The Friend Zone Experiment

From the renowned, award-winning author Zen Cho comes a delightfully funny romance about family, class, and love in modern London.

From the outside, Renee Goh’s life looks perfect. She’s thirty and beautiful, runs a glamorous—and profitable—women’s clothing company in London, and is dating a hot Taiwanese pop star.

But Renee is lonely. Estranged from her family in Singapore, she practically lives at the office, and now she’s just been dumped by her supposed boyfriend. Who she never saw anyway, so why is she ruining her Instagram-ready makeup by crying?

Before she can curl up on the couch with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, Renee’s father calls. He’s retiring, and, thanks to the screw-ups of her wastrel brothers, he is considering her as the next CEO of the family business: Chahaya Group, one of the largest conglomerates in Southeast Asia. That stamp of her father’s approval would mean everything to Renee, but can she cooperate with the brothers who drove her out of Singapore?

But fate isn’t done with her. That same night, Renee bumps into her first love, Yap Ket Siong, who broke her heart during university. They spend a wonderful night together, but Ket Siong is pursuing a dangerous vengeance for his family. In the light of day is there any hope for the two of them?

'The Friend Zone Experiment is for every person who believes they can fight for a happy-ever-after on their own terms.' - Karen Lord, author of The Blue, Beautiful World

'A messy—yet beautiful—second-chance romance. Zen Cho writes vivid characters in difficult situations, and the hero and heroine’s history is deftly woven into their present-day interactions. It’s a compelling read, and I devoured it.' - Jackie Lau, author of Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie