I really enjoy Chloe Liese's writing style and this book was so much fun! It's a light read and a good romance. Perfect for curling up with or taking to the beach.

I wanted to like it, and it seems like many do based on reviews that i have seen.
But this just did not work for me, the characters were good apart but did not work together. They had no chemistry and i just did not like it.

2.5 stars.

Sooo... I have not read the first three books. But its a different couple than the others so I feel ok about it. I did enjoy the couple that the first three are about so I will be giving those a chance.

Ive read a few of Chloe's books and I have enjoyed each one. I loved the couple in this one. Friends at first! I love friends to lovers. Its a great background.

Now, our MMC Lucas has a really, really good reason for being so standoffish. I promise!

I really enjoyed Eloide. You'd think with her backstory she should be standoffish or cold. But she wasnt! I liked how we got so much relationship. I think thats because they knew each other for so long.

So, there is a lot of angst. Some heartbreak. All will not be sunshine and roses. But its good! Give it a try.

Imagine being “required” to marry someone for the sake of a business deal. It sounds like this should be historical fiction, but for Elodie it’s real life NOW. Of course, she rebels, convinced she can make it on her own and find someone who loves her as she is.
Lucas, after receiving bad news about his health, understandably retreats into himself, and believes he’s not worthy of love.
And so we have two souls with differing perspectives. Elodie would like nothing more than to take things further with Lucas but he’s holding back. Two independent forces who seem doomed to be Strictly Friends – or are they?
The story starts at speed , dips a little following a series of not-always-necessary obstacles, but comes to a enjoyable resolution. A good read with some unexpected darker themes if a little overegged at times.

This was my first Chloe Liese, and it did not disappoint! Friends to lovers is one of my best-loved tropes, and this was pretty adorable! It was more than just a lighthearted romance, though. Illness, homelessness, talk if arranged marriage, etc. are some of the heftier topics this one covers, and it definitely gave this story some weight. I really enjoyed this read and am excited to read more of Chloe’s work!

Chloe Liese was a new to me author and is now one I will be reading more often! Her plots and characters hook you at the start, and I really like her writing style.

Thank you so much to Chloe Liese and Netgalley for an arc of They're Strictly Friends I’m exchange for an honest review.

I love seeing the development and growth of Liese’s writing and characters development through reading her series. She is such a talented writer that I know I will continue to read anything she publishes.

I know a lot of people will love this book and connect with it. I do love Liese’s character development and how she includes diversity in her writing. I did not see content warnings for this novel before going into it and unfortunately was not prepared for reading about miscarriages . While everyone’s experience and grief will be different and is a personal experience, of course I reflected upon my own, and found it difficult to relate to how the characters went through this experience. This did take me out of the novel unfortunately.

I’m starting to think Chloe Liese can do no wrong.
I’m a huge fan of her slow burn romances and every book I read from her just gets better and better!!

I love this authors writing and these characters were well developed. I found myself wanting to read the rest of the series immediately which seems to be a common occurrence with this author.

Life is funny sometimes, in its unexpected ways: I didn't realize I requested and was given an opportunity to review this book, or if I did, I somehow skipped it. It's funny, because I read Liese's newer series, and she became one of my go-to authors in the past year.
However, lask week I started this book, and I just couldn't love it the way I do her other work. I don't know why, the tone, writing style is so different from my expectations, I found myself zoning in-and-out of the story, or skipping a few pages forward.
The storyline was a bit all over the place for me, too, sometimes too quick, sometimes too complicated for my taste.
With that, I have to say, it is immensly better than some books I've read for reviews. She shines a light on people living with disability, people who suffer from a close relative's verbal abuse etc. And these are exceptionally important topics to be discussed in the genre and concept of love.
I also really can appreciate her writing, her growth and chosen topics - in retrospective and comparing her past and present writing abilities.

The premise of They're Strictly Friends sounds so cute! Sadly I couldn't get into the book at the moment - I will pick it up again at a later date.

