Cute story and great narration. Reading the story about Brynn and Sebastian, the reader has some backstory, but it’s not necessary for this one. Laila and Cole have a great friendship and an unexpected situation happens where they are tested to look to see if there is more to it.

Cole Kimball and Laila Olivet have been best friends since childhood. Their bond is unshakable, full of shared memories, inside jokes, and complete comfort around each other. They've never considered the possibility of being more than friends—or so they say. Although, every once in a while, they do think about it. But seriously, almost never.

Cole, the chef behind his family's restaurant, has always leaned on Laila as his number-one supporter. Laila, who adores the simplicity of small-town life in Adelaide Springs, Colorado, enjoys the chaos of their little community—especially Cole’s company. He’s the person who knows her best and the one who gets to taste all of his latest culinary creations first.

However, when Cole learns a devastating secret about his late grandfather, his sense of home crumbles. Suddenly, the prospect of staying in Adelaide Springs seems unbearable, and he sets his sights on a new life in New York City. The thought of Cole leaving tears at Laila’s heart, though she tries to convince herself that it’s only because she’ll miss her best friend—not because she’s secretly in love with him.

To keep their friendship intact, they strike a deal: Laila won’t beg him to stay, and Cole won’t ask her to leave the town she loves. They give themselves one last week together in New York, a vacation that’s supposed to be free of pressure and full of fun. But as they explore the city, those feelings they’ve always brushed off start creeping back—stronger than ever.

They both begin to wonder: what if they were always meant to be more than friends? Can they admit these feelings without ruining everything they’ve built?

Review

Bethany Turner’s *Cole and Laila are Just Friends* captures the quintessential best friends-to-lovers trope with heart and humor. Reminiscent of *When Harry Met Sally*, the novel explores the delicate balance of long-time friendship and the risk of losing it to romance. Turner excels at witty dialogue and creates believable chemistry between Cole and Laila, weaving emotional tension into their close-knit dynamic.

Set against the backdrop of cozy small-town life and the bustling excitement of New York City, the novel also offers readers a charming, dual sense of place. Turner deftly navigates the characters’ conflicting desires for adventure and home, which serves as a compelling metaphor for the tension between love and friendship.

Talon David and Andrew Eiden’s narration adds warmth and life to the story, their voices perfectly embodying the playful yet heartfelt connection between Cole and Laila. Their performances bring out the best of Turner’s humour and emotional nuance, making the audiobook a delightful experience.

Tropes

- Best Friends-to-Lovers
- Small Town vs. Big City
- Slow-Burn Romance

Cole and Laila are Just Friends is a light, heartfelt read that will appeal to fans of witty romance and slow-burn love stories. Turner’s ability to balance humor with genuine emotional depth makes this a standout in the friends-to-lovers genre.

So....I've decided that me and Bethany are now BFF's because anyone that can come up with this AMAZING story is one I want in my life!

This story was a beautiful blend of humor, butterflies, raw emotions, genuine confusion, and a tour of NYC that I could NOT get enough of!!!

Thank you for writing this story, Bethany, and for bringing Cole and Laila into my life! Thank you also to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for the ALC of the wonderful story!

Cole and Laila are Just Friends felt like a Hallmark movie in book form. Cole and Laila are best friends and have never been more than that - until now. When Cole's grandfather dies, Cole contemplates moving to NYC to start fresh. Laila and Cole take a trip to NYC which forces them to confront and see their growing feelings.

This was mostly a miss for me, unfortunately. I felt like the ages did not comport with the dialogue and actions of Cole and Laila, which felt distracting. They were extremely naive and young sounding, which was the downfall for me, I think. However, all in all, this was an easy listen via audiobook, and an overall cute read! And the cover is cute - always a plus!

Thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins Christian Publishing, and Bethany Turner for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was a bit skeptical that Bethany Turner could keep me engaged through 350 pages (11 hours) of the ‘best friends to lovers’ trope in Cole and Laila Are Just Friends. But of course she had me cheering for these characters who I first met in Ms. Turner’s 2023 novel Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other. It’s not required to read Brynn and Seb first, but I recommend it so you’re familiar with everyone and their backstories.

This story plucks best friends Cole and Laila from their small town in the Colorado mountains and drops them into the fast pace of New York City. The author’s love for NYC and pop culture was evident in every chapter and enriched the novel. There was plenty of tension to keep me interested, even as I anticipated the happily-ever-after ending to this clean contemporary romance.

I enjoyed the audiobook narrated by Talon David (voicing Laila) and Andrew Eiden (voicing Cole). Thank you to Thomas Nelson and HarperCollins Christian Publishing for the review copies of this novel.

A sweet romance where childhood friends become something more, Bethany Turner’s Cole and Laila Are Just Friends is a fun and entertaining audiobook. The main characters, Cole and Laila, are instantly likable, and you’ll find yourself rooting for them from the start. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC

4.5
Cole and Laila have been friends for their entire life. They've never really not had each other nearby with the brief exception of when Cole went to Culinary school for a few years in Denver, a few hours away from their home. When Cole's adopted step-grandfather dies and didn't leave the family restaurant to Cole, he realizes that he needs to get out of town and establish himself elsewhere. If the man he thought had always loved him, could betray him so easily, he can't spend time being surrounded by all of those missed chances. Laila offers to spend a week with Cole in NYC while he sees what his potential new home could be like. They spend time with their newlywed friends Brynn and Sebastian who are rich and famous. While Cole and Laila are faced with the first time they may not be within a few hours of each other, they start to wonder if maybe they missed out on something big between them.

Friends to lovers can be super satisfying and I felt like that was the case here. Although I find it a little hard to believe that Cole really had no memorable moments of thinking of his best friend in a "more than friends" way, the realization he has feels a bit believable especially for a guy that probably hadn't put much thought into it after spending his younger years reminding himself not to be weird about anything. Laila was a bit of an interesting character. She seems content with her small and calm life, free to do what makes her happy as well as spend as much time as she can with Cole whenever possible. Laila is much more in tune with her true feelings but would never do anything to change her relationship with Cole.

I really enjoyed the way this story was told. The POV changes allowed the reader to follow both Cole and Laila in their respective realizations of feelings as well as explain some of the various awkwardness they faced when having some of these conversations with each other. I also really enjoyed the two narrators for this. They both did a great job and dual narrators for dual POV is the best kind of production!

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

Sweet romance with well rounded characters, and I enjoyed the inclusion of previous characters! The narrators did a good job.

This audiobook was a really fun listen! The characters of Cole and Laila were instantly likable and I loved their personalities. Putting them in a different setting than normal life, NYC, was key in creating an environment where they could realize their true feelings. I loved how honest they became with each other as the story went along. A clean romance, I highly recommend!

This story follows Cole and Laila as their world gets turned upside down by the death of one of their relatives. With their world turned upside down and futures they had thought they had plans for changed they set out on a new adventure that starts to make themselves look at their life differently and that includes the people in it. This does take place in the same world as 'Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other' but you can definitely fall into the story without having read that or without that close in your mind.

The one criticism I have of this book is that the idea of a romantic relationship was not even thought about by one of the characters and the other it was a fleeting thought. For a friends to lovers book I felt like the pining for one another was so lackluster that the attraction felt out of nowhere. It felt a little fling-ish to me. I understand changing your surroundings can change the way you see someone but not this much. You can be clueless without being THAT clueless. That being said I did still enjoy the book. I can't say I was rooting for the couple from the start but I did start to really root for them by the end. And I rooted for them more than I rooted for Sebastian and Brynn.

Overall I recommend this book to anyone who is in the market for a friends to lover romance that has a life starting over story element. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this story.

