I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Guide to Being Just Friends is the third book in the Jansen Bothers series, with Wes and Hailey. Wes is a the eldest of the brothers who has recently moved to California to work with his brothers when he confuses Hailey with someone else. Hailey has also recently relocated to the area and opened a salad shop. After the first awkward encounter Wes and Hailey decided that they should be friends. Their friendship blossoms as Hailey’s business really starts to take off and what they thought would only be friendship might be more than that.

When I got a copy of this book I didn’t realize it was apart of series until part way though reading it so while I think you should probably read the series, this can be a standalone book too.

This book was really fun to read. It was everything I was hoping it would be in a light cute fun romantic comedy book.

I really enjoyed following the story and development of Wes and Hailey’s friendship. While they had an awkward start I liked how easy their friendship seemed very early on.

I also liked seeing the characters dealing with the internal conflict of their feelings toward one another and how they didn’t want to lose a friendship.

The spice in this book is closed door.

I really enjoy character development and getting to see characters grow. While I do believe that both Hailey and Wes had good character development in this story with things they had to learn about themselves . I do wish it had been a little stronger here, but I think this is something most can overlook and still enjoy this story.

I do think at some point I would like to read the other two books to see the journeys of the other two Jansen brothers.

This a fun quick read I would recommend to anyone who is looking for something that is light and fun, especially if you have been reading too many emotionally complex books. I would also recommend to anyone who loves a good classic romantic comedy movie.

DNF. I was concerned by the amount of diet culture prevalent in this book even in the first few pages and had to stop for my own sake. Hailey also seemed to have no idea what she was doing, despite having taken all the steps to open a business by herself.

2.5 stars

This was very strange because this was a cute book, but it was boring and repetitive. I liked Wes and Hailey; however, the story was just boring. This was a friends to lovers book, but they meet at the beginning of the book. So, you basically watch Wes and Hailey become friends, deny they have feelings for each other, then accept their feelings. It took way too long for them to get together, and I honestly feel that this book would have been better if the characters would have been friends before the start. While Wes and Hailey are probably my favorite couple in this entire series, I just didn't love this book at all and was very disappointed. I think this author is just not for me, and I don't know if I'll read anything else by her. Overall, I thought this was a cute book, but just too boring for me.

A Guide To Being Just Friends (ARC)
Sophie Sullivan
3⭐️

Pub day: 01/17/2023

Brokenhearted Hailey moved recently to get away from it all and start fresh... like her salad shop kind of fresh. But she was horribly mistaken for another girl by this "tempting" man. And for some reason they were able to build a friendship out of this encounter. Analytical Wes even made a funny "guide" to being just friends. Wes and Hailey started to show each other they care for the other, it develops into something more. But they both don't want distractions, don't want to fall in love. Can this "friendship" survive?

It was a fairly enjoyable book. Girl with a vision and dream, analytical guy who tries to fix stuff. Both are repelled by love in different degrees. But really, first thoughts about a guy as "tempting" is not a good and convincing start to being just friends. 😂
I did like how they tried sooo hard to stay "just friends." Their thoughts about each other and all the other friends stuff is cute. There's a lot of ordinary daily activities and encounters and I think that's also charming. But when it spans through the whoooole book, it gets too mundane. It's too everyday-life-ey, very slow burn. There's no climax and there's not a big conflict point. No rush. It's a little too flat and bland for me, sometimes repetitive. I enjoyed the first half of the book for sure. But it was a little hard to finish. Overall, if you want a quick and everyday, maybe sort of relatable romance, this may be your kind of book.

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for a e-copy of this book.

Coming in blind, without having read the previous two in the series, but very much enjoyed. Subtle romance, much pining.

A Guide To Being Just Friends

I enjoyed the writing style of the author, and appreciated the dedication the author had to creating a backstory for the characters that created a depth to them and gave them more personality than others. I will say that the reason that I didn't enjoy this book as much is that it took well over half the book for the Wes and Hailey to even really start to acknowledge their feelings. The pacing was a bit too slow for my interests, although I'm sure this book will be a hit for people who really enjoy a slow, slow burn.

This book was so fun. I enjoyed the development of the relationship, the banter, and the characters were top notch. Nothing felt forced or unnecessary. Definitely recommend.

