Mental health and anxiety!

Friends to lovers romance that’s complicated, heart breaking and strangely surprising. Set in Australia this is the tale of two friends.
Josie Larson and Zac Jameson have been friends since they first met years ago when Josie changed schools, from a private girls school to the local high school
They did everything together. When Zac asks her to be his girlfriend, Josie said No but even then she’d wondered about a Yes!
They went to university together, had too much to drink together, laughed and mourned—together.
Now it’s fifteen years later and Josie’s a television journalist. Recently she had a panic attack on air and froze. In an attempt to regain her mojo and prove she’s fine, Josie’s moving from Sydney down to Newcastle to consolidate her experience. She has an eye to reclaiming her reputation, and anchoring the Sydney desk in the near future.
Zac is in Newcastle, a paramedic. He’s been through a hard time with his fiancé dying in his arms after a car accident a few years ago. He and Josie had lost touch.
Josie makes contact with Zac and a new chapter begins with plenty of drama, treasured moments and surprises.
The story moves along at a fast pace, poised between the past and now.
An intriguing and absorbing read. I adored it.
There’s plenty of humor, hand in hand with more serious moments of Josie’s health anxiety, an illness that is real, obsessive and lonely.

An Allen & Unwin ARC invite via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

Friends to lovers is probably my favorite romance trope and Love, Just In does it so well.

There is so much will they won’t they in this book that I was just about as frustrated as the FMC and MMC were. This is told in present with flashbacks to different parts of Josie and Zac’s friendship. The flashbacks are not in chronological order, but are organized more with the moment they correspond to in the present, which makes sense but sometimes got confusing.

Their friendship begins over a mutual interest in music and I’ve found that I really love when there is a connection to music in the story.

Josie is demoted to a regional newstation in Newcastle after a fiasco on air while she was reporting in Sydney, due to her undiagnosed (at the time) health anxiety. There she reunites with Zac her childhood best friend, who is just getting back into work as an EMT a year after his fiancé Tara died in a car wreck they were in together.

The way Murray tackles health anxiety and mental health in this is really wonderful. I’m not sure I’ve read a book where someone is suffering through health anxiety though it is a common form of anxiety.

On their way to finding each other they both date people that are terrible. Zac is dating a coworker of Josie’s and Josie dates Zac’s previous roommate who is just horrible. This is probably my least fav part in the book. I didn’t find it believable that Josie would date this guy because he just seems like a jerk with a drinking problem, but I also get that it’s part of the will they, won’t they build up.

Overall though I found this charming. I loved Josie’s friend and her side story, I also appreciated the backstory with Zac and his relationship with Tara. I read this so fast. Also for my fans of less spice in their romance this is maybe a 2-3 🌶️ level so super manageable and very easy to skip over if it’s not your cup of tea.

Love, Just In is out on the 3rd of January so you don’t have to wait long!

Thank you @netgalley and @allenandunwin for my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.
#LoveJustIn #Netgalley

Love, Just In was an adorable contemporary romance set in Australia. This story was a best friends to lovers, second chance romance that had all of the feels.

The hero and heroine are both relateable and likeable. I only wish they would have communicated better considering they were in their late 20s and had been friends for so long.

I couldn’t help but cheer this couple on. They had so many obstacles to overcome to finally find each other, and I was there for it!

Before I began reading this ARC, I skimmed through some of the reviews other readers had left. I was excited to read the book, but didn’t have crazy high expectations. So, I was not prepared for the impact this book would have on me. I absolutely adored this story. I cried… SOBS at times! And also found myself smiling from ear to ear while reading… were there some things that maybe I didn’t love as much, for sure. But what really warrants a five star rating for a book? In my opinion, it’s a book that gives you all of the emotions and a book you can get absolutely lost in. I stayed up so late finishing this book last night and would have continued reading it even longer! While I can’t relate to the mental health struggles of the 2 MC, I absolutely think the author did justice to anyone dealing with these issues. I disagree with other reviews saying it felt overdone… and also disagree with reviewers saying they don’t want to pick up a romance book and read about so many dark topics… I feel like these added topics gave the story so much depth, and made it that much more believable, and made it feel so much more real, and I also feel like it was so far from overdone.
I will say I agree with some of the other reviews that there were a few flashback chapters that probably could’ve been cut out to shorten the book, while having no effect on the story.
But, I am still giving this book 5 stars, and I am telling anyone who loves a great story to please read this when it comes out this month!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book in exchange for honest feedback.

I thought this was ok, IMO. It did have some heavy topics the two main characters were dealing with that made readers emotional/empathetic. I feel like the overall concept of this novel has already been done given the friends to lovers plot/storyline. Just left me with an meh feeling when finishing this. at least the cover was cute!

My other issue with this book. Was that the archive date was before the publication date! Just adding to my irritance.

