of his three kids. Renee could be back in the fold, all she has to do is impress father (and outdo her very competitive brothers...). But what might the impact be on Ket Siong - and should she care? Suddenly that friend zone begins to look more like a very unstable fence to sit on, with passion one side, cold hard business on the other and perhaps, murky secrets on both.

The Friend Zone Experiment was a terrific read. Renee is an engaging main character, a woman who knows what she wants, is basically together and organised and definitely not ready to get pushed off course by romantic currents. And yet, at some level, she is still hurt by what happened between her and Ket Siong ten years before. As is he. Renee doesn't, though, know the full story - and I enjoyed seeing that teased out, with flashbacks and revelations. Yes it's one of those scenarios where people are hiding things for each others' supposed good, where there are misconceptions and assumptions (cue Renee's judgy but supportive pal Nathalie). Beneath all this are the bones of a thriller plot involving kidnap, stolen documents and murky secrets - but Zen Cho has the confidence to leave that sketchy and focus on the impact of events on her cast of appealing characters.

Did somebody say "appealing characters"? I have to mention Ket Siong at this point, of course I do, he is the epitome of an appealing, no downright attractive, character - certainly to Renee, despite what he did ten years before. An honourable, somewhat tortured soul, he spent years putting duty ahead of self - as, in a slightly different way, has Renee. She was brought up learning that business and money always comes before family, with the result that her rebellion against a highly patriarchal father has been expressed by... founding her own business and working night and day at it.

With those secrets from the past reaching out, will Renee and Ket Siong be able to sort out what's real and what's imagined, satisfy the constraints of duty and love, and, above all, keep those they care for safe? Deftly plotted, fun to read and with great heart, The Friend Zone Experiment keeps us guessing, serving up thrills, excitement and a powerful, tearjerking finale.

Strongly recommended, whether you've read Zen Cho's earlier fantasy works such as Sorcerer to the Crown, The True Queen and Black Water Sister - or not.

The Friend Zone Experiment by Zen Cho is a delightful and witty romantic comedy that explores the fine line between friendship and love. Cho’s sharp and engaging writing brings the chemistry between the characters to life, making their dynamic both relatable and heartwarming. The story delves into themes of vulnerability, trust, and the risks involved in taking a friendship to the next level, all while peppering in plenty of humor and charming dialogue. With its clever plot and endearing protagonists, The Friend Zone Experiment is a feel-good read that captures the complexities and joys of navigating love in the modern world.

The Friend Zone Experiment is a fun k-drama in book form. There's as much romance as there is intrigue going on in the background. I really liked the dynamics between the two main characters, Ket Siong and Renee.

A tale as old as time what if you both friendzoned each other without realising it.

Such a cute romance as part of a much larger
multilayered plot. Full of interwoven storylines, international business , sibling rivalry and scandal.

This is not a cute little rom com or purely spicy smut book. This is so much more real and engaging plot with romance.

Characters are interesting and book is beautifully written however I did not love it. If you are a big romance lover then I think this would be right up your sleeve. I do love the odd romance novel however this did not do it for me.

I do think that it was a good book just not my taste. Thank you so much for the early copy.

The cover is also stunning!

This was a bit of a funny one: the cover gives it a romcom flavour as does the blurb but actually it centres around unethical logging practices in Sumatra. It takes characters from three families in Malaysia (via Singapore and sometimes now in London) and mixes them up in a web of intrigue. Renée Goh has a charmed life going out with a singer and running her own business, but she's run away from her own dysfunctional family until her dad reaches out, looking for an heir to his business. Ket Siong is the boy who dumped her a decade ago at university: it turns out he has a family connection with both her family business and a huge conglomerate that's implicated in the disappearance of his brother's best friend, Stephen, who was campaigning against the destruction of Indigenous forest. They meet again but can they overcome all these links and dodgy dealings? But the book is mainly about Renée's ballsy ambition and uncompromising attitude towards her slimy brother and her ex, who pops up again. Again, nice not to have a mediocre White man as the love interest, though! So it was interesting and almost thriller-y but not what I thought it would be. The author acknowledges the author of "The Sarawak Report", Claire Rewcastle Brown, from which she gained inspiration.

My review published 4 September: https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2024/09/04/august-netgalley-update-houghton-nava-and-cho/

I'm trying to figure out what I feel about this one. I do quite like Zen Cho's fantasy works - and I especially love the Malaysiana she brings into her stories. She's especially deft at capturing the Malaysian Auntie Voice.