This book was a fun, feel-good rom com read. No crazy detailed sex parts so you could definitely recommend this one to your Grandma. I saw a lot of reviews didn’t like Hailey’s character. She is trying to be independent & do things on her own so she refuses help when Wes wants to help. I feel this is a realistic depiction of people who have trouble asking for help/need to relying on others. She makes changes as well as Wes and I think they work well together. Highly recommend for an easy happy romantic read.

Mein Leseerlebnis

Der Liebesroman konnte mich teils überzeugen, teils war mein Leseerlebnis aber auch etwas frustrierend, lasst mich erklären warum.

Gut gefallen hat mir der lockere, einnehmende Schreibstil der Autorin. Dieser hat es mir leicht gemacht in die Geschichte einzutauchen und ihre Charaktere als echte Personen zu sehen. Auch fand ich den Verlauf der Geschichte vom ersten Treffen zur Freundschaft zum Paar sein ansprechend.

Probleme hatte ich dagegen mit dem letzten Drittel des Romans. In diesem Teil der Geschichte hat die Autorin gleich drei Entwicklungen eingebaut, die Unruhe in die Beziehung der Hauptcharaktere brachten. Eine davon in abgeschwächter Form hätte in meinen Augen gereicht und auch Sinn gemacht, so war es mir zu viel. Der Großteil des Romans verläuft ruhig und fast schon gemächlich, dazu passte das Ende nicht.

Ich fand es zudem schade, dass Hailey auf beruflicher Ebene teils als inkompetent dargestellt wurde, um bestimmte Entwicklungen im Roman zu beschleunigen. Sie scheint vom Marketing für ihre Salatbar keine Ahnung zu haben, hat aber genau das studiert und in dem Bereich auch zuvor gearbeitet. Dass sie für ihren Laden eine gute Website braucht und dass etwas wie Visitenkarten sowie Flyer zur Werbung wichtig sind, schien sie nicht im Blick zu haben. Das machte für mich keinen Sinn, vor allem da es sich wirklich um fundamentale Sachen handelte.

An diesem Punkt hätte die Autorin es sich nicht so leicht machen sollen, um Wes eine Möglichkeit zu geben, Hailey zu helfen (er setzt als Entschuldigung für etwas ihre Website auf).

Blicke ich auf mein Leseerlebnis zurück, so habe ich den Roman größtenteils gerne gelesen. Das volle Potential der Geschichte wurde von der Autorin aber nicht ausgeschöpft. 🖤🖤🖤

Für wen?

Wer ruhige Liebesromane mag, in denen aus Fremden zunächst gute Freunde und dann ein Paar wird, sollte sich das Buch näher anschauen.

I really enjoyed this book.. I liked the fact the the main character was a women who was so motivated to survive in her own in a huge new city. I loved the idea of her salad company. I have never heard of that before. Usually it’s all unhealthy foods so this was a nice surprise. Very well written

I didn't realize this was the third book in a trilogy, so I found the sheer number of characters and all of their relationships very confusing, not to mention all of the business dealings and landlords.

This was such a cute one! A great slow-burn romance with the friends to lovers trope. I loved the relationship the Jenson brothers had and their respective partners. I read this in a day and enjoyed breezing through it.

I received an Advanced Free copy of this book, for my honest review. Thanks to Netgalley and St. MARTIN’s Press.

The Jansen brothers series has a special place in my heart. Each story made me fall in love with all the characters, and then having them in all the books and seeing how they were doing was the best. I honestly think this is my favorite book. I love friends to lovers, and Chris and Everlyn's story was phenomenal, but for some reason, Hayley and Wes's story was my favorite. I think this because I can really related to Hayley trying to do everything by herself and not asking for help, thinking that she would own them.

And West, my sweet idiot boy. I love him so much. And that prologue kills me. I love it. Now I need a story about Ari. Thanks, I know it’s the story of the Jansen brother, but she deserves her own story.

Hailey is on her own, well she has her cousin and her salad shop she's trying to get off the ground, but no social life and definitely no love life to speak of. What she does have is a blossoming business, a persistent stubbornness, and an undying love for the baked goods at the shop next door.

