Reasons Why Not to Date the Best Friend had a pretty slow start, but once you get to know the characters you really start to fall in love with them. This was a lot of fun and kept me interested.

Thank you to Netgalley for this arc.
Maggie and Finn have been best friends for years. Maggie gets a job offer to head a turtle rescue center. Once Finn learns this he realizes that he is in love with Maggie. Maggie helped Finn start his bar and she helps him decide to start a music festival. Maggie is known as the town daredevil and has been arrested quite a few times and is trying to beat Carl’s arrest record. Finn takes Maggie on a serious of dates to show her that she can still have fun in Shell Grove. Finn and Maggie kiss which they hadn’t done since a drunken night years earlier so they decide to bring dates to the town’s annual 4th of July celebration. Maggie gets jealous of Finn’s date who happens to be married to another woman. Maggie brings another guy who Finn is jealous of. Maggie and Finn end up sleeping together and soon can’t stop seeing each other. Their mutual friends are worried about them and confront Finn to know what is going on and Finn confirms that he loves her and wants to be with her. At Finn’s first annual music festival he declares to the crowd that Maggie is his girlfriend and they kiss. Finn then discovers airplane tickets to Key West where Maggie’s job offer is. Maggie and Finn have a fight and break up. Maggie ends up going to the beach for a early afternoon swim and discover sea turtle eggs and decides to make a campsite to watch over them to make sure they go to the ocean peacefully. Maggie finally realizes how much Finn means to her and that she doesn’t really want to leave Shell Grove. Finn follows her to the airport to go with her to Key Wear because he doesn’t want to be where she’s not. Maggie tells Finn that she is going to Key West to talk to some people about moving the new center closer to Shell Grove so she doesn’t have to leave and they get back together. Then eight months later Maggie is successful with her new job and her and Finn live together and Finn proposes using their dog Berkeley that they rescued together. It’s such a sweet book and I didn’t want it to end. I definitely want to check out the other books in this series

please note that the trigger warnings and topes/themes may contain spoilers
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
HEA: yes
spice: a few open-door spicy scenes
TWs: mild OW/OM drama but no cheating, shark scare but not attack
standalone: book 3 in the Shell Grove series - can be read as a standalone
final thoughts: WOW talk about slowburn with lots of sparks and neither MC noticing how perfect they are for each other…. Get it together Finn and Maggie!!
As with the rest of the series, I love the reasons that start out mostly every chapter of why they’re not great together as a couple and shouldn’t try it out.
Lots of will they/won’t they with plenty of drama and plenty of sweet moments in between. Overall, in really enjoyed this book but I wish it was less tense when they realized their feelings- it could’ve been so effortless and beautiful, but miscommunication strikes again LOL


read this book if you love

💓 slowburn
👮 blue collar FMC (teacher)
😬 angst
💞 friends-to-lovers
🏡 small town
👮 blue collar MMC (bar owner)
🤐 miscommunication

Love this book!!!!



"Thank you so much netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced review copy if this book💗
"I voluntarily read and reviewed the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Reasons Why Not To Date The Best Friend by Melanie Munton is a friends-to-lovers romance. It is the third book in the Shell Grove Series. Munton’s readers will rejoice as they learn Maggie and Finn finally got their own story!!!

This was my second book by Melanie Munton. I first read Munton a year ago when she released Reasons Not To Date Your Nemesis. I enjoyed the book, but was surprised by how spicy it was. I wanted to give this book a try as friends-to-lovers is my favorite trope and I did enjoy Munton’s writing.

Despite holding out hope this book would be less explicit, it was not. As a result, I struggled with how to rate this book. The heart of the story is amazing, but I prefer closed door romances. While I would not feel comfortable recommending or gifting this book, that is only due to my personal convictions. I know there is a huge audience for Munton and all her books.

Read if you enjoy:
•Friends-to-lovers
•He falls first
•Small town romance
•Open door/ lots of spice

Special thanks to Netgalley and Melanie Munton for allowing my to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank yo NetGAlley for allowing me to receive this book for an honest review.

This is a story of Finn and Maggie who are best friends from high school. They have been inseparable since them and they even share a dog together.

Maggie finds herself with an job opportunity that would require her to move away from Finn. She has to make a difficult decision. They decided never to cross the line from being friends but they have to decide if maybe the friendship is holding them back to find true love or maybe they already found it with each other.

I loved to see them interact and figure out that maybe the best thing was right infront of each other.

I highly recomend this book.

I ended up really liking this book! I had a bit of a slow start, and it started off quite intense, but you really get to know the characters and you will love them! I really enjoy reading about characters that are unlike the average human being. This book has the most badass female lead with a wild spirit.

i am also really excited to red the first 2 books in de series, which i missed unfortunately. i really got attached to shell grove and its inhabitants.

thank you to netgalley and the author for sending me the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book is one of the best I've read recently, it was just a breath of fresh air because it's funny and snarky but still manages to be hot and sweet. I love the characters and the way they interact and everything about their story.

