I loved everything about this book. It had me hooked from the first page. I’ve never been a salad gal but this story make me want to own a salad shop! I even loved the friends to lovers theme, which isn’t my normal go to romance genre. The part where she gets a surprise box delivered before an event made me believe in love again! LOL

And let’s talk about this crazy ex who made her second guess her value. I wanted to jump in the book and destroy his arrogant ego.

I also loved the idea of them being so focused on a friendship guide to keep their friendship safe. You can really tell how deeply they care about each other and other things they are passionate about.

This was the first book I read in the series but I’ve already added the first two books to my library account.

This book is going to have a nice little cozy home on my bookshelf when it is published.

I almost gave up on this series after reading Ten Rules For Faking It but I had already requested this from NetGalley so I wanted to give it a fair shot. I’m glad I did because this ended up being everything I had wanted book 1 to be.

I liked both of the characters and their backstories and understood why they did what they did or why they felt how they felt. They both had a great deal of depth which I always appreciate in characters. This was a solid 3-star friends-to-lovers, found family read for me. It was overall good, but nothing really pulled me in and made me fall in love. Despite that, I do think it was cute and would recommend it!

This was a quick and cute read! It is easy to dive into and is interesting right from the start.
I love how Hailey and Wes met, and how their friendship developed over time. I loved all of the side characters, especially Fiona! I also enjoyed the interactions between the Jensen brothers.

Overall, this kept me entertained and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys romance or friends-to-lovers.

This is the third book in a series by Sophie Sullivan. I really liked the first two books so I was excited to read this book. Sadly I didn’t enjoy it as much as the previous two but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good book.
Hailey and Wes have both been hurt in previous relationships and they decide they are just going to be friends. Of course over time they fall for one another. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

“Life happens. Hearts get broken.”

Thank you Sophie Sullivan, St. Martin’s Griffin, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. “A Guide to Being Just Friends” is set to publish 1/17/23.

Hailey Sharp has a one-track mind. Get By the Cup salad shop off the ground. Do literally everything possible to make it a success. Repeat. With a head full of entrepreneurial ideas and a bad ex in her rearview, her one and only focus is living life the way she wants to. No distractions. Wes Jansen never did understand the fuss about relationships. With a string of lackluster first dates and the pain from his parents’ angry divorce following him around, he’d much rather find someone he likes, but won’t love. Companionship, not passion, is the name of the game. When Hailey and Wes find each other in a disastrous meet cute that wasn’t even intended for them, they embarrassingly go their separate ways. But when Wes finds Hailey to apologize for his behavior, they strike a friendship. Because that’s all this can be. Hailey doesn’t want any distractions. Wes doesn’t want to fall in love. What could possibly go wrong?

I read this book in one sitting. If you’re looking for a lighthearted RomCom with dual POV’s, flirty banter, and lovable characters, then look no further than “A Guide to Being Just Friends.” This is a slow burn, friends to lover book with a touch of miscommunication. While I usually am not a fan of the miscommunication trope, I didn’t mind it as much in this book. “A Guide to Being Just Friends” is the third book in the Jansen Brother series, but can be read as a stand-alone book. I didn’t realize this book was part of a series and definitely plan to read the first two books in this series. I rated “A Guide to Being Just Friends” 4 ⭐️’s.

This one is ⭐️⭐️⭐️‘s for me.

I didn’t realize this was book #3 in a series but I don’t know that it mattered to the story except maybe the backstory of a few characters. I didn’t feel that I was missing anything.

Hailey’s relationship ends & heart broken she decides to use that energy to pursue her dream of owning a salad shop. She is at the bakery/coffee shop next door when Wes mistakes her for a date that didn’t show because the barista put the name Hadley instead of Hailey on the cup. Hadley is the no show date. Wes doesn’t believe she isn’t Hadley.

This is a slow burn romance. I mean not much really happens except their friendship builds which is the title of the book. Wes is writing the rules to the guide for being friends but it doesn’t really go anywhere. He doesn’t share it. I think he kept it to himself.

They become best friends & while there are sparks they want to ignore them afraid everything will change. There were several times I was going to DNF this one but it is a nice story & does give the feels. I liked that it was told from both Hailey’s & Was’ points of view. There are some loose ends but overall if you like Hallmark movies I think you’ll enjoy this book.

Thank you to @netgalley & @stmartinspress for the advanced copy. Special thanks to the author, @authorsophiesullivan for taking the time to write this & share these characters with us.

This book is just as good as the others in the series. Hailey and Wes learn a lot from each other in many ways.

Thank you to NetGalleya s the publish for an advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

So this book is the third (and I think final?) in a series about wealthy bothers finding their person in California. I didn’t pick up the first 2 before diving into this one as it’s not necessary to keep up with the story.

I have a lot of feelings on this book and most are not great. This book started off as your typical friends to lovers rom-com down to the rom-com loving female and love-adverse male. This trope is one I can get behind (if it’s not one you like..don’t pick up the book obviously - just look at the title hah) but this became completely unbearable. Every other page was one of the two lying about being attracted to each other despite constantly talking about the chemistry they felt or ‘pang in their chest’ - like seriously? No one is that delusional.

Overall the characters are written fairly mature in the beginning yet they can’t admit they like each other and have a conversation about their feelings? It’s just infuriating.

The whole ‘rich boy who can make all of a woman’s problems disappear’ is just not a thing for me. It’s not a thing for our main character, Hailey, either as she constantly tells Wes but he oversteps and does it over and over again. the author describes Hailey as someone who is so proud to start her own business and the importance she places on making it on her own then destroys all of that with Wes’ behavior and Hailey just lets It happen for most of the book? She gets upset and then apologizes for her rational emotions? STOP MAKING WOMEN FEEL LIKE THEY CANT HAVE FEELINGS.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sharing this ARC.

