Between Friends & Lovers by Shirlene Obuobi follows Josephine Boateng, a doctor who became a social media influencer under the name Dr. Jojo. On her socials, she gives medical advice and advice in general to go with her curated feed; her online persona is just that – a persona. Behind the scenes, Josephine struggles with finding fulfilment with her social media career, while contemplating getting back into practicing medicine, at the same time as she grapples with her romantic feelings for her best friend and it boy Ezra Adelman.
After a confrontation at a party, she retreats for a private moment, only to find a stranger in her room. Malcolm Waters needed a second to collect himself and hype himself up to mingle with the elites at this very swanky party and try to turn his novel into a Hollywood blockbuster. His thoughts were quickly interrupted by Josephine, who helped hype him up and showed him how to talk himself. She left a lasting impression, where Malcolm knew he wanted more. Caught in a little bit of a love triangle, Jo and Malcolm explore their feelings for each other, while Jo questions whether she should give Ezra a shot, all the while other aspects of her life start to get complicated.
Josephine’s story is nuanced, and I love that she was very much three dimensional. At first, I worried whether her directness was a façade or would make her unlikable but as I kept reading, I realized (at the same time as Malcolm) that Jo moved with intent – nothing she did was spontaneous or seemingly out of character. Her online and offline personas were two completely different people that she purposely kept separate. When not in front of the cameras trying to connect with her audience, she struggles with figuring out her next steps in her career. She’s overwhelmed by the thought of practicing medicine again but does not want to let her knowledge and expertise go to waste. At the same time, she’s battling depression and trying to understand her own feelings about everything going on in her life – love included. The best part of this story is that at the beginning, Jo had no idea what being loved looked like. Never having experienced it herself, she didn’t see it as something practical. Malcolm was determined to change her opinion on it by showing her all the ways he was all in.
My biggest gripe was with Ezra. I was really hoping she wouldn’t end up choosing him, or even considering him at all. He didn’t seem like he was a best friend at all, and it felt like his friendship with Jo had just been convenient. She was there for him but he wasn’t there for her. As Jo retells parts of their friendship, she’s repeatedly reminded of “her place” in his life, which made me feel sad for her. Ezra didn’t deserve someone like Jo in his orbit and it took him almost too long to figure it out.
All in all, Between Friends & Lovers was an enjoyable read that had a lot of depth and layers to its love story. It’s nice to see Black love on the page, more when Black women are loved properly.
