3.25⭐

Book 3 in the Jansen Brothers series ~ fine as a standalone, but our characters from book 1 and 2 make quite a few appearances, so it's nice to know their background ~ not essential to the story though.

Featuring ~ dual 3rd person POV, small business owner, slow burn, friends to lovers, no steamage

Hailey & Wes
I do prefer friends to lovers over enemies to lovers, but this was a super slow burn. I think maybe it was because their friendship only spanned a few months and wasn't from childhood, which I guess I prefer. Even though that makes me mad too cuz it's a time waster ~ and now I'm totally off topic of this one.
So anyway, I didn't like their meet cute and how he was sure she was lying to him. I loved that Hailey had her own small business that she built on her own. Some of the salad combinations sounded lovely and now I've gotta head to the store for some salad fixings ~ my family will be thrilled 🤣

They were both really bugging me at times. Hailey was a little much with not wanting to accept help from Wes. I get that she wanted to do everything on her own and I commend that, but sometimes a small bit of help won't hurt your pride. Although, he was a little much too with wanting to throw his money around to fix everything. I was mostly liking Wes (meet cute aside) until the whole conflict ~ what a dope he was, but he rectified it in an adorable manner.

All in all, cute-ish, but not my favorite in the series.

This one started of alright. I really liked the set up of this book. I liked how there was an instant attraction but both characters knew they aren't capable of being in a relationship right now so they focus on being friends. I also really liked them as friends. There were some amazing scenes between them and I thought they were very cute. I also liked how basically everyone knew they were in love with each other besides themselves. I always love that in romances and it caused for some really great moments as well. We also had some fun jealousy moments and I just loved seeing them fall in love with each other. However, then they actually get together and all the billion reasons they had for not being ready for a relationship were still very much present and the characters never really developed past those issues. Therefore I just couldn't really root for them. I thought Hailey was incredibly insecure and stuborn and constantly got in her own way. It was incredibly frustrating to read as she just got mad at the littlest things because she was assuming the worst. That just didn't work in a relationship for me. If you can't trust your partner wants what best for you, you can't be in a relationship with that person. Wes wasn't much better though. Even though he spend the entire book falling in love with Hailey by the end he still didn't believe in love and didn't want to either. Obviously, that doesn't work for a relationship either. In the end they do apologise to each other but we don't really see them actually learn or grow out of those issues so I have a hard time believing they would actually last past like a months time. So yeah, if you can't root for the romance in a romance novel, what are you doing?

A Guide to Just Being Friends by Sophie Sullivan is the third book in the Jansen Brothers series. It can be read as a stand alone - I still need to read the first book in the series, Ten Rules for Faking It.

The meet cute happens when Wes mistakes Hailey for his blind date. There is an attraction but they decide to be just friends since she just got out of a relationship and he isn’t a fan of them.

Hailey has some trust issues. Her parents are distant and her ex wasn’t all that. She also is stubborn and wants to do things herself so don’t help her, she’s got this. To be honest, at times this bugged me.

Wes doesn’t believe in love. His parents are divorced and his dad isn’t the best role model. He also has a protective streak and just wants to help people that he cares about.

Their friendship is great and they do a good job fighting their low key attraction to each other…until the holidays! Hailey got tipsy at a party and made a move by kissing Wes but with sober eyes they decided it was a mistake. So Hailey starts dating and Wes starts to get jealous and realizes that maybe she can be more than just his friend.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend for reader that enjoys:
Friends to lovers
Found family
Slow burn, closed door romance

Cute romance read! Had me craving salads (weird, I know) the entire time since the main character owns a salad shop! I did find one typo (Loc 1399, chapter 13): “I like a hearty marina.” Marina should be marinara I believe.

I really enjoyed this book! It was really adorable.
Hailey and Wes were both strong, interesting characters. I really enjoyed their dynamic and relationship development and I found that they made sense together and worked well both as a couple and as individual people.
I haven't read much by Sophie Sullivan, but this book definitely makes me want to read whatever comes next from her. I am interested to see how it fits in the series.

A Guide to Just Being Friends Book Review

Rating: ★★★

Read if you like:
・ Strangers-to-friends-to-lovers
・ Slow burn romance
・ Found family
・ Closed door romance
・ Opposites attract

“Right now, I want to learn how to keep that smile on your face.”
“That’s easy. Kiss me.”

(I am very unsure of how I feel about this book, so please give this review some grace and take it with a grain of salt)

A Guide to Being Just Friends is a cute, friends-to-lovers romance with a bit of grumpy/sunshine energy.

I really enjoyed getting to know Wes and Hailey at the beginning of this book. Their meet-cute introduced both of the characters well and established some relatively important plot points. On the whole, the first two-thirds of this book are a solid four stars: cute banter, amazing side characters, fun “friendly” outings, and good potential character arcs.

The last third of the book, however, falls completely flat for me. Both Wes and Hailey’s character development became confusing and felt generally unresolved by the end of the book. I think this is because there was so much happening in the last couple chapters that it was difficult to know where to look, so-to-speak. The writing was also generally subpar for an author’s third book.