WOW - I didn't realize this was a series! I will definitely be checking out Sophie's other books. This was a perfect rom-com that had a great friends-to-lovers plot. I always enjoy when a book gives me the warm fuzzies and Wes and Hailey definitely delivered!

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75

*read an advanced readers e copy provided by NetGalley*

I think overall this book was okay. There were some really icky diet culture/fat phobic moments that I’m so over seeing in romances. So the woman likes chocolate, stop making it a personality trait.
I think this was way too fast paced and the romance was very unrealistic but that’s par for the course with a lot of these types of books. I enjoyed it enough but probably wouldn’t recommend it

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The relationship between Hailey and Wes was cute in this story, but unfortunately I didn't find the plot particularly engaging. I thought that the protagonists' interactions were cute and I did enjoy watching their relationship develop, but I wasn't really interested in learning about their individual business endeavors and found that many of their interactions were repetitive. Ultimately, this caused the book to drag much more than I wanted it to. I would recommend this story if you are interested in an everyday romance with slow and steady character development, but I unfortunately don't think it was for me.

A Guide to Just Being Friends by Sophie Sullivan is the third book in the Jansen Brothers series. This is a cute friends to lovers story. I really like these characters even though they have some things from their past to get over. This is a well-written story and easy to read.

A Guide to Being Just Friends was so fun! There was so much chemistry from the start in this book. It had me craving salads and chocolate constantly?!

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Guide to Being Just Friends is the third book in the Jansen Bothers series, with Wes and Hailey. Wes is a the eldest of the brothers who has recently moved to California to work with his brothers when he confuses Hailey with someone else. Hailey has also recently relocated to the area and opened a salad shop. After the first awkward encounter Wes and Hailey decided that they should be friends. Their friendship blossoms as Hailey’s business really starts to take off and what they thought would only be friendship might be more than that.

When I got a copy of this book I didn’t realize it was apart of series until part way though reading it so while I think you should probably read the series, this can be a standalone book too.

This book was really fun to read. It was everything I was hoping it would be in a light cute fun romantic comedy book.

I really enjoyed following the story and development of Wes and Hailey’s friendship. While they had an awkward start I liked how easy their friendship seemed very early on.

I also liked seeing the characters dealing with the internal conflict of their feelings toward one another and how they didn’t want to lose a friendship.

The spice in this book is closed door.

I really enjoy character development and getting to see characters grow. While I do believe that both Hailey and Wes had good character development in this story with things they had to learn about themselves . I do wish it had been a little stronger here, but I think this is something most can overlook and still enjoy this story.

I do think at some point I would like to read the other two books to see the journeys of the other two Jansen brothers.

This a fun quick read I would recommend to anyone who is looking for something that is light and fun, especially if you have been reading too many emotionally complex books. I would also recommend to anyone who loves a good classic romantic comedy movie.

DNF. I was concerned by the amount of diet culture prevalent in this book even in the first few pages and had to stop for my own sake. Hailey also seemed to have no idea what she was doing, despite having taken all the steps to open a business by herself.

2.5 stars

This was very strange because this was a cute book, but it was boring and repetitive. I liked Wes and Hailey; however, the story was just boring. This was a friends to lovers book, but they meet at the beginning of the book. So, you basically watch Wes and Hailey become friends, deny they have feelings for each other, then accept their feelings. It took way too long for them to get together, and I honestly feel that this book would have been better if the characters would have been friends before the start. While Wes and Hailey are probably my favorite couple in this entire series, I just didn't love this book at all and was very disappointed. I think this author is just not for me, and I don't know if I'll read anything else by her. Overall, I thought this was a cute book, but just too boring for me.

A Guide To Being Just Friends (ARC)
Sophie Sullivan
3⭐️

Pub day: 01/17/2023

Brokenhearted Hailey moved recently to get away from it all and start fresh... like her salad shop kind of fresh. But she was horribly mistaken for another girl by this "tempting" man. And for some reason they were able to build a friendship out of this encounter. Analytical Wes even made a funny "guide" to being just friends. Wes and Hailey started to show each other they care for the other, it develops into something more. But they both don't want distractions, don't want to fall in love. Can this "friendship" survive?

It was a fairly enjoyable book. Girl with a vision and dream, analytical guy who tries to fix stuff. Both are repelled by love in different degrees. But really, first thoughts about a guy as "tempting" is not a good and convincing start to being just friends. 😂
I did like how they tried sooo hard to stay "just friends." Their thoughts about each other and all the other friends stuff is cute. There's a lot of ordinary daily activities and encounters and I think that's also charming. But when it spans through the whoooole book, it gets too mundane. It's too everyday-life-ey, very slow burn. There's no climax and there's not a big conflict point. No rush. It's a little too flat and bland for me, sometimes repetitive. I enjoyed the first half of the book for sure. But it was a little hard to finish. Overall, if you want a quick and everyday, maybe sort of relatable romance, this may be your kind of book.

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for a e-copy of this book.

Coming in blind, without having read the previous two in the series, but very much enjoyed. Subtle romance, much pining.

A Guide To Being Just Friends

I enjoyed the writing style of the author, and appreciated the dedication the author had to creating a backstory for the characters that created a depth to them and gave them more personality than others. I will say that the reason that I didn't enjoy this book as much is that it took well over half the book for the Wes and Hailey to even really start to acknowledge their feelings. The pacing was a bit too slow for my interests, although I'm sure this book will be a hit for people who really enjoy a slow, slow burn.

This book was so fun. I enjoyed the development of the relationship, the banter, and the characters were top notch. Nothing felt forced or unnecessary. Definitely recommend.