I’m so happy to have read this. The same tragic reason Lorelai did what she did in the first place is still happening and more than ever. This book has so much more than romance that I think the author has immense talent and she is now an autobuy from me. The story is wonderfully crafted and the book is outstanding. I just recommend it so highly and I hope others read this and feel as moved and motivated as I did. Thank you so very much for the opportunity to read this.

I very much enjoy Erin Hahn’s forays into adult romance (and I also definitely loved cameos from some of my favorite characters from her YA novels as well). This is a great friends to lovers story and it’s relatively low-angst, while still packing in some heavy plot points. I highly recommend for contemporary romance fans, especially if you’ve been looking for country music storylines.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the review copy.

Pub date: October 17, 2023

This book was classic Erin Hahn- sweet, thoughtful, steamy, and painfully good. Personally, the gun control subplot did feel shoehorned in to me, but I know that Erin, as a teacher, holds this close to her heart and I respect the fact that she put this in a book. This is the definition of an autobuy author for me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5.0/5.0
Friends Don’t Fall in Love by Erin Hahn
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Pub date: 10-17-2023
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Lorelei and Craig’s story is immediately captivating and fast paced. Apparently I skipped Built to Last (Cameron and Shelby) but I’ll go back and read it next - I didn’t even realize it until the end of Friends Don’t Fall in Love so it is definitely a stand alone as well as part of the series.

At first I couldn’t keep up with all of the side characters and names I couldn’t keep track of but I quickly put it together. This was such a sweet, slow burn worth every word. It was full of electrifying lyrics and poetry, Nashville lights, and immerses you into the world of music. It was so well written. I loved Erin Hahn’s writing and this was ever much a story about personal growth, triumph, and being true to yourself as it was about friends to lovers romance. Craig and Lorelei had such character development and chemistry and I loved their game of songs. There were flashbacks built in which helps with context and pulls you further into the story. I didn’t catch at first that the chapters were song titles and I love the creativity. So much thought was put into engaging the reader and I could have read it in one sitting if sleep wasn’t necessary. Friends Don’t Fall in Love is an easy five stars and one of my favorite books of the year.
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✔️friends to lovers
✔️dual pov
✔️country music
✔️nashville setting
✔️slow burn
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Thank you to @netgalley, @erinhahn_author and @smpromance for the eARC. I received a complimentary e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Lorelai is at the top of her game with a successful music career and her fiancé who is also a county music star until she decides to sing about a sensitive issue that causes country music as a whole to shut her out. Her fiancé also dumps her through instagram which is the icing on the cake. She goes back to teaching in Michigan, but gets back in contact with Craig Boseman who used to write music for Lorelai’s ex-fiance. Craig now owns his own record label and Lorelai floats the idea of coming back to Nashville with some new music. As they spend more and more time together, the attraction that they felt back when Lorelai was engaged to Drake comes to the front and they both try to ignore it.

I had previously read Hahn’s book Built to Last and really enjoyed it so I knew I needed to read this one. I loved the county music storyline and how Craig loved Lorelai just as she was. He did not want her to change and he was so supportive. I hate how he kept pulling back from her emotionally when he really wanted to be with her. I have seen Hahn talk about why she chose to focus on school shootings and guns and as a previous teacher, I completely understand the fear there.

I enjoyed this book! It’s a mix of second chance romance and a whole lot of miscommunication. I’ll be honest, I have a hard time with the miscommunication trope so I struggled through it at times. I also had a hard time with the timeline jumping around a bit disjointedly. But despite those things, I liked it! It is a sweet story of two people who have known each other for a long time & have pined for each other for years. I loved the country music backdrop and the music industry politics. The cast of characters were likable and interesting. There are call backs to previous Erin Hahn books. Nothing felt rushed or insta-love. We saw the relationship develop and got to enjoy the process. I’d recommend!

When Lorelai is exiled from country music for calling out school shootings on the big stage she has to disappear for while. Before she does she seeks solace in her only friend left in the biz (her ex-fiancees music partner and long time best friend). After some time. her destiny is calling and her need to return to country music connects her back to Huckleberry and they have to find a balance between redemption and love? For any fan of country music that witnessed in real-time the whole of country music turn their backs on The [Dixie] Chicks and wondered what that must have felt like for them this is for you! This book was so well done to bring you the backwoods-country-Nashville-music-row feel. This book has heart, tenacity, spicy poetry, and cute banter. As a UGAS alum my heart broke at the mention of Roll Tide but I made it through! [GO DAWGS!] I should have read it instead of listened to the read aloud version which took some of the emotion from me but this was a solid 4.5/5 stars for me! I highly recommend this book!