This book is your typical romance: it’s fun, it’s easy, but that’s all it is.

I didn't realize this was the third book in a companion series. but, other than not being attached to any of the characters. I don't think it made a difference. The dialougue and story was cheesy from the beginning.

What I liked:

-There was more going on plot wise than the romance. You got some interesting information about both of their careers.

What I could go without:

-I miscommunications of the final 20% were enough to make me not root for the characters ending up together.
-Closed door is hard, but there wasn’t enough other chemistry on the page to feel the romance.

Thank you Sophie Sullivan, NetGalley, and St. Martin’s Press for my advanced review copy. My opinions are my own.

Plot - 4
Writing and Editing - 3
Character Development - 4
Personal Bias - 2
Final Score - 3.25

I usually enjoy this author’s books but this one just didn’t work for me. I was too distracted by Hailey’s ineptitude as a small business owner. She starts an eatery business but has no coupons, no flyers, no business cards, (and only finally gets cards because new friends randomly decide to give them to her as a surprise gift). Then she hires a new employee and tells him that she doesn’t mind training him to do his assigned duties (well, that’s good that she doesn’t mind because how else is he supposed to learn them?) I was so annoyed with Hailey’s lack of business savvy that I just could never settle in and enjoy the slow burn friends to lovers story.

I was also disappointed at the foodie aspect. Normally I’m all about a good foodie rom com, but Hailey’s eatery sells salad in a cup, which was kind of a hard sell to me as I'm not a big salad eater. I’m assuming these are fancy gourmet salads but this is a guess because at least up until the point I finally gave up on the book, the descriptions of the salads were pretty vague. More so than the salad descriptions, what mainly stuck with me from the food descriptions was Hailey's random anecdote about a guy ordering a BLT salad minus everything but the bacon with a side of ketchup. All I kept thinking was you sell salad and only salad (not even drinks?) so why do you randomly have ketchup? Haha! So yeah, the fact that I kept getting hung up on nitpicky bits about Hailey and how she runs her business tells me this just wasn’t the right book for me. I’m sure plenty of other readers won't get hung up on the business and will love Hailey and Wes together.

I really enjoyed this book!

Hailey and Wes were both strong, interesting characters. I really enjoyed their dynamic and relationship development and I found that they made sense together and worked well both as a couple and as individual people.

I haven't read much by Sophie Sullivan, but this book definitely makes me want to read whatever comes next from her.

This book was adorable. With that said… it’s a closed door, or fade to black. No spice to speak of, so if you’re really into some smut (and there’s nothing wrong with that) then this may fall a little flat for you.

The MC Hailey was very relatable to me because she’s ultra independent, which is a trauma response, as you’ll see. I got a tiny bit frustrated with her knee jerk responses to things but it was still very on brand for hyper-independent people. Wes, the MMC was harder for me to relate to but the author did a wonderful job of providing supporting background for his overall personality.

I wasn’t familiar with the Jansen brothers before Hailey and Wes, so I may go back and read Sophie’s two previous books. I found her writing style to be fast paced, and easy to read. I read this whole book in less than a day altogether and could have read it in one sitting except *life*.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. This book comes out on 1/17 and is worth picking up if you’re into less racy romances.

The friendship between Wes and Hailey was just the sweetest! You can see the chemistry between them. They were made for each other. But for some reason the romantical angst I needed took too long to develop. Or maybe it was just overshadowed by the boring daily activities written into this story. I felt like there was no real plot, and just a lot of meaningless business and day-to-day happenings. Nothing for me to connect to or get invested in. The characters were all great, and I loved their relationships, but thats about it.

🥗💻REVIEW💻🥗

A Guide to being Just Friends
By: Sophie Sullivan

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫3.5/5 stars

“𝙻𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚍𝚞𝚖𝚋”

This was a cute slow-burn romance and my first from this author. I didn’t realize it was the third in a series when I requested in on Netgalley, but it was practically a stand-alone.

Hailey- small business owner of By The Cup salad shop and forever independent woman due to her parents and former boyfriends neglect. Carrying her kindle around and indulging in all the sweets she can (same), she was a sweet and relatable character. Just a girl trying to forge her way in the world and making her own found family.

Wes, a New York millionaire transplant in California with his two other brothers who have their own books previously in the series, is a love skeptic and Type-A, organized brainiac. He and Hailey accidentally meet over a dating-app miscommunication at a cafe and eventually decide to become just friends as that’s what both of them really need.

I thought the banter and start of the story made it so easy to read and get through but in the middle the storyline dragged. It felt like a chunk could have been omitted to move the story along faster. I also felt that for becoming such constants in each others lives and spending so much time together, Hailey and Wes seemed to not share a lot of information about themselves. For example, Wes doesn’t want to get married or have kids, and Hailey, his best friend, doesn’t know this about him? Seemed odd.

There were a few other events in the story that I felt weren’t totally necessary and kind of felt like they were added for the drama factor and contributed little to the overall story. Overall, I think after the (TWO) third act breakups, it did end really well and left me satisfied.

