Lead Review (The Friend Zone Experiment)

• Book: The Friend Zone Experiment
• Location: London, Singapore
• Author: Zen Cho

Review Author: tripfiction

3.75*

Entrepreneur Renee set up her company, Virtu in her teens and as the novel opens, she is looking forward to a couple of weeks of down-time with her boyfriend and global pop sensation JasonTsai. Within the first few pages the relationship has ended. Within days her father has rung her (an unusual move on his part) to ask her to take over his company Chahaya – a vast conglomerate in Singapore – as he feels it is time for him to step down. Shock news. And then it dawns on her that she will have to take on her two brothers, who are already firmly embedded within the company structure and not beyond flexing their muscles in all kinds of unanticipated – unsavoury, even – ways.

Up pops Ket Siong, an ex and who ended things with her a decade ago. They happen to come across each other at a V&A Dior exhibition and instantly reconnect. But given the wider familial and work picture, Renee intends to keep him at arm’s length. Family back in Singapore still holds sway in her life and conditions her life choices, even though she is a plus 30 year old successful woman. Life is never simple!

London is a defined backdrop as Renee negotiates her future. This is an easy-to-read and crisply told story, allowing the reader to take a peek into Asian society.

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