This is a sequel of sorts of the authoress´ previous novel "Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other", but you can read this book as a standalone when accepting the fact that Cole and Laila are friends like forever :)
Because this is a sweet story of how these two lifelong friends realize that they are, in reality, in love with each other. All this realizations feel like a movie, with all the magical New York-related movies/TV series sightseeings and mentions serving as a silvery screen background.
The story is like a cup of hot chocolate with a dollop of cream in a cold day, warming you up with its innocence (the characters are nearing 40! Yet you believe them their gentle romance) and loveliness.
There are also colder realities present, with Cole being adopted and now facing the very cold last will of his grandfather - does this mean that the old guy had never loved him, never accepted him as a family member?
But the overall tone is sweet. Expect a cute, uncomplicated read and prepare accordingly!:)

The narration was fine, enhancing the story.

This story was definitely cute, but the romance aspect was ultimately lackluster. I’ll start with some issues that drove this feeling and then get into some details that were enjoyable and fitting to Cole and Laila’s dynamic. To start, it was difficult to accept their friendship that has lasted almost 40 years never once has been questioned, and then bam! a singular moment of ‘that’s weird, why have I never thought of that?’ catapults a full-fledged gf-bf date. I hardly ever felt that great, anticipatory, bubbling-up tension portrayed in friends-to-lovers. And maybe that’s why some readers will enjoy this, because they slip into a less platonic relationship so naturally, but I was hoping for more. Now, while Cole was juggling the idea of moving thousands of miles away from Laila, I could feel the deep sense that it’d be devastating. Yet the sole factor pushing them into dating was a dream. There are no regaling’s of ‘oh no! we have to share a bed’ before this trip, or close-call drunken nights, nothing. It’s never happened and suddenly it’s time to start a romantic relationship.

I went back and forth between 1:liking that when he’s leaving, they finally want to explore more, and 2:disliking that when he’s leaving states and states away, they want to rashly develop into more. How sensible is that? Hardly. However, it was very /them/ to try and hold onto each other in whatever possible way.

On a positive note, the slow burn was quintessential in a relationship development like that. Even though I wasn’t detecting practically anything other than friend vibes, they were incredibly prominent. I loved to see how Cole and Laila were so tied together and devoted. I also loved the no-epilogue. Usually, I’d never admit to that, but keeping everything suspended was a perfect end. To sum up, “Cole and Laila Are Just Friends” has the bones for such a strong romance, I just sadly, was not feeling it. Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Fiction Audio, and Bethany Turner for providing this audiobook!

3/5 Stars! Thank you, NetGalley and HarperCollins Christian Publishing / Thomas Nelson Fiction for this audiobook of Cole and Laila are Just Friends by Bethany Turner narrated by Talon David and Andrew Eiden.

The audiobook was great! First off, the narrators for the characters were fantastic! However, I felt like this story may have dragged on a little bit too long in my opinion. There were some times I felt like giving up on the book, but I pushed through it! I did enjoy the bantering and the friendship between the two is loving.

This is my first book by this author. I'd like to give another novel a try to really see what her writing style is like. It was not an instant hit with me but I'd like to give this author another try.

The audio of this is fantastic! The characters and their relationship is divine. I love a good friends to lovers storyline and this one was very well done. I enjoyed the rom-com movie references and the New York tourist action. However, this was much too long. By the ending, I was ready to move along. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is a wonderful millennial pop reference filled rom-com. Zero spice but the banter and the romance is off the charts. Friends to lovers at it’s finest.

# Cole and Laila Are Just Friends
# 7/23/2024 ~ 7/25/2024
# 5.0 / 5.0

With laugh out loud moments, this is the best friends to lovers story Ive ever read. I love that it had 2 narrators that were both outstanding! I highly recommend it if you like clean rom-com novels!

I really wanted to like this book, but it fell flat. The story of Cole and Laila had potential but ultimately felt like a predictable Hallmark movie. The characters, supposedly in their late 30s and early 40s, acted immaturely, with poor communication skills.

