Friends to lovers a classic trope. The book had a lot of potential but sometimes it fell flat. I had to close it and come back to it several times in order to finish it.
Lots of emotions. Good character building. I loved the dual timeline. Definitely a slow burn.

Overall, It was good just not spectacular.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this arc.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun and sweet romance. This book had me swooning.

i hate doing this which is the reason i almost never do but i unfortunately have to dnf this book. reading the description and going in i was soooo excited, but this just is not the book for me. the fmc is unbearable -- she makes horrible decisions and is extremely inconsiderate while expecting everyone else to be thinking of her. i like the mmc enough but we don't get his perspective so he's hard to understand. i really tried to push through, but this book is not worth reading for me personally.

There were several things about this book that could have lost me. I didn't feel that this was because of poor writing choices though, just personal preferences. I thought I liked friends-to-lovers romances, though often towards the middle my mind is less "will they", and more on the side of "they better". Having Josie and Zac's friendship coming after two years growing apart abruptly following a tragedy, and Zac having made his feelings more than clear, changed the dynamic in a way that had me seeing Josie as a bit of a villain. I thought she was unfair and purposely ignoring things a lot of the time, which made it a bit hard for me to like her. You don't always have to like the main character though, and I think that this book succeeded despite this.

I wasn't particularly interested in the journalism career Josie was following, or the ways that she would have to compete to get stories. My interest flagged a bit, but when Josie was reporting on the scene of a fire, it did open my eyes a bit to a world I'd never considered. Having to report on a tragedy, get in the way slightly of those trying to do their best to save people, seems like a heartless, cold job. How many times have I looked up articles, trying to find out exactly those answers though? Never thinking of the person who would have to be at the scene, inserting themselves for my and a community's peace of mind.

Another thing that really stood out was the way grief and guilt were handled following an unexpected death. As well as medical anxiety - an anxiety I'd never heard of or considered, but that deserves to be recognized all the same. I thought these were handled so well, something that I'm enjoying seeing more and more in fiction, and really appreciate.

There were some steamy moments, trope typical miscommunication, and plenty of heart. All together, a solid read!

Rounded up from 3.5 stars. Thank you to the publisher through NetGalley for the ARC!

This is a pretty classic childhood friends to estranged to tentative friends again to lovers. This is single POV, dual timeline (the flashbacks are luckily brief).

I really appreciated the mental health rep of this, particularly medical anxiety. I don’t read that enough. I also found the FMC job as a newscaster to be really fun and interesting. An also, as an American married to an Australian, all the Aussie references were so good!! I was proud of myself for knowing them. Lovely setting.

My biggest hang up with this is how when they first meet up again it’s very sad and tense and not in a good tension way or even angsty way. It made it hard to believe the MMC was ever going to be into the FMC romantically or even on a friendship level. To spare spoilers it just felt like one sided effort and not a lot of chemistry. Similarly, it’s usually a pet peeve of mine for main characters in a romance to be dating other people for a significant chunk of the book and that happens here.

I felt that their dynamic was believable as childhood bffs though so I appreciate the writing there and how quick witted the FMC was with her banter. I just needed more from him in return.

I also agree with other reviews in that the blurb doesn’t accurately convey that this has a pretty sad tone throughout. This can be heavy for some readers. Going in with that mindset would have helped me enjoy this more as it is well written.

This is a solid read, solid 4 stars from me. Thank you to Allen & Unwin for this ARC!

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of Love, Just In by Natalie Murray.

I wasn't ready for the rollercoaster of emotions that this book was going to make me feel.

I loved how mental health was portrayed. Josie is an amazing character, and I really identified with her. Zac was a perfect character to follow along with.

It was a great read, and I would totally recommend it !

Thank you NetGalley, and Allen & Unwin for sending me this ARC.

Rating: 3.5 ⭐️ (rounded up for platform purposes)

💭 BOOK THOUGHTS: This was a cute romance that had a lot of potential. I loved some parts of the book, other bits I wasn’t so keen on, so ‘Love, Just In’ fell somewhere in the middle for me. I felt that the friendship between Zac and Josie was genuine and I adored Zac - he was just the sweetest and most supportive MMC! It was great to get glimpses into their past with the dual timeline at just the right moment to get context before the next chapter’s important plotline. There were also some major swoon-worthy and heartstring tugging moments interspersed that I loved, plus I was happy to see complexity in Josie’s character with her mental health journey. However, it was really hard for me to relate with Josie aside from that and I just didn’t connect with her as a character. A lot of the plot was predictable, which is fine, but the miscommunication and back-and-forth between Josie and Zac was not something I enjoyed. I would say I liked the second have of the book the most and it was overall a good read, just not one I absolutely loved.

