The Friend Zone

About The Friend Zone

The Friend Zone was Abby Jimenez's debut series and the book that established her signature mix of laugh-out-loud comedy and unflinching emotional weight — in this case, infertility, chronic illness, and grief sit alongside meet-cute banter. It follows Kristen, who has a medical condition that may prevent her from having children, and Josh, the best friend of her best friend's fiancé, whose growing feelings for her complicate an already messy engagement-planning summer. Like her later Part of Your World trilogy, the series is a loose set of interconnected standalones sharing a Minnesota-adjacent friend group, with later books following different couples from the same circle.

Published between 2019 and 2021, this is Jimenez's first series, predating both Part of Your World and Say You'll Remember Me, and established the animal-rescue subplot and Golden-Retriever-energy love interests that became a recurring feature of her work.

How to read this series

Read in publication order: The Friend Zone, The Happy Ever After Playlist, Life's Too Short. Each book is a standalone romance with a new couple, but the supporting cast carries over, so publication order gives the cleanest experience and the best payoff for recurring characters. Not connected to Part of Your World or Say You'll Remember Me — different casts, though the same sense of humor and comedy-with-heart balance.