I couldn't put it down and I didn't want to. This book lived up to every ounce of hype that I had experienced for it. This book is beautifully written; a gripping storyline with strong characters. It ticked all the boxes of my expectations. I would definitely recommend it to others.

This was an okay rom com. It was a little too cutesy for me. I'm realizing I'm not a fan of this trope, so it was hard to get through.

I liked this one just didn’t love it. Characters felt shallow. It felt a little long and drawn out. Thanks so much for the Opportunity to read and review this!

Thank you Netgalley and Sophie Sullivan for gifting me a copy of A Guide to being Just Friends in return for my honest review.

3.5/5

This is a very sweet friends to lovers romance. Hailey and Wes are both new to San Verde having moved their for a fresh start. Neither are looking for a relationship but they end up striking up a friendship. I enjoyed their relationship with each other and how they each grew to learn to love and trust again.

One area that I wish was stronger was the chemistry between Hailey and Wes. While at some point of the story I started to see the chemistry i would be disappointed that it didn't continue with it. I was really hoping for more of the butterflies/excitement that would have pushed this book into the wonderful category.

I loved reading about Wes and his relationship with his brothers, it was wonderful to learn and see their relationships grow. I am a sucker for a close family dynamic and this one did not disappoint. I also like the relationships that both character created outside of their own friendships. It was one of my favorite parts of the book.

This is a very cute friends to lovers romance that was a fun read. I can see why others have given it 4/5 stars but for me I was left wanting more.

Hailey sharp has herself focused on just one thing: to get her new salad shop-Get By the cup off the ground and running and nothing can stop her. Wes Jansen does not get all the fuss when it comes to relationships and at this point, he would rather find someone he just likes and will not love. Wes and Hailey have a disastrous meet cute and were not even supposed to a meet cute, but this strikes up a friendship between the two. Could it become more than a friendship?

When I finished A Guide to Being Just Friends on audio, I went onto Goodreads to mark it as read and rate it, but to my surprise I found out that this is the third book in the Jansen Brothers series.

I started to wonder if I felt like I was thrown into a story with characters and references hat I was missing due to not reading the first two books.

I went to see what the first two books were, but guess what?! I actually read the first two books. Book 1: Ten Rules for Faking it was rated 2 stars by me and I rated book 2:
How to love your Neighbor 3 stars.

With both books, I said that I could not connect with the characters and that I found the characters to be annoying and unlikeable. Then, I said that the chemistry between the characters were lacking.

When it comes to this book, I have to say that all the other issues I had with the first two books, is the issues I have with this book too. I think it is safe to say that Sophie Sullivan’s books are not for me and that I sadly find these books to be forgettable.

a guide to just being friends starts off with the perfect rom-com set up of mistaken identity in a coffee shop turning into a relationship of hostility and suspicion before morphing into a friendship with undertones of more. when a barista writes the wrong name on a coffee order, wes mistakes hailey for a blind date that doesn't come to fruition. the rocky start blooms into a supportive friendship and grows into much more.

what i enjoyed about the book was the supportive circle that surrounds both wes and hailey — whether in the form of friends or relatives, each of them have people in their lives that want the best for them and vice versa. it's that supportive group that helped endear me to both characters individually. wes and hailey grew closer over the course of the book, with the underlying heat and desire they had at the start only building in a slow burn that culminates at just the right time in the story.

what i wish i could have enjoyed more was hailey learning to toe the fine line of her own pride and healing from the hurt she endured from her past without placing it upon wes. given wes knew very little about her past relationship and had his own perceptions of what a healthy romance looked like, whenever he would attempt to show affection in the form of gifts, it was met with anger rather than understanding. whereas, hailey felt he should automatically understand without having any information or knowledge.

it almost became frustrating the longer it was used as a conflict between the pair, as it never felt as if they confronted it. those misunderstandings were later used in the third act, which made for more frustration as the reader. i also believe wes' issues concerning relationships was allowed to go on for too long and despite his honesty with hailey about such, was then used against him. though it eventually turns into a happily ever after, it became quite a hurdle by that point and rushed in terms in its solution.

a solid romance that had more fun than frustrations, i would still recommend as the supporting characters really made for a great story.

