Hailey is starting over in San Verde. She’s just opened a salad shop and has exactly zero time in her life for a relationship. Though a friendship other than her cousins would be welcome. Enter the eldest Jansen brother, Wes. This no nonsense, type A, coding and cybersecurity genius knows he isn’t built for love. He has no interest in it after how his parents marriage crashed and burned. Following their guide to being just friends, Hailey and Wes have movie nights, go grocery shopping, and make dinners together.

Plot: 3/5
This slow burn, fade to black style romance will have you wanting to yell at the characters. The plot happens over the course of over six months with the months noted to help you follow along. The concept was cute but I found myself frustrated with the practicalities of their situation.

Characters: 2.5/5
Hailey is very emotionally intelligent but with insane trust issues. She’s a funny and enjoyable character. Though she leans a little bit too much on the “I don’t want designer” energy, unlike the potential other women that Wes could be interested in. The whole concept of her opening a salad shop seemed wild to me considering she didn’t seem to have any love for the food at the start. She seems to have zero know-how on running a business to the point where she’s considering taking some marketing courses. But then later it’s mentioned she has a degree in business and marketing? And she’s taken two years of culinary school? This just all didn’t seem to add up.

Wes Jansen is emotionally stunted because of the trauma of being the eldest kid shielding his siblings from a brutal divorce. He takes everything literally and doesn’t beat around the bush. For as smart as he is, he’s kind of an idiot. But I really enjoyed his character.

There’s a wealth of side characters in the book considering there have already been two books worth of characters introduced. Some fell flat but the MCs from the last books still had depth.

Writing: 3/5
Sullivan has a solid writing style for a romance writer. I did find there was a bit of repetitiveness in her phrasings. But she writes in a very bingeable way.

Overall: 2.5/5
I definitely preferred the previous book How to Love Your Neighbor and this one was a bit of a let down in comparison. But there were still several factors I enjoyed, hence the middle rating.

4 stars

*I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. *

Fun story in the friends-to-lovers trope. This is the third book in the Jansen Brothers series, and while I haven’t read the other two (but will seek them out), I really enjoyed the story. It’s a slow burn that I didn’t want to put down.

Great quick read that I would definitely read again.

A Guide to Being Just Friends is a fast paced classic rom com. The recipe as follows
Humor, strife, unwillingness to budge out of one’s old way of thinking, more humor, a meet cute, conflict, romance, and banter. Mix together for the perfect HEA! Well written and clever perfect for anyone who wants to curl up with a modern romance!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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 who 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 really, really wanted to give this a higher rating. This book is definitely a slow burn, possibly the slowest burn I’ve ever read. But it’s a more clean kind of book, so having a huge build up and not really any spice was pretty anticlimactic. Hailey was a character I really liked 70% of the time, but her stubbornness bothered me. As others have stated reading the first two books may benefit before reading this book. I do believe it can be standalone but it’s obvious the side characters have a story of their own that we missed bits and pieces to. Overall it was a cute book. I really liked the side characters, and I liked Wes. I wish is had way less fluff and dug a little deeper.

This is for rom-com lovers that YEARN for the slow burn and love the friends-to-lovers trope. It had all the warm and cozy feelings of your favorite romance movies.
Sophie Sullivan does such a great job at making her characters multidimensional, full-fledged people that you can see yourself in. Some moments felt like I was actually enjoying the holidays and friend gatherings with them.
I love novels like this that go beyond the general plot and touch on important topics. This especially goes for the way the author showed how the characters’ past traumas completely distorted their thinking and impeded their present lives. Everyone can relate to this in some form and it was just great to see the characters learning that they can change their habits and negative thinking.
A major aspect of this novel was community and found family. There was so much love written within the pages that made me want to jump into this cozy world.
This is the 3rd book in the Jansen Brothers series by Sophie Sullivan. I haven’t read the previous ones so you can definitely read this as a stand-alone. Past characters are heavily mentioned through the story so readers of the previous books get updated on their favorite characters.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley for an honest review.

This is a strangers to friends to lovers rom-com that I adored. This book gave me all the good feelings, made me
Laugh and made me tear up. While I did not know this is part of a 3 book series, you can read it as a standalone. I am however, going to go and read the first 2 books. I highly recommend reading this book if you want a feel good rom-com type of book.

This was a really great read. Hailey and Wes had such great chemistry, and I love that they built a really genuine friendship.