Love the title, love the story, love the author.

Despite not being a huge fan of music story lines this one was great for me! Craig stole my heart, I love him so dearly. And Lorelai- I wanted to squeeze her. She deserved the world. This book is a shining example of "it's always been you".

Steamy read of friends with benefits.....at first. Then they realize there is definitely more there. Maybe there always was. They definitely had a connection and it didn't take much for it to develop, they just needed to open up to it.

Oh Erin, I devour your books! They are so good. They touch on a heavy subject but in a way that is readable and digestible.
I so enjoyed Lorelei and Huck's story. This friends to friends with benefits to love story is so good. I continue to love the strong female friendships that Erin always includes.
There were so many laugh out loud moments. There were even a few tears shed.
Thank you again Erin for another amazing book.

I don’t know what Erin Hahn puts in her books, but I love it! The writing style is great and I care about the characters from page one, which is some sort of magic! Lorelai and Huck are friends to lovers with some miscommunication mixed in. Lorelai is a country music star, who is on the outs with the industry for expressing her opinions. Craig (‘Huck’) is a song writer and is working with Lorelai on new music. Highly recommend this read! Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this advanced copy.

Her eyebrows scrunch together. "Huckleberry," she says softly, "you can't fight all my battles for me."
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And because if she let me, I'd never let her fight another battle alone for the rest of her life.

-friends to lovers, friends with benefits,
Craig is a producer who is trying to revive Lorelai’s singing career
-Lorelai is back in town but can Craig and her really be “just friends” - friends who write lyrics inspired by the other, and often have great sex that is!
-the beginning was a bit messy but it picked up, I liked the characters especially Craig! He was just so sweet and caring 🩷
-there was miscommunication which was slightly frustrating because it was so obvious they were in love with each other 😭
-thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC

3.8⭐️

thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

a solid 3.5⭐ read for me. i enjoyed the book and the storyline. it was nice to see lorelai grow more comfortable and stand up for herself and what she believes in. i also like that she always had huck, he was always there in her corner. 🥺 i love an "it's always been you" type of love story but miscommunication tropes drive me insane!!! the constant self sabotage, hiding their true feelings... JUST TELL EACH OTHER HOW YOU REALLY FEEL!!!! but overall, i still very much enjoyed the storyline and the character growth throughout the book.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a friends to lovers, it's always been you type of book♡

I love a good friends to lovers dual POV book. This was cute. It took me a minute to get into the story, but around 60% I was loving the history and all of the characters roll in bringing these two together. Sometimes we all need an outsiders perspective.

The scrutiny that the FMC received seems a little harsh and far fetched for 2023, but I guess the author believes people who listen to country music are more reluctant to accept some political issues, so I can see her perspective.

Overall I felt like I was reading a country music real housewives- crazy ex who wants you back, the friend whose always been there and all the drama in between. It was a good one.

Thank you to NETGALLEY for this ARC

3.75 stars rounded up. I really loved Lorelai and Craig/Huck as independent characters and together. I appreciated Lorelai using her voice to stand up for her beliefs, and I was a big fan of every time she shut Drake down as he tried to weasel his way back into her life. I loved Huck’s integrity, talent, and support for his clients and friends. I loved the friendship between the two of them and the growth into more. They really shined together, and I wanted more time spent there. I got super frustrated with their inability to be straightforward with each other about how they felt, but maybe outside of poetry and songwriting they just suck at talking about their feelings. Can relate. But damn, people aren’t mind readers and they don’t know how you feel if you don’t tell them.

Now we come to my issue that lessened my enjoyment. If you’re going to be bring very real world issues into the plot of a novel in an escapist genre, the environment should be realistic as well. I don’t buy that Lorelai’s outspokenness would tank her career. Six years ago with the original event here? *Maybe*. Current, present day while she’s trying to revive her career? I struggle to believe it as long as she’s got as strong of a fan base as has been implied. Yes, the “good ol’ boys” club in country radio might unofficially blacklist her, but radio play no longer makes or breaks a career, not with streaming being what it is. Celebrities are more and more outspoken every day and continue to thrive. I really don’t think the fallout and persistent rejection throughout the book matches the ‘scandal’ in this case. It just felt too prolonged and dragged out for me.

