A Guide to Being Just Friends is an amazing slow-burn rom-com! I highly recommend this book if you want to laugh and read about a cute romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for sending me an eARC of this book! Unfortunately, I found this novel to be unbearable. Not only was the pacing completely whack, but the big conflict made the male lead completely irredeemable.

As I began reading, I thought the story was going very slowly (which is not normally a bad thing), but there was no chemistry between Wes and Hailey. For a slow-burn novel, that's just not good. Not only was there no romantic chemistry between the leads, but nothing platonic either. I did not buy that these two became "best friends" so quickly. Because why? They ate some vegetables out of a cup and bought groceries together a few times?

Regardless, I was prepared to give this book 2.5 stars (what I believe I gave the last book I read by this author), because while I didn't buy the romance, it's not like it was a terrible book. Oh, how naive I was. When Hailey and Wes finally are deep into a relationship and apologizing to each other after a petty fight (Wes wanted to help Hailey -- god forbid -- and she thought he overstepped. Whatever.) when Hailey says "I love you." Then Wes becomes a grade-A douchebag and is grateful!! when Hailey says it just slipped out, because he <i>doesn't believe in love</i>, which apparently he made clear from the beginning. I mean, what an asshole. And Hailey is just a doormat for forgiving him, no questions asked. Anyways, this is a book full of idiots. Please don't waste your time.

This book was adorable and so wholesome. I requested this book, not realizing it was the 3rd installment to a series, but I was still able to read it as a stand=alone book and loved it. I think if I had read the other two, I definitely would have enjoyed how much of the side characters we get to see throughout this whole book, but I still enjoyed it regardless.

Wes is literally one of my favorite MMC to date, he's so open and honest and really does his best to be the greatest guy friend a lady could have. Some of his inner-monologue was repetitive, and I didn't love certain choices he made, it felt a tad bit on the controlling side to me, but I honestly still loved his character.

Hailie is a boss lady. In all aspects of her life. She's heartbroken, but so brave and so proud to admit defeat. She built up a beautiful little life despite all the negative responses she got from outside sources throughout this book. Her friendship with Wes was adorable. I LOVED how the author wrote them together, I found myself enjoying the friendship and sassy banter between them instead of wondering when the heck they were going to make the first kiss happen.

The ending was very fast paced, and I wish we didn't get only fade to black scenes because obviously they had great chemistry as friends, I know they had to have had amazing chemistry as lovers. Still, this book was a very cute, fast and wholesome read and I loved it.

Thank you NetGalley & St. Martin's Press for this ARC. This book is set to release on 1/17/2023!

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” were words I actually said OUT LOUD while reading this. Along with some internal shouting that included the following, “Wes, get it TOGETHER,” “Hailey, you’re in trouble,” and the occasional, “HELLO THIS IS SO CRINGE BYE.”

I have to be honest. I had no idea until I started writing this review that A GUIDE TO BEING JUST FRIENDS is part of a series centered around a set of brothers. And had I known, I would not have been down to read and/or review it. That kind of literary energy — i.e. stories about straight white boys who grow up super wealthy and jaded and of course are super hot and lusted after and beloved by everyone, then fall for beautiful-but-don’t-know-it white women — is very much not my jam. But here we are.

Some takeaways (in no particular order):
- We start the book knowing exactly how it’s going to end
- The resolution to the conflict in the ending happens so quickly and that is unsatisfying
- The ending is itself is also unsatisfying (more on that later)
- Wes and Hailey pretty much lie to themselves, and everyone around them, about how they feel for one another for the entirety of the book…and that’s basically the whole plot
- This would probably be more believable if they were sixteen years olds with little experience in life and love but they are grown ass adults
- There are several visibly cringe exchanges between the brothers that made me roll my eyes (i.e. when they’re trying to get Wes to admit Hailey is “hot”). It is 2022. Just why.
- Also irritating was the many paragraphs devoted to how selfless and wonderful and under-the-radar rich the brothers are, unlike their greedy no-good father (which was further exacerbated by all the random characters in the book that feel the need to echo this sentiment.) They are swimming in money and they’re not shitty about it. We get it.
- Hailey apologizing for how she reacted to Wes’s subterfuge. This man went against her wishes, lied and then straight up insulted her ability to succeed by herself in their argument about it…she had no reason to say sorry.
- Wes’s extremely predictable 180 on something he grew up his entire life thinking and feeling and internalizing happening within a few pages…aaaand then cue happy ever after,
- Last, but definitely not least: It REALLY bothers me when I read books where the skin tone of characters that are people of color are described (“dark-skinned” was the wording the author used here) but the same isn’t done for white characters. Especially in a book where pretty much everyone is white. Like this one. It’s just not okay. (You could tell me this was written a decade ago, and that would make more sense.)

I’ll stop there. Needless to say, I was not a fan of A GUIDE TO JUST BEING FRIENDS. In a world already saturated with so many stories and tropes like these, it doesn’t stand out or offer anything new. Still, I found the writing easy to follow, the dialogue well-structured and some of the plot devices, like the scene that included Ana and Dorian, enough to keep me reading until the end.