The usual "not quite my genre, bla bla" comments apply here. This is straight up realistic fiction, not a ghost or supernatural creature in sight! The style feels like a throwback to her earlier short story style, not so much her long-form fantasy style. (I haven't gotten round to Black Water Sister, which may have been the beginnings of the shift?) This isn't a bad thing. I do like that voice and I want to see more of it in fiction. However, I don't think I've read a romance (as the main plot) in a while (if I have ever! haha), so there were bits that felt a little draggy here and there, especially where everyone's keeping secrets and not telling anyone important stuff. Then again, that's also the bits I get annoyed with in all kinds media and without which there would be no story, so, eh.

MAYBE what's throwing me off is the whole, uh, sub-plot that it's wrapped around. It hits very close to real-life happenings in Malaysia. Maybe someone who isn't based here would just read it as fiction (I'm seeing a lot of K-drama references in other reviews) but I'm also going like OH THE SARAWAK REPORT. OH CLARE REWCASTLE-BROWN. OH 1MDB! ALL THE ILLEGAL LOGGING. OBVIOUSLY THEY KIDNAPPED AND KILLED HIM WHAT DID YOU THINK. Which also makes me wonder whether the stuff we read as fiction from other countries hits as hard for their readers in the same way.

Cho brings up the Malaysian/Singaporean family dynamics really, really well - which adds to the ultra-realism of this novel. The family squabbles! The expectations of marriage (and grandchildren)! The fight over who pays for dinner! All that annoying one-upmanship... ugh. Though I can't help but feel that Ket Siong is something of a wish-fulfilment fantasy - he's a little too good to be true.

There's also a lot of corporate drama (and some sexual harassment) going on, plus a heavy dose of family loyalty vs ethics considerations. Do you keep the peace in order to save your family's face/reputation? Do you let yourself love the person whose family has destroyed your own? CAN you put aside your own personal boundaries if that's going to help your family business?

It isn't quite a light read (despite "romcom" being thrown around), but it does have a Happily Ever After. I don't know the genre well enough to say if it'll be a hit for romance readers, but I'd say it's a solid rep of how Malaysian society works (even displaced as they are in London) if you're looking for that.

Contemporary women’s fiction, chick lit, drama. Minor romance.

A thought-provoking, K-drama-esque romance that was everything I imagined it would be and more!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book. I found it a tad confusing initially but still decided to push through until I realised the title is quite misleading - what you think you're going to get, isn't what you're getting at all!

Very mixed feelings about this book. I came at it from a place of genuine positive curiosity - I love Zen Cho in short form SFF, and really liked her novel Black Water Sister - and I was looking forward to seeing her take on the romance genre, but I can't say I loved it. It was a quick read, and had some resonant elements, but didn't resonate as a whole - overall, not on par with her SFF work.

First of all, I think packaging and titling it like a cheery beach read romcom that hints at two people fail to date each other as a contrived experiment sends entirely the wrong signal about what kind of book this is. It's neither cheery nor a romcom. The bones of the book are set in Asian intergenerational traumas and secrets and power plays, and yes, there is a romance happening in a way that links two such family stories.

Secondly, the overall tone of the book suffered from trying to be several things at once - pay homage to well-loved kdrama cliches but also make it real and accessible like a London immigrant story, ridiculous scheming between ultrarich heirs and serious exploration of the price of corruption... These things came together, and instead of elevating this book they kind of toned each element down to a muted tone, like a bunch of bright paints neutralizing each other into earthy grey. It wasn't funny and ridiculous enough to lean into kdrama, trying to make Renee relatable made this weirdly middle-class real London, and the tonal switch between Renee's and Ket Siong's chapters looked like they belong in different stories altogether, At one point I caught myself thinking that I could have enjoyed this book more if it was just the story of KS's family and none of the trappings of rich people drama.

Thanks to Netgalley for an early review copy.

This book explored family dynamics and the relationships that test us, showing trying to win parents approval coupled with the dilemma of what ifs / breaking the friendzone. This was a very entertaining book for me and I read it quickly.

This book is a romance in disguise and I have mixed feelings about it. It’s as much a love story as a political and family-saga style thriller, but somehow it didn’t work for me because the genres are not well integrated in my opinion. It’s like Zen Cho had two plots and couldn’t decide which one she wanted to be the main plot and which the subplot or rather the background. I believe she wanted to write a second chance romance set in a family drama with all of the ingredients of an east Asian family story set in the west. Giving the same weight to these two plots makes the book seem unbalanced instead of well planned and as a result I can’t feel anything for the main couple, there’s no chemistry between them although I really liked them both as individuals.