This is a sweet, clean read of friends who fall in love. There was not a lot of depth or conflict, so I would recommend it as an easy, lazy-day read. The characters are likable and the secondary characters stand out. I felt like there were a couple parts of the plot (their work with the teens for one) that could have been taken deeper but weren't, which is why I didn't rate the book higher.
It's the final book in a series, but I was able to follow everyone's relationships without having read the other books.
I received this book in exchange for my review. My thoughts are my own.

After a disastrous break-up, Hailey moves from Los Angeles to San Verde, and opens her own restaurant called By the Cup, where she sells various kinds of gourmet salads. She is determined to make her business successful, though she’s off to a slow start. Soon enough she has a decent-sized lunch order, and is thrilled to deliver to the local radio station, where she runs into the good-looking man who erroneously thought she was his date, his two brothers, and their girlfriends.

Wes has a lot to prove after he left New York for San Verde, joining his brothers to develop their own company after leaving their father and his dysfunction behind. Wes has tried the Internet dating scene, but never seems to meet anyone he’s interested in getting to know. When he sees Hailey at the coffee shop, he’s intrigued, and the fact that she delivered their lunch salads several days later was a happy accident.

This third book in the series can be read as a stand-alone, though having the background of the previous books is helpful. I didn’t like this book as well as I liked the others; this one seemed to drag along and the characters never felt realistic. Hailey is stubborn, Wes is stubborn, but since it’s a rom com, you know there’s an HEA involved. Maybe too much conflict? Not sure, but this book didn’t hold my attention for very long at a stretch..

2.5 stars

I wanted to like this one more than I did. I loved the premise, the reluctant acquantences to best friends to lovers, but I think that too much of the build up and strengthening of the relationship between Hailey and Wes happened behind the scenes that I didn't get to feel it as much. I think for them getting together to be as exciting that needed to happen. Still a very cute booK! Just doesn't really stick with me.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and #NetGalley for the arc!

This was just sadly not for me at all. Sophie's first book I DNFed but I quite enjoyed the second and I can say this was not a hit for me.

I'm usually not a fan of when I accidentally jump into a series that I never knew existed. HOWEVER, my fault, no one else's. This was a bit of a slow burn, and I enjoy a little bit more action and movement within the plot. It was sweet, but not my favorite romance I've picked up.

I really thought I would’ve loved this one but sadly it was a let down for me.. but before I get into that let’s talk about the stuff I did liked!

I liked how cute it was with Hailey and Wes’s friendship in the beginning which was awkward at first but it worked! I loved the side characters which I believe is apart of the other first two books.
But I didn’t like the connection with Hailey and Wes when they finally got over “being friends,” and it felt off-? I felt like their relationship was more cute in the friendship stage than together which led to a big mishap near the end which I felt like was forced? But i do hope others read it and enjoy it more than I did.

Thank you for St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this eARC. I really appreciated the opportunity to read this!

If you like sweet, clean romances and friends to lovers and this sounds good to you PLEASE read it. As always, reading is subjective and if I dislike something it doesn't mean you will. You may love it!

Things I Liked:
- The secondary characters were really sweet and funny. They added a lot to the story and I was glad they were there!
- When Wes says, "Unless you want that hand shoved down your throat, I suggest you don't touch her again."
- There were some cute moments that made me smile.

Things I Didn't Like:
- The idea was cute, but I wasn't inspired or moved by the story. The business aspect was too overwhelming and I just didn't care about it.
-Wes and Hailey. I didn't love them or feel the chemistry. I as continuously frustrated with their pride, stubbornness, petty arguments, and miscommunication. They made me scream (in not a good way) multiple times.
-This book made me realize "clean romance" isn't for me. YA is one thing, but this was adult with fade to black and it made me sad.

