Loved this book, love the friends to lovers trope! So funny, didn’t realize I had already read the other brothers’ stories! Loved those ones too!!

As many on goodreads have kindly pointed out, this is apparently the third book in a series (but they *can* be read seperately). Due to this, I felt I was missing something. But that didn't make me hate it, I just felt that it was alcking (character development? I can quite put my finger on it). That aside, I enjoyed this book. As another reviewer mentioned, it's like a cute romcom (giving off the vibes of a Hallmark movie, enjoyable, engaging, easy to read and just fun).

A cute, fun rom-com of a read. I enjoyed the story but I wish I had read the two previous books. Some swoony moments and an enjoyable read.

3.5 rounded up. First off, I love third-person POV, so I am really happy this author wrote this cute love story in this narrative style. I did not read the other books in this series before picking up this one, but I was happy that I still could get to know everyone and was pretty intrigued on what the other brother's books are about. Plus, sweet romance is my favorite romance genre so I love that this book fell into that group.

I enjoyed the meet-cute and wished the coffee cup misunderstanding in the cafe lasted a tad bit longer, but it was nice the way it was, and I was so happy that he came back to be the love interest! The story started to slow a bit for me in the middle of the book, for me, which is typical for middles, so it's understandable. I think if I was more hooked on the two individually and their individual stories, then I would have liked the middle more, but I was more hooked on them as a love interest, so I wanted them to hurry up and get that part going.

I did feel a little distance from what was going on at times, which did pull me out of the book. But, overall, this was a cute, cuddly strangers to friends to lovers love story.

A snack of a book, A GUIDE TO BEING JUST FRIENDS will be a scrumptious treat in seeing how long Hailey and Wes can remain friends.

Jump into another fun romance about friendship and finding new meaningful relationships, Sullivan’s story will delight romance readers. Plus, you’ll love the main characters! Hailey a determined young woman with her own career goals to her fast growing salad shop who will no doubt fall for Wes, the business savvy and game developer hobbyist. They both decide to being just friends, but quickly realize, that friendship might not be all that these two want.

Fun, delicious, and sweet.

Happy Reading ~ Cece

This was a cute read I really enjoyed Hailey and Wes and their friendship which leads to romance. I like how they go on grocery trips and how she taught him how to make spaghetti. I also enjoy Wes and his artistic side and ho he actually draws a guide to being friends it was so cute. I also love how Wes helps Hailey with her salad shop and creating the website. We also see a lot of haileys relationship with her cousin piper and her friend Fiona who help her with her shop as well. I love how generous Hailey is and how she hires people from the community to help run her salad business. I also enjoyed how determined she was on doing these on her own and to become successful. Of course, I can't forget that Hailey loves reading and adores romcoms.

Hailey is a chocolate-loving salad shop owner. She meets Wes in the bakery next door, when he accidentally thinks she’s his date. She’s just moved here after a bad breakup for a fresh start. Wes doesn’t believe in love and doesn’t want to get married or have kids.
Super cute. Meet cute / friends to lovers.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Arc review for A Guide to Being Just Friends

confession: I did not know this was the third book of the series however, you can totally read it as a stand alone.

Wes and Hailey’s story was fun and tender. I love a good slow burn, friends to lovers trope so this was such a fun read for me. Hailey is fun, quirky, and independent. She has also recently had her heart broken. She sells her condo and moves out of LA to open a salad shop. Wes and his brother own various businesses and he is your typical type A older brother. Their friendship was sweet and I thought their character development was *chef’s kiss*

Overall, I enjoyed this story. It was fun with some actual laugh out loud moments but also real and vulnerable and made me feel. Which is really all I ever want in a book. Look for this one on January 17, 2023. Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, what a great read for my summer romance list! If you love a friends to lovers troupe, this book is for you! This book is for the romantics who love tenderness, solid friendships, and building dreams. Despite the slow pace, and sometimes you just want to shake Hailey and Wes to wake up and just get together, I really appreciated how careful Hailey and Wes approached their feelings with the other in mind. I highly recommend reading this!! Also, I did not know this was related to Sophie's previous book since this was the first book I've read from this author. I will be checking out her other books to read about Wes's brothers!

A special thank you to Sophie Sullivan, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from St. Martin's Press and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Delightful romance with the perfect about of build up. Grab it for your next book club read.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the e-arc.
A quick, fun read. This is the third Jansen brothers' story and my favorite of the three, although if you didn't read the first ones, you won't be lost here. Definitely can be read as a stand-alone. Wes and Hailey are so cute together and their friends-to-lovers relationship is spot-on. No steam, if you're looking for it, but that doesn't detract from the story, in my opinion. Great side characters and strong main characters. I really enjoy this author's writing style.

What an great romcom! The two main characters seemed very original, I really enjoyed that I could ‘see’ Hailey and her little salad shop. It made me wish I had a By the Cup near me!! Wes was also a 10/10. A perfectly imperfect book boyfriend, his reactions and intentions seemed understandable and realistic. I would 100% have fallen for him. I even liked the side characters! The brothers Chris and Noah, hilarious. Very much enjoyed this book. There were only a couple moments I would have considered too cheesy but hey that’s what romcoms are all about, right?
Can’t wait to get my hands on a hard copy of this one so I can enjoy it all over again!

