3/5 🥗

I saw this on a romance to look out for in 2023 list and requested the ARC without realizing that it’s actually the third in a series. I could and did read it as a standalone but I think I missed character development that must have been in the other books.

Hailey is starting over in a new town with her own salad shop after a bad breakup. Wes and his hunky brothers (who fell in love in the previous books I did not read) are entrepreneurs with heart. Wes is the black and white, goal oriented, no time for love brother. He meets Hailey and given their both busy lives and goals, they decide to be just friends. Except they think the other is super hot and love spending time together. This is a very very slow burn. Maybe too slow? And also still didn’t feel the chemistry? I also wished with such a slow burn where I didn’t see them spend the time together to grow that love, that it had at least been open door, seeing the chemistry in the bedroom would have helped! Or maybe I just love an open door 😂 It was a sweet friends to lover slow burn if you are looking for one. Low stakes and the relationship between the brothers was really fun.

Steam: 0.5/5 🌶️
Other: closed door, m/f, contemporary
Trope: friends to lovers, grumpy sunshine, rich guy

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

A Guide to Being Just Friends is out January 17, 2023.

How many third act breakups do we neeeed 🥲. It was a cute enough book but nothing to write home about. Plus closed door?! Booo

This book fell flat for me.
I liked the small town romance and the appearances from book 1 & 2 characters. But other than that, I found it difficult to finish and honestly a little boring.
I struggled to find any chemistry between the 2 main characters. The plot felt like it was dragging. And even though the main characters are supposed to be in their 30’s, they read immature.

The friendship to love trope is not one I prefer to read, but I thought the synopsis sounded interesting so I chose to read it. It was enjoyable to read Hailey's salad shop and meet all the characters there. However, I was frustrated by her not wanting help from Wes despite understanding that she wanted to do things on her own.

Besides Hailey's culinary interests and job, that's where my connection ended. There was nothing solid about Wes. He was just another rich man, unable to decide whether he was willing to ruin their friendship by being in love or not, and I could not stand it. Both characters were boring to me. Between Wes's brothers, Hailey's family and other friends. It was just too much. You might enjoy this book if I love the friend to romance trope, but not me.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, for this book in exchange for my honest review!
1 like

Overall, this book was just okay. I switched between the audio and the physical copy of the book, and for the first 60% of the book, it was just like sitting in and observing the day-to-day moments between Hailey & Wes. Their friendship was believable, and then out of nowhere… feelings?? I would have liked to have seen more development of those feelings in the “slow burn” of this friends-to-lovers arc. I hadn’t read the other two books in the series, which may have been helpful to understand the relationship dynamics of the side characters. I also felt there were some tiny, unneccessary plot points introduced that didn’t really get developed/resolved.

I will say that the narration of the audiobook was very good and kept me interested in this otherwise slow story. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC, as well as Macmillan Audio for the ALC, in exchange for an honest review.

This one featured a lot of talk about... salads. Don't get me wrong, this girl loves her veggies but salad isn't exactly the sexiest food... Now onto the actual story. Hailey and Wes have a meet cute involving a barista who can't spell (they do this on purpose right?) and vow to venture into *JUST* a friendship where they are both super attracted to the other. Yeah like that works. There are light When Harry Met Sally vibes going on here.

Apparently, this is the third book in a series (which I did not know; How to Love Thy Neighbor and 10 Rules For Faking It) but can be read as a standalone.

This book would have benefitted from some editing (could have been less than 300 pages and packed the same punch) and it had A LOT of characters to keep track of, which may have been easier for readers of the first 2 books. Overall, I did like Hailey & Wes' slow-burn love story, but there were a lot of parts I ended up skimming to get there. The third act breakup felt very forced.

Not one that I will remember in a few months. 3.5 stars rated down to a 3.

This is perfect for people who are looking for a quick and cute romance novel for a nice little boost of serotonin.

It's a slow-burn, friends-to-lovers between two people who are not particularly looking for love. It's about healing, setting boundaries, and growing as a person. I did relate to both characters on different levels (it scared me a bit, not gonna lie).

The only downfall is that I think it might have dragged a little in the middle (and Wes was frustrating. Just call it what it is!)

