I had such high hopes to absolutely love this friends to lovers book however had an impossible time connecting with the characters.

I hadn’t read the first two books in the series and felt at a disadvantage, wishing I had known more about the brothers!

Read if vou like:
- slow burn
- friends to lovers
- a closer door romance

Hailey is a small business owner of her new shop, By the Cup. It's all about getting that business off the ground for her. She doesn't want distractions. Wes Jansen has never understood the big deal about relationships. The pain from his parents' angry divorce lingers around him, and he'd rather have companionship, not passion. When Hailey and Wes meet, it's a disastrous meet cute that was never intended for them. When he tracks her down to apologize, they become friends. Just friends, because that's all it can be. After all, Hailey doesn't want distractions, and Wes doesn't want to fall in love.

This took me a lot longer to read than it normally would've because of a lack of free time, but it was enjoyable. I struggled a bit getting into it in the beginning because of how slow the slow burn was. However, once I felt connected to the characters, I flew through the rest. I'm completely sure that I wouldn't have had such a hard time reading if I had read the other two books about the other brothers first. This would have given me at least a tiny connection to Wes. It was very slow and there was a lot of miscommunication between them which makes it hard for me to want to see how it ends.

With that being said, once the ball gets rolling, this is such a cute story! Sullivan writes beautifully, and there are so many different characters that everyone can relate to. Big thanks to NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

*Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for an e-ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

This is the second Sophie Sullivan book I have been offered an early copy of to review and I can say that I have pleasantly enjoyed both books.

In this book our main character, Hailey, owns a newly opened salad shop that she is trying to get off the ground. A big part of this story is her fighting to build her brand as a salad shop owner and reading about that was one of my favorite aspects of this book. I found it so fun to hear the fun things that happened to help her build her business. I also really enjoyed that this was a strangers to friends to lovers trope. The fact that their friendship took up a bulk of the story and was really nice. I do think he said a lot of stupid things right towards the end, but the resolution happened fairly quickly. I am giving this book 4 stars.

There is still one book in this companion series following the Jansen brothers that I will be reading, so that I can have the full complete story of each brother.

I liked this book however I dont think it was really for me I think for anyone else they would of loved it the writing was excellent just wasn't for me

A charming, feel-good romance that leaves you wanting more! I thoroughly enjoyed A Guide to Being Just Friends! The novel is very smartly written and gave me the warm and fuzzies like the best Hallmark movie. I finished the book wanting more - and feeling fully vested in Hailey and Wes's relationship. The only thing that bothered me is I hadn't yet read the stories of the other Jansen brothers' path to love - I've been missing out! :) Have ordered Sophie Sullivan's other books and will be no doubt devouring them!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC! This book was a quick read for me but unfortunately hit the mark. I love a good friends to lovers trope but was expecting more of a childhood friends to lovers trope from the title.

“All these years, I've been trying to figure myself out. Turns out I should have just taken a Cosmo quiz.”

I always find myself chuckling when it comes to Sophie Sullivans writing. I think she writes characters that are witty, and definitely unique. I also enjoyed the fact that this wasnt the normal friends to lovers in the sense that they have been friends since childhood, but rather they both developed their friendship and eventually relationship as adults. I wasnt the biggest fan of the conflict in the third act, but also I can see why they needed it in order to strengthen their relationship in the end.

Massive gratitude to the author, published, and NetGalley for the advanced read. These are my honest opinions.

Wes and Hailey are now one of my new favorite literary couples, an unlikely pairing, but one that just happens to work. Wes is your stereotypical tech geek, that views everything in his life, including his relationships from a technical and analytical lens. Then there is Hailey, the quirky salad shop owner, that is wears her heart on her sleeve and despite a former toxic relationship, still believes in a happily ever after.

After a less than ideal first encounter, these two end up forming a close friendship. And to preserve that friendship, they concoct a guide to help them. But, admittedly, though sometimes mentioned, as a reader, I actually forgot there was even a guide to begin with. This is something the author could have fleshed out further, however, it does not take away from the storyline.

The novel follows the gradual evolution of this friendship into a romance. And to my delight, the story did not end with a huge confess of love and that being it. It also delved into navigating the path from friends to lovers. And how it is not as simple as either character believed it would be.

It's a slow-burn, fade-to-black, cozy rom-com that is perfect for a weekend read.

My only qualm was actually with the ending. *spoiler incoming*

Wes had massive hesitations with marriage and children due to his father being a serial cheater. And he makes this known to Hailey when she confesses her love for him, which leads to their break-up. Once they do get back together, Wes does state how though he does want marriage and children, it would take a while to get their relationship there, from my understanding. Once the story wraps, in the epilogue, which is about a year later, the couple is engaged. Their engagement was a bit unexpected, considering Wes' previous hesitations. If the author had included snippets of conversations or events that encouraged Wes to make this leap, it would have made the engagement make more sense.