Cole's personal journey was a highlight, as he navigated grief and a move to New York City. However, Laila's behavior was frustrating from the start. Her selfishness and lack of support for Cole were off-putting.

The writing was also a letdown. The characters felt like they were in their 20s, and the dialogue was filled with unnecessary filler words. Excessive pop culture references detracted from the story.

Overall, while the premise was promising, the execution left much to be desired. Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

When Cole's grandfather dies, he found himself having an identity crisis, and Laila was right in the middle of it.

The conflict between the two friends reached epic proportions: he couldn't stay in Adelaide Springs, and she couldn't leave.

This was a sweet story of friends who loved each other so much they would do anything for the other.

I enjoyed the slow burn of their relationship, along with the frequent glimpses of how good they'd be together.

I enjoyed Talon David and Andrew Eiden's performances.

I received an advanced reader's copy from the publisher through NetGalley; a positive review was not required.

I really wanted to like this book. I was hooked by the summary and proposed storyline, but it fell flat. Really flat.

Cole and Laila Are Just Friends follows the storyline of Cole and Laila as they navigate a new chapter in their lives. It follows your average Hallmark plot; unfortunate disaster, opportunity for a life changing event, conversation that changes your perception of someone you knew, and then everything gets tied up with a neat little bow at the end. The main characters and their friends are in their late 30's, early 40's and have known each other their entire lives. Yet, from the way they behave and interact, they act a if they are in their early to mid 20's and have the communication skills of people who are in college and still developing their friendship. I do not understand how people who have know each other their entire lives, and consistently comment on how intimately familiar they are will each other - for almost 4 decades - manage to lack the communication skills to be openly able to discuss if they have ever had feelings for each other.

While I struggled with the relationships between the characters, I really liked Cole on his own. Without giving too much away, I applauded him for being able to work through his grief and be willing to take the opportunity to move to New York City when he had never lived outside Colorado. He had a lot thrown at him and was willing to change gears when more unexpected changes came up. That being said, I hated Laila. From chapter one, I could not stand how Laila treated Cole and interacted with him. She lost any hope of getting back in my good graces when she berated Cole for seeking an opportunity in New York City after he had lost someone dear to him because she did not want him to leave and thought he was being irrational. She then followed him across the country with the objective to make this the worse experience she could - and her friends were ok with that. No one thought about how he might be feeling or dealing with his grief and how they should be supporting him and what he may want and need rather than just trying to keep him where they are comfortable. All in all, Cole deserved much better than his friends and I wish he would have had the opportunity to meet other people in New York even is he ended up moving back home in the end.

While I liked the general storyline, I struggled a lot with the writing. The way the characters were written make them seem like ignorant young adults in their 20's rather than individuals who are in their 30's and 40's with careers and life experience. I listened to the audiobook version and found myself picking up on a lot of filler words that while they did not necessarily take away from the story, they did not add anything to it either. The only way I can really explain it is when you are writing an essay or something, but instead of having a maximum number of words, there was a minimum number of words needed to complete the assignment. I also struggled with the amount of references in the book and the amount of times random details (like the location of Taylor Swift's home) were referenced in the book. I did enjoy some of them, especially those that referenced Cole and Laila's friendship from their younger years, but I found myself getting frustrated by the excessive amount of pop culture references.

I would like to thank the NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with this ARC edition in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 Stars - rounded to 4 Stars

Cole and Laila have been best friends for over 30 years - but have never considered being more than "just friends" - or at least never talked about it. When Cole's life gets upended and he decides to move to New York for a job, everything gets a little bit "complicated". Could Cole and Laila be more than just friends or is it a recipe for disaster?

This was such a fun and cute rom-com! It was a super easy and quick read making it an ideal summer beach read. It was fairly predictable - but in a good way! The characters were super likeable and relatable. This is my first Bethany Turner experience but it definitely will not be my last!

The audio narration was great making this an all-around enjoyable listen.