What to expect:
•Friends to lovers
•Slow burn
•Closed door romance
•Strong & Independent FMC


This is the 3rd book in the Jansen Brothers series. When I requested this on Netgalley, I did not realize it was part of a series (oops lol). I debated trying to quickly read the first two books before starting, because I do have the 2nd book on my kindle already. I ended up not reading the first two first, but I absolutely will be going back and reading them! You can read this as a stand-alone, but I did find it hard to keep up with some of the other characters mentioned. Because I assuming they make appearances in the other books, but that is 100% on me for not reading the first books first.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one and found it to be super cute and fun. It was an easy and light read as well. I loved how strong and independent Hailey was! I really liked Wes as well. I loved the relationship he had with his brothers, and what they were working to achieve. The friendship between these two was adorable and goals. I do wish we got to explore more of Hailey’s background with her parents, I thought there would be more to that storyline. Also, I really wanted to know what happened with the brothers and their dad. Like what ended up happening, I need answers lol! Lastly, the final conflict that happens between Hailey and Wes and what he said about his future. I think what he said was pretty major and I don’t think it got fully addressed and I wish it had.

To start off with were a lot of great things about this book: the tension at the beginning, the progression from friends to lovers, and the secondary plot involving their work lives. However, the characters are almost too perfect. No one ever does anything wrong for more than a few pages and everyone is very generous at every twist and turn and sometimes it became too much. I want complex characters who feel real to me and not ones that feel like they are all out of a utopia setting.

That being said this is absolutely the type of low stakes, closed door romance my mom would absolutely adore. I would recommend this author to my mom any time she was looking for a romance with characters who aren’t 21 and will fill her desire for a slow burn friends to lovers story. I know people are looking for a book just like this because they want the sweet romance and I think this book will definitely find its target market and make them giddy with happiness.

This was such a sweet story; smart, nerdy, older brother Wes meets Haley sunshine salad shop owner fleeing California from a toxic ex. ⁣
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Wes is analytical and his mind is always working but he’s also caring and a protector as older brother. After Haley loses faith in her intuition about people and starts over far away from her toxic ex, she starts her own salad shop, makes new friends, Wes being one, and slowly finds herself again.⁣
⁣
These two swear off relationships for a while but build a wonderful friendship, that soon turns into them noticing little things about each other that they find more endearing than just friendly. Their relationship slowly grows into this wonderful friendship that they soon find out can be more.⁣
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I absolutely adored their banter and how they brought each other out of their shells. I also really adored all of the surrounding characters in their lives.⁣
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I had such high hopes for this book after Wes and Hailey's awkward meet cute. Their friendship was wonderful and supportive, neither one of them ready for a relationship. But Wes talks himself out of his feelings so much through the whole book that I had trouble believing in their romance. I was glad for their HEA and I really loved the first two books in the series, but I couldn't seem to connect with the characters in this one. I loved Hailey's little salad shop though and I wish I had one around here.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy to read a review.

This novel is a cute, easy read for when you need something predictable and light. And we all have those times.

This friends to lovers/slow burn romance between Wes and Hailey is so so good. I loved their banter although the number of times they cockblocked themselves started to drive me nuts by the end but it was so worth the warm fuzzies this one brought! Can definitely see myself handselling this one for anyone searching for that particular trope!

A Guide To Being Just Friends - Review
⭐⭐⭐/5
PUB DATE: Jan 17, 2023
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QUICK LOOK: Adult Romance, Sweet Romance, Strangers to Best Friends to Lovers
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SYNOPSIS:
Hailey and Wes are both new in town. They both take their careers seriously and have had rough times lately in the romance department. So, when they meet, they both make it clear they both aren't looking to date, but could definitely use a friend. They make clear boundaries and rules to make sure none of their hanging is very date-ish or confusing. But as they spend more and more time as friends, they both begin to secretly want more.
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WHAT I LIKED:
-Both lead characters are sweet, genuine, and very likeable
-Great side characters that show supportive friendships and found family
-Both leads had unique personalities and their characters were well built
-Premise had a lot of potential
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WHAT I DIDN”T LIKE:
-Story was a bit predictable and formulaic
-Lacking uniqueness to set it apart from other romcoms
-3rd act break up and Wes going behind people’s backs was not enjoyable
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Thank you @netgalley and @smpromance for my eARC copy. I was given this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

It was a very nice read. Friends to lovers trope tend to give me anxiety because they tend to be slow burn and I need constant action! Even though, I enjoy them as much as any other trope.

I have to say some of the text that was supposed to be text messages confused me a little. But apart from that if you are good keeping up with characters and a couple of things going on is a great read for you. I tend to keep notes because I forget sometimes who is who.

If you want to read a good and cute book about friends to lovers this is a good one to add to your to be read list.

