Casually Yours

Lac’s underbaked debut asks, “Can you be friends with benefits if you’re not really friends anymore?” Dani Tsai and Parker Tran grew up together in Silverpine, Ore., and were best friends until Parker suddenly bailed on his plans to visit Dani at college and ghosted her afterwards. Seven years later, aspiring writer Dani works as a copy editor at Adagio magazine, and football-obsessed Parker landed a glitzy job in sports marketing. Sparks fly when Dani literally runs into Parker in New York City, and the two decide to begin hooking up without talking about their estrangement. It’s strictly casual: Parker claims he doesn’t do relationships and abandonment-phobic Dani fears risking her heart if Parker walks out on her again. Their dynamic is frustrating and replete with communication issues, with flashbacks to their happier days coming too little too late to get readers invested. The plot builds up the reason behind Parker’s uncharacteristic ghosting as a huge secret—only for the eventual reveal to be fairly banal. Meanwhile, interference from Cô, Parker’s matchmaking mother, quickly grows grating, while her involvement in the climax cheapens the emotional journey of the central couple and lets them off the hook for any real growth. This disappoints. (Mar.)