Olive and Noah had been in a "fake" relationship many years ago. She had some very free spirited parents and she lived in her grandmother's house. But she spent a lot of time in Noah's house. She was best friends with his sister, Katie.

Noah is in a special investigative unit of the forestry service, along with Katie's husband, Joe. When Joe is seriously injured while on a mission with Noah, Olive comes home from London, where she has built a life and a career to help Katie deal with Joe's injury and to help care for their son, Joey.

Olive's parent's have gone off the grid and she's starting to get more than worried that she hasn't heard from them and they can't be reached. Meanwhile, she and Noah have rekindled their attraction to each other and unburied their hurts and issues from the past.

This is an interesting and complex relationship story, with issues going back generations. And current concerns to deal with. I was glad to be able to read this story as I enjoy Jill Shalvis' books.

Jill knows how to write romances!
I was laughing then crying!

The snarky humor is what drew me me in!

I did not like the miscommunication, though.
It's a bit of a turn off for me.

This is a perfect fit for readers who adore small-town romance, second-chance love stories, and enemies-to-lovers tales, as well as those who enjoy stories about family, friendships, and the complexities of true love.

Better Than Friends

I absolutely adore Jill Shalvis and all her characters. It’s a heartwarming tale of found family, being loved and seen as we are and the typical humor and heat you can expect from Shalvis.

Olive hasn’t been back much to Sunrise Cove, a small town off Lake Tahoe where she spent some formative years living with her grandma, making memories with her best friend Katie and crushing on Katie’s twin brother, Noah. Things between Noah and Olive crashed (literally) and then burned, but Katie has brought them back together to help with her son while her husband is in the hospital.. and maybe hoping for some match making in the mix. The pull between Olive and Noah is undeniable and it only takes time for the chemistry to burn again.

Such a delightful and heartwarming read.

Check this one out for:
🩵 Second chance, enemies to lovers
🩵 Best friend’s brother
🩵 Small town, found family vibes
🩵 An adorable dog and kitten pairing
🩵 Five year old humor and antics
🩵 A heartwarming and romantic read

Thank you to Avon for this ARC! My opinions are my own.

Heartfelt and emotionally riveting! Shalvis always delights with a return trip to Sunrise Cove and Better Than Friends continues the tradition! I was quickly hooked as we're thrust into the heart of the connection between former friends (and more!) when tragedy reunites Olive and Noah as his sister (and her BFF) need them both to rally around her in a time of need. The drama is high, the romance that arises is heartwarming and the angst is attention grabbing. I loved every minute of their story! Great characters, fun yet endearing and lots of warmth to wrap around your heart.

Olive was my favorite character and was really easy to like. She didn't have it easy in her youth, but her connection to Sunrise Cove turned her life into more than she could have hoped for all those years ago until an accident tore it all apart and sent her running across the world to settle into a new life. Now back temporarily, she's finding the temptation to settle into life back where she truly felt at home a little too seductive.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a reunion story after being apart with a rift in the connection and with lots of family interference/love wrapped within the storyline.

Take a stroll down memory lane with the most endearingly, clueless duo. Shalvis walks a fine line between humor and heart with Better than Friends. From ironically, funny to emotionally, haunting, Noah and Olive are hard to resist and impossible to forget.

𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐉𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐬
𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ★★★★

I just loved this heartwarming second chance story of Olive and Noah! I enjoyed the setting, all the talk about Lake Tahoe (one of my favorite places to visit), the outdoors and small town vibes.

This enemies to lovers story line with a bit of forced proximity, as well as strong family ties had me hooked from the beginning! I just love how Jill Shalvis writes such descriptive characters, feelings and settings. The details in the writing are truly felt throughout this entire story.

I enjoyed how close all the characters were and how they had been for many years. The past connections that gave Olive and Noah a strong sense of history could be felt through their current interactions. I enjoyed the romantic connection between the two and the way the raw/emotional effects from their past shaped the way they reconnected. The tragic accident that occurred in the past that tore them apart and the one in the present that brought them back together gave such an emotional bond to their second chance at love.

𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚:
Second Chance
Forced Proximity
Enemies to Lovers
Small Town
Strong Family Ties

A beautifully written feel good, slow burn romance that warms your heart. It's a delightful and cozy winter adventure that includes some mystery, past history, secrets, found family, humor and love. The characters are funny and colorful as well as heartfelt. I so enjoy the author's sense of humor and how she wites the scenes. This was a very sweet and entertaining story. I loved the small town setting and wonderful characters. It was heartwarming with a little twist of mystery. It's the pefect kind of romance with just enough romance and drama to keep you hooked to the end. I love it! Jill Shalvis books never disappoint!

I enjoyed reading Better Than Friends by Jill Shalvis. You will fall in love with all the characters. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy Reading!

Olive and Noah have a past that is not easy to forget. Now though, Olive needs help and there is only person she trusts to help her. Noah does not want anything to do with the woman he can't forget, but he could really use a reason to get away from well-meaning family and friends after an accident sidelined him. Together they embark on a journey to locate missing family, and find out that not everything from the past is meant to stay there.

A tragic accident years ago caused Olive Porter and Noah apart. Now another tragedy has brought them back together. Will this one give them the second chance to find their way back to each other. As always a good book from Jill Shalvis!

Olive is going home to Sunrise Cove for the first time in twelve years to help her best friend after a family emergency. While there she's confronted with her childhood crush, Noah. When Olive goes to Noah for help in locating her off-the-grid parents, they realize there's still a lot of unresolved feelings between them.

I appreciated how this story jumped right into the idea of the obvious past between Olive and Noah. It made for a tantalizing read early on as we kind of get bits and pieces of their dynamic and seeing what happened to lead up to Olive leaving Sunrise Cove. It's not difficult to discern what happened but the finer points really give everything a nice perspective.

I think that Jill Shalvis does a great job in the way she pulls that out. Giving readers just enough to be satisfied, but not giving everything away in the first chapter. It makes the chemistry between live and Noah spark so much more because clearly the unresolved feelings are still there. We're treated to flashbacks which, again, helps to flesh out the story.

I appreciate that we were given both Noah and Olive's points of view. Having both gives some pull to the emotional depth of the story which often feels lacking when things are only one-sided.

However, once we do have that full picture, and things are said, I felt like there was a bit too much back and forth and the story did start to drag with some unnecessary conflict thrown in.

Also, while I understand Olive's upbringing had left some emotional scars and having to again deal with her parents going off grid and being unreachable basically brings up a lot of these abandonment issues, it felt more like an opportunity to get Noah and Olive to spend time together. If this subject didn't have such an obvious emotional connection for Olive that it did, I would think this was a great way to get the forced proximity aspect down. However, it does have an emotional toll that I felt was not dealt with as much as it could / should have been given the space it was awarded in the plot. So it fell a bit flat for me. Some other story thread could have been devised in order to have an excuse for Olive to need Noah's help.

Besides that, though, I think it's a solid entry in the series. Of course reads very well as a standalone, but still nice to have the familiar locale of Sunrise Cove.

Olive Porter's best friend calls her for help after her husband is in an accident and she drops everything in London to return to Sunrise Cove. She doesn't realize that her first love and biggest heartbreak, Noah, will also be staying in Katie's house to help. She left town years ago after an accident shattered Noah's leg and his future as a baseball star. Noone in town has forgotten either. Can she survive being so close to him without losing her heart again?
I just love this small town series and this book was so full of emotion and realistic characters. The writing was easy to follow, the interaction between characters was great, and the setting was beautiful. This book can be read as a standalone, but the series is worth reading too. I look forward to the next one!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Better Than Friends is Book 7 of 8 in the Sunrise Cove series by Jill Shalvis. This second chance, small town, grumpy sunshine RomCom can most definitely be read as a standalone. Olive had left Sunrise Cove at 18 and had hardly looked back, with the exception of contact with her best friend Katie and her grandmother. When Katie’s husband was in an accident that left him in a coma, Olive returned to help Katie to care for her son and home. However, she wasn’t expecting to stay in the same house as Katie’s twin brother, Noah, who she had run over with an ATV, ending his chance at a baseball career, and then run from all those years ago. Noah had resented that Olive left him a Dear John letter twelve years earlier and disappeared from his life. He was sure that his heart would never soften toward her, or anyone else. It didn’t mean that he was immune to living under the same roof when she was so different from the girl he had known, but just as alluring. This was an amazing book. This author delivers characters with so much depth that her novels induce a huge amount of emotion and give me butterflies. This novel is no exception when it comes to delivering all the feels. The book had plenty of witty dialogue, neurodivergent representation, and incendiary chemistry. It delivered a best friend’s brother, found family, teen crushes, an adorable four year old, kitten, and senior dog that added comedic relief, and the main characters were stranded in a storm! The author effectively used flashbacks to give the reader glimpses into the couple’s past relationship. Put that all together and you get a fantastic read. I highly recommend this novel for readers who enjoy RomComs with characters who are relatable and multidimensional. This story, while highly entertaining, is also a believable love story with so much emotional depth. This book is available today, so if this sounds right for you, you can go and pick it up today.