Overall, I found this book to be stiff, unmemorable and just not for me. They can't all be though! 💚

This book and I did not mesh.

I’m not a fan of miscommunication tropes. If the MCs in this story would have communicated with each other and stopped trying so hard to hide their feelings from one another, this book would have been about 10% of its actual length.

I am a fairly quick reader, and it took me ~4 weeks to finish this. I didn't find myself wanting to pick it back up between reads. This is not a bad book by any means, I was just bored until about the 60% mark. I think one thing I struggled with in the first half of this book was Wes's brothers' relationships. They were SO over the top and cheesy in their dialogue and interactions with their girlfriends, while always giving Wes the 'how do you not want this?!' look and talk. It drove me crazy.

I love the friends to lovers trope. Wes and Hailey were very cute characters but they lacked depth. The tropes in this book reminded me a lot of People We Meet on Vacation but with more surface level characters.

This book did make me laugh a few times, and I was definitely rooting for Wes and Hailey when their friendship hit the turning point. I liked that Hailey was a FMC who has no problem standing up for herself.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I originally requested this, I did not realize it was the third book in a series, however, it reads as a stand-alone just fine. I probably would have been more attached to the side characters had I read the first two.

I really enjoyed Hailey being a small business owner and wanting to prove that she could make it on her own.

I actually liked Wes being a little awkward.

The one thing I hated about this was how resistant Hailey was to receive help from Wes. You have a rich boyfriend who wants to spoil you. There is no reason to be mean to him about it. I get the principle that she wanted to be independent, but it got old that they constantly fought about this.

And just when I thought we narrowly escaped the third act breakup I was proven wrong.

I did enjoy everything Wes overcame to be with Hailey.

Overall I really did enjoy this and will probably go back and read the first two. 3.75 stars rounded up to 4.

cute book! i didn’t read the first two in the series, but that’s okay. it does have a third act breakup, which i don’t usually love, but it was still a cute romance and had a few good tropes (friends to lovers, slow burn). i don’t love a third person POV, i find it makes it difficult to connect with the characters more.

review: 3.5

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for allowing me the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. I liked Hailey and Wes’s friendship. But this book was a little bit to slow paced for my liking. And normally I like a slow burn and a LOVE a friends to lovers plot line but something about their friendship developing as quick as it did almost feels like lust a first site or insta love. I was also a Little hesitant to read this book because one review said it’s a mix of When Harry Met Sally and 500 Days of Summer. When Harry Met Sally is one of my all time favorite rom/coms. 500 Days of Summer on the hand is a terrible movie. That’s besides the point though. I just couldn’t vibe with this book even though it had all of my favorite tropes.

Can be read as a stand-alone but the couples from the previous two books have a lot of interaction in this story.
Hailey moved away from Los Angeles to San Verde and opened a small restaurant making salads. It’s the perfect solution for the small strip of businesses and her knowledge of the industry. But she doesn’t have any money for marketing yet, so she’s counting on repeat business and locals finding her. She makes friends with the owner of dessert place next door and other business owners. Wes and Hailey meet and ultimately decide to be friends. The relationship might go deeper but neither is ready.

This was a really cute romance novel. The bakery versus other shope trope seems to be more common in this genre, but it totally works! Both main characters are likeable, and have some baggage/background to work through, but this gives the storyline some depth. It was a cute set up for the inevitable, yet adorable, ending.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this digital ARC. I absolutely loved this story!

So, let me start by saying that as soon as I finished this, I realized it is the third book in this series. So now I need to go back and get all the juicy information about the other brothers! Wes is a dream... The video game he creates for Hailey is the cutest thing I have ever heard of!

Hailey is such a strong independent female character, I loved her and her business. The supporting characters in this story are also so well written. I look forward to reading the first two books in this series.