Thank you StMartinsPress for the gifted copy!

We finally get to watch Wes fall in love in the third and final book in the Jansen Brothers series, and it was as pleasant a reading experience as the other two.

Overall I enjoyed all three of these books, but of the three, I think Ten Rules for Faking It is my favourite. Sophie Sullivan writes Everly with so much care and gentleness that I find myself thinking back to that story more often than the others.

Wes & Hailey’s story is kind of bland but what kept me reading was how much I enjoyed their friendship and the relationships of the broader Jansen family community. The moments where it was just the three brothers together calls to mind the fun I have with the Bromance Book Club, while the friendship between Hailey and Wes reminded me of Sarah Adams’ The Cheat Sheet.

If you’re looking for a fun series with a pleasant cast of characters these books will certainly have you covered.

So much fun. I love how these two meet and become friends. Of course, we all see it before them that friends they will not remain. Great romance novel.

A cute rom-com brings our last Jansen brother into the fold. The Jansen brothers are all swoony, each in their own way but Wes seems to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. He's made it his mission to never feel the pain of the loss of love like his Dad did (or cause it) but also never to feel love at all. He will protect those he cares about and do everything and anything to make sure they are happy but his own happiness seems to be far out of his grasp. Hailey sees the world as her oyster despite the fact that people in her past have chosen to throw her to the side (whether purposely or just blindly). She still sees beauty in the world and believes fervently in love and eventually finding her happily ever after. These two should never work but sometimes, when you least expect it...bam there it is. I had some giggles throughout and maybe a swoon or two.

This book for me was a slow burn. Friends to lovers. A wealthy businessman and a local salad shop owner become friends as he helps her with her business. They make sure each other knows all they want out of this is a friendship because they have both been burned in the past and they just want to focus on theirselves and their careers. until they both start catching feelings for one another and very slowly they come to care for each other way more than they wanted to!

This book was super cute & sweet! It is book three in a series but it definitely can be read as a stand alone.

“It isn’t because you weren’t enough, Hailey. It’s because I’m terrified you could become everything.”

Read if you like:
•friends to lovers
•closed door
•opposites attract
•slow burn

Hailey was fierce, fun, and independent. While Wes was sweet, smart, and creative. Their friendship turned relationship felt very natural and raw. However, there were a few times I wanted to scream and both of them to JUST KISS ALREADY!!! But none the less, the HEA was worth it.

The highlights:
+ banter
+ found family
+ the Jansen brothers
+ video game / movie nights
+ made up acronyms
+ boss business women
+ grocery store dates
+ female friendships

On another note, the book was dual POV but I think because it was in third person I was constantly confused on who’s POV we were actually in?!? So I was a bit frustrated. But maybe that’s just a me problem lol.

Overall, I am happy I picked this one up! Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the ARC!

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐
SPICE: 🔥
This read was just okay for me.

Hailey Sharp and Wes Jansen have been burned by love in the past, so to protect their hearts, they individually built a fort around it and keep anyone of non-platonic potential at bay. Their meet-cute was based on a misunderstanding when salad shop owner Hailey comes into the café next door to get her caffeine and sugar fix and Wes mistakes her to be his blind date.

Circumstances keep bringing these two together until they agree to have a just-friends relationship. Yet as they grow closer together, they find that there is more to attraction than similarities. Chemistry and easiness can also foster and grow a connection that is hard to find with others.

Books this length usually take me a day or a day-and-a-half to read, but I found it hard to push through at some points of the book because of the pacing. I understand the point of establishing a great rapport between Hailey and Wes, but I felt like that point was revisited so much that it took away from the story. I also think a little bit of steam or spice might have helped, but that is totally a personal preference.

That aside, it was a good story about two people who have closed their hearts to love and their journey to finally opening said hearts. I appreciate that it wasn't just their own relationship that compelled them to give love a shot again, but that they had a great support system consisting of their families and friends to also help them open up.

If you like cute slow-burn friends-to-lovers, you might enjoy this light rom-com.

** I am voluntarily reviewing an advance copy of this book. Thank you to Sophie Sullivan, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for providing an ARC. **

A sweet friends to lover romance, with many moments swooned over… unfortunately the story fell a little flat for me. A little boring and uninteresting at times

3.25⭐

Book 3 in the Jansen Brothers series ~ fine as a standalone, but our characters from book 1 and 2 make quite a few appearances, so it's nice to know their background ~ not essential to the story though.

