"I'm not her but I'll be anybody for one of these lattes." A Guide to Being Just Friends is a sweet romance story. Although it was the third installment of this series, it felt like it's own stand alone book for someone who hadn't read the first two (I am dying to go back and read the first two!) Wes and Hailey were easy to root for protagonists. Sophie Sullivan had me hooked from their first disastrous meeting, until the end of the book. This book is winner for any slow burn or friends to lovers fans.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely ADORED this book! I loved the build up of the relationship between Wes and Hailey. It was fun watching their relationship grow. I felt as though I was watching it happen right in front of my eyes. The author did a great job developing both characters separately, while also developing them together as a couple. It was a very well written book that kept me picking it up. I now cannot wait to go back and read the other two in the series!

Let me be clear, Hailey is great. She has a solid reason for wanting to be friends and not jump into a relationship. She's always framed her life around how other people view her, and she needs time to stand on her own with her own merits. I can understand Hailey. Wes, on the other hand, is just scared of commitment because he's seen a relationship go poorly before. His motivations for friendship are horrible and strain belief the longer the story goes on. There is also this very weird undercurrent of people trying to shame Hailey for being 'the help' but she's a business owner doing her own thing. I cannot wrap my head around why it would so shameful for her to cater an event just because a pretty boy is there. Hailey is lovely, but she can do better.

A slow-burn, friends-to-lovers story, A GUIDE TO BEING JUST FRIENDS was a sweet romance by new-to-me author Sophie Sullivan. Although it’s the third book in the Jansen Brothers series, it can be read as a standalone – thank goodness, as I didn’t know that before diving in…whoops!

Hailey, having recently broken up with her actor boyfriend, moved to San Verde and opened a salad shop. Hailey then meets Wes, and in spite of their cringy meet-cute, eventually become friends. Now, when I say that this was a slow-burn romance, I meant it! For a good chunk of the story, Hailey and Wes’s relationship was purely platonic as they were each committed to their work and their past negative experiences with love. But, as this was told in dual narratives, we got to experience Hailey and Wes’s growing attraction towards each other, along with the fear of their feelings being unrequited. At times, it almost felt like I was transported back to my middle school days when I would develop feelings for my friends, but was afraid of telling them how I really felt. So, I empathized with Wes and Hailey.

But when those two finally wised up and got together…whew! There were just enough tantalizing moments and swoon-worthy declarations from Wes that the fact that the sexy times were mostly off-page didn’t really matter.

If you’re in the mood for a relatively low-angst romance filled with funny banter with a wide array of secondary characters, and enough details about the salad shop that will have you craving a Santa Salad (or asking yourself, what is in the secret spice blend in the Fajita salad?), then you should read A GUIDE TO BEING JUST FRIENDS.

I read the first two books in this series before reading this one and it did not disappoint. I feel like you wouldn't really miss much if you did read this by itself though. This series filled me with happiness and definitely took me out of a slump that I was in. It was definitely a slow burn, cute and funny. Definitely a good, light read!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for another great ARC!

I feel like I read a different book than other reviewers. I love a good romance, but this one was just chock full of roadblock after roadblock and silly, petty fights about nothing. I wanted to love this book but instead I just found it cringeworthy.

Hailey runs a salad shop called By The Cup and meets Wes when he mistakes her for his date. They have a spark but quickly settle into “just friends.” And don’t worry. You are reminded 100000 times throughout the book they are just friends.

Hailey also flies off the handle at any person trying to help her… oh wait. She only does that for Wes because he has money and she hates “owing” people. She got on my nerves. Wes was also an idiot. He continued to make the same mistakes and apologize. Their communication sucked. They also broke up at the 75% mark. This book has zero spice.

It’s not for everyone, but if you enjoyed the prior books in the series (I haven’t read them), you’ll probably like this one.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, NetGalley, and Sophie Sullivan for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.5 Stars

This was a cute book. I enjoyed the friendship between Hailey and Wes. But I felt like their relationship was rushed. The pacing was also a little too slow for me. I did love their weekly grocery shopping dates. That made me say aww out loud.

I loved how Wes created an actual guide to being just friends.

I loved everything about this book. It had me hooked from the first page. I’ve never been a salad gal but this story make me want to own a salad shop! I even loved the friends to lovers theme, which isn’t my normal go to romance genre. The part where she gets a surprise box delivered before an event made me believe in love again! LOL

And let’s talk about this crazy ex who made her second guess her value. I wanted to jump in the book and destroy his arrogant ego.

I also loved the idea of them being so focused on a friendship guide to keep their friendship safe. You can really tell how deeply they care about each other and other things they are passionate about.

This was the first book I read in the series but I’ve already added the first two books to my library account.

This book is going to have a nice little cozy home on my bookshelf when it is published.

I almost gave up on this series after reading Ten Rules For Faking It but I had already requested this from NetGalley so I wanted to give it a fair shot. I’m glad I did because this ended up being everything I had wanted book 1 to be.

I liked both of the characters and their backstories and understood why they did what they did or why they felt how they felt. They both had a great deal of depth which I always appreciate in characters. This was a solid 3-star friends-to-lovers, found family read for me. It was overall good, but nothing really pulled me in and made me fall in love. Despite that, I do think it was cute and would recommend it!

This was a quick and cute read! It is easy to dive into and is interesting right from the start.
I love how Hailey and Wes met, and how their friendship developed over time. I loved all of the side characters, especially Fiona! I also enjoyed the interactions between the Jensen brothers.

Overall, this kept me entertained and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys romance or friends-to-lovers.