My verdict: Skip this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wes and Hailey’s first encounter would never be described as swoon worthy or romantic, and it left Hailey glad she had sworn off men. Wes was ashamed of his behavior and was relieved he had the opportunity to apologize to Hailey, and they soon became fast friends. It was apparent that their chemistry was percolating beneath the surface of their “friends only” relationship. I love their witty banter and I could tell it wouldn’t be long before sparks flew between this stubborn couple. Wes admired Hailey’s commitment to succeed with her new business “By The Cup”, and her willingness to try anything to bring in more customers. Hailey, on the other hand, couldn’t stop staring at his chiseled jaw, kind eyes and how handsome he was in his expensive suits. He was definitely boyfriend material but certainly not for her. Hailey did appreciate that Wes always made her laugh and lifted her spirits when she was having a bad day. To Wes, Hailey was his best friend and the woman who brightened up all of his days, so with how they felt about each other, what was taking them so long to fall in love?

Am I obsessed with Wes Jansen? Absolutely. My little heart was pitter-pattering all over the place throughout this read! Sometimes the dialogue felt a little cheesy or too on the nose, but what a cute story!

This is the first romance I’ve read in a long time, and truly, I couldn’t have hoped for a better reintroduction. This book was fun and emotionally relatable on so many levels. It had the right amount of humor and a good dose of reality, which will keep this story resonating with me for a long time. In fact, I might even re-read it someday.

The slow burn romance is a win for me. Loved the dual POV. And the constant overthinking on both accounts was utterly realistic. Definitely not disappointed. It was delightful, and I found it hard to say goodbye to the characters at the end. Bravo, Sophie Sullivan!

An unexpected results, my first ever 5 star rating for a romance book!

This had all the makings of a favourite, quality writing, believable characters, and a well established web of relationships (courtesy of the prior books in the series) which all worked together to give this story more depth than the average contemporary romance.

Really glad I picked this up, about to recommend it to friends and then read the first two in the series.

I want to start off by saying thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this book through net galley! Second of all there was no information listed on net galley (or goodreads at the time i requested the book) about this book being the third in the series. I believe not reading the other two books has effected my review.

The start of the book felt a little awkward for me to read and took me a couple chapters to get used to the writing style. As characters are introduced it feels a little like you should know who they are already and know their vibes which if you havent read the rest of the series you dont.

This is a slow burn romance of two people becoming friends and trying to stay just friends. This felt like the slowest burn that barely led to a burn. I enjoyed their friendship but didnt enjoy how their relationship evolved. Instead of feeling the spark between the two it was more so each of them getting jealous and not communicating their feelings about the other dating other people. I didnt enjoy their conflicts and the major conflict felt very rushed along with the resolution feeling rushed as well.

Aside from romance i felt like there was a lot of filler about the businesses and the side characters. Overall I did not get attached to any of the characters including Hailey and Wes.

I really wanted to enjoy this book because the concept seemed but in the end it was enjoyable. One thing i did enjoy about the story was that Wes started creating an actual guide to being just friends. I think maybe if they were more forthcoming about their feelings for each other and throughout that continued to try and stay just friends it could of added more to the book.

This was a cute story and fun to read. I didn't realize it was the 3rd book in a series until I looked at goodreads. I saw other readers read this as a standalone book and enjoyed it and I'm glad I did as well. I'll go back and read Sophie's first two books in this series soon.

Although I hadn’t read the first two in this series, I loved this book! While I definitely will be going back to read about the other Jansen brothers’ love stories, I didn’t feel like I had missed anything by starting with Wes’s story! Wes and Hailey were an adorable friends to lovers couple that felt real and lived in. I’m sure fans of the series will also enjoy all the character cameos from previous books!

This book is sweet. It's a Hallmark movie, put in book form. It was almost a little too sweet for me. Everything came together in one perfect little package. Our main man, Wes, is smart, rich, handsome, and caring. Really, too good to be true. Hailey has her own start-up business, her ex is a movie star, and she's also smart and beautiful. The only real conflict in this book is that Wes and Hailey fall in love, but don't want to be in love. (Oh, and Wes is too rich and generous. lol) Anyway, I think this book could have used a little more grit with some more exciting conflict. But, as a I stated, it's sweet, cute, heart-warming, and entertaining. So, I can't complain!

Well, one thing to complain about.... Hailey owns a salad business. There's an awful lot of salad talk in this book, which just didn't do it for me. I prefer our typical bakery or coffee shop talk! haha. But. that's ok. I would recommend this book to all the Hallmark movie watchers out there. And a big thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. Now, I'm going to go back and read the previous two books in this series!

I wanted to like this more than I did. The characters felt very juvenile to me and the writing told more than it showed. I am interested in reading one of the other books in the series to see if these types of issues got ironed out in the author’s earlier works.

