Thank you to netgalley and St. Martins press for the advanced copy of this book. I read the second in the series , still need to read book one, and when I heard Wes was getting a story I was excited .

Hailey is a charismatic character that you can’t help but fall in love with in the beginning. She’s energetic, bubbly and easily excitable . She is learning to trust herself and learn to accept help without feeling like she’s failing. She spends most of her time fighting her own feelings about Wes until she can’t anymore. Her past relationships


Wes struggled the most with fighting feelings . He felt that letting someone all the way in would cause him to lose everything he’s built up. From the beginning, you saw how much he felt but was so scared to actually let himself completely
Go. He’s such a sweetheart at the core but his defenses often get in the way of him being free. Hailey helped him to let go and be more open and honest. He is protective at the core and he always means well. With Hailey , he learned that love doesn’t have to be as scary as he thought it would be.

While I appreciated this book, I felt that some of the friends to lovers storyline was a tad dragged out . It felt that their denying their feelings was a tad too much but it still makes sense for their storyline. This was more of a specific preference of mine , but I really enjoyed the story I rated it 4 stars .

Overall, I thought this story was cute, lighthearted, and enjoyable. Even the aspects that I did not find to be the strongest were not dealbreakers, in my opinion.

The main drawback is the depth of the characters. The characters in this story fell a little flat in some areas. It felt like there was a lot of explaining, which took away from the flow of the story. One moment I thought exemplified that was when Wes looked at Hailey’s computer near the beginning. He commented she had a lot of tabs open, and then there was a paragraph explaining that Hailey had a lot going on in her mind and liked being busy. I didn’t feel like the reader needed that extra explanation, as they could have gathered that characterization from just the story element, and those repetitive-feeling filler paragraphs appeared often.

One more small critique is that I disliked the repeated jokes about going to the gym, eating less cake, and the types of people that like salads. I know that Hailey owned a salad shop and that was very important to her character, but I’m just not a huge fan of those types of comments and I think it’ll scare away some readers, especially when they’re placed near the beginning of the book.

This is my own fault I suppose, but I didn’t realize this was multiple installments deep into a series. I think this took away from my experience in the beginning because I was a little lost, but I still felt like the book was readable on its own! Reading the plot descriptions of the other two books, I found myself drawn to the one about Everly, especially because I found her to be such a compelling side character - maybe I’ll read that one at some point!

If you’re looking for fiends to lovers and slow burn this one just might work for you. Wes Jansen and Hailey Sharp meet through funny circumstances. Both trying to make it on their own and wanting nothing to do with a relationship, they agree to be just friends. They have fun together and enjoy each other’s company. The problem is they are in their heads too much. I don’t know who they were trying to convince, but the constant repeat of friends only drove me mad. Hailey especially could be infuriating with her “I don’t need any help” stance. At the halfway mark, I was questioning whether or not this was even a romance. It’s definitely slow burn. The story picked up slightly in the last 25%. I was excited to see them finally come together, but I knew it wouldn’t last long. I think my biggest complaint is the story dragged on far too long with too many details that just didn’t seem to matter to me.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

I haven’t read an ARC in a while, so shout-out to this book for being the first one in months. This is my first book from Sophie Sullivan, but I definitely have some of her others on my TBR!

This one… oh man. It took me a WHILE to get through. Even 55-70% of the way through, I felt like there wasn’t much happening. No big issue, no big conflict, no big resolution… I liked the characters, but I didn’t feel super connected to any of them. I picked it up solely because I was reading it with some friends and was really behind and didn’t want to let them down by DNFing it lol, but I wasn’t motivated at all to finish it! It was a slow slow burn, and I’m quickly realizing that slow burns are not for me. I just wish more happened!

But… despite all that, it was a cute story. Look for this book on shelves near you on January 17, 2023!

I loved this light and easy read, for the most part. I think the boom could have been about half the size. It see.ed to go on and on with nothing major happening.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this novel before its publication date. My review that follows is honest.

I have avoided books heavy on romance for most of my life. Lately, I have found a few that have made me rethink my genre choices. I really enjoyed this book. Yes, there is the frustration of the whole "will they or won't they" troupe that at times feels a bit forced, but overall I enjoyed following the path of Hailey and Wes.

A Guide to Being Just Friends follows Wes and Hailey as the overcome their personal differences and insecurities to become friends, and then something more… while I usually enjoy reading about characters overcoming personal struggle, I personally found it frustrating that they kept making the same mistakes over and over again. They also were clearly in love and it took them just too long to realize it. Did not really enjoy.

You had me at friends to lovers. This was a slow burn, but like really slow burn. I didn't really connect to the characters that well. It was annoying that they both liked each other and nothing was really keeping them apart, but they still didn't get together until the very end.


Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press & Wednesday Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review

Friends to lovers is a favorite trope. I love reading them and they’re always so cute. This book lived up to the hype completely and is one of my favorite friends to lovers book.

