This was a good book and I liked it but I really wanted to love it so was abit disappointed. It was alot longer than what it needed to be and went off on a load of tangents that may not have been needed. Up until around 60% I loved it but then got bored. Tess annoyed me with the whole bridezilla thing because she seemed so nice in flashbacks so that just ruined her character abit. Aaliya was so funny I loved her. I understood Lily being annoyed at Matt for getting married so soon but also SHE dumped him. And it was also wrong of him to marry so soon because he knew it wasn't right when it happened. The whole Donald Trump thing although small had be abit confused 😂 However, on the whole this is a good slow burn romance and I love the whole holiday idea and it had a really sweet ending.

DNF at 70%.

This book is just so long and repetitive, and I was just forcing myself to read without any real enjoyment.

This is about Lily and Matt, who dated for about a year... 8 years ago. They meet again at a wedding and both realize that they still have feelings for each other.

At first glance I would have thought this was perfect for me because of the second chance romance, the angst, the pining, etc. That wasn't the case, however.

The title is called Just Friends, and yet, at no point in the book are they even friends, just past lovers trying to solve wedding mishaps.

Other than that, the book also had so much going on, it was all over the place and I couldn't keep up. All the minor issues were probably resolved in a few pages or so, which didn't amount to any real or substantial conflict. I would have preferred seeing both characters talking to each other about their feelings and such or having genuine moments of development but we didn't have that.

The dual POV here also didn't work because we would see Lily's POV, and then Matt's POV with the exact same thing. The POVs were repetitive and didn't give real insight into the situation with the couple. Other than that, these characters didn't feel real to me, I read 70% of this book and barely remember their names.

Lily and Matt's main issue is complete miscommunication, and the fact that Lily seems to self-sabotage. You'd think that at the point I stopped reading, they would have started to change or realize this for themselves but it was the same thing. I did not want to continue.

All in all, I just don't think this book was for me. It should have had the elements for me to fall in love with it but I didn't enjoy it.

This book wasn´t for me.
No creo que pueda resaltar una cosa que me guste sobre este libro más que Aaliyah, una de las mejores amigas de la protagonista. El doble POV no sumó nada relevante a la historia, lo hacía repetitivo, lo cual logró que todo se volviera aburrido.
Faltaba comunicación entre los personajes, eso estuvo muy mal llevado. Lily queria sabotear todo conscientemente, en especial su relación con Matt, lo peor es que no tenía razón alguna y usaba su discapacidad como excusa para todo. Cuando intentan "solucionar" las coas, no lo hacen y pareciera que quieren resolver todo demasiado rápido. Si soy honesta, creo que Lily y Matt deberían haber solucionado sus diferencias antes de ser pareja, parecía que ella no tenia un character development y que era la única problemática, cosa que no es verdad.

I got lost in this book - wonderful escapism with a swoony setting. LOVE a good second chance romance and Jo absolutely did this justice! A brilliant concept and beautifully written. Loved it.

Fun premise and sweet romantic comedy with lovely characters. Sweet and funny in the most glorious setting!

Second chance romance. Ah, to find out you were never over that one person, with shared history that haunt your dreams still, and the mad beating of the heart when you meet again.

In theory, I would have loved this book for having this trope. Here's why it didn't work quite well for me.

Just Friends - from the title alone, you'll already expect drama in that they will both try to pretend they are just friends now, no more sexy shit or whatever. Idk, I guess I expected a lot? Because the plot doesn't really give much. I was extremely bored, and if I thought it's gonna get better around halfway through, I was so wrong.

It didn't help that I disliked the writing style immediately at the first few paragraphs. I mean, it did improve, but coupled with a plot where nothing much happened, that simply didn't work out.

It was just so unnecessarily long, some scenes were not needed, too many filler paragraphs, character spotlights that did not impact the plot at all - these elements made it so uninteresting for me.

Could've been better if the plot added more drama, especially within their shared history. Final rating: 2 of 5 stars.

I was provided with an e-arc through Netgalley, nevertheless this review is not affected by it, and it's totally my own thoughts.

I’m a sucker for a second chance romance and this was a fun, light hearted take on the genre.

Lily and Matt ended eight years ago, yet IMO neither has genuinely let go. Regrets and feelings are definitely lurking. A wedding in Greece is definitely a fun location for them to explore if they can be just friends.

I'm kind of conflicted about this book. I think that it could have been absolutely wonderful, but something about the execution was lacking. A second chance romance in a beautiful setting with fun side characters sounds like a dream but it fell a little flat for me. I did like the characters, and I was rooting for them but it simply did not feel realistic (but not in the way most romcoms don't feel realistic, I'm just not sure how to phrase it).