In short, there are so many things happening between them together and on their own that there’s no room for them to develop feelings. You have to believe they are there because they’re telling you, but it stays on the page, it doesn’t reach the reader or better said, it didn’t reach me. I was rooting for them and hoping that at some point they would find some kind of romantic relief and that their relationship wouldn’t sound so forced so empty. Especially because the heroine was a corageous woman and the hero was a golden retriever. But their burdens were too heavy and in the end that made me lose hope. Sometimes romantic comedy have too much comedy and therefore you don’t take it seriously, in this case we have romantic drama and it’s hard not to take it too seriously.

On the positive side, the writing was quite good. Very visual and down to earth and I really believed it would have worked better as a TV production. More mature a book than what I’ve read so far in Zen Cho’s bibliography, more adult. I just prefer when she writes fantasy.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'The Friend Zone Experiment' by Zen Cho.

You know, I went into this expecting lightheartedness and just excitement but this was a struggle to force myself to get through and I don't know, it felt uncomfortable. I enjoyed 'Black Water Sister' which is a major contrast from this novel so maybe I feel uncomfortable by the fact this isn't natural writing for Cho.

Following a break-up with her current boyfriend, Renee bumps back into ‘the one that got away’. But with a position in her father’s company on the line, plus her drive to grow her own business, and all the drama that comes with both, is there too much baggage from the past?

If you’re a lit fic reader looking to dabble in romance, I feel like this would be the perfect book for you. But for me, an avid rom com reader, something about this book just didn’t feel right for me and I didn’t love it like I wanted to.

Thank you NetGalley and Pan MacMillan for the ARC.

Thanks so much to Pan Macmilllan, Zen Cho and Net Galley for the eARC, all opinions expressed are my own.

I have mixed feelings about this book, I enjoyed the writing style as it sort of unravelled like a movie but feel like the book had quite a slow start which made it difficult to get into. The family drama was messy and I was captivated by how it was unfolding, and I loved Renee’s character! A feisty female who was able to stand her ground.

I love how she reconnected with Ket Sieong and the epilogue was excellent! Whilst I sometimes found it difficult to follow at first, the second half of the book definitely picked up pace, and I throughly enjoyed the mystery element which added a lot of suspense!

Would recommend!

I enjoyed Zen Cho’s previous work Black Water Sister and loved her short story anthology Spirits Abroad; so, despite the cringe title and not being my genre of choice, I gave it a whirl. You know, for science. And Cho.

It didn’t go well.

Nothing in this book worked for me and I found it an exercise in frustration: a decade of estrangement and this entire book could’ve all been solved by an honest conversation or two. I took notes about what annoyed me about different aspects of this book, just in case it helps other readers decide if they want to give this a go.

Story:
● Objectively, this is a bland book. It might be a personal preference, or simply due to living in a capitalist hellscape, but I really struggle having sympathy for whiny, rich people and their silly problems. The drama here is largely around “I’m competing with my estranged brother for my toxic family’s shady corporation” and “tee hee boys” was just so boring to me. I can’t relate and it’s not exactly high stakes so 🤷🏼‍♀️
● The pop culture references grew tedious, quickly and felt very r/fellowkids.
● The flashbacks to college weren’t particularly enthralling to me as an adult reader. The lack of depth to the characters and their fixation on the halcyon days of college made this feel much more YA than adult. As a woman and immigrant around Renee’s age, I couldn’t relate to her priorities or character. She read more like a teenager than 30+.
● The (view spoiler) mystery is the only reason I kept reading and even that had a trite ending. In the throes of the mystery, getting the flow interrupted with Renee’s whining and melodrama was exhausting.
● The whole ‘corporate intrigue’ plot line felt OTT silly to me and I got fed up of Renee’s toxic family and their business obsession really quickly

Characters and Relationships:
● Renee was lacklustre as a character. She has a business, lives for free in a swish Kensington flat, is up to inherit a CEO position at her family’s firm because nepotism… and she’s whining. Right off the bat Renee seems to pin her self-worth from a man. Her comments about how her relationship with a pop singer would earn her friends and family’s respect were also… disconcerting.
● Renee refers to Ket Siong as “one of her best friends” yet she’s not clapped eyes on then guy in over a decade. Ket Siong admits he’d largely forgotten about her until he clapped eyes on her and now suddenly iT aLl CoMeS rUsHiNg BaCk. Give me strength. 🙄 Even in the flashbacks, the two of them have this fantasy that they’re BFFs but don’t shoot straight with each other, don’t communicate, and don’t have a convincing dynamic… where is this “best friends” narrative coming from?! Renee and Ket Siong’s conversations seem to be mostly the former talking at the latter. Ket Siong mostly thinks stuff and doesn’t say it, coming across as uncommunicative and disinterested. I don’t understand the purported attraction of either of these humans.
● Renee claims she’s afraid of her brother yet is deliberately antagonistic (showing up unannounced at this flat, goading him, insulting him). She seems to crave melodrama and her actions don’t tally with her claims of feeling unsafe.
● Why is everyone in this book so obsessed with who pays for dinner? Just get separate cheques JFC we spend so much airtime on this!
● Renee was all over the place, Ket Siong felt more like a placeholder than a human, and Nathalie didn't read like someone in her 30s (more like a plucky high school BFF).
● Renee needs to cut that toxic family out of her life. After everything she’s been through, it was infuriating watching her keep trying to make it work. Girl, do yourself a favour and just… stop. That family is poison.

