Such a fun read! Loved this one!

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for my ARC.

really enjoyed this book and found me a new author to read more of her books. This was a win win for me and will read more.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Sadly I had to DNF this one because I just couldn't warm to the characters and the writing style didn't flow smoothly enough for me.

The love interests were also both police officers which I didn't expect and wasn't overly fussed on (probably due to my own personal experience with dating coppers!) so that didn't help with not warming up to them.

They were both aware of their own attraction to one another from the off too so I was disappointed that there wouldn't eventually be the whole realising feelings drama.

A slow-burn best friend's romance that felt sort of meh. I mean the hero was disappointing and the heroine deserves so much better than someone who played oh I like but I'm scared.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book received from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

So, the blurb says this is a slow burn romance, but there is slow burn and then there’s “get together already; this is moving at a glacial pace!” I felt this book fell in the second category. I found myself skimming parts because I was getting restless for the characters to finally become a couple. I did not like how Maritza was with another guy for so long either. I will say that the author writes well but this read was a miss for me.

The steam! The chemistry!

This was a quick and romantic read. I would recommend for friend to lovers fans.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was the first book by Katerina Winters that I have read.

This was a slow burn, friends to lovers romance. You could feel the tension and anticipation however overall I found it rather slow going.
Cade and Maritzia had been friends since childhood and were practically like siblings. There was also a love triangle going on as whilst they secretly were attracted to the other, they tried to bury these feelings and Maritzia was even dating another guy for most of the book.

I look forward to trying more books from this author. I enjoy the depth she writes to her characters.

I'm a sucker for a good friends-to-lovers romance but this book didn't really work out for me. It's filled with jealousy but I found it difficult to get into the story or feel the jealousy because of the form how this book is written. The third-person narrative made everything so... less intimate and I couldn't relate to them at all. The slow burn without chemistry is quite torturous, as it's only until 70% that they made their feelings clear. The last part of the book is cute.

This was a solid friends-to-lovers story. The relationship between Maritzia and Cade was very cute. Since their whole connection is based very heavily on growing up together, I would have loved to see more scenes or even references of their relationship growing and building from their earlier years and how it connects to present day.

The secondary characters were very enjoyable. I love when the supporting characters are fully developed and not just there to use at plot devices, so this made the story that much more enjoyable.

The beginning was a little slow with most of the action taking place toward the very end making the end feel abrupt.

Overall, I enjoyed this story and all of the characters in it.

A slow burn, friends to lovers romance. They're best friends, detective partners, knew each other since they were children. They were each other secret crushes, but not to everyone else.
It was OK. The first half was boring and tedious, to the point that it felt a chore to read it. Honestly, not the best slow burn. The second half become cuter and mushier.

Here is a story where you are rooting for the two lead characters. They have been friends since he moved into her family's apartment building. Stayed that way until he left for the army thinking that her tears were just a crush since he was a few years older. Returning to the Bronx he becomes a police officer and now Cade and Maritizia are partners while still friends.
As the story opens, Cade has broken up with his long-time girlfriend and after spending time with Maritizia he realizes he has made a mistake after all of these years in not following his heart and expressing himself to her about his feelings. Thinking that it would ruin all that they have as friends and what her family has done for him and her mother. Instead, he now gets to watch her be with her boyfriend who she really does not want to be with anymore.
The story moves along and you wonder how she ended up with the guy that she is with, especially when he gives her a birthday gift that he really wanted and not anything she would enjoy. Everything though comes to a head when he leaves her in Jamaica while they still have over a week on their vacation. Now is the time for Cade to make his move. Read this very good story and see what happens to the two friends. Good book with good characters.

Maritzia and Cade have been best friends since middle school. Now they're partners for the local police department investigating small crimes. They've both been fighting a romantic attraction to each other the whole time, but have managed to stay friends. However, when Cade breaks up with his girlfriend, things start to change. Maritzia's controlling boyfriend has always been threatened by Cade, and it gets much, much worse after his breakup. Will Cade and Maritzia finally get together?

The characters are well developed but the plot is really missing. A storyline behind the relationship drama would have made this a much stronger book.

This book was just okay for . I love a friends to lovers romance but this one was a tolerating read with okay dialogue and characters

*Thank you to Katerina Winters and Netgalley for providing me with an E-ARC of "Never Just Friends" in exchange for an honest review *

Friend-to-Lovers is one of my favorite tropes and that's why I was so excited to read this! I loved this cover too,something about the pink. This was a fun, light read.

I do enjoy friends to lovers romances and Never Just Friends is certainly one of those. I was a little concerned when I started it as the blurb mentioned that at least one of the characters already has a boyfriend. I don't always enjoy romances where one of the characters starts off with one partner and then breaks up with them, but for this book, it worked. Riza's boyfriend is such an idiot and really doesn't suit her, so I was happy with the way that it all played out.
There was one area that I was less thrilled about. Our main characters get together finally, but don't actually have sex because Cade wants to do it right. Later on that night, he does make moves on Riza but while she's asleep. There is some mention of consent and while it's clear that she does want him, I wasn't entirely comfortable with the way that scene played out. For their first time together to be without clear and conscious consent, even when she's quite happy about it all once she does know what's going on, just left me feeling a little uncomfortable. Consent is such an important part of a relationship and I think that it's important that it's not painted in shades of grey in books like this.
I did really enjoy the rest of the story though and liked Riza and Cade together as a couple.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

What I liked: the story is sweet and good-hearted, and these are genuinely nice people who I wanted to see happy. I love their big, supportive network of friends and family. While there were obstacles, there wasn't too much pain or angst. There was lots of humor, a good amount of chemistry, and a loving relationship that grew from years of affection, respect, and care. This was a light, fun read.

Where I struggled a bit: the plot felt drawn out. While their conflict was realistic, the fact that their distraction relationships lasted years, even when they'd gone sour, defied sense and almost made me feel bad for the partners that got strung along. Also, the eventual consummation was a little dubcon for my tastes--I don't feel like anyone was violated, per se, but it feels like everyone should be fully awake and enthusiastically consenting before anyone's clothes come off or anyone's mouth goes anywhere. The love scenes eventually became quite graphic and slipped into language that was more erotica than romance, which is not a problem, but the shift in tone was a little jarring after the rest of the novel was so sweet and soft.

On the whole, though, this was a warm, enjoyable story that left me smiling.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

This is a very sweet "friends-to-lovers"-romance.
The characters are likable and there is nothing really bad to say about the novel...

But it is a standard romance-novel... It felt like something you have read before, which is why I am only giving it 3 stars.

THEY'RE BOTH COPS!!!! NO WHERE IN THE DESCRIPTION IS THERE ANY INDICATION THAT THIS IS A POLICE ROMANCE. I hate copaganda. I do not watch it and I absolutely do not read it.

I was excited about this one because the description sounded exactly like the type of romance I would love. For this reason I honestly tried with this book, but I was instantly turned off when it started with the pair in a police bar. I gave it three more chapters in hopes that there would be very little focus on their careers, but alas every single scene referenced their jobs. I started skimming at chapter five flipped through two chapters before deciding to just put it down because it was just making me mad. DNF.