This is a gorgeous, heartfelt and a little bit of an angsty read - so good!

Both Zac and Josie are thirty-ish professionals, they have trauma in their backgrounds which plays out in how they connect to each other in this friends-to-lovers romance set in Newcastle, on the Australian east coast. There’s steam and communication and adulting and friends and ambition, and work challenges.

Zac is recovering from the death of his (ex-)fiancee, and Josie is grappling with frustration in her job, and the need to find herself . Working out what she wants and needs while struggling with paralysing health anxiety is a huge challenge. Yes, sometimes I wanted to give her a shake but her indecision is really part of her anxiety and it’s very well portrayed.

I so wanted them to get together and look after each other. There's some light moments and a dual timeline which unfolds their back story. Great writing, original ideas, a lovely young couple, this is an excellent read - four stars and highly recommended!

Thank you thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC.

This was quite an enjoyable novel. It was set in Australia., which I love, and had a good premise. The characters were warm complex and interesting. Josie is a television reporter who gets sent to Newcastle from Sydney to fill in . Here she is able to catch up with her best friend Zac, from whom she has been estranged for the last two years following a tragic incident in Zac’s life. This is an interesting story, however one criticism that I would have is that it is a little drawn out. Thanks to Netgalley and Allen and Unwin books for an ARC of this novel.

You have to roll the dice. Just remember that when you're afraid, the fear is often worse than the danger itself.
~
This one was the most delicious and slowest of slow burns, as well as friends to second chance lovers, and I loved every minute of it. I don’t want to give away some of the causes of the underlying tension and the page-turning elements, so I’m going to try to keep this review short and sweet. I went in with no idea what I was getting into and I think it was all the better for that. Natalie portrays the mental health struggles through both Zac and Josie beautifully, and all the mishaps and tears and everything in between made this a really beautiful journey to go on. And the side characters! Can I just tell you how much I absolutely adored Christina?! I even warmed up to Natasha by the end. This world was one I stayed up way too late reading and one I did not want to leave. I hope you feel the same when you pick this one up in January!

This was the endearing second chance childhood romance 💝 story I have read this month.

Alternating chapter of the past and the present, the structure gave the reader an insight of the highlighting points of Zac and Josie childhood friendship.

This is definitely guy fell first. Zac is the typical boy next door that grew into a fine man like wine. I love how empathetic he is and how supportive and loving he is to Josie.

There is a health scare. Josie has health anxiety - a type of mental health. The way it was incorporated was very realistic and highlighted the importance of mental well-being, getting checked, and having a good support system.

This is definitely a second chance romance. I like how at the beginning and the end of the book complete a loop. You’ll have to read it it find out but it was perfect for their happy ever ending.

Thank you netgalley for this earc for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgallery and the publisher for this eARC. I enjoyed the book and overall it was an easy read. I honestly wasn’t prepared for the darker topics (i.e, drunk driving and health anxiety).

Wins:
1. Friends to lovers.
2. Happily ever after.
3. Supportive friends - the side characters.
4. Strong female professionals - Christina and Natasha!

Meh:
1. Josie was kind of annoying and stressing me out. The way she was like, I love Zac but I don’t love him and then I love him again. Then all the health anxiety stuff was actually scaring me a little bit.
2. The way Zac led Tara on and then the way she was removed as an obstacle for Zac and Tara.
3. The forgettable guy that Josie dated. Zac’s old roommate. He was horrible! I can’t believe Josie dated him to make Zac jealous.
4. Meghan. Poor Meghan being led on by Zac (what a pattern) and then hated on by Josie. At least she wins at the end with getting her dream job!

* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

While I do think many people can connect to different aspects of this book, I thought the story was way too long and drawn out. The flashbacks really didn’t add much value for me and the story would probably read the same way without them. I also found Josie a little too annoying and didn’t have the best judgement, and I really just didn’t get any romantic vibes from her and Zac at all. The slow burn was wayyyy too slow for me and coupled with the lack of romantic chemistry, it didn’t make for an exciting read.

Wouldn’t recommend. There are plenty of other slow burns out there if that’s what you’re looking for.

Review

Love, Just In
By Natalie Murray

Description:
Contemporary Romance

💕Friends to Lovers
💕Second Chance
💕Slow Burn
💕Some Spicy Scenes
💕Past/Present Timelines
💕Mental Health- Anxiety
💕Set in Australia

Cute emotional read with likeable characters.

It did drag a bit in some places but overall enjoyed the book.

My rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

Thanks, NetGalley for a digital ARC copy of this book.

#netgalley #allenandunwin #nataliemurray #lovejustin

I am a sucker for a childhood friends-to- lovers trope, and Love, Just In, ticked all of my boxes. Zac and Josie have been circling each other since the age of fourteen, one or the other to afraid to risk their friendship for the big love they both feel simmering below the surface. Full of sparkling banter and just the right amount of tension, I was caught up in the very real traumas that keep Zac and Josie from jumping all in. Thank you to Allen & Unwin and #Netgalley for my gifted ARC.

