This friends to lovers trope was so darn sweet!! Zac asked Josie out back when they were 14, and when she lets him down and decides on wanting to date someone else (teens are so cruel) they decided to stay friends. We go back and forth between their friendship in the past and now, and I was slowly withering inside because this was the slowest burn ever when it came to romances, these two have been dancing around each other all these years!!! And Zac is perfect and she never bothered to after him?? There was so much going on and then to bring in the whole “breast cancer” scare? I felt it was not really needed….. what made me love this story more was Zac….. can he be ANY MORE FREAKING PERFECT!!! 😍😍😍

First of all, I loved this story and its characters. Josie and Zac are not just friends but lifelong best friends so it’s the ultimate friends-to-more trope. Mental health is a huge topic in this book, in many different ways, which I appreciated. Highly recommend for those who love rom-coms that dig deeper

This may feel like blasphemy to a lot of romance readers but…I’m not sure friends-to-lovers is the trope for me. There’s too much “Why am I feeling like this? But he can’t possibly feel the same way!” when he so obviously does. I didn’t love Josie as a main character and thought Zac seemed a little weak at times as well. I feel like he didn’t stand up for himself much especially when it came to Josie. I don’t know that I loved how the whole Tara thing ended up working out either. And overall I thought it was a tad long.

Note: I received an ARC of this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a tough one for me—the health anxiety subplot was so achingly familiar to me that it was a struggle to read, even though it was well crafted. I loved the love interest however, once the main character drove several times with someone who clearly shouldn’t have been behind the wheel, I lost any patience or sympathy I had for her.

Thank you to Allen & Unwin and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book.
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This is the first book I’ve read from this publisher and author, and it was an interesting change of pace to have a non-American voice on the page. The descriptions of Australia made me want to visit and experience the culture for myself. Josie and Zac have been best friends since they were in high school, but after a car accident leaves Zac’s life in tatters he moves away and they have barely spoken in two years. Josie is an on-air newscaster who recently froze up on camera and has been sent to Newcastle for a six-month fill-in position. The pair suddenly find themselves very much back in each other’s lives and sparks previously ignored are larger than ever.
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Zac is still processing the loss of his fiance, just now finally getting his life back on track two years later. Josie suffers from health anxiety, whether she wants to admit that to herself or not, and this pulls the book into darker territory for sure. I didn’t need every other chapter to be a flashback to their previous history, some were great additions, but others felt unnecessary and distracting.

Cute book, and I enjoyed the deeper topics within this romance, but it just didn't work overall for me. As a young adult suffering from major health anxiety, there was a lot of personal comparisons I could make with Josie. However, she was a character that just kept making bad decision after bad decision. She was childish and jealous, and pretty selfish. It made it hard for me to root for her in the long run and to see how Zak would want her. The hold up between the two main characters would have been solved with just a single conversation, but instead it drug on throughout the whole book. I feel like if the chapters that go back in time were cut, the book would have been smoother for me and kept my interest more. These scenes didn't necessarily add much to the romance and I wanted more of the romance from the current period. I think there are readers that will really enjoy this novel and especially the complexity with the deeper topics such as health anxiety, and drunk driving.

This book caught me off guard! (in the best way). It was surprisingly emotional, while still being cute and funny the whole way through. Josie and Zac have been best friends for years, but have been out of touch for the past two years (I won't spoil why!) their bond is shaken, but certainly not broken. What ensues is a adorable friends to lovers story, with plenty of pining, mental health struggles, and sweet moments.

Josie and Zac come off as super relatable, both with their own struggles and needs and they had me pretty emotional throughout! This was my first read by Natalie Murray and I can't wait to dive into more!

Love, Just In, by Natalie Murray, is a good book to grab for a fun quick read. Fun characters, banter, and a bit of serious add up to an interesting story.Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for the ARC ebook I read to complete this review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Wow.
I could not put this book down. It made me laugh, it made me cry, I loved it.
I could relate so much with Josie with her health anxiety and anxiety in general, it felt good to be reading about a character a little bit like me.
Asides from that, the tension between Josie and Zac almost killed me. Knowing they were both perfect for each other but not quite there yet had me not putting the book down until I could see if they'd figured it out.
Natalie Murray is definitely on my auto buy author list now.
Big thank you to Netgalley and Allen & Unwin for providing me with the advanced copy of this book.

This was a fun, quick contemporary romance focusing mostly on the "friends to lovers" trope.

Josie is an aspiring news reporter, who has been put on a six month placement in Newcastle to prove herself with a smaller station. Josie is frustrated with herself due to the events that caused her relocation. However her best friend from high school, Zac, lives in Newcastle, and Josie is keen to reconnect with him.

I enjoyed that both characters felt flawed and had genuine issues. There was a good mix of fun moments and serious moments, with the story often touching on career and health issues, and mental health. However Josie did sometimes feel a bit childish; for someone meant to be older than me, I found myself questioning her sometimes (however, people are different). Her health (and other) anxiety did actually feel really relateable though, as something that I struggle with.

There was quite a bit of miscommunication between the main characters, even from the start. At times, it does fit for the characters, but it did get a bit much.

Overall, I did enjoy this one!

Thank you Allen & Unwin for an e-arc of this one! All opinions are my own.

This book sounded so promising, but I just couldn’t get into it. The constant use of first and last name irked me, as did the writing style. For someone who was nearly 30, Josie’s voice felt teenage-ish. Unfortunately, I couldn’t finish this book.

A very cute story that was fun to read. Definitely pick this one up if you are looking for a fun, quick read!

This is a best friends-to-lovers trope and it has all the feelings.

