If you are looking for a great friends to lovers romance, this is the book for you! It has all the feels you could want.

Description:
Sydney TV news reporter Josephine "Josie" Larsen is approaching 30 and coming dangerously close to failing at life. Lost in a vortex of other people's career milestones, engagement parties, and baby showers, Josie is perennially single, abandoned by her globetrotting family, and invisible to her boss - except for the one time he tuned in while she was mid-panic attack on live TV. As a punishment, Josie is shipped off to cover another reporter's six-month leave at a regional bureau in Newcastle.

But Josie has more waiting for her in Newcastle than yawn-inducing stories about bicycle lane protests. The city is also the domain of Zac Jameson - her best friend since high school. This should be a happy turn of events, but Zac has barely spoken to Josie for the past two years. Not since his fiancee tragically died in his arms in a car accident and he left Sydney to try and cope with his grief.

Now thrown back into each other's lives, Josie and Zac have to navigate their neglected friendship and secret attraction to each other while struggling with their careers and mental health.

Hilarious, sexy and heart-warming, this is the perfect romcom to sit on the shelves alongside Emily Henry, Sally Thorne and Ali Hazelwood.

My Thoughts:
This was a rollercoaster ride of a romance. These friends since high school were both pushing each other in other directions, but they were the best of friends. Both Josie and Zac were dealing with their own different traumas they were trying to overcome. The traumas and their work had pushed them apart and their friendship was in peril. This is an emotional romance with both sadness and joy. There are some hot, steamy encounters that will get your blood racing. There are heart-warming interludes filled with love and honesty. If you like a good romance, you will love this one.

Thanks to Allen & Unwin through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on January 3, 2024.

Thank you to NetGalley, Allen & Unwin and Natalie for a chance to read this book.

Love, just in follows our FMC Josie as she tries to navigate her career, being a young woman in general and reconciling with our MMC Zac, who happens to be her childhood best friend.

This book was an easy read, the characters were relatable and likeable and the issues they were facing were things I have faced myself.

I can see this easily being picked up by the ‘booktok’ crowd. Well worth the pickup in my opinion

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
This was unexpectedly sweet and swoony! How could I not love Zac and Josie, best friends since high school with a simmering attraction underneath. Friends to lovers is one of my favorite romance tropes! Not only do we have romance, but we have a storyline that addresses mental health, specifically anxiety over health, straight on. I found myself empathizing with Josie as many of her feelings have been my feelings over the years. Parts of this were drawn out too long but the genuine love and affection these two characters had for each other, the funny banter and the message about normalizing anxiety allowed me to put that on the back burner.

I have found a new. contemporary romance author and I look forward to reading more of her works in the future. I could also see this as a Netflix movie!!

Thank you to Net Galley and Allen & Unwin for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this arc on a whim, and I’m glad I did! It was a bit heavier than I expected, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

My reading experience with Love, Just In was pretty inconsistent. I found myself gripped by the first half, and read until around the 60% mark in one night. Then I trailed through the next 20% before speeding through the rest.

1: The Plot

Josie Larson is a TV news reporter. After she has a panic attack on air, she’s relocated from Sydney to Newcastle. It just so happens that her childhood best friend, Zac Jameson, has been living in Newcastle for the past two years after the death of his fiancée.

Josie and Zac reconnect, trying to repair their friendship. As Josie navigates this relationship and her new environment, she finds herself attracted to Zac in a way she didn’t expect.

2: Prose, Narrative, and Story

The writing is really solid. I didn’t find the book hard to follow or the prose difficult to get through. I knew where we were, I knew how we got there.

3: The Characters

Both Zac and Josie are nuanced and messy, which I appreciated. Josie’s obsessive anxiety was really well written. It was hard to read at times because of my own experiences with anxiety, but so, so worth it. The author’s intent felt so genuine. And Zac’s issues were handled well too.

4: Conclusion

This book was definitely a heavier read for a romance, so keep that in mind. Personally, I love romance that breaks my heart and crushes my soul, only to put them back together again with a happy ending.

★★★★☆ (4/5)

It’s not very often we get a full history between characters and it was so enjoyable to get both the past and how that affects their current relationship. The author makes the reader work for the romance with its slow burn telling, but trust me it’s worth the wait. The author does a great job building a good foundation with this story between Josie and Zac.

