Friendzoned (Busy Bean #4) by Rachel Blaufeld

A Review by Wendy
3.5 Traded Places Stars
* * * 1/2  

Spoiler Free

 Sometimes things we do when we are younger can be bigger than we thought. Kids can be heartless and comments or even a look can have a major impact. What can be worse is when the manipulative party knows they are being so...and still do the things that are unkind. It doesn't matter that the one being manipulated feels like they got something out of the deal, the damage has been done.

Murphy Landon may be feeling like she is living her Karma. Her background is full-blown New York Socialite in Capital Letters. She had all the privileges, as her parents never failed to tell her, and when she was in high school, she was sort of a part of the Mean Girl Brigade.

But, oh how the "High and Mighty" have fallen. Murphy was drummed out of NYC by her parents and a situation that brought ugly publicity to them and her. She lost her coveted position and decided to move to Vermont for a while until things settle down. She lucked out when she was hired by the Busy Bean and she is trying to just master all the drinks...I mean it shouldn't be that hard, she drank all of them when she was buying.

Murphy has much to say on that subject, it isn't as easy as she thought. It isn't the drinks that are killing her though, it is the customers, especially the one right in front of her now. This "Karen/Woman" is claiming Murphy didn't mix her drink as asked when she did. It's like she is reliving high school in the flesh but during modern times...

Oh, and to cap it off...There is a line and when the next person comes front and center, who should it be but Ben Rooney, her high school crush gone very bad with her being the one making it so. Ben was the "Scholarship Kid" and Murphy was only normal and nice when they were together alone with no one else seeing them. There was tutoring happening and Ben had a crush too.

Let's just say, their friendship didn't end well for Ben. And now he is a successful surgeon, doing very well financially and he is standing before Murphy stunned. He then is cutting and semi rude to her. He can't wrap his head around the fact that she is the coffee girl serving him. What the hell happened to her...Is she making fun of his town and all that live here? This is not right.

So this is how these two see each other after years and years, with secret crushes they both had, with Murphy being a bit defensive at first and Ben being a hard ass.

Then things change a bit. Murphy and Ben do have much in common after all and they start to see each other for the people they are now not then...

This story had lots to cover and for the most part, it was clear as to how each character was giving it their best shot. They weren't the easiest to fall for, but overall it was a solid journey.

More Busy Bean is Coming, Yay!!!

 A gifted copy was provided by the author/publisher for an honest review.

 

About Rachel Blaufeld

A recent poll of her readers described Rachel Blaufeld as insightful, generous, articulate, and spunky. Originally a clinical social worker, Rachel creates broken yet redeeming characters. She’s been known to turn up the angst like cranking up the heat in the dead of winter. A devout coffee drinker and doughnut eater, Rachel spends way too many hours in local coffee shops, downing the aforementioned goodies while she plots her ideas.

As a side note, Blaufeld, also a long-time blogger and an advocate of woman-run anything, is fearless about sharing her opinion. She captured the ears of stay-at-home and working moms on her blog, BacknGrooveMom, chronicling her adventures in parenting tweens and running a business, often at the same time. To her, work/life/family balance is an urban legend, but she does her best. Rachel has also blogged for The Huffington Post and Modern Mom. Most recently, her insights can be found in USA TODAY Happy Ever After Blog, where she shares conversations at “In Bed with a Romance Author.” 

Rachel lives around the corner from her childhood home in Pennsylvania with her family and two beagles. When she isn’t writing, she can be found courtside, tweeting about hoops as her son plays, or walking around the house wearing earplugs while her other son, the drummer, bangs away.