Thanks ti NetGalley, Natalie Murray and the team of Allen and Urwin for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 1/3/2024
Archive date: 11/27/2023 (ANNOYANCE)

I positively *loved* this one!! The if you loved people we meet on vacation (my least favorite emily Henry book) reference made me a little hesitant but I love friends/estranged friends to lovers and was curious to see where the story would go. For me, this was part love and other words and part every summer after. I loved the flashback moments, I loved the heartbreaking moments, I loved the friends they each had in their corners (shoutouts to Christina and Ross!). There were a lot of feels happening throughout this book but they were approached in a way that added that extra element that I just love (even if it brings me close to tears!) I wish there had been some, other than the epilogue, from Zac's point of view, no miscommunication trope in this one, the moments where he needed to say something he did and it was everything, but for some moments I would have loved his perspective a little bit more. Josie's anxiety I think was handled with care but it felt a little bit like some of Zac's trauma was, brushed off seems not the right words but, not fully handled to the best that it probably could have been.

All in all though, this was such a good read with 🥰🥰🥰 and 😍😍😍 moments (the charm bracelet towards the end anyone??) I loved spending time with these two best friends as they get to know each other again after being estranged for a few years, and if they happen to fall into their feels whilest doing it, I am here for it!!



Thank you Netgalley and Allen & Unwin for the ARC in exchange for my review!

The cover of this book will draw you in and then immerse you into the angst that comes with believing in love again!
I enjoyed the Australian setting for these characters who take you on a journey of discovery. It seems like the storyline came full circle, but the emotional roller coaster became a little frustrating at times.
Josie is working on her anxieties, her old friend Zac is working through his own struggles. The line of communication is slow to open, for me the flow of emotions and breaking down of walls seemed too drawn out. Still, worth the read..

With thanks to Allen and Unwin , NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to read this book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was unable to find this book on Amazon or B&N - unable to review. I will give it three stars. I tried many time to find this book but could not.

Love, Just In is set in Newcastle, Australia which I loved because I am from Australia.
This book had lots of things that I enjoyed especially some of the tropes friends to lovers, alternate timelines and some spice which was nice!!
It touched on some big topics so as always please check those triggers before reading

I adored reading this book and reviewing it
Thank you Netgalley for letting me have a copy of this one

3.75/5 stars

Set in Newcastle, this is a romance between best friends Josie (a news reporter with higher aspirations) and Zac (a paramedic). They haven't spoken for two years since Zac lost his fiancée in a car accident from which he is trying to mentally recover. Josie is ambitiously reaching for an anchor position while also struggling with panic attacks related to her health. As they end up back in the same city, they work toward rebuilding their friendship while also feeling a more intimate tug.

While overall this was a good read, I did often become frustrated with Josie's prolonged resistance to mental health therapy and also the ease in which she takes advice from a mutual friend about how to handle her relationship with Zac...without much input from Zac himself.

So, while I know that lots will enjoy this (understandably so), it just didn't quite leave me with all the warm fuzzies.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Allen and Unwin for providing the free early arc of Love, Just In for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

Unfortunately, I wasn't sympathetic toward Josie's anxiety over her health and wondered what Zac saw in her, but the longer I got into the story, the more I began to see why Josie felt as she did and what Zac saw in her. If for no other reason, that made this book worth reading as I became more empathetic toward those who feel excessive anxiety over health issues. Sometimes hard to read but glad I read it.

This book has me quite torn, some parts were enjoyable and other parts just fell flat. The writing style was well done and that was probably the saving grace for this book. At times, it felt a little too long and didn't keep my attention as well as I would have hoped. And the hardest part was that I didn't feel a lot of the chemistry between the main characters, it was a good book, but just not one that I would want to return to. Overall, a nice read, but not a favorite.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

LOVE, JUST IN by Natalie Murray
Release Date: 1/3/24

Genre: Romance

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was super excited to get an advanced digital copy of Love, Just In!

This is a friends to lovers romance set in Australia that follows Josie, a tv news reporter who has recently had a major professional setback. She is temporarily relocating to another news station in order to try and revive her career. It just so happens that she is heading to the town that her childhood best friend, Zac had moved to two years ago. However, she has barely spoken to him in the two years they’ve lived apart. Now she is faced with trying to adjust to a new town and find her balance again with her career, while also trying to reconnect with her estranged best friend while wrestle with new feelings for him as well.

My thoughts:
I really ended up enjoying this! I’m not always the biggest fan of the friends to lovers trope but I thought it was actually really well done in this book. I found that I was really invested in the story from about the 30% mark and it was a page turner from there. I loved both Josie and Zac and I was really rooting for them throughout the story. I also have to mention that there was really good representation for a very specific type of anxiety (I don’t want to be any more specific and risk spoiling anything) and I thought that aspect was depicted very accurately.

Overall, this is a very entertaining and sweet story and I would definitely recommend it to romance fans. And this is perfect timing because it is set to release on January 3rd!

