Hailey Sharp has a dream to make her new business a success. Things are beginning to look promising with a bad relationship in her rearview mirror and a new town in her present. Also, she's decided there will be no more dating. Her previous experience was more than enough. Enter Wes Jansen, handsome, brilliant, uptight, and intent on avoiding love at all costs. When Hailey and Wes meet in a hilarious meet-cute gone wrong, their relationship seems doomed to failure. Still, somehow they manage to find their way into a friendship that fills all their empty spaces and, eventually, their hearts. Sophie Sullivan nails it with the latest Jansen Brother's novel. A Guide to Being Just Friends is an excellent read, perfect for a lazy afternoon and a good cup of tea.

I absolutely adored this book! I read it before reading the other Jansen brothers books and I can’t wait to go back and read their stories! Hailey and Wes were so cute all the way through. I loved all of the details of the journey of the shop, “By the Cup” from the food to her growing the menu to hiring staff. The story was developed so well all the way throughout, in my opinion. I wish we could’ve learned more about WHY her parents were the way they are. They were so baffling to me! BUT all in all - this was a fun, clean romantic read and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

⭐️Rating: 3.5/5
⚠️TW: light cursing, mentions of emotionally abusive relationships
❣️Tropes: Slowburn, Friends to Lovers,
Would I recommend this book?: Yes, but I would read the first two books in the series first.


Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest opinion. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!


Review:

I read this book as a stand-alone, though it is the third and presumably final book in a series about the Jansen brothers. It read perfectly fine alone, though there were definitely hints and mentions of events or characters that would be appreciated more if the first two books had been read before.

The book itself is a cute read, with both of the leads being likable people overall. The writing is good and for the most part— about 60%—the story moves at a good pace. At a certain point it does begin to drag a bit, especially once the characters do finally move to get together. The conflict at that point hinges around the same few issues, repeated a few times from both Wes and Hailey.

It’s low in terms of steamy scenes with only a few makeout scenes and then some implications of more with little to no explicit language. There are a few minor plot details (Hailey’s ex, the guide they worked on, etc.) that I wish had come up more and or hadn’t been brushed off so easily.

All in all it’s a solid use of slow burn with a wide supporting cast of characters and a solid start to the story. Fans of slight minor angst who aren’t looking for too wild of a ride will greatly enjoy this.

What did I like most about this book? How much it related to real life and relationships. This book showed not everything is picture perfect and communication is important. However, it was a little cheesy and predictable at times. Would I read it again? Probably.

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A Guide to Being Just Friends is a heartwarming rom com in the friends to lovers vein. Hailey is new to town and setting up a new business when she meets and befriends Wes. Their friendship comes easily as they get to know each other and become part of a friend group including Wes’ brothers and their girlfriends. Wes and Hailey are determined to be just friends, as they each have some emotional baggage to unpack. But their chemistry and deepening friendship may lead them in another direction!
I went into this book not knowing it was the third in the Jansen brothers series, but that didn’t detract from my love of the story and the characters. I’m excited that there are two other books for me to go read featuring these characters, as they are all well written and entertaining. I loved the relationship between Wes and his brothers and also loved seeing Hailey develop friendships in her new town. There was some predictable conflict throughout the book and there were times I would have liked to give the main characters a shake, but all in all I adored this book and would highly recommend it.
Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Griffin for the ARC of this fun book in exchange for my honest opinion!

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martins Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is my first Sophie Sullivan book and it was a bit of a struggle for me. The premise sounded cute and I love a good friends to lovers and grump/sunshine trope, but this one missed it hard for me.

It started out cute - was kind of reminding me of Kiss My Cupcake (honestly just that she was opening a new shop), but I quickly became annoyed every time Hailey had to spell out in her mental dialogue that she couldn’t trust her judgement and every Wes chapter, he had to think about his brothers and how happy he was that they found love and that he liked their girlfriends. It really felt like the author didn’t trust the reader to remember those tidbits about the characters.

I did like the two points of view. I did like the salad shop idea and kept wanting to visit it myself.

I really enjoyed Wes and Hailey’s story. They had instant chemistry, but things started out as a friendship. She wasn’t ready for anything more and Wes had a specific plan for his life, that didn’t include marriage and kids. Their friendship was very sweet and a lot of fun. I loved every one of their interactions. This was a very cute and entertaining story.

Thanks Netgalley for the arc!

Being friends with someone who thought you were his tinder date is hard. This story follows Wes and Hailey’s blossoming friendship………….turned into relationship (?)

This book was very cute, and swoony. Also very slow burn, it got me thinking if they’re really goong to get together because of the title lol.

What a fantastically good slow burn. While this book was a 0 on the spicy scale, that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t sizzling with amazing chemistry. I absolutely adored the interactions with Wes and Hailey, even if Wes could be closed off at times. I can’t believe how fast I also tore through this book. I only started it the night before and I’m already done. I couldn’t put it down. I needed to know how it ended. Definitely recommend for those who love a good slow burn romance.

Thank you to NetGallery and the publish for this e-ARC.

I've read all the books in this series, and I can honestly say this one was my personal favorite. This is a slow-burn friends to lover romance between Wes, the oldest of the 3 Jansen brothers who is the most hurt from his parents divorce and doesn't believe in low, and Hailey, new to town salad in a cup business owner who moved to town because of a crappy breakup. The two meet in a hilarious rom-com meet cute way where Hailey was mistaken for Wes' date Hayden who stood him up. They develop a friendship because neither is ready for a relationship and that friendship ends up blooming into more.