READ IF YOU LOVE:
• Estranged friends to lovers
• Dual timeline
• Mental health/anxiety representation
• Sunshine/Sunshine
• Cute nicknames for MCs
• Slow burn

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Allen & Unwin and Natalie Murray for an eARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

A contemporary Romcom with lots of heart!

Josie and Zac, were inseparable since they were 14 years old. And until 2 years ago, when Zac cuts off communication following a tragic accident, Josie would never have imagined differently.

Josie has hopes and dreams to check off her list: securing a career as a news reporter, finding a handsome and successful husband, and having kids by 30. At 27, she’s still single and is starting to panic. After a misstep at work, Josie finds herself on assignment to the sleepy beach town of Newcastle away from her Sydney life. Newcastle also happens to be where Zac retreated to in his grief.

Josie and Zac must now confront their broken friendship and potential feelings of something deeper. Are they willing to risk their hearts or jeopardize their precarious and recently rekindled friendship?

Tropes/themes:
💕 Adult contemporary romance
💕 Dual timeline
💕 Friends-to-lovers
💕 He falls first
💕 Mental health rep (anxiety, trauma, grief)
💕 Forced proximity

“I need to stop thinking about what I've lost and start thinking about what I've found”

“Maybe love is a checklist, after all. Just not the list you thought it was”

“Looking at you is like staring right into the sun. so bright, it's blinding”

Shifting between the past and present, we witness Josie and Zac’s relationship grow and slowly unfold over the years. We see the subtleties of their repressed feelings for each other.

Forming a narrative that is tender, emotionally raw, and inspiring, Love, Just In impeccably captures the nuances of a friends-to-lovers story while highlighting mental health.

I was engulfed by tidal waves of emotion while reading this book. The friendship melted my heart. The tension was electric. The longing and passion was perfection. I loved the masterful balance of heartache and humor.

If Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation had a book baby with Christina Lauren’s Love and Other Words and Abby Jimenez’s The Friend Zone, this would be it!

Let me just come out and say that Love, Just In is my *favorite* contemporary romance read of the year! I’m hopelessly in love with Zac Jameson and this book. I highly recommend adding this to your bookshelf or TBR if you’re looking for an endearing friends-to-lovers romance with lots of heart.

I received a free e-ARC and am voluntarily leaving my honest review. Huge thanks to Natalie Murray, Allen & Unwin, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

3.5/5

Now contemporary romance is a genre I don't often enjoy and am extremely hard to please in, so I do try to bear that in mind when reviewing a book. Overall I think this was a pretty decent friends to lovers story. I think it will really appeal to the Emily Henry fan club. I personally found this one much more enjoyable than People We Meet On Vacation (which was like watching paint dry for me).

I do think this book felt longer than it needed to be for the substance of the story. Many of the flashback scenes felt underdeveloped and a bit tacked in.

I tried my very hardest to exercise patience and compassion towards the main character, as I know her battle with health anxiety was drawn from the author's personal experience. I do appreciate that this issue was highlighted in this book, as it's not something you see a lot in fiction.

Josie was definitely a bit of a mess, and I did at times find it hard to understand what Zac sees in her at all, let alone to be so gaga for her. Calling her "sunbeam" and saying she's a ray of light, but that didn't seem to fit her personality at all? Zac himself was the perfect gentleman and frankly deserved better than her being all wishy-washy with him.

I will say though, that the chemistry between the lead characters did feel convincing.

I am personally not a fan of stories where they're in a relationship/situationship with one person but in love with another, and there was a fair bit of that here. Just gives me the ick.

There's definitely a fair amount of miscommunication and kind of drawn out "we lovvvve each other but we cannnn'ttt be together for absolutely nooooo good reasonnnnn" which got a bit tedious for me in the end.

I liked the Australian setting and it was better than PWMOV. I think it's a solid choice for anyone who loves contemporary romance and the friends to lovers trope, with some anxiety rep on top.

i loved the relationship between these two. it was very cute and i really enjoyed the flashbacks to their past, it really added to the reading experience and helped me understand their history a bit more. sometimes their interactions would make me roll my eyes because they seemed more flirty than friendly, but i guess that was the whole point. overall, they were very sweet and wholesome.

i enjoyed the storyline but it wasn't my favourite. i honestly liked the romance more than i liked what was happening outside of the romance. i did very much enjoy the breast cancer awareness and the conversation about health anxiety though. as someone who also gets anxious and think every single thing happening to my body is a disease, josie’s thoughts felt like my own. it was like the author had hopped into my head and had written my thoughts out.

thank you to netgalley & the publisher for an arc of this book. all opinions are my very own.

‘We’d agreed that if we hit the age of twenty-eight and were still single, we’d marry each other.’