There is a lot more to this book than its pretty cover and romcom premise. What I liked most about this book is now the author was able to give depth to a romcom story. There still was the quirky dialogue and fun scenes, but this author was able to also bring heavy topics to the story without overshadowing the romcom aspect.

This book made me feel like I was right in Australia. The scenery was vivid and though I have never visited, it felt as if I was experiencing the city first hand.

Thank you to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for the ARC

I love the Australian setting; having family who live in Newcastle this I found this nostalgic and familiar. Those Newy beaches and the heat!
Josie isn't my favourite main character and I didn't feel as invested in her as I could have - I think this is because both the writing was a bit cringe, and Josie was incredibly un-self aware, especially where her attraction to Zac comes in. Surely she can't be that oblivious?! Current Josie doesn't seem any more grown up than high school Josie.
Otherwise a sweet story, with a happy ending, and very readable.

Big city reporter Josie gets assigned to a six month news job in a sleepy little town, where her former best friend Zac just happens to be. The two had grown apart offer Zac went through the tragic loss of his fiancée, but proximity brings them back together for the second chance they never had. I really enjoyed the past and present perspectives. I didn’t personally love the health anxiety plot line, but I was moved by the authors note at the end of the book detailing why she included it. All in all this was a good one- Do your self a favor and preorder it today.

This is for fans of HEA and Lucy Score who appreciate a smartly written romance that doesn’t shy away from real life situations and quirky characters.

Story is set in Australia with alternating POV of the main characters proving that when you’re best friends with someone of the opposite sex from puberty through young adult hood feelings are complicated. I don’t want to give away the plot, however I wasn't sure where I was being taken until page 50, than I couldn’t put it down..

Language is accessible for North American readers.

I liked the comparisons made in the blurb, so I gave this a chance and I was not disappointed. In romcoms I can get pretty frustrated with the MCs as the act like spoiled or annoying brats, but Josie and Zac were not a pair of bothersome babies. The romance was fun and earned. Thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank you to Allen & Unwin and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

Thanks Netgalley for this read. I didn't think it would appeal to me and was rather surprised at how much i liked it.

This was the first book by Natalie Murray that I have read and it most certainly will not be my last! I absolutely loved this book. It was so easy for me to fall in love with Josie and Zac. Natalie was so delicate when it came to dealing with the trauma involved in the story and it also had great representation of mental health as well. Such a good read!

The book was heavy in parts dealing with anxiety and grief. Some parts were a little slow-moving from past to present but overall a lovely read. I really liked how the book tackled anxiety which is rarely written about in such detail. It was good to see two people who could move past old history, forgive and forget. I had to laugh in relation to Davide, Josie's roommate. I felt a lot of characters I could relate to in real life.

The book is definitely in the vein of Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation and, in turn, Nora Ephron’s When Harry Met Sally. I really liked that this book didn’t revolve around a simple miscommunication between two friends and instead focused on real events that kept the main characters, Josie and Zac, from dating. They definitely have a believable spark!

While the story had a few slow points, I thought it was a sweet, contemporary romance with well
-written chemistry between the main characters. Thank you NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for an advanced copy.

Wow. I am instantly a Natalie Murray fan. The is raw, and funny, and real, and everything I didn’t know I wanted to read. The realization of two friends is where she shines as an author.
I’m giving it a firm ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ but do have notes as always. I think the repercussions on the Tesla accident were a bit extreme for the weight they were given, either a downplayed accident, or an increased female main character reaction were merited. I also felt like his needing space when moving away becomes well understood, but her attempts to be there for him don’t exactly translate, it appears she may have given up due to her anxiety, but that isn’t clearly stated.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book and want to say thank you NetGalley for the opportunities to review it.

This is a sweet Aussie romance with some heavy topics.

As a fellow Australian, it made me smile reading about places that I have been and references that I understand.

Being a friends to lovers we get a lot of their history in the form of alternating chapters but they are well timed that the little bits of their younger years supports the developing relationship they have today.