Featuring ~ dual 3rd person POV, small business owner, slow burn, friends to lovers, no steamage

Hailey & Wes
I do prefer friends to lovers over enemies to lovers, but this was a super slow burn. I think maybe it was because their friendship only spanned a few months and wasn't from childhood, which I guess I prefer. Even though that makes me mad too cuz it's a time waster ~ and now I'm totally off topic of this one.
So anyway, I didn't like their meet cute and how he was sure she was lying to him. I loved that Hailey had her own small business that she built on her own. Some of the salad combinations sounded lovely and now I've gotta head to the store for some salad fixings ~ my family will be thrilled 🤣

They were both really bugging me at times. Hailey was a little much with not wanting to accept help from Wes. I get that she wanted to do everything on her own and I commend that, but sometimes a small bit of help won't hurt your pride. Although, he was a little much too with wanting to throw his money around to fix everything. I was mostly liking Wes (meet cute aside) until the whole conflict ~ what a dope he was, but he rectified it in an adorable manner.

All in all, cute-ish, but not my favorite in the series.

This one started of alright. I really liked the set up of this book. I liked how there was an instant attraction but both characters knew they aren't capable of being in a relationship right now so they focus on being friends. I also really liked them as friends. There were some amazing scenes between them and I thought they were very cute. I also liked how basically everyone knew they were in love with each other besides themselves. I always love that in romances and it caused for some really great moments as well. We also had some fun jealousy moments and I just loved seeing them fall in love with each other. However, then they actually get together and all the billion reasons they had for not being ready for a relationship were still very much present and the characters never really developed past those issues. Therefore I just couldn't really root for them. I thought Hailey was incredibly insecure and stuborn and constantly got in her own way. It was incredibly frustrating to read as she just got mad at the littlest things because she was assuming the worst. That just didn't work in a relationship for me. If you can't trust your partner wants what best for you, you can't be in a relationship with that person. Wes wasn't much better though. Even though he spend the entire book falling in love with Hailey by the end he still didn't believe in love and didn't want to either. Obviously, that doesn't work for a relationship either. In the end they do apologise to each other but we don't really see them actually learn or grow out of those issues so I have a hard time believing they would actually last past like a months time. So yeah, if you can't root for the romance in a romance novel, what are you doing?

A Guide to Just Being Friends by Sophie Sullivan is the third book in the Jansen Brothers series. It can be read as a stand alone - I still need to read the first book in the series, Ten Rules for Faking It.

The meet cute happens when Wes mistakes Hailey for his blind date. There is an attraction but they decide to be just friends since she just got out of a relationship and he isn’t a fan of them.

Hailey has some trust issues. Her parents are distant and her ex wasn’t all that. She also is stubborn and wants to do things herself so don’t help her, she’s got this. To be honest, at times this bugged me.

Wes doesn’t believe in love. His parents are divorced and his dad isn’t the best role model. He also has a protective streak and just wants to help people that he cares about.

Their friendship is great and they do a good job fighting their low key attraction to each other…until the holidays! Hailey got tipsy at a party and made a move by kissing Wes but with sober eyes they decided it was a mistake. So Hailey starts dating and Wes starts to get jealous and realizes that maybe she can be more than just his friend.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend for reader that enjoys:
Friends to lovers
Found family
Slow burn, closed door romance

Cute romance read! Had me craving salads (weird, I know) the entire time since the main character owns a salad shop! I did find one typo (Loc 1399, chapter 13): “I like a hearty marina.” Marina should be marinara I believe.

I really enjoyed this book! It was really adorable.
Hailey and Wes were both strong, interesting characters. I really enjoyed their dynamic and relationship development and I found that they made sense together and worked well both as a couple and as individual people.
I haven't read much by Sophie Sullivan, but this book definitely makes me want to read whatever comes next from her. I am interested to see how it fits in the series.

A Guide to Just Being Friends Book Review

Rating: ★★★

Read if you like:
・ Strangers-to-friends-to-lovers
・ Slow burn romance
・ Found family
・ Closed door romance
・ Opposites attract

“Right now, I want to learn how to keep that smile on your face.”
“That’s easy. Kiss me.”

(I am very unsure of how I feel about this book, so please give this review some grace and take it with a grain of salt)

A Guide to Being Just Friends is a cute, friends-to-lovers romance with a bit of grumpy/sunshine energy.

I really enjoyed getting to know Wes and Hailey at the beginning of this book. Their meet-cute introduced both of the characters well and established some relatively important plot points. On the whole, the first two-thirds of this book are a solid four stars: cute banter, amazing side characters, fun “friendly” outings, and good potential character arcs.

The last third of the book, however, falls completely flat for me. Both Wes and Hailey’s character development became confusing and felt generally unresolved by the end of the book. I think this is because there was so much happening in the last couple chapters that it was difficult to know where to look, so-to-speak. The writing was also generally subpar for an author’s third book.

This book is your typical romance: it’s fun, it’s easy, but that’s all it is.

I didn't realize this was the third book in a companion series. but, other than not being attached to any of the characters. I don't think it made a difference. The dialougue and story was cheesy from the beginning.