"Love, Just In" by Natalie Murray offers a refreshing take on the friends-to-lovers romance genre. The story of Josephine "Josie" Larsen, a Sydney TV news reporter, and her rekindled friendship with Zac Jameson in the picturesque city of Newcastle, is a delightful journey. Murray weaves a narrative that blends humor, heartwarming moments, and a hint of spice, creating an engaging romcom that kept me hooked. The characters, especially Josie and Zac, are relatable and well-developed, adding depth to their evolving relationship. The backdrop of career struggles and mental health challenges adds a layer of realism to the story. While not groundbreaking, "Love, Just In" is an enjoyable read that brings a smile with its charm and wit, making it a worthy addition to the romcom shelf alongside authors like Emily Henry and Sally Thorne.

This was not the book for me. I couldn't handle the weird toxic relationship that the FMC and MMC had, trying to make each other jealous while also not communicating. They were both so immature and I couldn't move past it... this was a DNF for me.

Thank you to the publishers for my advance copy.

'Love, Just In' by Natalie Murray was the wholesome Australian read I needed.
Josie and Zac have been the best of friends for a long time but haven't been in contact for two years. As the opportunity arises for Josie to move to Newcastle, so does the opportunity to rekindle her friendship with her best friend.
I fell in love with the main character, Josie. She was chaotic and made mistakes easily but loved fiercely. This story is a friends to lovers trope, however Murray managed to pull at my heart strings more than a few times and kept me guessing right until the very end. And whether they end up together... well you're just going to have to find out for yourself!
Please note that this book should have a trigger warning for talk about health anxiety and the topic of breast cancer. Natalie Murray wrote this beautifully and put a lot of research into these topics for her novel.
Thank you NetGalley, the author and Allen & Unwin for giving me an opportunity to read an advanced reader copy of this book.
4 stars!!

Thanks to Allen & Unwin along with NetGalley for providing me with an early copy to read and review.

This was not the usual romance novel as it tackled some heavy topics. The premise and setting were lovely, and it was easy to start falling for the male love interest.

I did find the story long in some parts, some issues were drug out a little too much for my taste and it was hard to completely connect with the main female character, but it was for sure an enjoyable read.

Love, Just In by Natalie Murray is a heartfelt and engrossing slow-burn second chance romance which also sensitively tackles anxiety and PTSD.

After anxiety causes her to freeze on air, TV reporter Josie is offered a short secondment to work in Newcastle, where her estranged childhood best friend Zac has been living for the past two years after losing his fiance.

Murray weaves in a slow-burn tension, as heartbroken Josie struggles with the loss of her longtime friendship with Zac who has cut her off all contact with her. During their awkward reunion I think my heart was in my mouth as I could almost feel the tension from the elephant in the room.

Through short flashbacks, we see the development of Zac and Josie's friendship, including 14 year old Josie turning down Zac. One of the most poignant was Josie's unanswered SMS to Zac when she really needed him. While these were short and sharp, I think most were repetitious and could've been removed. Perhaps the author could've used them as bonus content for her newsletter, I'd sign up!

If I had any quibbles it would be why did Zac say he was playing the field and was going to correct Meghan, yet later blushes when Josie refers to her as his girlfriend. Also I'd have liked to have seen instead of told that Josie was fantastic at her job.

Overall, Love, Just In was poignant, heartfelt and engrossing characters which had me glued to the page. The epilogue had me smiling. I'm really looking forward to Natalie Murray's next book.

Thanks to Allen & Unwin and NetGalley for the ARC.

Josie and Zac have been best friends since they were 14, but circumstances have made them drift apart of the past two years. When Josie is sent to work in Newcastle, she reaches out to Zac. Will they be able to re-establish their friendship? Is there more to their friendship?

#friendstolovers
#heartwarmingromance
#aussiewriters
#multipletimelines

This is an incredibly sweet and emotional read. The friends to lovers trope is a personal fave, and this one brings the best of that trope to life. The banter is great, the steam fabulous but it’s the development of the characters that I enjoyed most.

In the beginning, the switching of timelines from present to past was confusing, but it helped give a picture of Josie’s true feelings she denied for so long.

The mental health rep was well done, as was the rep of more serious health issues and troubling behaviour.

A great read. Thank you to @netgalley for the e-ARC of this book. This book is due for release in January 2024, make sure you add it to your TBR now.

What a fun, heartwarming, goofy, amusing friends-to-lovers Aussie romance. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It's always nice to read a book that features places you're familiar with (this one is set in both Newcastle and Sydney) and I absolutely adore the friends-to-lovers trope, so I was pretty keen to read this one.

Zac and Josie have been best friends since they were kids, but now, in their late 20s, things have happened that tore them apart, time has passed, feelings have changed, and Josie arrives in town for work not knowing where they stand.