This is the third book in a series by Sophie Sullivan. I really liked the first two books so I was excited to read this book. Sadly I didn’t enjoy it as much as the previous two but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good book.
Hailey and Wes have both been hurt in previous relationships and they decide they are just going to be friends. Of course over time they fall for one another. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

“Life happens. Hearts get broken.”

Thank you Sophie Sullivan, St. Martin’s Griffin, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. “A Guide to Being Just Friends” is set to publish 1/17/23.

Hailey Sharp has a one-track mind. Get By the Cup salad shop off the ground. Do literally everything possible to make it a success. Repeat. With a head full of entrepreneurial ideas and a bad ex in her rearview, her one and only focus is living life the way she wants to. No distractions. Wes Jansen never did understand the fuss about relationships. With a string of lackluster first dates and the pain from his parents’ angry divorce following him around, he’d much rather find someone he likes, but won’t love. Companionship, not passion, is the name of the game. When Hailey and Wes find each other in a disastrous meet cute that wasn’t even intended for them, they embarrassingly go their separate ways. But when Wes finds Hailey to apologize for his behavior, they strike a friendship. Because that’s all this can be. Hailey doesn’t want any distractions. Wes doesn’t want to fall in love. What could possibly go wrong?

I read this book in one sitting. If you’re looking for a lighthearted RomCom with dual POV’s, flirty banter, and lovable characters, then look no further than “A Guide to Being Just Friends.” This is a slow burn, friends to lover book with a touch of miscommunication. While I usually am not a fan of the miscommunication trope, I didn’t mind it as much in this book. “A Guide to Being Just Friends” is the third book in the Jansen Brother series, but can be read as a stand-alone book. I didn’t realize this book was part of a series and definitely plan to read the first two books in this series. I rated “A Guide to Being Just Friends” 4 ⭐️’s.

This one is ⭐️⭐️⭐️‘s for me.

I didn’t realize this was book #3 in a series but I don’t know that it mattered to the story except maybe the backstory of a few characters. I didn’t feel that I was missing anything.

Hailey’s relationship ends & heart broken she decides to use that energy to pursue her dream of owning a salad shop. She is at the bakery/coffee shop next door when Wes mistakes her for a date that didn’t show because the barista put the name Hadley instead of Hailey on the cup. Hadley is the no show date. Wes doesn’t believe she isn’t Hadley.

This is a slow burn romance. I mean not much really happens except their friendship builds which is the title of the book. Wes is writing the rules to the guide for being friends but it doesn’t really go anywhere. He doesn’t share it. I think he kept it to himself.

They become best friends & while there are sparks they want to ignore them afraid everything will change. There were several times I was going to DNF this one but it is a nice story & does give the feels. I liked that it was told from both Hailey’s & Was’ points of view. There are some loose ends but overall if you like Hallmark movies I think you’ll enjoy this book.

Thank you to @netgalley & @stmartinspress for the advanced copy. Special thanks to the author, @authorsophiesullivan for taking the time to write this & share these characters with us.

This book is just as good as the others in the series. Hailey and Wes learn a lot from each other in many ways.

Thank you to NetGalleya s the publish for an advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

So this book is the third (and I think final?) in a series about wealthy bothers finding their person in California. I didn’t pick up the first 2 before diving into this one as it’s not necessary to keep up with the story.

I have a lot of feelings on this book and most are not great. This book started off as your typical friends to lovers rom-com down to the rom-com loving female and love-adverse male. This trope is one I can get behind (if it’s not one you like..don’t pick up the book obviously - just look at the title hah) but this became completely unbearable. Every other page was one of the two lying about being attracted to each other despite constantly talking about the chemistry they felt or ‘pang in their chest’ - like seriously? No one is that delusional.

Overall the characters are written fairly mature in the beginning yet they can’t admit they like each other and have a conversation about their feelings? It’s just infuriating.

The whole ‘rich boy who can make all of a woman’s problems disappear’ is just not a thing for me. It’s not a thing for our main character, Hailey, either as she constantly tells Wes but he oversteps and does it over and over again. the author describes Hailey as someone who is so proud to start her own business and the importance she places on making it on her own then destroys all of that with Wes’ behavior and Hailey just lets It happen for most of the book? She gets upset and then apologizes for her rational emotions? STOP MAKING WOMEN FEEL LIKE THEY CANT HAVE FEELINGS.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sharing this ARC.

WOW - I didn't realize this was a series! I will definitely be checking out Sophie's other books. This was a perfect rom-com that had a great friends-to-lovers plot. I always enjoy when a book gives me the warm fuzzies and Wes and Hailey definitely delivered!

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75

*read an advanced readers e copy provided by NetGalley*

I think overall this book was okay. There were some really icky diet culture/fat phobic moments that I’m so over seeing in romances. So the woman likes chocolate, stop making it a personality trait.
I think this was way too fast paced and the romance was very unrealistic but that’s par for the course with a lot of these types of books. I enjoyed it enough but probably wouldn’t recommend it

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The relationship between Hailey and Wes was cute in this story, but unfortunately I didn't find the plot particularly engaging. I thought that the protagonists' interactions were cute and I did enjoy watching their relationship develop, but I wasn't really interested in learning about their individual business endeavors and found that many of their interactions were repetitive. Ultimately, this caused the book to drag much more than I wanted it to. I would recommend this story if you are interested in an everyday romance with slow and steady character development, but I unfortunately don't think it was for me.

A Guide to Just Being Friends by Sophie Sullivan is the third book in the Jansen Brothers series. This is a cute friends to lovers story. I really like these characters even though they have some things from their past to get over. This is a well-written story and easy to read.

A Guide to Being Just Friends was so fun! There was so much chemistry from the start in this book. It had me craving salads and chocolate constantly?!