Wes is rich, handsome, and successful - so why does he keep getting stood up for his app-set dates? After witnessing his parents' ugly divorce he vows he will never fall in love, settle down and start a family. So when he meets Hailey and they decide they both need a friend, it is the perfect match. Until those friendship feelings start becoming more.

I LOVE friends to lovers romance tropes - they are my absolute favorite! Hailey and Wes were such sweet characters and their story flowed at a decent and logical pace. Their rise and fall and HEA was predictable (one of the fun parts of romance) but it never grabbed me and sucked me in. What I love most about friends to lovers, and one of the reasons I picked up this book, was the delicious romantic and sexual tension as the friends fight their "will they or won't they" feelings. There was just a little tease of this in this story and I felt like that could be ramped up a bit so the eventual "to lovers" part was more powerful. This is a closed door romance so the spice level is super low, but you do get a delightful "touch her and die" vibe from Wes which is nice to see. This is the third book that follows the brothers falling in love, however, it is the first one I read and I didn't feel as much of a pull to the other characters as I would if I read the other two first. Overall this story was cute and you definitely find yourself cheering for the characters themselves to be successful which was the most interesting part, the romance took a backburner.

* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

This was quite possibly my favorite book of the Jansen brothers series. I really liked Wes as a character, and Hailey was ok too. Some scenes feel a little rushed and it’s hard to see some of the character development, but overall it was super cute!

3.5 ⭐️

✨friends to lovers
✨ slow burn
✨ dual POV
✨found family
✨closed door romance
✨release date: January 17, 2023

Just finished this ARC and I was really hoping to love it, but it fell a bit short for me. To start, I did enjoy it, and it definitely had elements that I liked. Always a fan of friends to lovers. It also had a super cute found family aspect that I really enjoyed. I liked the friendship between Hailey and Wes as the story went on, and always love a strong, independent woman. That being said…it’s definitely a slowwwww burn, and it made it hard for me to get through the book quickly.
This is the 3rd in a series, but can definitely be read as a standalone as well.

Overall, a cute read, but a bit too slow for me

Thank you so much @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!!

A Guide to Being Just Friends

Read if you like:
➖friends to lovers
➖found family
➖slow burn
➖character focused stories

I REALLY liked Wes and Hailey! Probably one of my favourite friends to lovers relationships that I’ve read about! Their friendship was adorable and while the slow burn was worth it…I was so impatient to see them finally admit their feelings toward one another!

While I absolutely loved the three brothers, I did find that they were a bit unrealistic. Do boys really sit around and tell eachother how madly in love they are? Or psychoanalyse each others emotions so often? I’m doubtful. It was pretty clear these boys were written by women for women😂 Having said that, I did love their banter and would totally read a spin off for each brother.

The found family trope is one of my absolute favorites and this story did not disappoint!! Hailey quickly becomes part of a supportive and fun group of friends that are interconnected in various ways. They were so fun to read about!

I would totally recommend this book as a cute romance read! Thank you to St Martins Press, NetGalley and the author, Sophie Sullivan for the ARC!

Very cute read. Enjoyed nerdy Wes and Hailey’s dynamic. Light and fluff all around. Definitely would pick up another.

First off, thank you NetGalley, St. Martins Press and Sophie Sullivan for allowing me to read this ARC!

I absolutely adored this book, and loved Hailey and Wes, and all of the supporting characters. Hailey and Wes were a match made in heaven from their first awkward run in to the last time they appeared on the page. I loved them. Hailey is such a strong FMC and I could feel her emotions, and it just made her so relatable. Wes was her perfect match, and I knew their guide to just being friends was not going to work and it was an amazing journey watch them go from friends to lovers.

My only hiccup is the formatting for when the characters are texting each other. It felt a little awkward reading, but that’s such a small feat in such a great book.

I mostly enjoyed this book. I will admit that I enjoyed book 1 in this series the most, and I DNF book 2. This was definitely better than book 2, but I did not enjoy the two fight scenes. I think one as the main drama would have been better, and the other could have been something minor. I also think the author struggled with what POV she wanted to write this in. At the beginning, Hailey’s character had a lot of internal first-person thoughts. It seemed like the author was trying out both first and third person and forgot to go back.


I did like how this trilogy focused on a cast of brothers as the repeat characters and focus; usually the three MC are women. This was an interesting twist that worked well.

I received an advance copy. all thoughts are my own.