Review: Agony by Kaylee Ryan

Agony is part one in the Entangled Hearts Duet and is available to purchase and read now. Part two, Bliss, will be available July 16, 2020.

Blurb:

*As found on Goodreads

Reese Cooper Reeves was the boy-next-door. Every milestone, every memory of my youth was entangled with his. We were inseparable... until college. It wasn’t his friends, girls or even sports that came between us— it was me. Tired of being in the friend zone, I finally made a move. Turns out it was the wrong one. Cooper walked away to play his first year of professional football and left me behind with a broken heart. Cooper It’s always been her. Even before I really knew what love was, Reese Latham was by my side, making me swear we’d be best friends forever. And we were... until one night changed everything. I knew how she felt because I felt it too, but I pushed her away to save our friendship. The longer we’re apart, the more I realize she’s not only my best friend, Reese is the love of my life. I was kidding myself thinking I could let her go because now I know that living without her is the worst kind of agony.

Review:

Agony is part one in an all-new angsty "best friends with hidden feelings" duet. Main characters Reese and Cooper are in love, and everyone around them seem to know it- except them. I liked Reese and Cooper's connection; their friendship felt genuine and the chemistry was there. Unfortunately, a very large portion of the plot (55%) felt repetitive. Every few chapters it seemed as though the characters were going through the same motions, found themselves in the same settings and scenarios, and had the following explanations for their close relationship on repeat: "She's my best friend." "We're best friends." "He's my best friend." I scrolled a lot, so I think the story would have benefited from some content trimming. I was also hoping for a more original reason behind the characters' hesitation to reveal their feelings for each other, but it was the textbook "don't want to ruin the friendship we have." Still, I remain invested in the overall outcome because I like the characters enough to know where their story will take them. Agony ended with an edge-of-your-seat cliffhanger, so I am interested to see how everything unfolds in book two, Bliss.