Matt and Lily have been broken up for eight years, during which he was married and divorced and she also had a couple serious relationships but neither of them really got over the other one, probably because of the absolute lack of closure/explanation behind their breakup. Matt is still wondering after all these years what exactly went wrong, and while Lily (thinks she) knows, clearly she has other things going on that are blinding her to the root of the issue. For all they're supposed to be adults, they felt very immature, which I do see a lot in romance books but I just did not love it here.

Anyway, they've been reunited at a wedding as the bride is Lily's best friend and Matt is her cousin, and is also a good friend of the groom. The wedding is on a tiny island in Greece where they can't escape from each other, and through various wedding shenanigans they're brought back together. When they try to bring their new relationship/situationship back to England the same issues as before crop up, as nothing has really been resolved. It's frustrating, as one would think/hope that after eight years they might be in a better place, or have gone to therapy or something, especially Lily, who has serious parental issues. The resolution wasn't really satisfying but I did like them for the most part, and I'm happy they got their happy ending.

One positive to the book was the over the top side characters that I really liked. Many of them were ridiculous, but fun, and I liked seeing them interact. Love to Norm and Carole.

I would recommend if you like: second chance romance, beautiful locations, dramatic side characters.
I would not recommend if you hate: miscommunication, immaturity.

Lily and Matt used to date but after 18 months they split up. 8 years later at a friends wedding Matt finally gets to ask Lily why she left him.
I have really enjoyed Jo Lovett's previous books but this one did not hit the mark I found this book very slow and the miscommunication
between Matt and Lily was very weak. I felt that the issues between them was very drawn out and were really non existent.
I was not keen on Lily as a character, she did not open up to anyone and it felt like she gave up when things got to hard. What made the book for me were her friends, I absolutely loved them. They were funny and vibrant with lots of banter. I just wish they pulled Lily into line and told
her to wake up to herself.

Exes Lily and Matt parted was eight years ago and never looked back - or at least that’s what they claim. They have both spent their time apart living out their lives separately, while all the while thinking “what if?” Thrust together at the wedding of a mutual friend in the beautiful country of Greece, the two former flames are forced to face one another while also trying to understand their ending.

Cute concept, not my favorite execution. I realized I was speed reading because I just wanted to finish. It lacked details where we needed more depth and provided details and chaos when not needed. There was a lot of unnecessary build up and an irritating amount of miscommunication and sabotage. Overall just not for me.

This was my first book by Jo Lovett but definitely not my last (I admit I’m already coveting The House Swap….. ok I admit I’m going to purchase it after I’ve written this review).

Lilys best friend Tess is getting married on a beautiful Greek island and has asked her to be a bridesmaid…. However there is one snag….. Tess’s cousin Matt who is also attending the wedding and is also Lily’s ex. It’s been 8 years since they broke up although Matt isn’t really entirely sure why it happened, but surely, they can be amicable for the short time they are on the island for the wedding and then they will never see each other again! But circumstances mean they get thrown together and the initial spark they had in the beginning over 8 years ago is still burning brightly…. will Lily and Matt stay Just Friends?

I really enjoyed this book. I thought Tess the “bridezilla” was very well written as in the beginning she really really irritated me, but I am glad we saw her true character appear once all the stress of the wedding was over. I actually cried over the letter (that’s all I will say because this review is spoiler free) which is extremely rare so again really good writing by Jo Lovett. I did feel a rollercoaster of emotions when reading this book but mostly these were positive emotions and I really enjoyed Aaliyah’s banter. Above all I really enjoyed seeing Lily through Matts eyes, so when Lily was thinking she didn’t look her best, Matt thought she looked amazing, and that in his eyes she was stunning, I loved that because it showed what others think of us isn’t exactly the same as what we think of ourselves.

It was great to escape to Greece and I will be definitely reading more of Jo Lovetts books. Any fans of rom-com stories will really enjoy this one.

Thank you to Netgalley, Jo Lovett and Bookouture for my advanced reading copy. Out now.

3.5 stars

Just Friend follows exes Lily and Matt. They’re on the same Greek island for the wedding of one of Lily’s best friends who happens to be Matt’s cousin too - Tess. After avoiding each other for the first night they bump into each other the next day and from then on seem thrust together, almost comically. They discover new things about themselves and each other and have a chance to view their previous relationship in a different way.

There is a merry cast of characters that add life to this story from Matt’s aunt and uncle to Lily’s other friends. Tess though is a total bridezilla to the point where I actually couldn’t stand her character to be honest. She was very self centred, and while quite rightly her wedding was her time to shine, it made her a very bad friend and unlikeable character.