Have you read a series book out of order?

Welcome back Jansen Brothers! Three brothers ~ three books which probalby makes this the end of the line. Insert sad face.

I don’t know what it is about female leads in Sullivans books, but they are just so darn likable and somewhat relatable! The first book took place at a radio station, the second book took place at the main character's home and this one takes place at a salad shop that's next door to a dessert shop. I have always been a sucker for a good salad, and each of Hailey’s salad creations sounded like it would be a flavor bomb in your mouth! I also need the chocolate cake from Taras! Yeah there's a chance you will get hungry reading this.

Anyways this story was absolutely adorable and quite the page turner as we follow along with Hailey and Wes trying to avoid the BIG feelings they have for each other. If you enjoyed Ten Rules for Faking It and How to Love Your Neighbor, do not miss out on this one! It will have you once again swooning over the Jansen boys who are thankfully nothing like their father.

Initially I felt that the writing was a little clunky. I haven’t read either of the other books in the series or anything else by this author so I’m not sure if it’s just a writing style to get used to. The introduction to the leading man is 😬. For a few chapters, I wasn’t sure I would continue it. But I’m so glad I did! The leads in this novel had palpable chemistry. It is a friends to lovers/slow burn romance that works. Often, I feel like the slow burn trope is used only for the sake of prolonging the inevitable. A Guide to Being Just Friends did not feel that way. Despite the clunky start, Sullivan writes witty dialogue that often made me laugh out loud. The banter in general (between the leads, between the brothers) is great. Definitely check this out and push past the beginning.

Wes is a workaholic and totally set in his anti-live mindset. Hailey had a bad breakup, and while it didn't crush her, she throwing herself into her salad shop.
I liked the friendship they struck up. They were good for each other, her loosening him up a bit and him encouraging her with ideas. Then their attraction builds, and other dating opportunities pop up for each of them, making them realize they might want to be more than friends.
There were a lot of sweet moments in here. It was obvious that they were great together, but there were maybe too many bumps in the road.
Works as a standalone, but there are tons of appearances from Wes' brothers and their SOs, so reading the first two books would help.
I also felt like there were multiple plot points related to businesses and/or family that were brought up but didn't go anywhere, and I would have liked to know how those turned out instead of assuming they just worked out.

I didn't realize this book was part of a series and I look forward to going back and reading the first 2! This was a slow burn friend to lovers romance. I enjoyed watching their relationship and flew through this book in just 2 days. The fight and subsequent resolution at the end seemed a bit rushed and could've been flushed out more but I was rooting for Wes and Hailey to have their HEA.

I am certain that there are folks out there who love this book, and I mean NOTHING against the author or the story, but this one just wasn't for me. I found myself bored, and I ended up DNFing. However, I don't believe in hurting a book's rating because I DNFed as I didn't finish the book & don't have the entire picture. Therefore, I rated it 4 stars because what I read was written well, and it isn't the author's fault that the story just wasn't for me. I hope everyone who enjoys this author and this trope LOVES it!

This story is told in third person dual point of view from Hailey and Wes. It is the 3rd book in a series and while you can read it stand-alone, the characters from the first two books are present as friends and siblings to both characters and you probably will enjoy it more if you have read the prior stories.

Hailey has just opened a new small business, a salad shop, and I enjoyed watching her navigate the learning curve though she was a little stubborn at times about accepting help and she often took on too much by herself just to prove that she could. Wes is the oldest and last of 3 brothers that have moved to California to get out from under their father’s thumb both personally and in business though it doesn’t stop his trying to control them from New York. Both she and Wes had complicated family issues that I found both enjoyable and frustrating as they both put up obstacles in their relationship as a result.

This is the type of friends-to-lovers story that I typically enjoy, where we get the meet cute, the gradual build of friendship then the choice to make it more. However, it suffered a little on the timeline for me, jumping months between chapters to indicate the passage of time while I felt like the relationship could have been built on page without the jumps. I thought that Hailey had a lot of character development over the course of the story going from doing everything by herself to accepting help from friends who had good intentions while Wes seemed to jump through hoops then run into road blocks and grovel without really understanding why he was apologizing which only meant that it happened again. I was also not satisfied with the way the Jansen brothers family issues were left at the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy provided for an honest review.

This book was very much focused on the “friends” portion of the title. I’m not typically a friends to lovers guru unless it is done perfectly so this one already started out to not really be my cup of tea though I have been liking friends to lovers more and more.

I enjoyed the beginning and specifically how Wes and Hailey became friends. However, I felt like most of the book then ended up being a story about their friendship which was cute but I feel it took way too long to get to the romance portion of the romance. Because of that, I didn’t feel that the romantic part of their relationship was very well established.

I did like the family and friend group and how welcoming they were to Hailey. I also really want to eat at that little salad shop!

Spice: 🌶/5 (closed door but strong references)

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for this electronic of the book for review.

Read this if you like:
🥗 Craving a salad
🥗 The Friend Zone
🥗 A Supportive Family