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!

I really like this series. It’s a romance novel but with more in depth feelings. At times it was a little too long but not enough to be annoying. Hailey is a strong independent women who makes a great role model. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC

Thank you Net Galley, St. Martins Press, and Sophie Sullivan for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

I’ll start with the fact that I wanted to love this book and I really thought I was going to at first with the fun idea of the salad shop and the cute way that Hailey and Wes met. I usually don’t mind a slow burn book but this was the slowest burn I’ve ever experienced. By the time I was at 50% and the main characters were still nothing more than friends I was questioning why I was still reading the book.

All in all, it was a cute easy read but it was far too slow for me. I found myself bored and just waiting for the end. I hate hate hate to say this because the book really was very cute and I have no doubt that it is a whole lot of peoples cup of tea, but in this case I’m clearly more of a coffee drinker.

This was an okay romance that had what you would want or expect out of a friends to lovers romance but nothing more. By okay I mean it wasn’t good or bad, but I liked it enough to want to keep reading. While Hailey and Wes were good together and made sense, I just did not feel attached to them or their story. But they were good main characters had their own flaws and growth throughout the story. I think their story can be a good one depending on who you ask but for me it was just okay. It’s a quick simple romance book that doesn’t take too much to get into or through it. This is also the third in a series I haven’t read but was written so it could be a standalone. I didn’t feel as if I was missing anything if I didn’t read the others.

Overall, this was an okay read for me. I’d recommend if you’re looking for an easy romance and/or if you like friends to lovers.

Read if you’re looking for…
•friends to lovers
•slow burn
•small town romance

This was super cute. Can be read as a stand alone. Hailey is starting over with a new biz, a new town and chance at life. A cute story with a cute ending. I will definitely be recommending this one to family and friends. Thanks NetGalley for this advanced copy of this book.

Y'all I had a feeling Wes's story was going to be my favorite. & While I LOVED the banter between Noah and Grace... That friends to lovers vibe was 👌🏻🙌🏻

Wes is the oldest Jansen brother. In all his broody, uptight nerdiness. Atleast until you get to know him. Which is something very few people get to do.

Thanks to an accidental "not so meet cute", Hailey finds a way in the very small crack into Wes's life.

Hailey is here to rebuild her very messy life. And all she is looking for is success in her new salad shop and friendship. Lucky for her, Wes isnt looking for true love either.

But just because you aren't looking, doesn't mean you won't find it.

This was such a fun and silly read with all that slow burning tension. Wes and Hailey built such a strong foundation with their friendship. Loved watching them both grow as individuals and as partners.

a new business is always a hard start-up — especially when you’re in the business of salad. 😅🥗 starting from the ground up, hailey opened a specialty salad shop called —> by the cup <— next door to a wildly popular bakery . . . and the place where she met wesley (who thought she was his blind date). spoiler alert: she wasn’t. 😳

after the mishap at the bakery, hailey and wes kept bumping into each other around town and they quickly realized that they were becoming F R I E N D S. thus, leading to: ‘the guide to being just friends.’

i could reread this book 15 times and still fall in love with wes and hailey’s friendship. it was so pure and heartwarming and downright adorable. my heart nearly burst out of my chest when they told each other they adored one another like CAN. IT. GET. ANY. CUTER?! 😍😍😍

fast forward to them actually dating and the cuteness kept coming. 🫶🏼❤️

this book was humorous, witty and so fun! i haven’t read the first two books but i’ll definitely be ordering the whole series ASAP! be on the lookout for this fun rom-com Jan 17, 2023 or go preorder your copy now! 🤩

This was a fun and quick read! I didn’t realize the book was part of a series. I have not read the other books in the series, but was able to follow along easily. I liked the quirky and fun characters. Any book with interesting salads will peak my interest!! I read it on a plane and it held my interest throughout the flight. Rounding up to 5 stars.

3.5 This book works fine as a stand alone, which is how I read it. But it doesn’t completely work overall. The main characters are likable, except for Wes’s ill-timed F-bombs, but achieving the predictable ending is a bit tedious. Hayley was my favorite, but even she could be annoying with her passive aggressive “I don’t need anyone’s help” mantra. And the actual “guide?” There really wasn’t one.

So I didn’t realize this was part of a series until I was already a good bit in. But it seems to work as a stand-alone 🤷‍♀️

📖 The details:
Hailey just moved to California to be closer to her cousin and open up a salad shop after a tough breakup. She meets Wes (and the rest of the Jansen brothers + friends) while trying to build her business and take a break from love.