In an effort to make a new start and move on from her ex, Hailey takes on the challenge of opening her own salad shop in a new town. When she has a disastrous meet-cute moment with Wes, who is firmly determined not to fall in love, they decide to become just friends. Friends that click really really well, but are set on only being just friends (what could possibly go wrong?).

I loved this book so much and after finishing it, I wanted to go back and spend more time with Hailey and Wes. Sophie's writing made the book so enjoyable, as the characters had depth, relatable struggles, and growth throughout the whole story.

The entire book kept my interest, with dual-viewpoints and a sweet friends-to-lovers slow-burn romance. I didn't realize that this is the third in a series, but not having read the previous books did not take away from the story at all. I now want to go back and read the previous two so I can get to know the other characters better.

5/5 stars, I cried, and I'd recommend this to my friends.

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this eGalley copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 Stars!

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This is the first book I’ve read by Sophie Sullivan. A Guide to Being Just Friends is a standalone contemporary romance but it looks like there are 2 previous books for Wes’s brothers. I didn’t feel like I was missing anything important to the story for not having read those.

This was a nice, light read. The writing was good and it was enjoyable enough I just wasn’t really sucked in or invested. The conflicts were predictable. It wasn’t until about halfway through the book for them to have any romantic feelings for each other. Might be a little realistic but it made the first half too slow paced.

Steam was about 1 out of 5. I prefer my books with a little more steam or at least chemistry/sexual tension if we’re going to get fade to black.

Overall, I liked this one and would recommend for a low angst clean book.

I love a good rom com, it’s probably my favorite genre! A Guide to Being Just Friends is an extremely cute and easy read. This was my first book by Sophie Sullivan and I really enjoyed her writing style! While the story was pretty straightforward, she was able to add a ton of charm and personality in along the way.

What I loved:
-The hilarious meet cute
-Friends to lovers
-Grumpy Wes x Sunshine Hailey. These two combined with the Salad business made me think of a Hallmark movie!
-Taylor Swift references and watching Hailey grow as a business owner

What didn’t work for me:
▪️This was a SLOW burn. If you’re here for the spice, just be aware that this is more of a fade to black.

*** Though it isn’t completely necessary, I highly recommend reading the first two books of this series before checking out this one. I didn’t realize this was the third book, but it can also read as a stand-alone.

All in all, I loved A Guide to Being Just Friends! If you love a rom-com friends to lovers, check this one out!

📖: A Guide to Being Just Friends by Sophie Sullivan
Pub Date: 17 JAN 2023

Thank you to NetGalley, Sophie Sullivan, and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Hailey is focused on her new shop and new town. Wes is focused on his career options and is done with dating apps! Both are focused on not having a romantic relationship but they happily set Friend boundaries with each other. Think that’ll last?

Hailey and Wes are really appealing, endearing characters. Their relationship to friendship, obstacles, and eventually love seem so genuine. The story is a beautiful slow burn romance, ever so satisfying! No explicit sex for those who care about such things.

There are many parts to love (!) but my favorite little clip is a scene where an anxiety ridden Hailey mentions that opening and reading even a small bit of a good novel can calm her world. Been there, live there! And that’s not the only little bit to love.

It is the last in a trilogy, Ten Rules for Faking It and How to Love Your Neighbor, featuring a set of brothers. It can be read as a standalone but folks will probably want to read stories 1 and 2 after enjoying this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the ARC in return for an honest review.

While this book is the last in a trilogy, each book has its own storyline. I loved getting to know all the characters but also seeing them each grow up. Seeing Wes believe in love and not seeing a relationship as a statistic is something that i think a lot of people might be afraid of and i loved that the author had him conquer his fear but admit that he is still scared of the future but wants it with hailey. Seeing hailey evolve as a boss ass business woman was amazing! And her helping Wes pry out of his comfort zone in the relationship was a great touch to the story. Also i really enjoyed seeing them build up their relationship from strangers to friends to lovers. However there was some parts where i just wanted to get them to admit their feelings because i was getting frustrated with the whole “he won’t say he likes her and she won’t say she likes him” but it played out well in the end. So grateful for NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC of the book and can’t wait for it to come out January 17, 2023! Reading dates: August 3, 2022 - August 5, 2022.

Absolutely fantastic! Could not put the book down. Going to recommend to everyone to check out this book!

This was a cute story. I liked the characters and the HEA was what I wanted. I didn't like, however, the way the male lead was a bit overbearing and the female a bit bitchy in her reactions. But, I never love the characters all the way, and this story caught my attention well. I did have a bit of a hard time with the writing. This author is a little too fond of commas and doesn't delineate well when the characters are texting each other. This made it a little difficult for me to read. Overall, though, it was a fun story. Worth the read.

The entire time I was reading this, I wanted to run to Chopt and buy a $16 salad.

I want whatever book I’m reading to make me <i>feel</i> something, but unfortunately, making me crave expensive salads was the most I felt from reading this book.

A Guide to Being Just Friends is not marketed as a series but is the third installment of the Jansen Brothers series. Characters from the previous books played a big role in this book, and while I didn’t need their background stories to fully get the story between Hailey and Wes, I felt like I was out of the loop on more than a few scenes.

Wes and Hailey meet in the beginning of the book and strike up a friendship after clearing up a misunderstanding. But the evolution of them going from strangers to best friends wasn’t very organic or believable.

I read this entire book and everything felt surface level. I didn’t particularly feel anything for any of the characters and nothing really set it apart from other contemporary romances.