I am seriously looking forward to a summer holiday so I really enjoyed the setting in this one! This is a second chance romance set in a beautiful location surrounding a wedding, filled with sunshine, cocktails, friends and romance.

A fabulous, fun read. One of those books where the characters really grow on you, and you fall in love with the storyline. Light and unchallenging - perfect for a lazy read.

Thanks to Bookouture for giving me a free e-ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book follows Lily and Matt, who broke up eight years ago. When Tess, Lily’s best friend and Matt’s cousin, gets married on a Greek island, Lily and Matt have to face each other . . . and their feelings.

Even though this book is a second chance romance, there’s no present relationship development between Matt and Lily. Everything they feel for each other is based on what they felt eight years ago, which led to me not being invested in their relationship. There are also many other plot lines that added nothing of value to the story.

I felt like Matt and Lily were incredibly boring and one-dimensional. The other characters all felt like over-the-top stereotypes. While I do understand that this is a romance and it is thus bound to be slightly unrealistic, the way that the characters reacted to certain events seemed out of proportion.

The writing wasn’t my cup of tea. There were many run-on sentences that ended up being too convoluted to make sense. The internal dialogue of both characters was repetitive, and the way the characters spoke to each other felt unnatural and stilted.

The Greek island setting was fun to read about, but other than that, I only kept reading because it was such a quick read. I will say that I do think that there are people who will love this book, but I sadly wasn’t one of them.

Overall, I was quite disappointed in this, especially because I read another Jo Lovett book two years ago and really enjoyed it.

A gorgeous romantic comedy set in an idyllic Greek island paradise, readers will fall head over heels in love with Jo Lovett’s latest novel, Just Friends.

Lily is so excited for her best friend, who is about to marry the love of her life. She cannot wait to watch her marry her soulmate on a beautiful Greek island. However, there is just one tiny little problem: this wedding is going to force her to come face to face with a man she is very keen to avoid. The one who got away whom she has never managed to get over: her ex-boyfriend, Matt. With the wedding taking place on a very small Greek island, avoiding him is simply out of the question. Lily intends to be friendly and to show Matt that she is well and truly over him. However, that proves easier said than done…

Matt’s heart might never have recovered after Lily had stomped all over it, but he is determined to prove to her that he is completely fine. Sure, he has never quite been able to move on and no one has ever quite managed to get under his skin the way Lily has, but Matt can get through a week in Greece with his ex-girlfriend without incident or embarrassment…can’t he?

When their friends’ wedding comes under threat, it is up to Matt and Lilly to save the day. As they find themselves working very close together again, sparks immediately begin to fly and never forgotten feelings quickly resurface. But are Matt and Lily willing to give their relationship another try? Or are they better off as just friends?

Jo Lovett sprinkles plenty of wit, humour and charm in her delightful romantic comedy, Just Friends. An enchanting tale of second chances, putting your heart on the line and falling in love all over again, Just Friends is the story of two wonderful characters whose journey to their happy ever after will touch readers’ hearts and have them laughing out loud.

Jo Lovett’s Just Friends is an enjoyable romantic comedy guaranteed to brighten every reader’s day.

How would you react if you fly to Greece for a friend's wedding and find out your true love (and EX-BF!) from 8 years ago is also in attendance? I really enjoyed this book about Lily and Matt and was happy to see we were able to get glimpses of their relationship from the past. I gave it 3 stars because it dragged a bit for me and was way too predictable. Cute beach read all in all though!

Lily and Matt used to be together but have now been broken up for 8 years. During that time Matt was married and divorced. Now, 8 years later, they are reunited at a wedding in Greece. Lily expected Matt to be at the wedding as he is the bride's cousin, but was surprised to see him there for the pre-wedding parties and celebrations. It seemed they kept running into each other on the small island they were all staying on. Lily was the one that broke off their relationship and even 8 years later Matt doesn't know why. As they have a few humorous situations they become closer and finally they talk. Matt begins to understand what happened as well as learning about Lily's vulnerabilities and they end up spending the night together. It seems they both still love each other. Once again Lily lets her issues almost destroy their second chance together.

Just Friends is all about the right person but at the wrong time. Lily and Matt had great chemistry but Lily kept putting up roadblocks. I'm not going to share what they are, but there were times I wanted to reach into the book and shake her. I loved all the secondary characters in this story from her BFFs to Carole and Norm, Tess and Matt's aunt and uncle, all their friends and of course Pythagoras. There was a lot of humor in the story and I did laugh out loud several times. One of the biggest messages to take from this book it the importance of communication. Things could have been sorted earlier in their relationship if Lily had talked to Matt, although with all the traveling he did with his job, it also seemed he was not around very often. I enjoyed the story for the most part, but did get frustrated with Lily quite often. I am glad she changed by the end of the book. I have to say that the setting was amazing. I loved the small Greek Island, the food and the beaches. It made me want to hop on a plane. This story deals with childhood illness, family relationships, guilt, workaholics, grief, friendship, second chances and of course romance.