Other than that qualm, this is one of my favorite reads of 2023. Highly recommend.

So wonderful! It gave me all the fuzzies. I love friends-to-lovers and this one didn't diasppoint me!

It’s almost unreal how many times I’ve read the books in a romcom series out of order. Full disclosure, I did it again here and read book 3 first. As always, I recommend reading books in series order to avoid spoilers.

I wasn’t crazy about this one. Which sadly doesn’t bode well for the other 2 books in the series but, I digress. I found the MC to be really annoying at times and her pride got in the way of her happiness so much. It was beyond miscommunication, she just didn’t want to see anyone helping her and it was frustrating to see.

I’d read the other two books in the series because I liked the writing. It was the characters that I didn’t love.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to the publisher for approving me to read A GUIDE TO BEING JUST FRIENDS! I adore romantic comedies and this fun friends-to-lovers trope fest is a delight. Plus I love any book when the MC has their own business, it's always so interesting. I'd recommend this to any rom com lover!

Disclaimer: I work for HarperCollins at the time of this review, but my opinions are my own.

This book sadly expired before I got to finish it, but I loved reading it until it expired. I was in the middle of college finals, so had to focus on those but this book was such a fun plot! Loved the characters and how it really was a slow-burn friends to lovers book and didn’t just start off right away! Thank you NetGallery for the ARC!

Falling for your best friend is hard. Falling for them after you've expressly agreed that you wouldn't date each other, and on of you doesn't believe in love or want to experience the pain associated with it is even harder. The characters were really fun, it was nice to see the characters change and grow. Easy read.

I really enjoyed this read! Hailey was a great FMC, I really enjoyed that she built herself back up after a bad breakup and started the business of her dreams, I also really wanted to eat at her salad shop! Wes was a little less of an enjoyable character. His whole persona of being a hard, no fun, most support my brothers and my business and can't do anything he actually enjoyed was kind of a turn off. But I think that he and Hailey did end up gelling well together, after that whole miscommunication thing.

I had not read the previous books in the series, and while that doesn't matter per se, it would help you feel a little connected to the side characters in this book.

A Guide To Being Just Friends is book 3 in the Jansen Brothers Series. While the book will stand alone, the characters from the first two books are prominent in this one.

Wes Jansen moves to California to live and work with his younger brothers. He's a super organized tech geek in charge of technology for their business. Wes's passion is in writing gaming programs, but his father's constant belittling of his talents causes him to suppress that side of himself to concentrate on the more serious aspects. Hailey leaves behind a bad relationship to arrive in California and open her own salad shop in a local strip mall. She has trust issues so romance is off the menu for her. Wes and Hailey meet in an awkward situation, but then reconnect later. Neither wants a relationship so they agree to be friends. Can a man and woman be "just friends"?

Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes in cute romances and A Guide To Being Just Friends delivers that and more. Sullivan does a great job fleshing out characters with all their quirks and pushing them out of their comfort zone to grow. While the relationship between Wes and Hailey progressed slowly, the other relationships including Wes with his brothers and Hailey with her new friends filled in the time and space. I enjoyed the fact that each main character had to grow and learn to accept some things individually before they could accept their changing relationship.

Quirky banter, heartfelt emotions and light conflict kept me turning the pages in A Guide To Being Just Friends. Sullivan shines a light on the possibilities when two people let go of the past and embrace the future both personally and professionally. Fans of rom coms will love this charming romance. I highly recommend the audio book version as narrators Stephanie Willing and Timothy Andres' Pabon are outstanding!

This book was just very cute. Was it predictable? Oh yeah. Was it an easy read? Yes! It was fun and flirty. I would recommend as an easy read to someone.

For those that love a slow-burn romance, this sweet story is a gimme. Friends to lovers is a tried and true trope that makes for a good story. The story is well developed and I had high hopes for the two main characters.The other characters added fun and levity. Wes was great although he did have his own issues to deal with as well. At least he was all in for quite a bit of the book, just scared to lose her friendship..

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first Sophie Sullivan book and I really enjoyed it! It’s the third in the series but can be read as a stand-alone and I enjoyed it. I typically like reading enemies to lovers, but this friends to lovers did not disappoint! I really enjoyed that it was dual POV. This was a light hearted easy read and it got me out of my reading slump

Loved this book, it was such a fast read for me. I was sucked in from the very beginning. I will definitely be on the lookout for future books by Sophie Sullivan.

This was an enjoyable read with a talented author at the helm. While I appreciated the narrative and found the writing engaging, the book didn't quite stand out from similar works in the genre. Sophie Sullivan is super talented, I just think my mindset wasn't right when reading this one.