I'm thankful I read this book so thank you netgalley. This book had wonderful loveable characters, a homey environment, strong and great friendships, and spice. Can't go wrong! A must read

This is my first experience reading something by this author and it definitely won't be my last. The cover is cute and when I read the blurb, I was hooked. I love a good friends to more story and this one definitely hit the mark! Maggie and Finn have been best friends for over a decade, but they couldn't be more opposite. While she has a wild streak and craves adventure, he is stable, calm, and cautious. While they have a lot of fun together, they certainly wouldn't work as a couple. With that in mind, Maggie is contemplating accepting a job hundreds of miles from her hometown, but Finn is going to do everything he can to not let that happen. It may have taken him some time to realize this, but Maggie is not only his best friend, she is the one he wants to spend the rest of his life with.
This was a very cute and fun story, perfect for a lazy summer afternoon read. The story was filled with angst and emotion, and I enjoyed seeing Finn work so hard to show Maggie what she would be missing if she left and why she should stay. Finn realized he loved Maggie early on and I enjoyed following Maggie as she finally came to that same realization herself. Both were lovely characters and I was immediately endeared to them. This was such a fun, easy, and charming read and the banter between the characters was hilarious. Really enjoyed this!
Thanks to Netgalley for providing a complimentary copy. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Came for the romance, stayed for the turtles.

Maggie and Finn are both chaotic and I love it. Also, there is something so relatable about both of them feeling so adrift and feeling like they need more while being afraid to risk what you currently have. It’s a struggle many people have to deal with.

not a good read for me. The leads were not likable and not at all selfaware and I didn't think either was ready for a relationship.

Thank you netgalley and Xpresso Book Tours for allowing me to read this book. This book was cute but I wish I had felt more invested at times. I didn’t feel much of a connection with the characters and story until the second half of the book. I was not a big fan of Maggie however I did love Finn! This was definitely a cute summer read and really enjoyed the tension and chemistry between them. I loved the jealousy aspects a lot and the dirty talk was perfect!

Absolutely amazing summer/beachy vibe romcom. I love it! It was so greatly written and swooning.
I absolutely loved it.

I' definitely going to read more of this author <3

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for this free e-arc for an honest review.

Maggie and Finn are the best of friends! Ever since Maggie (the sheltered girl) moved to live with her cousin and became a free spirited firecracker they have been inseparable! They do everything together! However, when Maggie gets offered her DREAM job she starts feeling like it may be an opportunity she can’t pass up. Finn decides he wants to show her all the reasons not to leave and boy does he know how to show her. Get ready to experience all the sass, wittiness, spice, and a possible HEA!!
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

I really loved this book!! Small town, friends to lovers with spice? Count me in! This was my first time reading this author and the first book I've read in the Shell Grove series. I'll have to go back and read the first & second books too! I also love dual POV and it was great to read both Finn and Maggie's perspectives. I do wish there was a bit more dialogue versus some longer paragraphs, as well as the way they get together as a couple felt a little strange and it felt like Finn became jealous. Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for my honest review!

I just did not love this book - I think the plot fell flat, the main characters were ridiculous, and the storyline focused more on sexual encounters than anything else.

The opening lines hit you with dirty talk right off the bat, which was slightly off putting for me. To be fair, this is the first book by Melanie that I have read, so maybe this is her norm, and I just wasn't prepared for that. The friendship between Maggie and Finn started out so wholesome...and it quickly went down the drain when she got the job offer. Maggie is impulsive to the extreme, and she blames it on her upbringing, which doesn't really make sense to me. Finn went from not looking at Maggie as anything other than his best friend to being super possessive at the flip of a switch, which was also unbelievable. I felt like the first half of the book just drug on, and then the second half of the book was focused more on their sexual tension/relationship versus their actual romance, and Maggie's decision to stay or go.

I'm all for a guy who is slightly possessive of his woman, but I am not for a guy who tries to make decisions for his partner. Finn decided they were dating - so he told her (in front of a huge crowd, including their friends and family) that they were dating. Finn decided Maggie needed to stay, so he got her a job - to entice her to stay. He went way beyond possessive, and it was a huge turn-off.

I was so excited about the premise of this story, but unfortunately, I wasn't excited when I finished the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A great read if you love the friends to lovers trope. I loved the characters and the storyline and will definitely be reading more of this series. A spicy romance and a great one if you enjoy that sort of thing

Welcome to the Shell Grove series: if you’re looking for a new small town, a little friends-to-lovers, and some SPICE (seriously, I was blushing HARD) then Reasons Why Not To Date The Best Friend is your spicy romance novel to read this summer! This book works as a standalone and I haven’t read any others in this series.

Meet Maggie. She’s been best friends with this guy Finn since she was 15-years-old. Meet Finn. He’s been best friends with this girl Maggie since she was 15-years-old. Together they make memories, throw parties, they even own a dog together. They also seem to be the last two people single and unattached. Will they realize that true love can be in front of you, waiting for you to take the chance? Or will one of them move away from Shell Grove before they have their chance?

I enjoyed Shell Grove and how the characters were rough around the edges and the banter had me laughing along as I read. Their profound love for friends, family, and each other made this a page turner for me. I was not ready for how spicy this book was and I’ll be honest, some scenes had me SCREAMING. If you like something with five tamales, this is the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley, Xpresso Book Tours, and Melanie Munton for a temporary e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

review to come, didnt get notification I was selected on this.

I just reviewed Reasons Why Not to Date the Best Friend by Melanie Munton. #ReasonsWhyNottoDatetheBestFriend #NetGalley
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