Language, Writing, and Presentation:
● As a conscious language advocate, this quote didn’t sit right with me: “She’d never previously slept with anyone she wasn’t already in a relationship with. It was the kind of thing white people did.” Is there a correlation between skin colour and sexual promiscuity?
● This story didn’t have the identity themes that I’ve come to deeply appreciate in Cho’s previous works.
● The writing style felt YA and this book wasn’t as quotable or have the quality of prose of Cho’s previous works.
● Virtu sounds like a pyramid scheme.
● The title with the use of the word ‘experiment’ suggests an intentional testing of a hypothesis which wasn’t the case for this book. It was just two people who refused to be honest with themselves and each other? The title doesn’t make much sense for the book.
● Cover looks AI-generated 🥴

YA enthusiasts and commercial romance readers may have a better time with this than I did. But, if you’re coming here hoping for more of what made Black Water Sister and Spirits Abroad fantastic reads, you’re in for a bad time.

TL;DR: I hate it when people don’t communicate like adults. Worth a try, but a swing and a miss for me. Not even Zen Cho can convert me to the romance genre.

I was privileged to have my request to read this book accepted through NetGalley. Thanks, Pan Macmillan.

Title: The Friend Zone Experiment

Author: Zen Cho
Genre: Romance

Rating: ★★★★

From the outside, Renee Goh's life looks like the epitome of perfection. She's a stunning thirty-year-old running a chic and profitable women's clothing company in London, and to top it all off, she's been dating a hot Taiwanese pop star. But looks can be deceiving…….

Renee is lonely. Estranged from her family in Singapore and practically living at her office, she faces a harsh reality when her supposed boyfriend dumps her. Why is she ruining her perfectly Instagram-ready makeup by crying over a guy she barely saw anyway?

Just as she's about to dive into a pity party with a pint of Ben & Jerry's, Renee's father calls with a bombshell: he's retiring and considering her as the next CEO of the family conglomerate, Chahaya Group, in Southeast Asia. This news is huge. Renee craves her father's approval, but the thought of working with the brothers who drove her out of Singapore is daunting.

Then fate throws another curveball. That very night, Renee bumps into her first love, Yap Ket Siong, who shattered her heart during their university days. They share a magical night together, but Ket Siong is entangled in a dangerous quest for family vengeance. By the light of day, is there any hope for rekindling their romance?

Why I Loved It:

The Friend Zone Experiment by Zen Cho is a delightful rollercoaster of emotions and intrigue. Renee is a character you can't help but root for, with her blend of vulnerability and fierce ambition. The contrast between her glamorous public persona and her private struggles makes her incredibly relatable.

The family dynamics add depth and drama, especially the tension between Renee and her brothers. The prospect of her taking over the family business while dealing with past wounds and current rivalries keeps the stakes high and the pages turning.

Renee's reunion with Ket Siong is the cherry on top of this engaging story. Their past and present collide in a way that is both heartwarming and fraught with tension. Ket Siong's quest for vengeance adds a thrilling layer to the romance, making you wonder if they can overcome the shadows of their past to find a future together.

Zen Cho masterfully balances humour, heartache, and hope, making The Friend Zone Experiment a must-read. Its blend of romance, family drama, and personal growth kept me engaged from start to finish.

If you're looking for a book that offers a fun escape while touching on deeper themes of love, family, and self-discovery, this is it!

Thank you to Pan Macmillan | Macmillan, The Author Zen Cho & Netgalley for an advanced reader copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest review.

I have previously read one of the author's books - Black Water Sister - and when I found out she has a romance out, of course I was curious on how I would like it! I'm usually hesitant when fantasy authors switch genres but I actually really found The Friend Zone Experiment enjoyable. I liked the romance and the characters - aside from some scenes where I felt like there were a lot of "telling but not showing", I found Renee and Ket Siong really interesting characters. I don't like when the romance is too on the nose and this was a great balance of romance and plot. I also liked that this book focuses on environmental issues, and touches on discussions about ethics, misogyny, and also corruption.