I’ll confess: I am not a frequent reader of romance. But every so often I can be tempted, and I was this time. ‘Love, Just In’ is a friends-to-lovers romance which touches on several other issues.

Josephine (Josie) Larsen is a Sydney TV news reporter approaching 30 who thinks that she is failing at life. A panic attack on live television has dented her career hopes but a six-month placement to the network’s regional bureau in Newcastle may give her another chance to prove herself. Josie suffers from health-related anxiety (a little knowledge and a family history of some conditions does not help) but is too afraid to seek help.

But Newcastle is also the home of her friend Zac Jameson. Josie and Zac have been friends since high school, but they have barely spoken for the past two years. Zac’s fiancée died in his arms in a car accident in Sydney, which is why Zac left.

So… both Josie and Zac have issues to resolve. They feel attracted to each other but worry that their friendship might be sacrificed. You know that they will eventually overcome all the obstacles they’ve each placed in the way of becoming lovers (because that’s what happens, right?) but you don’t know just how long it will take. Josie agonises over some medical issues and takes way too long to seek advice. Fortunately, Zac steps in. And Josie has some learning to do in relation to Zac.

And yes, it looks like a ‘happy ever after’ ending is in store. Nice. The romance may have been suitably angsty and predictable, but Ms Murray covers some important issues along the way.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Title: Love, Just In

Author: Natalie Murray

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Reviewed By: Arlena Dean

Rating: Four

Review:

"Love, Just In" by Natalie Murray

My Sentiments:

"Love, Just In" was a beautiful love story featuring Josie and Zac, who had been friends while growing up till it fell apart. Will this be a read of a friend-of-lovers romance? This is where you must pick up this good read to see where this author will take the reader. What will happen when these two have so much tearing them apart, especially with all the flashbacks we were given to observe during the read? What will happen now that Josie, from Sydney, moves close to Zack in Newcastle? Will they be able to get together and renew their friendship? Will it turn into a new thing and turn into love?

The story works very well with the portrayal of grief and health anxiety. Zac and his trauma and Josie's health concerns brought out what was going on for these two. This author brought it out so well in the story in a very positive, intense way that the reader will have a good understanding of what has happened with these two. I enjoyed the ending, where communication started coming forth.

If you are into good friends to lovers...you may enjoy this read.

Thanks to Netgallery and Allen & Unwin for the ARC and my review of the read.

Josie and Zac were best friends growing up, but had grown apart in recent years following Zac's traumatic accident. When a work assignment put her in Zac's new hometown, Josie looked forward to reconnecting, but she quickly realized she could be harboring more than friendly feelings for Zac.

The number one way to get me to read a book is to tell me it's a friends-to-lovers romance. It's always special to see people who already love each other in one way develop a new kind of love for one another. For Josie and Zac, there were many obstacles over the years which kept them in the friend-zone, but for once, the timing could be right.

Those pivotal moments in their fourteen year friendship where Josie recognized (and denied) her changing feelings for Zac were shared via flashbacks. The flashbacks were really effective in helping me understand Josie and Zac's relationship better, while also shedding light on Josie's struggle with health anxiety. This is a first for me. I have read books that featured OCD, but not health anxiety specifically. Though this issue did not take center stage, it was given some attention in the story.

I have seen other readers lament the slow progression of this romance, but these two had a lot to overcome and their friendship was at stake. I can understand why they were hesitant to act on their attraction, but I did enjoy the pining, the flirtations, and Josie's inner battles regarding her feelings. Part of me would have loved more time in Zac's head. We only got one chapter from his point of view, but it was a great one. Had me shedding those happy tears.

Overall, I enjoyed getting to see Zac and Josie's relationship grow and change. I appreciated their journey and was overjoyed with where this path led them.