What I liked:

-There was more going on plot wise than the romance. You got some interesting information about both of their careers.

What I could go without:

-I miscommunications of the final 20% were enough to make me not root for the characters ending up together.
-Closed door is hard, but there wasn’t enough other chemistry on the page to feel the romance.

Thank you Sophie Sullivan, NetGalley, and St. Martin’s Press for my advanced review copy. My opinions are my own.

Plot - 4
Writing and Editing - 3
Character Development - 4
Personal Bias - 2
Final Score - 3.25

I usually enjoy this author’s books but this one just didn’t work for me. I was too distracted by Hailey’s ineptitude as a small business owner. She starts an eatery business but has no coupons, no flyers, no business cards, (and only finally gets cards because new friends randomly decide to give them to her as a surprise gift). Then she hires a new employee and tells him that she doesn’t mind training him to do his assigned duties (well, that’s good that she doesn’t mind because how else is he supposed to learn them?) I was so annoyed with Hailey’s lack of business savvy that I just could never settle in and enjoy the slow burn friends to lovers story.

I was also disappointed at the foodie aspect. Normally I’m all about a good foodie rom com, but Hailey’s eatery sells salad in a cup, which was kind of a hard sell to me as I'm not a big salad eater. I’m assuming these are fancy gourmet salads but this is a guess because at least up until the point I finally gave up on the book, the descriptions of the salads were pretty vague. More so than the salad descriptions, what mainly stuck with me from the food descriptions was Hailey's random anecdote about a guy ordering a BLT salad minus everything but the bacon with a side of ketchup. All I kept thinking was you sell salad and only salad (not even drinks?) so why do you randomly have ketchup? Haha! So yeah, the fact that I kept getting hung up on nitpicky bits about Hailey and how she runs her business tells me this just wasn’t the right book for me. I’m sure plenty of other readers won't get hung up on the business and will love Hailey and Wes together.

I really enjoyed this book!

Hailey and Wes were both strong, interesting characters. I really enjoyed their dynamic and relationship development and I found that they made sense together and worked well both as a couple and as individual people.

I haven't read much by Sophie Sullivan, but this book definitely makes me want to read whatever comes next from her.

This book was adorable. With that said… it’s a closed door, or fade to black. No spice to speak of, so if you’re really into some smut (and there’s nothing wrong with that) then this may fall a little flat for you.

The MC Hailey was very relatable to me because she’s ultra independent, which is a trauma response, as you’ll see. I got a tiny bit frustrated with her knee jerk responses to things but it was still very on brand for hyper-independent people. Wes, the MMC was harder for me to relate to but the author did a wonderful job of providing supporting background for his overall personality.

I wasn’t familiar with the Jansen brothers before Hailey and Wes, so I may go back and read Sophie’s two previous books. I found her writing style to be fast paced, and easy to read. I read this whole book in less than a day altogether and could have read it in one sitting except *life*.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. This book comes out on 1/17 and is worth picking up if you’re into less racy romances.

The friendship between Wes and Hailey was just the sweetest! You can see the chemistry between them. They were made for each other. But for some reason the romantical angst I needed took too long to develop. Or maybe it was just overshadowed by the boring daily activities written into this story. I felt like there was no real plot, and just a lot of meaningless business and day-to-day happenings. Nothing for me to connect to or get invested in. The characters were all great, and I loved their relationships, but thats about it.

🥗💻REVIEW💻🥗

A Guide to being Just Friends
By: Sophie Sullivan

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫3.5/5 stars

“𝙻𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚍𝚞𝚖𝚋”

This was a cute slow-burn romance and my first from this author. I didn’t realize it was the third in a series when I requested in on Netgalley, but it was practically a stand-alone.

Hailey- small business owner of By The Cup salad shop and forever independent woman due to her parents and former boyfriends neglect. Carrying her kindle around and indulging in all the sweets she can (same), she was a sweet and relatable character. Just a girl trying to forge her way in the world and making her own found family.

Wes, a New York millionaire transplant in California with his two other brothers who have their own books previously in the series, is a love skeptic and Type-A, organized brainiac. He and Hailey accidentally meet over a dating-app miscommunication at a cafe and eventually decide to become just friends as that’s what both of them really need.

I thought the banter and start of the story made it so easy to read and get through but in the middle the storyline dragged. It felt like a chunk could have been omitted to move the story along faster. I also felt that for becoming such constants in each others lives and spending so much time together, Hailey and Wes seemed to not share a lot of information about themselves. For example, Wes doesn’t want to get married or have kids, and Hailey, his best friend, doesn’t know this about him? Seemed odd.

There were a few other events in the story that I felt weren’t totally necessary and kind of felt like they were added for the drama factor and contributed little to the overall story. Overall, I think after the (TWO) third act breakups, it did end really well and left me satisfied.

Have you read a series book out of order?