When Joss Met Matt by Ellie Cahill (Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads)Published by Random House Publishing Group on February 24th 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Contemporary Women, Fiction, New Adult, Romance
Pages: 352
Format: eARC
In the tradition of New Adult superstar Jessica Sorensen, Ellie Cahill’s debut novel is a charming friends-with-benefits story . . . with a twist! What if after every bad breakup, there was someone to help “cleanse your palate”—someone who wouldn’t judge you, who was great in bed, someone you were sure not to fall in love with? “Sorbet sex” could solve everything—as long as it never got too sweet. Joss and Matt have been friends since freshman year of college, meeting one night after Joss is dumped by her boyfriend. After a few drinks, Matt humors her with a proposition: that he’ll become her go-to guy whenever she needs to heal a broken heart. In return, she’ll do the same for him. The #1 Rule: They’ll never fall in love with each other. People scoff at the arrangement. But six years later, Joss and Matt are still the best of friends . . . with benefits. Through a string of boyfriends and girlfriends—some almost perfect, some downright wrong—Joss and Matt are always there for each other when the going gets tough. No strings. No attachments. Piece of cake. No problem. After all, since they wrote the rules, surely they can play by them. Or can they?Advance praise for When Joss Met Matt “Hands down, one of my favorite New Adult reads . . . Ellie Cahill is definitely one to watch!”—New York Times bestselling author Cora Carmack “This is one of those books that make you forget everything around you. Prepare to be consumed by this story.”—Sophie Jordan, New York Times bestselling author of Wild “Fun, sexy, and full of amazing chemistry, When Joss Met Matt is an entertaining escape that will leave you smiling with every turn of the page.”—Cassie Mae, author of The Real ThingFrom the Trade Paperback edition.
I’m a huge fan of Liz Czukas, she does light-hearted and fun in such an amazing way, so when I knew she was releasing a New Adult title, I knew I was going to enjoy it… the only question was how much.
As the title suggests, this is about when Joss met Matt… and their ensuing relationship/friendship from that day forward. Cahill/Czukas tells this story in flashbacks… in current time, Joss is getting ready to head over to Matt’s house and let him know that she can’t continue on in the kind of relationship they have built over the years… she needs and wants more.
Their story begins when Joss and her roommate attend a party at Matt’s and despite an awkward almost kiss, Joss explains she has a long-distance boyfriend and that is that. They go the route of friendship instead.
But the long-distance boyfriend turns out to be a ginormous douche and Matt offers up a suggestion. Sorbet sex… she needs some relationship palette cleansing and he’s willing to be there to help her out with it. After it happens, they decide that this is something that could work and an agreement is formed and rules are put in place. They will never sleep with each other unless a breakup happens and they have to always part as friends. As the years pass and relationships happen, the rules adjust and change … as do their feelings.
The catch here is that Joss is convinced that she never had feelings other than friendship for Matt, so that made this relationship easy… but suddenly it’s not easy, and as they get older and their relationships and wants evolve, Joss is afraid that what she wants, isn’t exactly what Matt wants.
Like I said, Cahill/Czukas does an amazing job of writing a fun story and this is exactly that. She manages to dive into the NA genre with a wonderful story that is missing the typical over dramatic storylines that so many resort to… and I love it.
I couldn’t help but find myself laughing at some of the dating hi-jinks that happen in this story, and I loved the evolution of Matt & Joss’s relationship… being able to witness the small moments that really solidified their friendship was wonderful. And the characters themselves were incredibly relatable and likable and I love that Liz chose to set this in Wisconsin! (Wisconsin needs more love!)
Czukas does amazing banter and friendship and When Joss Met Matt is filled with both! Watching these two fumble through relationships was so much fun, even when it wasn’t meant to be, because you knew that they’d find each other when it was necessary.
One other thing that really stood out to me in this story was that while it’s ultimately about sex and all the tangled webs that weaves, it wasn’t filled with sex. I mean there is sex obviously, but nothing over the top or overly descriptive and ultimately the point wasn’t that it was about sex. Instead it’s about these characters who just happen to be having it on occasion and how that impacts their feelings and lives.
I, for one, and super happy that Czukas has jumped into the NA genre and I’m definitely looking forward to whatever she has next on the horizon!
Thank you so much to Netgalley & the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest thoughts!
As the title suggests, this is about when Joss met Matt… and their ensuing relationship/friendship from that day forward. Cahill/Czukas tells this story in flashbacks… in current time, Joss is getting ready to head over to Matt’s house and let him know that she can’t continue on in the kind of relationship they have built over the years… she needs and wants more.
Their story begins when Joss and her roommate attend a party at Matt’s and despite an awkward almost kiss, Joss explains she has a long-distance boyfriend and that is that. They go the route of friendship instead.
But the long-distance boyfriend turns out to be a ginormous douche and Matt offers up a suggestion. Sorbet sex… she needs some relationship palette cleansing and he’s willing to be there to help her out with it. After it happens, they decide that this is something that could work and an agreement is formed and rules are put in place. They will never sleep with each other unless a breakup happens and they have to always part as friends. As the years pass and relationships happen, the rules adjust and change … as do their feelings.
The catch here is that Joss is convinced that she never had feelings other than friendship for Matt, so that made this relationship easy… but suddenly it’s not easy, and as they get older and their relationships and wants evolve, Joss is afraid that what she wants, isn’t exactly what Matt wants.
Like I said, Cahill/Czukas does an amazing job of writing a fun story and this is exactly that. She manages to dive into the NA genre with a wonderful story that is missing the typical over dramatic storylines that so many resort to… and I love it.
I couldn’t help but find myself laughing at some of the dating hi-jinks that happen in this story, and I loved the evolution of Matt & Joss’s relationship… being able to witness the small moments that really solidified their friendship was wonderful. And the characters themselves were incredibly relatable and likable and I love that Liz chose to set this in Wisconsin! (Wisconsin needs more love!)
Czukas does amazing banter and friendship and When Joss Met Matt is filled with both! Watching these two fumble through relationships was so much fun, even when it wasn’t meant to be, because you knew that they’d find each other when it was necessary.
One other thing that really stood out to me in this story was that while it’s ultimately about sex and all the tangled webs that weaves, it wasn’t filled with sex. I mean there is sex obviously, but nothing over the top or overly descriptive and ultimately the point wasn’t that it was about sex. Instead it’s about these characters who just happen to be having it on occasion and how that impacts their feelings and lives.
I, for one, and super happy that Czukas has jumped into the NA genre and I’m definitely looking forward to whatever she has next on the horizon!
Thank you so much to Netgalley & the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest thoughts!
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