Love, Just In by Natalie Murray is a captivating friends-to-lovers romance that will leave readers with a warm and fuzzy feeling long after turning the final page. This novel delivers the perfect blend of romance and spice, making it the ideal summer read. The story revolves around Josephine "Josie" Larsen, a TV news reporter in Sydney, who finds herself on the brink of turning 30 and feeling like she's failing at life. Surrounded by the achievements of others and burdened by her perpetual single status, Josie is also grappling with her invisible existence in the eyes of her boss. The only time he noticed her was during a live TV panic attack, which resulted in her being sent to cover a colleague's leave in Newcastle, a regional bureau. While Newcastle may seem like a mundane assignment, it holds a surprise for Josie in the form of Zac Jameson, her best friend from high school. However, their reunion is bittersweet, as Zac has been distant since the tragic loss of his fiancée in a car accident. Seeking solace, Zac had left Sydney to find a way to cope with his grief. As the narrative unfolds, Murray skillfully navigates the complexities of Josie and Zac's neglected friendship, their mutual secret attraction, and the challenges they face in their careers and mental health. The author beautifully portrays the emotional journey of these characters, delving into their personal growth, vulnerabilities, and the power of rediscovering lost connections. Murray's writing style is engaging and relatable, effortlessly drawing readers into the lives of Josie and Zac. The chemistry between the two protagonists crackles with authenticity, making their evolving relationship a delight to witness. Through their journey, the author explores themes of love, loss, self-discovery, and the importance of nurturing friendships. Love, Just In is a well-crafted novel that expertly balances heartwarming moments with poignant ones, keeping readers emotionally invested throughout. Murray's vivid descriptions of Newcastle create a vivid backdrop, immersing readers in the setting and adding depth to the story. In conclusion, Love, Just In is a must-read for fans of friends-to-lovers romances, offering a perfect blend of heartfelt emotions and sizzling chemistry. Natalie Murray's ability to craft relatable characters and compelling storylines shines through in this novel, making it a standout in the genre. So, grab a copy, settle in, and let Love, Just In whisk you away on a captivating journey of love, friendship, and self-discovery.

3.5 but rounded up to 4 star. The first 5% took me 3 days and the rest of the 95% took me less than 24 hours.

I have a very love/hate relationship with this story. I really connected with Josie and her health anxiety - I would also bet that a good number of readers will too. I thought her thoughts and feelings and worries were handled beautifully. However, I think we needed a dual POV because I really struggled with understanding Zac. I kept thinking that he thought of Josie as more than friends, but his actions showed differently. The sexual tension definitely felt more one sided and I wish I could have been in his thoughts.

I really struggled with feeling the chemistry between the two but I think that's where a dual POV could have helped. I loved the side characters - at least I loved Christine. But I definitely felt like the side characters were an intrical part of the story and sometimes that's hard to find with books.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and I loved Natalie Murray's writing! I will absolutely be on the lookout for more books from her.

Thank you to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Allen & Unwin and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. Even while missing all of the geographical references in the book, I enjoyed this. Josie's health anxiety could be triggering for some readers but it was handled well. The flashbacks took me out of it at moments as to where they were placed within the novel but overall it was well done and showed how each interaction was viewed and how Josie could not quite see what was in front of her. Enjoyable read that I would give 3.5 stars.

✨ ARC REVIEW ✨

I loved this book so so much! This story was so fresh and new but still had all the pieces that make up a wonderful love story. It made me think and learn about topics that I hadn't really thought about in the past- health anxiety for one. If you're a fan of Josie Silver and Emily Henry- you will LOVE this book!!

Thanks so much to Natalie Murray and Netgally for the opportunity to read and give my honest review.

📚 Book: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🔥Spice Rating: ❤️

✨ BEST Friends to Lovers
✨ Close Proximity
✨ One Bed
✨ Anxiety
✨ Australia

Content Warning: Cancer and Car Accidents

Josie and Zac have been best friends since high school. They have been intertwined into each other's lives in every way but the timing for romance has never been there. Zac experiences a very traumatic loss and moves to a small town to recover- away from Josie. After two years of not speaking, Josie is sent to the small town on a six month work assignment that puts her right back into Zac's life. As they both work through all the challenges of their lives, they slowly rebuild their friendship and find that maybe there's more there.

I adored these character- and their friendships! They just loved each other so much and they had the best witty banter back and forth. Josie is impulsive and fun and Zac is loving, thoughtful and laid back. This book covers some TOUGH topics and I was afraid it was going to be overwhelmingly sad, but the way it is written is so beautiful. There were definitely some heartbreaking moments, but there was so much joy woven into the hardships. Perfect balance.

It takes place in Australia, and as an American, it took me a second to catch on to the lingo, but now I want to go around calling everyone Gorgeous and Favorite.

I highly recommend this one! Grab it as soon as it releases on January 3, 2024!

Steam Meter
🤍 clean romance
💗 closed door/ fade to black
❤️ sexual content
❤️‍🔥 explicit, play-by-play
🖤 graphic, more than vanilla

This was such quality mental health rep & had so much genuine friendship (both between the two main characters and their entirely platonic friends). It passed the Bechdel Test and also addressed the very real reality of medical anxiety (especially being a woman!)

Josie and Zac both clearly cared so deeply for each other even when life was tearing them apart, and their hesitance and dancing around each other’s fears and feelings as well as their own was so real. The brief flashbacks allowed for us to watch their friendship grow and also watch them see each other differently throughout it.

I felt some of the flashbacks could have been longer or more detailed, but overall it was a cute read and I genuinely enjoyed it!