A pretty easy, quick read that was enjoyable if not super memorable. I liked the inclusion of some heavier and more unique topics that aren't in romance as much, but honestly I felt like the chemistry between the two characters was a bit lacking. Overall, good but not great.

This was such a wonderful and enjoyable read!!!! I loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre. Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

While the premise of this book and the characters were intriguing, (it would have been the first Australian romance I've read, as well as an insight into jobs that I haven't seen in many books before), unfortunately I didn't click with the author's writing style enough to want to continue after about 16% of the novel.

I'm grateful for the opportunity to have read some of this, since I hadn't heard of the author or the book before the Netgalley promotion. Thanks for introducing it to me!

*I am rating what I read three stars, as I found it quick to read, and interesting/entertaining even though the writing was ultimately not for me.

What a super cute book!! I read this so fast, I didn't want to put it down. This is the perfect friends to lovers, dealing with some difficult mental health issues, as well as some past trauma. The way this was tackled in the book was fantastic, and in the author's note at the end of the book, we learn that it is from lived experience.

Josie and Zac are fricken cute, and Zac in particular is a bit of a dream. This is an Aussie based story, which made me like it even more! Plus there's some great insight into working in broadcasting in Australia.

The characters have a lot of complexities and their daily difficulties made you root for them.

This book has:
Childhood friends to lovers
Mental health rep
Forced proximity
Protective MMC

I loved this book, and would very happily read more by Natalie Murray.

I loved this book. It was a slow burn with a will they won’t they aspect. The only think I wish it had was duel pov so we could have gotten Zac’s version of how things happened.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book! As a rom-com lover, I’ve read my fair share of the genre, and definitely agree that it’s on par with the popular Emily Henry books. As an enemies-to-lovers girl, friends-to-lovers can be hard for me to get on board with, but this had just enough push and pull between the two friends to keep me on my toes. I also appreciated the realness of the main character - the story felt like what you want in a romance without being “eye-roll” level improbable. I gave this 4 stars!

I had a hard time getting into this one, but I'm so glad I stuck it out! I absolutely love friends to lovers' stories. And the sexual chemistry was on fire. I had a hard time because of the heroine, but the author explained in the authors note that health anxiety is a real thing. I had just never heard of that before and experienced it with anyone. I just had a hard time with the fact that Josie was so freaked out that she was going to die at any moment and relegated every single thing that was going on with her body to cancer, but once I got into the book and the chemistry going on between Josie and Zac, the pages flew by. The other aspect of the book I did not like was how Murray handled the backstory. Every other chapter we had to go back 14 or so years to when they were friends at Uni and how Zac had this huge crush on Josie. I skipped over those chapters because they were long and not really helpful in moving the story along, it would have been better I think if Murray just interweaved bits of the backstory throughout the present. Oh and the last part that kind of rubbed me the wrong way and feel I have to mention is that Josie was going to move bac to Sydney and break up with Zac in the end. That didn't sit well with me because isn't this supposed to be a romance? Isn't love supposed to take precedence over a career? But she stayed in Newcastle because a job opened up there for her. And that's the only reason they stayed together.


If it sounds like I didn't like this book, you have me wrong. There were aspects I didn't like but overall, I loved reading Zac and Josie's story. I love how detailed to was and descriptive. and I love that there was a dog in there as well.

A lovely friends to lovers rom com with all the feels!

Josie and Zac met with they were 13 and she was the new kid in school. On that first day, she was lonely and he was a sweetheart and they’ve been best friends ever since. He fell for her when they were kids and asked her out when they were 14 but she said no out of fear of losing their friendship. And he accepted it and said that he’d never ask again. And so they stayed friends through it all high school, university, Zac’s engagement. But two years ago, their world changed when Zac lost his fiancé in a car accident. He moved away and grew distant. And Josie misses her best friend. Fortunately, her job is transferring her to Newcastle for 6 mos and that just happens to be where Zac lives now. And so they’re back together again….Sunbeam and favourite. But it’s not the same, he’s acting strange and she’s feeling different and things have to change right? You’ll have to read to find out!

Such a well written story with the perfect amount of spice, angst, and fun plus flashbacks sprinkled in of all the key tingly moments throughout their 14 year history that make you root for them. Guaranteed you won’t be able to put it down….highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.

This was excellent! I'll be honest in that it took me a little while to get into, but once we started to see more of the character development, and connections, I couldn't put it down. If you enjoyed "People we Meet on Vacation," you will likely love this one as well!

Love, Just In by Natalie Murray follows the friendship of Zac and Josie as they navigate seeing each other after a two year lapse in their friendship. Zac and Josie had been friends since school days and we're always close. Then Zac's fiancee Tara died in his arms in a car crash and he stopped talking to Josie, and there was no way for her to comfort him. When Josie is sent to Zac's town as a punishment for freezing on air at her news job, they meet for the first time since Tara's death. The story turns into a very awkward friends to lovers to friends dance that will keep you turning the pages!
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

What an absolutely wonderful friends to lovers book! I was excited to read a book set in Australia and to read about places that I know about was so refreshing to see.

The main characters Josie and Zac, were best friends growing up but drifted apart after a tragedy. Once they were reunited they needed to reignite the friendship they once shared.

This was a slooow burn but this makes sense with the context of going from friends to lovers. There was a lot of fantastic angst and pining (ohh angst and pining!) along with the flirting and the push and pull that drew me in something fierce. The story made me feel quite emotional with everything they were dealing with. Josie with her crippling health anxieties and Zac with a trauma in his past. It was so heart warming to see them help each other through and I loved them together. It was such a beautiful story with great mental health representation and the banter between Josie and Zac was so much fun.

