This gets all the stars. What a beautifully written friends to lovers story. This had several heavy subjects touched on but was really well done. I loved Josie and Zac’s relationship through the years. They were friends from their teens growing up with one another. Navigating through life with each other until a few years were spent apart. Absence makes feelings come to light! This was a great read. Thank you to NetGalley for this free advanced copy. I’m volunteering this review freely

Josie is a news reporter, Zac is a paramedic. They’re childhood best friends torn apart by tragic circumstances and brought back together by a panic attack which might derail Josie’s career. The sheer amount of detail into the importance of mental and physical health that was sprinkled throughout this story was so refreshing, especially regarding the MMC. I feel like this is majorly neglected in contemporary romance and this book gave a much needed voice to the importance of that. The plot twisted in hilarious, swoony and unexpected ways to bring the story full circle. It’s sweet, steamy and heart wrenching yet butterfly-inducing: the perfect combination of emotions in a contemporary romance!

In short, if you love contemporary romance, I highly recommend!

A good romcom light read, but the story didn't stick with me. I'm not a fan of the flashback style and how slow the romance was.

Thank you for the ARC, NetGalley.

I love a friends to lovers trope and this one was great! It is the story of two lifelong best friends who are getting back in touch after a traumatic experience tore them apart for two years. The chemistry and banter were delightful from the beginning but you can also really feel the emotions tied into the whole story. Enjoyed getting to know each of the characters & watching them find their way together.

Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my very own.

Super cute read! Thoroughly enjoyed the characters! This book gives me Emily Henry vibes and that did not disappoint.

Josie and Zak have a long history together. After meeting in high school and becoming fast best friends (but always platonic friends), they're inseparable until there's a tragic event. Two years pass and they likely wouldn't have gotten together again if Josie wasn't sent on a work assignment to the town where he lives. The story flips back and forth from present day to their high school and college years, and for me, there was just way too much about their high school experience. I would have liked more detail about Josie's work in the news business, or even their time in college.
Love, Just In features a very slow burn romance as well as touching a number of other serious subjects along the way, including cancer, unexpected death, and health anxiety. Some of the secondary characters (Lindsey and Davide, for example) seem to be very much over the top....and not necessarily in a good way. I did like the setting in Newcastle and Sydney, Australia.
Thanks to Netgalley and Allen & Unwin for the opportunity to read Love, Just In in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

Publication: January 3, 2024

Rating: 2 stars

I really struggled with this book early on and ended up deciding to DNF. The biggest thing for me was that this storyline was confusing! When we were in the present time with Josie and Zach, there would be tiny flashbacks within that chapter. I wish it was more linear with the flashbacks rather than so much jumping around.

This definitely had all the pieces I would have enjoyed and I could see why the blurb states that it's for fans of Emily Henry. However, the execution didn't work for me as a reader.

I really liked this romcom! The author touched upon mental health and I really liked that aspect of the book. Josie, the main character, suffered from anxiety and panic attacks and we get to see how that affects her personal and professional life. & obviously I loved Zac… the trope of this one is one of my favorites. So this hit all the right spots for me.

Friends to lover troupes are my favorite. Toss in dual timelines and I’m there! The detailed back story with incredibly relatable and layered characters made this story that much harder to put down. The author included heavier themes surrounding mental health and alcohol while handling them with thoughtfulness. It was an immersive experience filled with inside jokes and clever bantering between the two characters that had me rooting for them.

Murray's writing style is engaging and fluid, making Love, Just In a really enjoyable read. The pacing is well-balanced, and the plot twists keep the reader guessing. The book is filled with moments of humor, heartache, and joy, creating an emotional rollercoaster that will keep readers hooked from start to finish.

I relly enjoyed this one. I thought the plot was really cute. If you like Emily Henry books then you will like this one. Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me a copy to review!

This book had me hooked from start to finish! The friends-to-lovers plot? Totally my new favorite trope

Good vacation read - friends to lovers is always a good trope. Especially non-US authors. Reporter is a convenient plot point to move people around.