Thank you to Bookouture for my copy of this book via Netgalley and for letting me take part in this tour. This is the 4th book I’ve read by Jo and I really enjoy her writing style. I love a book about the right person at the wrong time which is a theme of Jo’s books.

Lily infuriated me a lot. I understand that she didn’t want to go back to feeling like the sick kid who is so fragile but her lack of communication drove me nuts. I admit I get the whole sympathy thing. My mum died when I was at primary school and when I went to secondary school with a whole bunch of new people I didn’t tell many people because the constant looks of sympathy and the awkwardness of it were hard. So from that point, I understand why Lily doesn’t necessarily share everything but to not tell someone you were in a long term relationship with is different. I don’t think Lily deliberately wanted to hurt Matt but she could have handled it better. I think she is still struggling with her childhood and therefore pretends it didn’t happen. I do like Lily. I just wanted her to trustna bit more.

Matt poor Matt. I just wanted to give him a hug most of the time. Lily broke his heart and he’s never got over it. Matt is such a sweetie I just wanted everything to go right for him.

I don’t think I would have been so calm and patient if I was Lily dealing with Tess’ bridezilla moments. Aaliyah was probably my favourite character. She wasn’t going to put up with Tess being selfish and brought some straight talking to the group.

The island sounded beautiful! I love Greece and all of the areas I have been to have been beautiful.

I love a dual (or more) POV so this was great for me. I thought it gave a more rounded view of the story.

The story is sweet with some really funny moments. It’s an easy read that lets you escape from your day to day life.

DNF at 48%.

Lily and Matt dated for 15 months eight years ago (just let that sink in). One of Lily's BFFs, Tess, is also Matt's cousin and she is having a destination wedding in Greece which also includes hen nights and stag dos etc. Shortly after they broke up, Matt married someone else, although he is now divorced.

Obviously these two are still in love with each other, but Lily in particular has some issues, rooted in her severe asthma as a child which have left her paranoid about being pitied or treated as less than capable because her parents basically wrapped her in cotton wool. Now, even as an adult she can't/won't accept help, even when her beloved grandmother died, and broke up with Matt because he tried to talk to her about her grandmother's death! Even after dating (and living together) for 15 months Matt had absolutely no idea that Lily had severe asthma as a child, that spent most of her childhood in and out of hospitals, or even that she still has to use inhalers religiously twice a day.

Despite their mutual attraction, Lily continues to push Matt away and is irrationally angry that he got married just a year after she broke up with him. But fate, Lily's meddling friends, and a Carry On style series of wedding disasters contrives to throw these two together.

I have really enjoyed Jo Lovett books in the past but this is just dragging on and on and on. I am past the publication date and forcing myself to continue reading, because it's not awful, just slow and a bit slapstick (phallic water fountain features, a bridezilla, a man-mad friend who cops off with a local chef/waiter, the groom breaks his finger, etc). But then I looked and I'm still not even halfway through and I just lost the will to continue. I just don't like Lily very much TBH so I have given up.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

It took me a little while to get into this one, which surprised me. Although initially intrigued by the separation between Lily and Matt, I just could not get over being annoyed with Tess and her problems popping up everywhere. I understand that this was sort of central of the story, as it is Tess’ wedding that brings the two of them back together, but she definitely did grate on me for a while. In the end, I found her bridezilla character quite entertaining. Also, the friendship group overall and their loyalty and commitment to each other, despite their stark differences, does provide another layer to the plot.

Lily however, in complete contrast to Tess, is a wonderful character. She is selfless, complex and tries to keep her pain of the past hidden away. There is a vulnerability to her that we could see as readers that you could tell she tries to hide from those closest to her, and especially tried to hide from Matt. I enjoyed following her journey and the ups and downs of her sometimes unexpected encounters with Matt.

The setting is absolutely beautiful and I’d quite like myself to jet away to a Greek Isle right now! However, Lily’s story is testament that you can’t run away from your problems, and sometimes need to face them head on.

Overall, a slow burn, escapist, lovely, holiday romance with all the added history to make it complex and somewhat gripping. I would recommend this book and author to fans of Jenny Bayliss, Samantha Tonge and Portia Macintosh.