🙋‍♀️My take:
I give it 3 stars for it’s sweet story and characters. I liked it. Didn’t love it. The “meet-cute” and beginning felt too forced and unrealistic. As the book went on and characters developed, I liked them more and rooted for their success personally and professionally - but parts had me skimming. Definitely some cute dialogue (although some of it could have been internal), and sweet moments. And a lot of involvement of past book players, which I’m sure is a treat for those who love the series.

Overall, would recommend if you’re looking for a light and quick read.

I really liked the previous book in this series. But this one did not work for me. I felt that the main characters lacked the chemistry that they needed to build the romance. Also the Male main character was not my favorite.

This was my first NetGalley read and I was super pumped to get my hands on a free copy! I have read Sophie Sullivan’s Ten Rules for Faking It and How to Love Your Neighbor and really enjoyed them. This is a series that follows the Jansen brothers as they fall in love and they’re just super sweet, quick, and fun. This one wasn’t my favorite of the series - the relationship between Hailey and Wes didn’t have the same spark for me as the relationship between Nick and Grace in How to Love Your Neighbor. But I loved seeing more of the friendships between the brothers in this one! And I was especially thankful for something light and fun in the middle of long quarantine days.

I’m going to start this review with a disclaimer that I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and I was unaware that it was the number three in a series of books.

Haley moves to a new town after a bad break up and opens a restaurant of sorts to start over. She runs into Wes which, they don’t have a great first meeting, and eventually become friends throughout the course of the book.

I’ll be honest when I read the description and that it was going to be somewhat like when Harry Met Sally at sure I could do some of that in my life. I don’t know if I can finish this book. It is painful to read. It says like it’s a slow burn friends to romance kind of read but at this point it feels like glacial slow burning. Like I gotta go find wood to rub together to start the fire kind of slow burn and it’s been raining a couple days.I don’t know if it’s because I missed a whole lotta backstory from the previous two books or what, but it’s not even that entertaining.

So I honestly would not recommend this book if you have other books on your TBR that you want to get to. Unless you’ve read the previous two and you’ve enjoyed it then, have at it. I just can’t.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The writing just wasn’t for me. The plot was rather slow moving as well, which contributed to how long this took me to read. I definitely loved some aspects, especially the salad shop and running your own business, but it was a ho-hum romance.

Okay holy cuteness overload! You want a fun little rom com, some sunshine/grump trope energy, some sass, and some steam? Then pick up A Guide to Being Just Friends! It's such a stinking cute book. I read it all in one sitting and was giggling so much. What a feel good read.

Entrepreneur Hailey Sharp is determined to make her preppy salad bistro a success if only she can convince customers to enter. The coffee shop next door has no problem drawing a crowd, which pushes Hailey to edgier campaign promotions.

Wes escapes New York and family stress to start again in a new place. When a chance encounter with a woman he mistakes as a blind date goes wrong, he begins to wonder if he made the right decision. Determined to apologize for his bad behavior, Wes tracks Hailey down and though there is an immediate chemistry between them, they decide it’s best to become friends to protect their damaged hearts.

This is an enjoyable slow-burn romance with plenty of humorous moments and a good guy hero- what more could you want? 🙂

“I voluntarily read an ARC of this book which was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.”

3.5/5
One of the most incredible slowest of slow burns. In this rom com we have Hailey who just moved to a new city after leaving an emotionally abusive relationship. She opens up her new shop, By the Cup, which is a unique salad restaurant. She is trying prove to herself that she can be successful all by herself and is focused on herself rather than dating. & then we have Wes. Lover of lists and planning. He is the oldest of the brothers and did i mention filthy rich, handsome, and extremely intelligent . After witnessing his parents brutal marriage, he doesn’t really believe in love or marriage. After one unsuccessful attempt after another on the dating apps, he chooses to give up on it for a bit.

This story shows how the right person can come when you least expect it and that you can’t force your brain and your heart to cooperate sometimes. About love, forgiveness, and growing as a person.

This book is worth the read if you love a good slowburn (i don’t think they even kiss until 70% in). But i also think there were some great messages thrown in there. & i absolutely loved all of the side characters. The banter between Wes and his bothers was great. I didn’t realize that this was book three in a series (which they can all be read as standalones) but i do wish i would’ve read them first.

Extremely well written, and sucks you in from the first chapter. You could really feel the connection that grew between Wes and Hailey the entire time. i loved it so much and would recommend with my whole heart.


Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martins Press, & the author, Sophia Sullivan for the eARC. I am always so grateful!!