Also the charm bracelet. That made my heart melt :)

If you love friends to lovers, a slow burn romance, mental health rep, fun banter, and a story set in Australia, definitely check this one out!

CW: death, anxiety, grief and trauma

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc.

I always love a book set in Australia/written by an Aussie author and Natalie Murray did not disappoint.

News reporter Josie Larsen has spent the last two years without her best friend Zac Jameson after tragedy drove a wedge into their friendships. They start to reconnect after Josie’s work brings her to Zac’s new home town for six months by chance. But there’s been a lot of water under the bridge for these two and there’s some heavy wading to do before they can really be honest about how much they mean to each other.

This book was really fun, the main characters were likeable and a friends to lovers trope is always wholesome. It was a bit of a slower start and I didn’t really get that ‘don’t want to put it down’ feeling until about 1/3 of the way through. The book has some heavy topics (sudden death, cancer, health anxiety, shame and fear) and it’s not very long so it’s a nice quick read. Character descriptions are fabulous and I loved some of the characters little quirks.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I loved the way the chapters alternate between the past and present. It really gave you a good look at Josie and Zac's friendship throughout the years. But I didn't love the start. It was very slow and I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy it.

Overall, this was a sweet and enjoyable romance that is set in my hometown of Newcastle 🙌 Whilst it will give you all the feels, it also needs a trigger warning for the mental health struggles that are portrayed throughout the book. I'm really looking forward to reading more from Natalie!!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book.

Josie Larsen is a Sydney TV news reporter. She finds her life is at a bit of a stand still while everyone else’s lives seem to move forward. She has a panic attack on air. She gets banished to Newcastle by the TV station . Zac, her best friend since high school who she hasn’t spoken to in a couple of years, is also there. They reignite their friendship and find that they have new feelings for each other.

Josie suffers from anxiety owing to her family’s medical history, which is what caused her to panic on TV. She trues to revisit the past with Zac, adding another emotional layer to the friendship. She has a feeling of caution about developing things though.

Zac has his own personal issues, one of which is a fiancée who passed away tragically. He feels guilty because of his romantic feelings towards Josie.

I liked the characters in this story. I would recommend this book to others.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Love, Just In
Things I liked: I think it’s great the author had a character with health anxiety. I didn’t relate to it personally, but I’m sure many readers will be appreciative of feeling represented! Also, some of the banter was fine. My favorite part was when Zac said he might have to ask for forgiveness if he kisses Josie and Josie said “I forgive you” YES loved that so much. I liked the behind the scenes of what it’s like to be a reporter, and Josie has very human moments while still nailing her job. Spoiler ahead: I loved the twist that he and Tara broke up before she passed. It made it easier to believe that Josie was #1 instead of runner up.

Things I didn’t enjoy: I didn’t connect with Josie and Zac at all. Josie was so immature, some of the things she said or asked Zac felt so cringe to me, and her overt flirting while Zac had a girlfriend felt wrong. It also felt out of character for her accept Zac not talking to her for 2 years. Zac was just kind of bland to me. I think most of the flashbacks goes me understand their friendship a little more, but I didn’t like the jumping around on the timeline. It DID make sense for the “now” parts of the stories, but I had trouble keeping up with where they were in life.

I liked this a lot. It filled the Emily Henry sized hole in my heart (well, like half way. Because let’s be real that a BIG hole). It was heavy and gave ME medical anxiety and also I wish we had less flashback scenes and more now scenes but it’s fine. It was a slow burn friends to lovers that somehow worked for me despite me hating slow burns.

This book had Emily Henry vibes and i’m here for it.
It feels as though it is not just a romance but also a literary women’s fiction novel as well.
It was definitely better that the synopsis made it out to be.
The push and the pull, the banter, the chemistry.. all were done so well imo.

This was a good romance that deals with so many serious issues. Josie the fmc, is a newsreporter who struggles with health anxiety and seeing people in her life with cancer. Zac, the mmc is a paramedic who is dealing with grief and past trauma. They are also childhood best friends who drifted apart because of different things in the past. When Josie moves to the city that Zac is in, we see them start to rekindle their friendship even though things are different than it was in the past. This is written in Josie's pov with present and different past chapters, and we see how their friendship started, the more than friendship feelings about each other and events in their lives that have shaped them. The romance was cute, but it's a slow burn, there's some miscommunication and a lot of angst. I really liked the portrayal of health anxiety because I've been there, and I related a lot with Josie. I did want to see more of them together without any conflict, but overall, this was a very solid romance with real issues.

Tropes/themes:
- Childhood friends to lovers
- Australian setting
- Mental health and anxiety rep
- Healing from grief and loss
- Some steamy scenes

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc for an honest review.

One word to describe this book…angsty. Josie and Zac are childhood friends who faced a traumatic event and went their separate ways. Work takes Josie to the city Zac now calls home and after years apart they reconnect. While it isn’t easy to rekindle their friendship, they finally fall back into their old ways. There’s always been an attraction and now circumstances seem “right”. But life isn’t as it seems on the outside for either of them and both are hiding true feelings. Josie is keeping what she feels is the biggest secret.

This book took me a little while to get into even though I did love how the very beginning grabbed me. The hidden feelings and all of the worry about how the other was feeling got a little old but once I got to the middle of the story I was invested. Mental health is no joke so seeing life through Josie’s eyes, while difficult, is reality and I appreciated the author bringing it to life.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this book a little early.

This is a sweet friends to lovers story about two best friends who have been pulled apart by their own tragedies and struggles finding their way back to each other. I loved everything about this story- down to all the new Australian terms sprinkled throughout the book. Josie's struggle with health anxiety is relatable and authentically written. Zac is immediately loveable and your heart aches for him throughout the whole book. Fans of Emily Henry, Christina Lauren, and Carly Fortune will love this book!