Overall, I did really like this book and it was a good follow-up, but I feel like I should change my 4-star rating for Built to Last to a 5-star because I enjoyed it quite a bit more than this one.

I was in desperate need of a light-hearted rom-com. The kind of book that would help me slip away into a story with humorous banter, friendly flirting and a happily-ever-after. As soon as I started 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐈𝐍 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 (PUB 10.17) I knew I was in good hands.
Lorelai and Craig have been friends for ages and had one night together five years ago that neither of them speaks about. They reconnect to resurrect her music career with the help of his record label while also resurrecting an underlying attraction. This dual POV slow-burn is filled with the best kind of tension. I appreciated the emotional complexity of the characters as well as the way they had candid, genuine communication. That is such a treat.

I feel a wee bit guilty recommending a book that doesn't come out until October. This novel is a standalone, yet also follow-up to last year's 𝘉𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵. Consider picking that up while you're waiting.

First, I will say that this kind of drove me a little batty because I kept trying to place this story in the timeline of the linked book about Annie and Clay. I couldn't figure out how to connect them. Shelby and Cam were so easy for me to figure out, but I spent a good chunk of this book trying to remember You'd Be Mine. Once I stepped away from that and just accepted that it worked and was a follow up, I got better.

The characters in this book, despite having fame and fortune or at least enough money to not be struggling, were enjoyable and relatable. There was a lot of fun banter, and I appreciated not only the main characters but those around them. Even the villain(s) were more likeable than in Built to Last where I felt that they weren't needed and certainly not as the horrible people they were portrayed as in the book.

The one nit picking thing is that Lorelai and Craig kind of got together too early for me in some ways. I get it, and I appreciated that they had a history so it was easy to fall back together. But it made the romance part of the story kind of fizzle. And then throw in the complication towards the end, and it started to feel repetitive and not in a good way.

So, thankfully, the supporting cast of characters were there to help move things along and to make this book more than a 3 star. And I am looking forward to what I think will be the next one in this "series."

Friends Don't Fall in Love, by Erin Hahn, brought back some beloved characters from her YA novel, You'd Be Mine (which if you haven't read yet, go read it NOW) and introduced some new favorites. I loved Lorelai Jones when I met her back in Hahn's Built to Last (which I also recommend!), but it was Craig Boseman who stole my heart, especially when Lorelai called him "Huck" or "Huckleberry." He's just a sexy cinnamon roll. Swoon.

Friends-to-lovers is not my favorite trope, but Hahn writes such real and genuine characters that I needed to find out what was going to happen. (Even though sometimes I just wanted to shake them both and say "JUST TALK TO EACH OTHER!") Lorelai is a badass who lost her way, and she remembers who she is through the help and support from her friends, including Huck.

This is a spicy romance, and Hahn lets you all the way into the bedroom. (Or motorcycle, just saying.)

Can I also say that I am not a country music fan, but Erin Hahn is pushing me one step closer with each book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc.

Erin Hahn is an easy auto-read for me, no matter if it's YA or adult. There is something so wonderful about how she crafts her stories. They're sweet and romantic and whimsical but also deal with real problems and real feelings. Having followed her books since the first, it's SO cool to see her come into her own as an adult romance author with a very real stance on very real issues.

Friends Don't has all the Hahn charm. The base idea is very similar to Built to Last - once upon a time best friends who always were kind of more reuniting as adults to do something cool in entertainment - but the nuances and details are different enough that it doesn't feel at all like a repeat. It *is* one of those romances where if the characters had an honest conversation with each other and their feelings then the book would be way shorter, but, that's the nature of the friends-to-lovers slow-burn trope and Hahn handles it really well. The building tension is sooo strong and both characters have things to work through before they can have that conversation. Plus, both Lorelai and Craig are full humans with stories that are interesting on their own. I have no idea if this is an accurate portrayal of country music, but I'm here for it!

Also I will never say no to a Jefferson Coolidge or Annie Mathers cameo. Or Trina. Give me all of the Trina content.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC!

This was more of a 3.5 star read for me. It was a sweet (and spicy) friends to lovers book, but the lack of communication was frustrating at times. It felt like all the cards were thrown on the table at the very beginning and then it was just more of the same until the very end. I wish things had been dragged out a little more. Like, for example, I wish that the poetry account played a bigger role. As soon as it was introduced, you found out that Lorelai already knew about it and then she confronted him about it pretty early on and then it didn't really matter the rest of the book. I'm not really a country fan, but still enjoyed the music aspects of this one! Overall, this was an enjoyable and quick read.