A Guide to Being Just Friends
Jansen Brothers #3
Sophie Sullivan


Sophie Sullivan’s third in her Jansen brothers trilogy is a hoot, a laugh-out loud one minute emotionally draining the next minute rom-com that will keep listeners interest from page one until the very last word. Not only does the audience get catch-ups on the two younger sibs Noah and Chris and their love interests but get Wes and Hailey’s journey to find their own HEAs. Wes is an enigma, he’s so smart but is too cerebral to understand emotions. Hailey on the other hand wears her heart on her sleeve and even though she’s lost at love before has the courage to at least acknowledge the chance that love may make another appearance. It’s a sweet storyline with a flowing narrative, great California settings and wonderful costarring characters. If you like rom-coms the writing of Kristan Higgins or Susan Elizabeth Phillips you will love this fantastic novel.

Narration:
The voices of Stephanie Willing and Timothy Andres Pabon were great choices for Wes and Hailey and all the other characters too. They did an exceptional job of executing Wes’s cluelessness and Hailey’s unsinkable attitude giving listeners an advantage over readers.

After a disastrous breakup Hailey Sharp needed to get out of LA and make a new start and thought what better place than where her beloved cousin Piper lives in San Verde CA and courageously follows her dream of opening her own salad shop. Her vow of no men is easy to follow since she’s busy making new friends and earning customers. That is until she meets a Hollywood gorgeous numbers guy who turns her head, but who is luckily on the same page as her and decide that being just friends is the way to go. She’ll just have to ignore the way he makes her blood heat up.

Wes is the oldest of the three Jansen brothers and spent his early years protecting his brothers from the toxicity of their parent’s marriage and subsequent divorce. Now the three brothers are all grown up, have a successful investment company and the two younger brothers Noah and Chris are in love. Now Wes doesn’t believe in Happy Ever After but does wish he had some female companionship but after his disastrous dating app failure deicides to call it quits. Then he meets a spunky, beautiful, cake loving, salad shop owner that makes his heart beat faster and decides being besties is the way to have his cake and eat it too. What could go wrong?

Thank you so much for an audio arc of A Guide to Being Just Friends by Sophie Sullivan!

I loved this book so much! It was such an amazing audiobook as well. I loved getting to know Hailey Wes. They were such fun characters and I loved seeing them develop throughout the story. I also loved being able to see favourite characters from past books. It was so good- I will definitely be rereading/Re listening to this book in the future!

I received a copy of this audiobook from netgalley for an honest review.

I enjoy this love story even if he needed to get his head out of his ass for most of it. I want to read the other love stories in this series. All the characters were great. Multi-dimensional and people you want to get to know better. I will read/listen to more by this author.

Unable to fully listen to title before archived. No review just didn't want it messing with me NetGalley %

Such a fun and very fast book. I love the way that the book went and I love the character development from beginning to end. Definitely recommend this book to friends and family.

i got about 25% into this book and i couldnt continue it. i felt like the fmc was annoying and the mmc was very uninteresting. maybe it wouldve been better if i had read the other books in the series? first book by this author as well

I liked this book much better as an audiobook than a paper book. The characters really did come to life with these 2 narrators was so much better! I really liked this book.

1. I wish the salad shop in this book was a real place. They sound DELICIOUS.
2. I was rooting for the main characters the whole time, especially Hailey.
This book has some mature content. The story is full of characters that are likable. A lesson in real friends for Hailey who hadn't had that experience. I'm sure you can tell from the title that this isn't going to be a book where people end up actually just being friends, so sorry if that is a spoiler. Sometimes I wanted to shake the characters and say "Just tell each other you like each other!" The title of this book is what got me interested in it and I was pleasantly surprised by how quick I got into the story and was finding time to listen. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

Witty, quick read that will leave your with a smile on your face. I enjoyed the character development and real life scenarios

I really enjoyed the pacing of this book. The narrator was easy to listen to and I really liked the chemistry between Hailey and Wes.

Sophie Sullivan did a great job creating characters who are likeable and relatable while still having a lot to learn about themselves. There’s witty dialogue, and most importantly a great friendship to build one.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable and cozy read.

A Guide to Being Just Friends by Sophie Sullivan is a CLASSIC friends to lovers. Hailey and Wes have a meet cute gone wrong that eventually leads to a friendship. This was a slow burn that really errs on the side of sweet.

This is a dual narration by Stephanie Willing and Timothy Andrés Pabon - both were fantastic and the dual perspectives helped move the story along.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC. A Guide to Being Just Friends is out now!