After having her heart broken by her ex, Hailey isn’t quite ready to jump back into the dating scene. Ever practical Wes is against strong emotions in general, but especially judgement-clouding love. When the two unexpectedly become friends, they know that’s all they’ll be. Or is it??

I cannot accurately express how strongly I was routing for these two. The friends to lovers trope is a favorite of mine and A Guide to Being Just Friends does exceptionally well. Hailey and West’s story was so much fun to read. I just wish there had been a little more steam. 🙈

This is also the only book I’ve ever read that made me crave a salad. Be warned! 😂

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

I went into this not having read the previous parts of the series but it stood on its own two feet as it’s own adorable friendship story. I enjoyed this book immensely. The cute banter, the friendship Wes and Hailey have, the female main character that does NOT need saving. All of it.

I will definitely be reading more Sophie Sullivan in the future.

This was a slow read until about 75% into the book. The characters literally like each other but force themselves to stay friends. They were idiots! But I loved it!

Stopping this painful ride at 16%. This is just - not good. In all ways. The writing is stiff, the "meet cute" was flat, the constant business talk is bordering on obnoxious, and I just do not care about these characters. Add in a hefty dose of diet culture shame speak ("oh no I ate chocolate cake, must hit the gym or I won't fit into my leggings anymore," "those 2 guys are wearing bicycle gear, they must eat salads!") and inner monologues about each other that are ridiculous (He seemed "scarred" she inferred after 2 short conversations with the man. UGH). This is 100% not my cup of tea.

**Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC**

This book was pretty good! It has a lot of different tropes going for it! There's a tiny moment of enemies to lovers which changes to friends to lovers throughout the book!
Friends to lovers isn't a favorite trope of mine BUT this was very well done!! It kind of started with the aspect of them being attracted to each other, instead of the usual "We've always been friends and are barely notice each other being attractive until one day.." trope. I would say this is a really cool twist on a friends to lovers which I really enjoy!!! If you're a little iffy on regular friends to lovers, then I definitely recommend this book! It shows the two main characters, Hailey and Wes, becoming friends and THEN being in love. I really really enjoy that compared to other friends to lovers books where the audience (us) doesn't get a lot of information on the couple as just friends of before being friends!!!
I will say that the beginning of this book is a little slow paced... both characters have some relationship trauma that they need to overcome and it can be a little depressing because you (as the audience reading) is just so if they will EVER overcome their issues!!! It definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat!!!

Oh dear. This book was a huge flop for me. Before I go on to list all the things I disliked, I will say that this book had some cute moments, and I liked the unique idea of a salad shop. The end.

As for the things I couldn't get behind:
- So incredibly boring. Almost all of it felt like day-to-day activities and business conversations that should have been left off page.
- Zero tension with the romance until about 80%. Seriously. They met, they became friends, and literally nothing was keeping them apart except for their idiocy.
- Both main characters annoyed me so much. Hailey felt so selfish and prideful to me when she refused all of Wes's gifts, saying he wasn't trying hard enough to "know" what kind of gifts she'd want instead. And Wes was just super vanilla and annoyingly resistant to anything more than friends with benefits.
- Way too many side characters, and too much focus on them. It felt like the author was trying to make this book into an epilogue for the characters from the previous two books.

Okay, this list is getting rather long, so I'm going to stop now. Suffice it to say, I did not enjoy this book.

Writing Aesthetic/Style: 2
Plot/Movement: 2
Character Development: 2
Overall: 2

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC.

Trigger/Content Warnings: fade to black, divorced parents

This book is such fun! A rich cast of characters to care about and root for. Ms. Sullivan portrays strong women and men who realize they have a lot to learn. It’s a great “curl up and read and get lost in a good book” book.

I really liked this but didn't necessarily love it. I'm a sucker for a slow burn but this might have been a tad too slow for me.

A Guide to Being Just Friends is definitely your definition of a slow burn rom-com. I somehow missed that it was part of a triology, or maybe even more at this point, but its luckily one of those series where you can catch on quickly and don't necessarily have to pick up the entire story.

I really liked that Hailey owned a salad shop instead of a bakery (do all aspiring romantics bake?) and I'm a big fan of dual POV books. The will they won't they and inevitable ending were cute, albeit entirely predictable. A light, fluffy read if you ever need one!

More like a 3.5!

This was my first book by Sophie Sullivan and it did not disappoint! The title of this book piqued my interest and then after reading the synopsis and getting friends-to-lovers vibes, I felt like it would be right up my alley, This book gave me so many warm & fuzzy feelings. while also depicting a real sense of what a relationship is actually like from the adorable moments to the angsty moments. I did not read the other books prior to this one and I definitely will be reading those asap!

**Special Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press & Wednesday Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review**

This book was a sweet sweet romance that gave me the warm and fuzzies. The characters were lovable and the friends-to-lovers trope was well executed. It didn’t feel rushed and the slow burn was well worth the wait! 3.5 stars.