How to Lose a Best Friend

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Author(s)

Jordan K. Casomar

Publisher

MTV Books

Genre(s)

Age Range

14+

Release Date

September 10, 2024

ISBN

978-1665932097

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This “important and necessary book for our time” (Amber Smith, New York Times bestselling author of The Way I Used to Be) confronts the myth of the friend zone as a boy in love with his best friend feels he’s owed a chance at romance—and she’s the only one in their lives who disagrees.

For as long as anyone can remember, Zeke Ladoja and Imogen Parker have been best friends. Their classmates, their parents, and even the school custodian think that they’re meant to be together. And that’s exactly what Zeke wants: for Gen to be his girlfriend. Now that she’s about to be sixteen (and allowed to date), Zeke is finally going to tell her how he feels—in front of everyone at her birthday party.

Imogen loves Zeke with all her heart, but only as a friend. The pressure to be with Zeke has sometimes been overwhelming, but up to this point, she’s been able to manage it. Then she falls for the new boy, Trevor Cook, and she knows the news will devastate Zeke. The last thing she wants to do is hurt her best friend, but she also resents the fact that no one seems to care about what she wants.

The night of Gen’s party, everything goes wrong. There’s backlash, most of it directed at Gen, and Zeke feels emboldened. He isn’t about to give up on his feelings, and he’ll do whatever it takes to prove that she made the wrong choice…even if it means destroying their friendship. But Gen isn’t about to give up on fighting for herself and the freedom to love the boy she wants, not the boy she’s expected to be with.

Editor review

1 review

Bring the Drama

July 07, 2026 (Updated: July 18, 2026)

Overall rating

3.7

Plot

3.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

How to Lose a Best Friend brings the drama, as the name implies it will. In this debut YA novel by Jordan K. Casomar, we meet Zeke and Imogen. They have been friends forever, and Zeke can’t wait to announce his love in a sweeping gesture on her 16th birthday, when her parents will officially allow her to date. The only problem in everyone’s vision of their future is that Imogen only loves him like a brother and not romantically. Yet, she feels trapped from being open with her feelings because he’s already dealing with his dad having cancer and having to quit baseball to get a job to help with bills.
I am not the target audience, so it was a bit hard to read the n-word used casually repeatedly between the male characters. It was also hard knowing it’s going to be a train wreck with nothing to keep the situation from derailing when some communication would have prevented the whole scenario. I will say that the drama that ensued was so much bigger than I imagined it could get, which was riveting and hard to put down. I especially enjoyed the chapters from Imogen’s perspective. I have read so many friends-to-lovers books that it was different to read an anti-romance (at least among the two main characters). Imogen does find someone she falls head over heels for, and through Trevor we can see exactly why Zeke wasn’t her person. She did not need time; she did not need forced proximity; she just needs people to listen to the words coming out of her mouth that her relationship is “not like that” with Zeke.
I am glad the author fully developed the short story Imogen publishes and includes it in the book, so readers understand why it affects everyone who reads it. Overall, this book deeply explores the harmful assumption that someone is owed affection simply because they have feelings for another person. Zeke goes to a dark place, but because the story is told partly from his perspective, we see the care and love from others that help him accept responsibility and gain perspective on his actions, allowing him to be a redeemable character and not a villain. This book has high appeal for readers who like drama and realistic situations.