There were parts of this book where she really grated on me though. She seemed to me to be very uppity, hypocritical and found it very easy to misdirect blame and anger, her communication was lacking and I know she had trauma and was trying to find herself, but she really tested my patience and honestly I still have my doubts that she was on the same level as him.

Aside from those things, I enjoyed this slow burn, second chance at romance, emotional contemporary romance story but this book, in my opinion, is not rom-com material. It deals with some seriously heavy topics: anxiety, medical issues, car accidents, grief, guilt, PTSD, abandonment issues, to name a few, and I thought it was going to be more of a rom-com. It didn’t make me like it less, it was just an adjustment in mind for what I thought was going to happen based on the blurb. I would think this is more of an emotional contemporary relationship story, than to have it limited to being a 'romance'.

📚 Love, Just In
✍ Natalie Murray
📖 Contemporary Romance
⭐ 4/5
🌶️ 🌶️
➡ Aspiring news reporter Josie Larsen's been gunning for a promotion for months. After an on-air panic attack gets her relocated from the big news station in Sydney to a smaller satellite station in Newcastle to prove herself, she's left frustrated but determined as she moves to a new city to take on the role. She may be unfamiliar with the coastal town but her best friend since high school, Zac lives there and she's excited to reconnect with him after their relationship fizzled two years ago following the traumatic death of his fiancée. As they relearn the ropes of their friendship as adults while coping with too often nude roommates, career stresses and their own mental health, they'll find that what keeps them grounded may be the one person that's always been there.
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🙏 Thank you to NetGalley and Alley & Unwin for the advanced copy of Love, Just In. All opinions are my own.
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🎯 What I loved: Love, Just In was a great balance of heartfelt, emotional moments with a few joyful laughs thrown in. Murray found a way to weave together some truly traumatic experiences with hope to create warm, endearing characters that were easy to root for. I felt the slow burn on this one and was so ready for the characters to finally get together by the time they did- but the steamy scenes were 🔥 and totally worth the wait.

🙅‍♀️ What I didn't: Though I liked her character, I found a lot of Josie's personality difficult to relate to. While I appreciated the underrepresented challenge of health anxiety playing a role in the plot, I struggled to understand Josie putting off appointments and living by the 'no news is better than bad news' policy amidst her struggles. There was also a TON of miscommunication (essentially the entire past timeline felt like missed opportunities to me), so if that's your trope petpeeve, this may not be for you.
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Read if you love:
*second chance/friends to lovers
*love after loss
*slow burn
*it's always been you
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See also: Life's Too Short; Maybe Once, Maybe Twice; The Love Rematch

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

Love, Just In took a little while for me to get into, but for the most part I enjoyed this read. It's a childhood friends to lovers with flashbacks, which can be a tricky trope to make satisfying. But at least there wasn't an awful thing in the past that made them lose contact. I mean, there was, but it wasn't typical of other books I've read. Josie and Zach have been best friends since junior high and are in their late 20s now. Two years ago Zach's fiancé died in a car crash and he fled Sydney because the pain was too much. He also stopped returning Josie's texts and phone calls. After She has a on-air panic attack at the news station in Sidney where she's a reporter, Josie is relocated to another town for a temporary job assignment. The town happens to be where Zach resides. Josie is hopeful that she and Zach can get back to the friendship they had before the tragic accident.

I liked Josie and the mental health representation in this book. The flashbacks were short and moved the story along slightly. Zach was a very sweet MMC, but I would have liked to have seen the side characters fleshed out a bit more. It felt a little predictable and formulaic, and I didn't feel super swoony at the HEA. That being said, I will definitely check out more writing from this authos.

This was a quick read! The slow burn romance had me wanting to yell at the characters to finally give in and kiss already. This is not a light, fluffy romance, but one that delves into some heavier topics such as death, survivor’s guilt, extreme health anxiety, and panic attacks. The two main characters have been through a lot, but it is positive to see them acknowledge their trauma and work at healing from it. While there is a lot of miscommunication that is not my favorite, I found myself rooting for these best friends to give in to their love for each other, and it’s extremely satisfying when they finally do.

Overall, a 3.5 rating.

I really enjoyed the story of Josie and Zac and their growth and rebuilding of their friendship. It was really a great read to see that development with the chapters giving events of the past and present. I would have liked to have seen some more chapters in Zac’s perspective. But seeing the struggles Josie works through is really refreshing. She is t the perfect FMC and I loved that!

This is a fun rom-com book to read and only gets heavy a few times. But it is a great friends to strangers to friends to lovers book!

Thanks to NetGalley, Natalie Murray, and publishers for getting to read this ARC.

Josie and Zac became immediate best friends in high school and stayed close through college. After navigating life’s changes together, their friendship drifts apart after Zac moves away following the tragic death of his fiancée. When work offers Josie the opportunity to spend six months in Zac’s new town, they attempt to reconnect like no time has passed.

A heartwarming friends to lovers rom com, Josie and Zac will have you swooning. Relatable characters will pull you in immediately. A great beach read for anyone looking to escape to Australia!

Thanks to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for the ARC in exchange for a fair review.

3.5 star rating

Overall, this is a good read--not too heavy, but just weighty enough to read like fluff. The flashbacks give the reader a lot of the insight into the hero without being in his PoV. The heroine's struggles read rather refreshing, though I thought her rather dense for not noticing the hero's interest much sooner.

Thank you NetGalley!!

Although this was a good romance story there were several serious issues that were covered. Josie and Zac’s relationship started in high school. A tragic event tore them apart so they haven’t seen each other for a while. Then Josie has a temporary assignment which brings her to Zac’s town. We watch the journey of their feelings and how they negotiate being friends again.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.