This story hangs heavily on the lack of communication trope (not really miscommunication, because that would imply they actually addressed the elephant in the room). Zac was an absolute gem of an MMC, despite everything he was a well developed character and so supportive. Josie is incredibly driven and but puts her health on the back seat choosing to ignore rather than face the possibility she could be genuinely unwell.
I can relate to her on a lot of levels but her relationship with Lindsay irked me to no end. Once you throw in Meghan, this was more than a love triangle, a love square? A double love triangle?

There was so much trauma and mental health representation in this book that I think was handled quite well. Both of our main characters have struggles of their own, including loss of a loved one, PTSD, health anxiety, anxiety attacks, and isolation.

Overall I enjoyed this read.

Absolutely loved it! I can never decide if Friends to Lovers or Second Chance Romance is my fav troupe but I feel like this one kind of had both. The rekindling of a friendship that turns into Romance. This is definitely my new comfort read, I can see myself reaching for it again and again.

I really enjoyed Love, Just In. It was the perfect slow burn, childhood friends to lovers romance.

I couldn't put it down - I laughed, blushed, and even cried throughout. It has great romance and banter but also touches on important topics like cancer, health anxiety, grief, and trauma. Those topics can be difficult to discuss but Natalie Murray did it with grace and compassion.

I loved Josie and Zac's friendship and their slow burn romance was well worth the wait. I really enjoyed the Newcastle, Australia setting as well. If you like Emily Henry, you will thoroughly enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review!

📖𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘📖⁠
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'Love, Just In' - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁠
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"Every time you look at me, I feel like there's no breath left in my body. It's like you have completely filled my head, and there's no room for anything else. And to be honest, I don't know what to do about it."⁠
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First of all, I loved that the story was set in Newcastle (Australia), a place I lived in and near for many years. It was so interesting to read about a place I know so well!⁠
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Friends to lovers is not normally a trope I go for, but Natalie Murray gave me a whole new appreciation for it. I think she did such a good job of expressing the love, confusion, and anxieties of Zac and Josie, which made the story realistic. ⁠
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'Love, Just In' made me laugh out loud and cry to the point that my husband was asking if I was okay. I look forward to purchasing the book for my bookshelf when it is released next year.⁠
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Thank you to NetGalley and @allenandunwin #allenandunwinaustralia for allowing me to read and review 'Love, Just In'!⁠ I strongly suggest you check it out when it is released in January 2024.⁠
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Synopsis:⁠
Sydney TV news reporter Josephine "Josie" Larsen is approaching 30 and coming dangerously close to failing at life. Lost in a vortex of other people's career milestones, engagement parties, and baby showers, Josie is perennially single, abandoned by her globetrotting family, and invisible to her boss - except for the one time he tuned in while she was mid-panic attack on live TV. As a punishment, Josie is shipped off to cover another reporter's six-month leave at a regional bureau in Newcastle.⁠
⁠
But Josie has more waiting for her in Newcastle than yawn-inducing stories about bicycle lane protests. The city is also the domain of Zac Jameson - her best friend since high school. This should be a happy turn of events, but Zac has barely spoken to Josie for the past two years. ⁠
⁠
Now thrown back into each other's lives, Josie and Zac have to navigate their neglected friendship and secret attraction to each other while struggling with their careers and mental health.⁠
⁠.⁠
#bookreview #bookish #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookstagram #bookworm #bookaddict #bookrecommendations

I could not have loved this more!! Thank you to @netgalley for the chance to review Natalie Murphy’s Love, Just In. Newscaster Josie has a panic attack on air and continues to experience health anxiety. She moves to a new place and reconnects with her old best friend, Zac. The stories moves between memories and the present, and we get to know the characters and how their feelings for each other have evolved throughout the last 14 years. So sweet; a little spicy; and I loved the anxiety rep!

This book gave me all the feelings. I laughed (Zac has the best taste in t-shirts), I cried, I raged, I swooned, I overheated (the spice is so hot) and I absolutely loved every second of this book.

Natalie brought some mental health issues to light within this book, and it felt so real and relatable. I love when characters feel like your friends, your family, your neighbors. It makes them so relatable.

Josie is so relatable. Her struggles were so real. I really enjoyed seeing her make mistakes and then also own them. I want to be her friend.

Zac makes me want to crawl into his lap and give a hug and never let go.

I really enjoyed the flashbacks into their friendships. And their text messages.