I enjoyed the overall vibe of this book. There were flashbacks and memories; funny, goofy stuff that had me smiling as I read; funny moments, sexy moments, good tension and relatable awkwardness when you're trying to figure out if what you feel is friend-love or something more, trying to make sense of your growing attraction to someone you've never thought about in that way before.

On top of that, I thought the more serious topics of anxiety and grief were handled well. Overall, a great book and one I would definitely recommend. Thank you to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for the opportunity to read and review it.

Love, Just in is a modern day second change/high school crushes reunite/friends to romance love story set in Sydney and Newcastle in Australia. The story at the heart of this book is one of friends facing challenges both together and apart as they navigate coming to terms with their feelings for each other after being best friends for many years. While the story itself is very sweet and impactful, I found the pacing at time to be quite slow and as such it took me quite a while to read this book. The pacing early on I found quite tedious but once in the last 1/3 of the book I just wanted to keep reading!

This book discusses health anxiety so may provide either comfort for others suffering from it so I will issue that caution to others facing it, it might be a good read for some and help them feel less alone in their journey but equally could be triggering. If you're on a journey with your own health anxiety, be mindful of yourself when reading this one.

An advanced reader copy of this book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

This book hits so one of my favorite tropes on the head. The friends to lovers is so well done here, and I absolutely appreciate the way that Natalie captures dealing with mental health as a professional woman. This is not an easy thing to capture, and I could feel Josie's anxiety through the words on the page several times.
While witty and fun to read, I often found myself frustrated with our main character's inability to make and follow through with a decision when it came to her love life. While I certainly understood the reasons for the back and forth, It grew a bit redundant for me, and what Josie puts Zac through took a toll on my ability to forge through and devour this one like I'd hoped!
Overall, it's a very fun read with several serious topics throughout including dealing with grief and medical anxiety. It's a unique twist on rom-com tropes.

This has some surprisingly dark and intense plot points for a friends to lovers rom com. Set in Australia, this is a medium fast paced read. I was medium on it overall,

Trigger warning for breast cancer, drunk driving.

Thank you for the advanced reader copy netgalley and Allen & Unwin.

Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Setting: Newcastle, Australia
Format: 📖
Release Date: January 3, 2024
Length: 464 pages

TV news reporter, Josie Larsen is at a crossroads in her life, she is about to turn thirty, her career and life are not going as she has expected .. she feels loss. Her parents retired and living in Thailand, her sister has a fantastic life in London, her friends are getting engaged and having babies. But the worse is her boss, he does not acknowledge her existing except that one time she has a panic attack live on TV. In retribution Josie is sent to Newcastle to fill in for another reporter that is on a six month leave. Here lies another problem, you see Josie best friend from high school, Zac Jameson, moved to Newcastle two years ago and contact between the two came to a standstill.

Zac moved from Sydney to Newcastle to manage his guilt and grief when his fiancée died in his on a car accident caused by a drunk driver.

Love, Just In is a slow burn romance story about two people dealing with some heavy issues .. cancer, health anxiety and drunk driving car accidents. In my opinion the book was too long and could have done with few chapters that dealt with Josie and Zac’s past, understand some of these past chapters were needed to understand our protagonists back story. On the whole the book was okay, I liked it but did not love it. I never felt that Josie and Zac had much chemistry and would not have been disappointment if they just remained friends.

Thank you, Natalie Murray, Allen & Unwin and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This novel is due to be released on January 3, 2024.

Follow me on : https://linktr.ee/rosiesreadingnook

Love, Just In by Natalie Murray. This is a new to me author.

Friends to lovers
Second chance
Forced proximity
OW / OM drama
Slow burn
Steam factor 3/5
The story is laid out well. Good character development and no major plot holes.
4 stars.

It took me a bit longer to finish this book than is typical for me. I struggled to get hooked on the story. The blurb doesn’t convey the level of angst and heartache the characters are contending with and proper trigger warnings need to be added. The story is told from Josie’s POV.

Josie and Zac are friends, former best friends. They drifted apart after Zac suffered a horrific loss.
Josie is a reporter in Sydney. She temporarily relocates for an assignment, putting her in Zac’s new hometown. She is desperate to make an impression and win an opportunity for advancement at her station. She is also hoping to reconnect with Zac and find her best friend again.

Josie suffers from what she calls ‘health anxiety’, which at times is debilitating and holding her back from enjoying her life. Zac has his own struggles, he is slowly finding his footing and rebuilding his life and career. Having Josie in town seems to be a mixed blessing. He clearly wants to spend time with her, yet it’s evident he’s holding back, leaving Josie very confused and more anxious.

The author spent a considerable amount of time sharing & explaining their history, which is told in flashbacks between the past and present. Josie and Zac needed to trust in themselves and each other, to open up and have the hard conversations they have avoided for the past several years. Until they do that neither one will truly be happy. The epilogue was an happy emotional bonus.

The constant focus on Josie’s health and mental state was at times overwhelming. I appreciated the author’s note at the end, explaining how this subject was a personal one for her.