The only thing that bothered me a lot was to find the main character (Hailey) being so focused on her own things that it felt bad. Like she was not thinking of Wes’s feelings other than herself and I was mad at her. But I understand that that’s part of the story.

It was a great love story and I will be looking forward to read more from Sophie Sullivan.

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
Spicyness: 🌶️
Pub date: Jan. 17, 2023

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC in exchange of an honest review.

Hailey has opened her own salad shop called By The Cup. She is new to the area so she didn’t know many people. I loved how excited she had gotten whenever she got a new customer. You see how truly grateful she was.

One day she went to the bakery next door for her favorite brownie and coffee when a guy, Wes, comes up to her thinking she is a blind date that he was waiting for. One thing led to another and they became close friends.

I enjoyed seeing their friendship grow from Saturday night grocery shopping to playing video games.

Hailey is a very strong woman who will not ask for help from anyone. I felt bad at times for Wes because he was just trying to show his affection to her in many ways, and all of those ways were helping her, so to see how upset she got with him over it was sad.

In the end, this is a perfect friends-to-lovers story with the feeling of belonging.
I love the little family she created with friends who truly had her best interest at heart. You will be rooting for her salad shop to grow and you most likely will crave a salad while reading this. The Santa salad sounded amazing!

This is part of a series, however, it can be enjoyed as a standalone. There are other books that follow the other Jansen brothers which I will be sure to check out!

4/5 stars Wow! This book greatly exceeded my expectations! I'm a sucker for a friends to lovers trope, but it's done so often that sometimes it gets repetitive and too predictable. I loved this book and the main characters, Hailey and Wes.
I even loved all of the other side characters and the parts they played in the story! I usually get bored when there's too many side characters and am not actually interested in their stories, but Sullivan writes in such a way that it's hard to get bored. I loved everyone single character Sullivan introduced and was able to have such a clear idea of who everyone was and the role they played in the story. This was such an easy and fun read that I read it in a day and couldn't wait to get to the end. The slow burn was just the right amount of slow, not so slow that it was agonizing and unsatisfying. I’m so glad they didn’t get together just at the end of the book, but rather we were able to see them grow in their relationship. I LOVED the ending with the quiz Wes made it was so perfect. I wish during Wes’s POV there maybe was more to how he was feeling about Hailey. There was some of that, but I wish it had showed how much he liked her and how much he wanted her. We saw Hailey struggle more with her feelings versus Wes. Since Wes was more closed off and bad at sharing his emotions, I wish we saw more of his inner dialogue/emotions during his POVS. A great read that had me smiling and swooning the entire time.
I can't wait to read the other books in this series!

This book was cute, but just OK for me. I found the beginning of the book really slow, but not a slow burn, just slow. Once it picked up a bit it was sweet & cute. I just didn’t connect with the characters until the middle of the book so it was hard to get into. It’s a cute, closed door, friend to lovers story.

Thank you for the advanced copy! I loved reading this slow build friends to lovers story. Seeing two people who don't want to fall in love, fall in love is the best kind of story. It's always the sweet silent types that fall the hardest. The only thing that this book is missing is the actual guide they keep saying they are going to write, but it all works out because building that guide helped them realize you can absolutely be in love with your best friend

Hailey is set on getting her salad shop off the ground. She is full of ideas, and after a terrible relationship she is determined to find success for herself, One thing she doesn’t have time for is distractions. Wes Jansen has never understood why people would want to fall in love, it seems like a lot of trouble to him and for what? Relationships always end. He would much rather find someone he likes, but won’t love. When Wes embarrassing himself during a disastrous meet cute with Hailey, he finds her to apologize for his behaviour and they strike up a friendship. Hailey doesn’t want distractions; Wes doesn’t want to fall in love, but sometimes life has other plans.

This may be the slowest and I mean sllllooooowest slow-burn romance I have ever read. While slow-burn romances are not usually my fav, this one totally won me over. It was cute and the sparks were flying between the two main characters. I loved the friendship and the development of their relationship, I just wish we could have gotten to it a tiny bit faster so we had more time in the story with them together, The last quarter of the book the pacing was off in relation to the first three quarters.

The other characters in the book definitely added some fun, and although I haven’t read the other books in the series, I am adding them to my TBR to get more of their stories.

Overall this book would be a great choice if you love slow burn relationship building and love through friendship.
It is a warm hearted book that will make you want to pick up the whole series,


Thank you NetGalley for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.