I love that this didn’t really rely on miscommunication as that can be so frustrating. I think Hailey was a very relatable heroine, and it was easy to see why she would fall for Wes.

I LOVE Wes. The broody hero is great but a hot awkward nerd? I’m in. He’s a little dumb but we love him anyway.

Overall, it’s a really sweet friends to lovers romance. I love the bits of pining. There’s great banter, and chemistry among all of the characters really. I definitely recommend this one and will have to check out the first two myself.

This was a cute friends to lovers story! It was a part of a series, but I hadn’t read the first two and I didn’t feel lost at all. I’m sure there were references that I missed, but it didn’t change the storyline of this novel. I enjoyed the entrepreneurial spirit of both of the main characters.

I think I'm at a solid 3.5 on this one - I read the first book in this series a long time ago, and somehow I missed the middle one and forgot completely that I even knew these characters. I wish there was a little more backstory on Hailey. Oddly though also, I felt like it was too long - I wanted it more snappy? I really liked the dynamic of Hailey and Wes though, and how inclusive Wes's family was of Hailey.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s for this ARC but I had to quit at about 25% because it just wasn’t for me. If you want a sweet story with absolutely no substance, this will do it, but I was bored out of my mind.

I would give this 3.5 stars! A sweet love story. I wish it went a bit deeper into the romance and love between these two characters though

This is a really cute book about brand new friends who are both a little pessimist about love; finding friendship and being adamant that they’d never cross the line into more.
Wes and Hailey have both had bad luck with dating. Hailey had her heart broken by trusting the wrong guy, and Wes has had bad luck with a string of online dates because he doesn’t really believe in love. He has seen it decimate his parents marriage and wants nothing to do with it.
Perhaps what they both needed was companionship. Wes and Hailey fit and mould together like they were made for each other. Platonic friendship doesn’t require the vulnerability or risk that a relationship does. This way they can be their true selves, be accepted and adored for who they are without expectations or strings attached.
Too bad you can’t control the matters of the heart.

This whole “we’re the best of friends and we will not fall in love”
Trope is my new favourite thing.
The trust that Hailey and Wes build on the foundation of friendship was beautiful. As they faced many hurdles of vulnerability, learning how to show each other how they felt, overcoming numerous hurdles along the way, the reader will be rooting for them the entire time.

I wasn’t aware that this was a standalone in a series about three brothers, but it doesn’t really matter. Based on how much I loved this one I will be reading the others too.

I rated this 4 Salads out of 5. It made my heart happy. And my tummy very hungry.
You’ll just have to read it to understand.

Thank you Netgalley for this eARC

One thing I find fun about being Canadian is recognizing when an author is Canadian because of little references in the book that don't actually make sense for Americans even though that's where the book is set. Happened to me a couple times here and when I went to check if the author was Canadian I felt pretty pleased with my skills

That aside, this was a really sweet and fun romance. Third in a standalone style series, I haven't read the other books but it didn't diminish my experience at all. I'm interested to read the other two though as the other couples seem really cute.

Hailey just started a salad shop which makes me want to like salad so bad because everyone seems to love it. She also loves dessert so I think we'd get along very well. Anyways, her and Wes are both new to the area and form a super close friendship. They also have feelings for each other but neither wants to admit it and risk hurting their friendship, they both have some issues with commitment and the idea of long term relationships, although for different reasons. They have great chemistry and both seem like really nice people which makes the story a lot more enjoyable to read.

The only negative thing I really have to say is that at times I found it a bit boring, the chemistry was good but there wasn't much at all going on plot wise and there were big time jumps which I'm not really a fan of.

I'd still definitely recommend picking this one up if you're a fan of contemporary romance, and even though I haven't read them myself I'd say you should read the first two as well. This book will be published in January so you have just enough time to read the other two books first!

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the advanced copy!

I wanted to like this. However didn’t like the main characters at all-just so bland. The fmc starts a “revolutionary” business never heard of before… sells salad. But not just any salad. “Artistic” salad. Becomes friends with a rich guy but for silly reasons they become JUST FRIENDS then kiss and fight over everything until the end.

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martins Press for an eARC.

Hailey Sharp is determined to be successful in opening her own salad shop by herself. She wants to do everything possible to be successful. After a bad break up, Hailey wants to live her life the way she wants to without relying on someone else. No distractions. Wes Jansen never understood what was so great about relationships. After a string of terrible first dates, and the reminder of his parents divorce, Wes is determined to find someone he likes, but won’t love. Hailey and Wes have a disastrous first meeting when he mistakes her for a date that stood him up. But when Wes finds Hailey to apologize, they strike up a conversation and start to become friends. Because that’s all they can be. Hailey doesn’t want a distraction and Wes refuses to fall in love.