As much as I hate to do this, and especially on an ARC, this is a DNF for me. I'm at a little over halfway through and I absolutely can't take anymore of Josie. The book started strong and I thought other reviewers were wrong at first but there is no getting past how absolutely selfish and awful she is. I was going to stop at Chapter 23 but I decided to give it one more chapter and the line that did it for me was, "I hadn't realized how much pain Zac was still in over the accident." The accident of his fiancé dying in his arms. She thought he'd be over it in two years?! The fact that she would get in the car with someone who had been drinking and then not understand why he was so upset and act like a child towards him and be upset at him is baffling. Not to mention, they didn't speak because she says he shut her out AFTER LOSING HIS FIANCE BECAUSE SHE DIED IN HIS ARMS. He was two hours away and she never even physically went to check on him. She is awful and I can't root for her and I can't understand why Zac would want to be with her so if there is a HEA it would not be in my eyes because he deserves better.

Thank you to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for the ARC. Sorry that the book was not for me.

Love, Just In is a friends-to-lovers tale with unexpected depth. Full of mental health representation and recovery from grief/ loss, it’s quite poignant, if occasionally bogged down with its own weight. I would have loved to see better communication between Josie and Zac-as well as more light moments- but I was still quite moved by their tale.

Thank you Natalie Murray, Allen & Unwin, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

🌅👫Twenty-something friends: up for more?😏

4-4.5🌟stars
Love, Just In is a good, slow burn, friends to lovers story set in Australia that covers some serious issues. Definitely not a romantic comedy, despite the cheerful cover art. It grew on me as I became more familiar with the two main characters, ambitious TV journalist Josie and her long-time friend Zac the paramedic. It has a super romantic finale and, unlike many friends to lovers romances I've read, here the female character is the one who remains supremely unaware that her best friend Zac has been carrying an unquenched torch for her since they were teenagers.

Josie is a Sydney gal and can't imagine not returning there to an upwardly mobile career after her six months in exile in Newcastle, a smaller Australian city up the coast from Sydney where Zac lives, after an on-air meltdown. Her career problems mesh with her health issues and anxiety. She's desperately afraid of developing fatal breast cancer like her aunt and grandmother. This aspect of the story was especially emotion- and thought-provoking. I particularly liked Josie's transformation as she moves from ignoring her worries to confronting them and sharing them with others.

Zac, who's come back into Jose's life a few years after a major loss, was a great character, very supportive and sympathetic, and so obviously needing more from Josie.

There's a good deal of realism in the career pitfalls, health issues and the way the couple seem to keep missing their chance. It's not a smooth sail but the way they deal with the barriers to a deeper connection make for a really appealing story.

I did find it a bit long and, since their history together through the years comes out in Josie's narrative POV, I did not find the chapters taking me back to their past particularly useful.

Thanks to Allen & Unwin and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

I love the friends to lovers storyline. But this was so much more than that. There was serious topics mixed in the middle and that made this one so different then all the other romance books out there. It was very well written, just the right amount of seriousness and humor. I laughed out loud multiple times. It took me awhile to get into but once I was past the first chapter I couldn’t put it down.

DNF at 40%. This book wasn’t for me, I didn’t connect with the leads and I didn’t really like or understand their dynamics or their relationship. Josie is seems pretty unlikable, with shallow aspects and bad friend tendencies. I liked that the chapters that took place in the past were short but I didn’t like how those chapters jumped around in time. I am just not invested enough into the story to continue it at this time.

Love, Just In

𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 4⭐️
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: contemporary romance📚

𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
A sweet yet emotional romance.

𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
Childhood friends to lovers
TV news reporter
Emotional reads
Complex characters
Australia setting
Themes of grief and friendship
Single POV
A few steamy scenes
Realistic plot
Second chance
Slow burn

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚍:
Mental health/ anxiety rep
Cute dog
Character development

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛:
Felt a little too long
Didn’t really feel the chemistry between them

I got this book as an arc from netgalley, and it definitely surprised me. This is a friends-to-lovers romance about Zac and Josie. I’m gonna be honest, I couldn’t stop reading this book. I think the anticipation of when Zac and Josie were going to get together kept me reading non-stop. I loved their banter and the way they joked around with each other. This book did have flashbacks to explain certain moments in the book, but they were always really short and just the memory of the exact moment the book was talking about. I really enjoyed that because sometimes a long flashback can just really take you out of the book and they seem unnecessary, but these were done really well. I will say that this book talked a lot about health anxiety; the main character has such bad health anxiety that she’s not able to perform at work sometimes. I think that’s an important issue to be talked about, but if you like your romance books to be strictly romance and nothing else, then this might not be the book for you. This book definitely had the vibe of an Emily Henry novel, but with some banter similar to Ali Hazelwood. I would’ve given this book 4.5 stars if I had the option, but I rounded down to 4 on goodreads since it wasn’t quite a 5 star for me.