🥗🥗🥗🥗🥗
Read this one then you’ll get why I rated with salads not stars.
This is by far my favorite of the Jansen brother brooks. Hailey and Wesley’s story is sweet with a perfect throw to when Harry Met Sally. I absolutely love their meet cute. And I actually like Chris and Noah even more from this book! This is the perfect feel-good pick!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this advance copy of the audiobook: A GUIDE TO BEING JUST FRIENDS by Sophie Sullivan, narrated by Stephanie Willing and Timothy Andrés Pabon. I absolutely loved this audiobook! Great story, great narrators made for very enjoyable listening sessions! I just hope it becomes a movie… 🤞😉

This was my first Sophie Sullivan book and I can’t wait to find the first two books in this series of the Jansen Brothers. Although this is the third book, I was able to enjoy this one as a stand alone.

I loved the setting of this book in a new salad restaurant owned by the main character. It’s winter here right now but all I want to eat is one of her delicious salads…

I loved this friends to lovers romcom! The narrators did an excellent job and there were many times their tone made the lines more dynamic, whether they were funny or serious lines.

New entrepreneur of a salad shop has recently departed from actor boyfriend (who treated her like dirt) crosses paths with super rich guy and they decide to "just be friends".

A Guide to Being Just Friends is a sweet little romance. I listened to the audio; well done alternating between a female and male narrator (I love that!). Timothy Andres Pabon was the male POV and Stephanie Willing was the female POV.

Thank you to NetGalley ... for once again introducing me to a "new to me author". And for the opportunity to review the advance read listen copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review. And thank you to Sophie Sullivan the author and Macmillan Audio the publisher.

Evidently this is the third book in the Jansen Brothers series. I had not read the first two books in the series and don't feel like I was missing anything and didn't realize it was the third in a series until writing this review.

Also ... there were some delicious sounding salads and the female protagonist (Hailey) loves chocolate and there are some pretty yummy sounding desserts as well.

3/5 Stars

Thanks NetGalley for giving me an audio version of this book in exchange for an honest review!

So I did enjoy this audiobook, but it was so... clueless at points? Like, I love a good sappy romance that makes me laugh at the characters because of their dumb mistakes but this one was just so bad in that way, ha. There were points that the male main character was seriously so clueless that you could expect those same words to come out of a 5 year olds mouth. And I should know, I've had a 5 year old. I also didn't love that they female MC expected her love interest to make ALL of the changes in the relationship, it was very one sided for most of the book. Women aren't gods, stop making them act like they think they are!
I would not have finished this book were it a print copy, but thanks to it being audio, I was able to finish it.
I wanted to add, the female narrator was AWESOME. Her voice was perfect for this character and I felt the emotion in her reading. Highly recommend more people hire her haha.
Overall, it was interesting enough to keep listening to and its my guilty pleasure to read not great books so give it a try!

Loved this book! Listened on audiobook and the multiple narrators made it easy to follow along. Though it was the 3rd book in the series it was fine as a stand alone with each book following a different brother. I can’t wait to go back and read the other two! Perfect rom com with the right amount or love, drama, and predictability.

This is the third (and I am guessing final?) book of the Jansen brothers series. You do not have to read the first two to enjoy this one, but you should to get the back story on Noah and Chris’s girls.

I loved getting to know Wes and Hailey. I loved Hailey’s salad shop business, and wished I had a local restaurant like that here. This is a slow burn friends to lovers, which is always fun. I felt like Hailey didn’t have to be so stubborn about accepting help from others, specifically Wes. And when the real conflict happened….I felt like Wes did a 180 in the wrong direction that almost felt out of character. But I absolutely loved the ending, getting to see how all three brothers ended up.

I consumed this as an audiobook, and truly enjoyed both the male and female narrator. It added to the fun of the book for me.

Bottom Line: Read it!

**I received an audio copy of A Guide to Being Just Friends from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.**

I listened to this audiobook and it was not my cup of tea. I do think I needed to have read the first two to be invested in the world, so that's on me for not making that connection before requesting. I think this was cute and fun and if you have read the first two you should definitely give this a go!

Ah the “just friends” trope. I don’t always like this particular storyline but I did enjoy the way this one was handled. It was done with minimal miscommunication- it’s more like denial on both parts which is easier for me to deal with. I actually find it pretty funny.

There’s plenty of drama in this book but it’s well balanced so it doesn’t feel heavy at all. We deal with lots of feelings and I felt the characters really did have a handle on themselves. I found myself relating to the main female character and how she responds to the elaborate gifts the main male character buys without much of a thought. It’s the differences in their financial status that really resonate with me and it was definitely realistic.

I really enjoyed the dual POV and the dual narrators to go along with it. Having both a male and female voice to voice the characters POVs really added to the experience for the book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the audio copy!