I thought this was a cute lil rom com. Unfortunately I didn’t know this was a part of a series of standalones so I got to know other characters from the previous two books in this one. This is a friends to lovers story which isn’t my favorite trope, and honestly the way Wes handled things made me angry. His feelings were obvious and he was horrible to Hailey because of it. I liked this book but I just didn’t connect with the characters and wasn’t really interested in the story. But I think people who really enjoy romantic comedies, will really like this! Especially if you’ve already read the first two books in the series.

Thank you to St. Martins Press, NetGalley and Sophie Sullivan for this ARC in exchange for an honest book review! A Guide to Just Being Friends will be available January 17th!

This book was a bit slow for me. I liked the premise of the book but I found it was hard to stay connected to the characters and it didn’t draw my attention as much as I wished it would, Overall it was a cute read.

I was lucky enough to receive this advanced copy from Netgalley (thank you Netgalley!!!) I went into this book completely blind, I don't think I read the blurb about what it was about but something about cartoon covers make me just automatically want to read the book.

I liked it a lot.

*Possible Spoilers ahead*

Hailey is a salad shop owner who stumbles into Wes, a type A man who assumes Hailey is the date that stood him up. Fast forward Hailey delivers salads to a radio station where Wes and his brothers are working and Wes realizes he made a huge mistake. Hailey and Wes strike up a dreaded friendship until during Christmas, they kiss and everything changes. One of the things I didn't enjoy in the book is how LONG it took them to get into their feelings about each other. I get both hang ups, but Hailey just kept friendzoning Wes and it's like how much more can we hear this.

I usually am more of a spice reader but I thought that the fade to black was great with this story.

Overall, I give it a 3.5 or 4 / 5.

A Guide to Being Just Friends is a sweet, easy read, however I didn't find much substance to it. I liked both the main characters and their meet cute, however, I don't think they spent enough time together for their relationship to develop. I also just found the story, from dialogue, to character details, to setting, to be fairly basic, so I was never really immersed in this story. Lastly, the end fight between Hailey and Wes felt unnecessary and a bit forced. All that being said, although this wasn't the book for me, I think there are definitely readers for it out there!
Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Overall a super cute story. I haven’t read the first two Jansen Brother books, so I was going in blind to their lives. Not sure if that matters, but it didn’t really feel like it. Wes is the oldest brother and has felt the need to protect his younger brothers. When they branched away from their abusive father, he took the majority of the stress and pain of that break. Living in California he is learning to be content with life and feels the need to have female friends, but after seeing what happened to his own parents, vows to never subject a woman to a contract that will inevitably end painfully- so he is avoiding marriage at all costs.

Hailey has moved into town after a tough break-up, feeling ready to tackle the world on her own as she opens a salad shop. When she makes friends with the bakery next door, she discovers a support network she didn’t even realize she needed. When Wes enters her life, neither is searching for romance, but rather a best friend! The only problem is figuring out how to manage emotions and expectations, especially in the context of past experiences. I did have an issue with the story line towards the end, but overall it was an enjoyable read.

All characters are very likable. There’s the slow build of romance, there are the fun, quirky characters, there's angst and frustration, and there’s a beautiful resolution. There was language and some open door that I didn’t love, but it wasn’t overwhelming like other stories.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book is a super fun and sweet friends to lovers romance. Wes is an investor, a tech nerd, a savvy businessman, and a huge supporter of his community. He’s all about investing in local businesses to help them grow, with the benefit of earning a profit while he does it. And profits he has earned. He enjoys using his profits to support his friends, family, and community. Hailey, on the other hand, just sold her apartment to start a new business. She’s now the proud owner of a salad shop, building it from the ground up. Her customer base is small, she has no employees, and she’s worried about making enough money to pay next month’s rent. Oh, and she refuses to accept help from anyone.

Hailey and Wes have an unexpected and less than ideal meeting at a coffee shop one morning. It’s through further meetings that they discover both of them have been hurt, have sworn off love, and could really use a friend. “Just a friend.”

If you like characters who are learning how to love again, who are incredibly hardworking and entrepreneurial, and who are active forces in their community, this one is a must read!