I LOVE Lucas, and I LOVE Elodie. I was so happy to pick this book up after finishing the Tough Love series. Lucas was so dead set on staying strictly friends, so you know right away where that was going to end up ... and I so enjoyed their journey together! I loved how their journey progressed and how they were thrown together. Lucas had some different sides to him (especially when you get to see the work side of him), but I was here for it. He's just the best. I enjoyed how he & Elodie had to work through things (and how he had to work through things as well). Chloe Liese is so good at writing realistic characters & romances, and I will always always always immediately pick up her books when they're released!

Gahhhh I loved this book. Enjoyed Elodie and Lucas’ love. I was trying to wait to read the tough love series before this one but glad I didn’t. Excited to go back and read the trilogy. Chloe can do no wrong for me.

I have always loved and enjoyed reading Chloe Liese novels and truly enjoyed this will they/won't they friends to lovers story. I felt like the characters were written so well and that the writing truly captured their personality and voice throughout the novel! I read along with the playlist that the author provided which really added to the tone, mood, and experience!

DNF @ 40%

I have had this title waiting to be read for months now, but better late than never... In the end though, I was unfortunately wishing it had been never! I failed to connect with the story early on, and only resented it more as I continued reading. I was only mildly interested in the characters and was more than a bit disappointed in the misleading wording of the synopsis. And oh boy, it is so long... It felt like they got together way too early, and I didn't want to stick around for the ridiculously drawn-out drama that was sure to come.

I read some reviews around the time when I decided to give up (gave it one chapter before making the final call) and didn't really want to continue reading based on the upcoming topics and how those reviews said they were handled. Just didn't sound like something for me. I have recently read this author's two most recent novels and really enjoyed both of them, so it's not to say that her writing is bad - I simply didn't connect with or enjoy this particular one.

Lucas and Elodie want to be together, you know it, but something, mostly their own doings do not let them come close enough. A romance that has tension, life altering decisions and diagnosis and war of words, They're Strictly Friends is not only a fun read, but also brings some other sensitive topics such as living with a disability to the table. Chloe Liese writes from the heart and it is easy to feel for both Lucas and Elodie.

It was a delight to read so many British idioms and brush up my own language skills in the process. Thanks NetGalley, the author and the publishers for extending me an eARC.

I was quite hesitant to pick this up as I did not enjoy 'The Brute' at all. I was quite surprised as this story is much better. Although, there were a couple of scenes that were far-fetched and / or dragged out. And wow so much drama for one couple, but I did enjoy the romance and the chemistry.

I finished reading Chloe Liese's "Only When It's Us" a few weeks back and loved reading it so much! So, I decided to give Strictly Friends another chance. I tried reading it earlier, but dnf-ed it after reading a few chapters.
This time around though, I liked reading Lucas & Elodie's story. 💜 You have to be in a good mood to enjoy books properly, I guess. The playlist that was provided to read along with the book made reading it so much better! Since I've not read the other books from the series (even though Strictly Friends is a spin-off standalone) I couldn't really tune-up and relate to the characters properly, but it was an enjoyable read anyways.
3.25/5 🌟 from me.
Thanks to netgalley for the e-arc!

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Thank you netgalley for an advanced copy, all thoughts are my own.

Lucas and Elodie have basically had crushes on each other for awhile, but Lucas is keeping a secret about his health, keeping him from starting a relationship with Elodie. Will he be able to work through his diagnosis and be able to have a life with Elodie?

So far I’ve read Only When It’s Us and now They’re Strictly Friends and dang...Chloe Liese knows how to write a good book & I love her writing style. I now also consider her an auto buy author, she’s just that great! The relationship between Lucas and Elodie was so sweet. The French phrases that were included made it that much more romantic. The story had a lot of dimension and you could really feel all of the struggles Elodie and Lucas were going through. I highly recommend this if you’re looking for a story full of love, heartache, happiness and more!