I truly love these two!! They both have amazing stories separately and definitely an amazing one together. Both have some rough patches in their past just like everyone else. But with the right friend you can forget those things for a little bit. Wes and Hailey are those friends for each other. Friends that they feel comfortable with, could grocery shop together and still enjoy it. The best of friends and the one everyone wants.
Even with a huge misunderstanding when they first met, they grew to understand each other more than anyone else could. Both decided to take breaks from dating to grow as individuals together. They were their for each other when it was time to start dating again and was there when everything came to light.

On top of amazing characters, the main trope is my favorite trope of all time! Friends to lovers! Especially love when the friends are best friends and are each other rocks!

I did not realize when requesting this was the third book in a series but I can't wait to go back and read the first 2! From my understanding they can be read as standalones (I will find out if that isn't the case when I go read the rest) but I think once you read one you will want to read them all.

Some tropes/what you'll find in this Jansen Brothers story:
- slow burn
- friends to lovers
- DUAL POV!!! (my favorite)
- coffee shop meet-cute

I felt this was a sweet romance that felt realistic. I love a good romance that gets carried away and totally not something I imagine could happen in real life but this was so different. It felt genuine and I truly wish I could read this for the first time again after reading the first 2. There are a lot of characters that can be overwhelming if you were to read this as a standalone but I predict for myself it wouldn't have been a lot at first had I read the first two first.

"It feels like everything fits perfectly into place even when it doesn't all make sense... I feel happy." -- this quote made my heart flutter!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is the third book in the Jansen brothers series and it was just as heartfelt as the other two. Wes doesn’t believe much in love. He thinks allowing himself to care about someone as much as his brothers care about their girlfriends would be a flaw. Enter Hailey, an entrepreneur with a salad business startup who is recently split from a toxic ex. As they create a friendship and deal with work commitments, they realize that their preconceptions about relationships might be wrong.

This was a fun read! I loved Wes and Hailey as characters a lot, but I did find that Wes’ inner thoughts concerning relationships got stale and the 3rd quarter drama felt like it was recycling feelings I thought Wes already worked through.

Overall, solid 4 star read.

Hailey has recently moved to a new town to start over after a messy break up and opens her dream store, a to go salad shop. She has a chance meeting with Wes, who thinks she is the date that stood him up. The two end up hitting it off and become friends. Neither of them are looking for anything more than that, so they fall into an easy platonic friendship. Things begin to change as they become aware that they are both starting to develop feelings for the other.

Now I liked Hailey and Wes' characters overall. But I did find Hailey's inability to let anyone be nice and help her frustrating. If I had a rich best friend you bet I would be okay if they were trying to buy me nice things and help my business succeed :) but that's just me haha. And Wes also drove me crazy with his ridiculous take on love and relationships.

Overall this is a cute read. There's no steamy scenes (which I think all romance books need) and it did feel slow through a lot of it. But the writing is good and I think if you have enjoyed the two previous novels in the series, you will like this one too.

I really enjoyed this book! I think what I enjoyed most was the way the plot set up the relationships-it was more how a normal real life relationship starts instead of the dreamy movie romance. The connections Wes and Hailey built with each other but also with their core people were heartwarming and left me wanting more of everyone’s story! This book was a great great!

I went into this book not realizing it was the third in the Jansen brothers series and read it as a stand-alone. It was an enjoyable and easy read, but it didn't leave a lasting impression on me. I don't always like friends to lovers as a trope, but felt the author did a good job establishing the trust and mutual respect between the two main characters while they were friends. Once they started to acknowledge their feelings for one another though is where this book started to fall short for me. It was slow-paced, and the build up felt like a letdown in the end. I did like how the epilogue tied a nice bow around the series, but seeing as I didn't build up a strong connection with the characters, it didn't leave me missing them. All in all, this was a fun summer read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I LOVED Hailey and Wes's story. Sophie Sullivan's third Jansen brothers book checked all the boxes, earning a spot on the one sitting reads shelf 🥰 The dialogue, the friend group, the romance that wraps you up in a warm hug, the laugh out loud moments, cameos by characters from the precious stories giving that extra post-epilogue glimpse, it was everything I hoped it would be!

Friends to lovers is always a favorite and Wes and Hailey are no exception. From their disasterous meet not cute, to the community they hopped right into and continued to foster, even their Saturday grocery and movie nights that they hated to miss. . . This was very much a sloooowwww burn but I loved being able to watch their friendship build into more, it made that pinnacle moment just that much sweeter.


Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my review!

I loved A Guide to Being Just Friends! I adored Ten Rules for Faking It. I liked How to Love Your Neighbor but this might be my favorite of the series. I was excited enough to pick this up that I read it at the end of August!

I’m a big fan of friends to lovers and I just adored how Wes and Hailey built their friendship and insisted they were “just friends.” They has so many great moments as they learn about each other and both attempt to deny their feelings. This is definitely a slow burn, but I loved that aspect. I also loved how they had a little grumpy/sunshine going on. Wes is serious and organized and Hailey is depicted as so happy and fun loving. I liked how they balanced each other out. Hailey was able to get inside Wes’ shell and draw him out. I also liked seeing elements of Chris and Everly and Grace and Noah. I’m sad to see this series end, but I can’t wait to see what Sophie Sullivan writes next!