I would like to thank Hambright PR, Avon and Harper Voyager, and Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are mine.

This was an entertaining, well-written book. It was sweet, fun, steamy and kept me reading. I enjoyed this book and will continue to look for new books by this author.

When Olive Porter returns back to Sunrise Cove from London to help her best friend, Katie, after a family emergency, she’s surprised that there’s another guest - Katie’s twin brother, Noah, who broke Olive’s heart back in high school - staying at the house.

This was a lower-angst, lovely small town romance that my heart needed this past week. Olive and Noah have quite a bit of history to work out and oh does it take some TIME. If you’re a fan of second chances, best friend’s brother, one bed (in a yurt!) romances, make sure to check it out! Jill Shalvis is a comfort read author of mine and Better Than Friends sure hit the spot.
I received an advanced reading copy, receipt of which did not impact my review.

Another great story by Jill Shalvis, this time with a bit or suspense which I loved!! Second chance romances are some of my favorite, as don't we all wish we could have a do-over in some previous relationship. Tragedy kept Olive and Noah apart when they were younger and when Olive comes back to town to help locate her possibly-missing parents, they are pushed back together despite Olive's reluctance. I loved the found family aspect of this book as well as the relationship with Olive's best friend and Noah's sister, Katie. Emotional, funny, snarky and swoon worthy - just what I expect from a Jill Shalvis story.

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart


Review copy was received from NetGalley, Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I love the Sunrise Cove series which is a newer one. Not that I don't love the older series because I do. This series is set in a beautiful place and has characters which shine. They have the quirky, realistic foibles one can love. The humor and banter is always enjoyable.

Olive is a very successful PR person based in the UK since college. She is back home to help out her best friend Katie when her brother and husband are in an accident. Olive lived mostly with her grandmother and the Katie's family, because her parents are unreliable. She loves being back home with Katie and her family. But that includes Katie's twin brother, Noah who is always the one she wants. Olive is nicer about everything than I could be.

Noah is a hot mess, not that he would show it. He is always the one who has to hold things together for his mom or sister. But now he is guilty about the accident and hates his own injury keeping him from his work he loves. Now Olive is here and she was the one who got away.

The story starts pretty slowly building up the characters and situations. There are flashbacks to the senior year of high school when Olive and Noah are fake-dating but want to be real dating. Olive is smart but not popular. Noah is a jock and very popular. Neither thinks they are good enough for the other. The flashbacks work up to the end of the year when Olive and Noah have an accident and she leaves town for college. There are secrets, so many secrets.

Olive loves being back here and truth be told wants to stay but realizes if she does Noah will break her heart, if she is honest with herself. She is very worried when she is not able to get in touch with her parents for a few weeks. Joe uses his job skills to put together lists of places they might be. He goes with Olive to check out a place because the weather is iffy and he has the right vehicle being a ranger. They get snowed in and finally have time to talk.

The emotions are always true and strong with reading Jill Shalvis. There is also humor and really good people. I always must read her newest. Next up is The Love Fix in June.

Book 7 in the Sunrise Cove series. A quick romance, with lots of humor and back and forth banter, between the main characters Noah and Olive! I loved all the other family members in this book too. Jill Shalvis does it again, a winner!

When Olive Porter’s off-the-grid parents go missing, she reluctantly seeks out Noah Turner, her ex and the only person she both trusts implicitly and not at all.

I love Olive and Noah! They have fantastic chemistry, as with all Jill Shalvis’ characters! Their love/hate relationship will keep you laughing and hoping for more! And as with most romance stories, the reader gets what they want. I loved their push-pull antics.

I have said this before and I will say this again, no one does snarky quite like Jill Shalvis! And this novel tickled me! The family interactions and the nosiness had me rooting for all involved.

Need a quick romance with great characters and fantastic humor…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.