Pros:
1. I really like the relationship between the three Jansen brothers. I can't remember the other two books, but this one really brings out how close the three of them are, and I really liked that.
2. Wes - out of all three brothers, I thought the sweet, nerdy tech geek, who is protective of those he cares about was my favorite one. I personally can't remember Chris but Noah was just a little obnoxious and the book I probably enjoyed the least.
3. Friends to lovers slow burn. I'm still a sucker for the friends to lovers trope.
4. The cute salad shop idea.
5. The two points of views.

Cons:
1. Hailey was honestly a little annoying outside of the salad shop. She blamed Wes for buying her a Tiffany's bracelet? I hate that she's obsessed with how rich he is and how she's so poor.
2. How quickly Wes went from, nope I don't believe in love to professing his love to Hailey. He never even talked about why he felt the way he felt. The happy ending just came way too fast for me.

Overall 3.5/5 but can round up to 4.

I love the sort of opposites attract dynamic with Hailey and Wes. Hailey is a pretty free-spirited, high energy girl who is willing to take risks while Wes is a more black-and-white type of character who prefers to have things straight to the point. Together they balance each other out; Wes helps Hailey with putting a little more organization in her life while Hailey teaches Wes to let loose. While this is a romantic comedy I like how the story also puts focus on Hailey and Wes' personal issues and how they overcome them to become better individuals while also navigating through their feelings and current relationship both as friends and lovers.

This is a strangers to friends to lovers, pretty slow burn, and not too spicy read (it's closed door). I have not read the previous Jansen brothers' books but still enjoyed reading this story and seeing the different characters interact with each other. The other brothers and their partners come up pretty frequently throughout the story so I think readers who have kept up with Noah and Chris will enjoy seeing how they're doing.

Bonus: As a BTS ARMY it was a nice surprise seeing the scattered mentions of the group ;)

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a fun sweet read! I haven't read the first two in the series but am excited to catch them next. I liked that each book can be read as a standalone in addition to being the same series.

Hailey is starting a new life, in a new town, and trying to get her salad shop up and running. Wes is a practical businessman with no interest in putting his heart on the line. When these 2 meet in a not so “meet-cute” situation, they start a budding friendship with determination to just keep it at that.

This rom com and friends to lovers trope was so cute and well written! I loved the main characters, and even all the supporting characters. I didn’t realize this book was the third of a series so I felt like I was missing some back story with a few characters, but loved the roles they played throughout the book regardless. Definitely would read more by Sophie Sullivan! I give this book 4.5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for my ARC on exchange for my honest feedback!

Apparently, this is book 3 in a series. Neither NetGalley nor Goodreads had it listed this way so I didn't realize that when I requested it. As a result, some of the characters weren't fully developed. I think if I had read the first two, I would have appreciated their personalities a bit more.

Nevertheless, I did enjoy this book. It's basically a Hallmark movie come to life. It's a classic grumpy-sunshine trope and it's super cute.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for this ARC!

This book was cute! I enjoyed the easy read and the main characters had good chemistry. It was a little slow at first but flowed better as the story progressed.

I received this book as an ARC. Having not read any of Sophie Sullivans books before, I went into this completely blind and I was not disappointed! I really enjoyed the writing style and the banter between the two main characters. It was the perfect amount of slow burn but not so slow that it gets boring. I also enjoyed that along with watching the romantic relationship develop between Hailey and Wes, you also see their friendship with each other and each other’s friends. I love when books have a few subplots within them so it doesn’t become solely about the romance between the 2 main characters. Very fluffy and sweet. Now that I know this is the third of a series I am going to go back and read the other two. 4/5 :)

Okay - so stupid me, I realized about 10-15% into this book that this was a third book in the series of these Jansen brothers. There were so many characters that I was just kind of supposed to “know” and I was like “wait…I bet her other two books were about these pairings”. So that was on me.

However, I don’t read TOO many friends to lovers and I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I think it comes down to the fact that I wish there was a love language of being known. Because I truly think that that would be what mine would be. I love when people send me a song to say “I heard this and thought of you” or “I saw this cup and it made me think of you” or “I got you a sandwich but I didn’t put x, y, &z on it because I know you don’t like that”. I felt a lot of that in Wes and Hailey’s friendship.

The only thing that kind of put me off was the third act breakup. I’ve come to expect them, but this one kinda felt like it came out of nowhere. Well it did, and it didn’t. I think I just wasn’t going in that direction and so it shocked me a little bit.

However, I love friend groups that operate as found family. That’s a way to my heart.

This book publishes in January of 2023 - so definitely pick it up. (But maybe read the other two first hahahaha)

Read this book at night so I could fall asleep more easily 🫶🏼 writing is good, has about 2 good scenes, almost put me in a slump. Wish it had more subplot to keep me going but wouldn’t recommend reading because it’s way too slow

Thanks NetGalley for the eARC.

I love a good slow-burn romance and this book checked all the boxes for me! A lot of good character development and I didn’t feel lost even though I hadn’t read the previous two books (yet).

If you love rom-coms and the friends-to-lovers trope, this needs to be your next read! I think this book is perfect for fans of books like "The Cheat Sheet" and "A Brush With Love". It definitely had those cutesy, sweet vibes and I just really loved this book!