This was a friends to lovers romance that had grief, anxiety, and guilt fueling it. Zac and Josie have been best friends for 14 years, but haven’t seen each other in two since Zac moved to Newcastle. Josie moves to Newcastle for 6 months due to a mishap on air at her news station job. Zac is a little distant with her and she makes it her mission to rekindle their friendship, and finds herself coming to terms with feelings for him instead.

I struggled with what to rate this one. I liked the writing style and I enjoyed the flashbacks though other reviewers did not. I also thought the mental health and anxiety rep was done well here. I guess part of me didn’t buy their uncertainty about their friendship and feelings for each other. They had the same conversation at least three times, where Josie believes Zac doesn’t want her even though he’s told her he does. He just has to protect himself. I also thought the random people they both date in the beginning were unnecessary, and the their conflicts being resolved immediately (initially at least) were a little unnerving.

Overall I thought it was okay, but it isn’t one that will sit with me for a long time- this could be a quick beach read or a lazy Sunday read.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for honest review.

Such a sweet emotional book. Extremely relatable plot line that was easy to follow. I absolutely loved it

I love that I could see into her mindset and read exactly what she was feeling when she thought out situations. Her thoughts flowed well and moved the book along very quickly. Cassandra's narrative voice is wonderful. She is serious at times, but also very witty, which makes for an engaging read.

This is a second chance romance where to best friends get another chance with each other.

I think the story could have benefited from dual POVs as I didn't take to Josie that much. The story was also a little too slow burn for me.

A sweet story with an nice message, but with the mental health aspect, I was expecting a more emotional punch.

I received an ARC of this book. All the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Best friends since high school, Josie and Zac are reunited after two years of not communicating, following the death of Zac's fiancé. He is grieving and guilt-ridden, and Josie is dealing with crippling health anxiety, which is impacting her career. Great premise, and well-written, but I found myself often annoyed by Josie, who just kept making bad decisions and ignoring the good advice she was getting. For best friends, it took them a long, long time to get to the important conversations they needed to have, and for Josie to even ask Zac about his grieving process. That said, the writing about grief and anxiety was handled well, and tenderly. And the ending was sweet and satisfying. The story takes place in Australia, Sydney and Newcastle

This book was okay.
It felt pretty slow. You wanted to yell at the characters to get together already.

It was cute but I think if it was faster paced it would have been a better read

This is a best friends-to-lovers romance between Josie and Zac, although the two have not seen each other (and barely spoken) in two years. Zac is dealing with losing his fiancee and Josie is dealing with severe health anxiety.

This book was a struggle for me. I would up liking it, but I initially wanted to DNF it and only pushed through because it was an arc. It was hard to get into when they were both dating OW and OM for almost half of the book. I knew there would be OW drama to an extent due to his late fiancee, but also adding in another woman in the present timeline was overkill. "It's always been you" is also a very hard trope for me to believe because they were both dating other people the entire time they knew one another. He was engaged to another woman. Even in the present that's an issue.

I did end up enjoying the second half of the book after that was over. I liked when it focused more on the two of them, their pasts, and their individual mental health issues.

~2.75-3/5

I have very mixed feelings on this book. Love, Just In follows our main character, Josie, as she reconnects with her childhood best friend, Zac, whilst also juggling work stress and health anxiety.

I really liked the health anxiety rep. I have suffered from this and I appreciated it being shown here. I also enjoyed the tension between the two main characters. However, I feel like it took me a really long time to get into, and even when I was into it I would go through hot and cold moments where I felt like I was having a really good time, and then I really wasn't. I think Josie was a little on the annoying side, and I did not enjoy the spice at all (feels like the MMC's personality switched up a lot during them). The flashbacks were somewhat similar to Emily Henry's people we meet on vacation, which is not a book I enjoyed much either, so perhaps it is just a writing style preference. I can definitely see this being a book many people would enjoy.