Just Friends by Madison Wright is an enchanting standalone novel in the Nashville is Calling series. Despite not having read the previous books, I found the story to be thoroughly enjoyable. The chemistry between Hazel and Alex was simply delightful, from their initial encounter to their deepening friendship and the undeniable longing they both felt. The slow-burn romance was expertly crafted, making the eventual confession of their feelings all the more satisfying. I couldn't get enough of their endearing dynamic, which seamlessly blended fun and flirtation with a comforting sweetness. While the romance remains closed-door, the tender kisses shared by the characters were enough to capture the reader's heart. Madison Wright has created a heartwarming tale of friendship-turned-love that left me wanting more. Just Friends is a captivating read that will surely leave readers swooning.

Rating: 4 stars ⭐️

Tropes:
fake dating ✨
best friends to lovers 🩷
slow burn 🔥 
he falls first 💕
small town 🌾

Madison Wright writes absolutely beautiful stories where you really fall in love with all the characters.

Her books are really cute and definitely perfect summer reads! ☀️

This story was about Hazel and Axel, they met at Ellie and Cam’s wedding and are both siblings of the newly weds.

Axel and Hazel quickly became the best of friends and after a year Hazel wants to date again. She asks his help to find love but didn't know that there was already a candidate lined up for her, waiting for her until she's ready..

Thank you to Netgalley, Madison Wright and Victory Editing Netgalley co-op for providing me with this copy. All opinions are my own.

4.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Thank you to netgalley, the publisher and Madison wright for an ARC of this novel.

This was such a cute story! I absolutely loved the slow burn between Alex and Hazel! It reminded me of my partner and I who were friends for 7 years before we got together and I told him too how there were moments where I just smiled in the book because Alex was similar to him.

I definitely recommend reading this and can’t wait to check out more of Madison’s books!

i received this book an an ARC copy, and all thoughts are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me this book!

this story was a really cute friends to lovers romance. it wasn’t bad by any means but i feel like the plot was pretty redundant and there wasn’t a lot of meat to it. the MMC has been in love with the FMC forever but of course she doesn’t realize it. Everything was introduced pretty instantly and it didn’t feel like there was much tension because literally everyone knew except for her and it was more annoying than anything. Alex was such a good guy and was so sweet with Hazel & of course looking back, she's realizes he did so many things because of his feelings for her, but it was sooo obvious to everyone he was in love with her.

if you’re looking for a fun, easy, fluffy romance i think this is a good recommendation, but nothing too crazy is going on and it’s a closed door romance if that's something you're into! Overall, the book was fun and I enjoyed reading it!

This is my first book by this author and definitely one I will recommend for those looking for a sweet romance on kindle unlimited! Technically this is book 3, but I didn’t have any trouble jumping into this one as a stand-alone.

I love friends to lovers so much and this one was really cute! The different settings were fun and the various tropes and premises kept my attention. At times the descriptions the two mains had for each other were super cheesy and cringy. Normally I love cheesy but it was a little too much for me at times and kind of pulled me from the moment.

Overall, a fun romance and I plan to check out the rest of the books she has written! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book!

Aaaaaah I LOVE THEM! Hazel is sooo cute. I love her so much. So funny, so nice! And I love Alex so much too! Amazing book, amazing characters, amazing Friends to Lovers. Loved it!

Friends to lovers. He falls first and she falls second. I loved everything about Alex and Hazel's friendship. Everyone around them knows that Alex is head over heels for Hazel. Only thing is, Hazel doesn't see anything besides a friendship. "Just Friends," such a good easy short romance read and I can't believe it's a trilogy will definitely need to read the other books as well!

First off, I’d like to preface this by saying I requested to read this on NetGalley without knowing it’s a series. I’m glad I didn’t know beforehand because I wouldn’t have requested it without reading the first two books beforehand, and now I need to find them immediately. Okay, on to the review! Hazel Lane (an adorable name, by the way) is finally ready to date again after a bunch of bad boyfriends. She enlists the help of her best friend, Alex Bates, to go on blind dates by setting him up with random women and asking him to set her up. The problem? Alex Bates is in love with his best friend. Of course, Hazel is the only one oblivious to all this, until she starts realizing she has feelings for Alex as well. This is a very sweet rom-com, pretty clean (very little to no spice) but enchanting all the same. My only complaint is that it got a teensy bit too corny at times…I can love and appreciate corny but only when I’m in the mood, and apparently I’m not at the moment. But it wasn’t annoying or overly done, so I highly recommend it. And yes, you can read this book before reading the first two!

I received an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for a review and opinions are my own.

such a cute story and i love the setting so much being from nashville, tn! i love a friends to lovers and i really enjoyed the banter and the tension between alex and hazel and even though its closed door, i still liked the romance. thank you so much for this arc!

I wholeheartedly think reading this book made my week better. Just Friends is a romantic comedy that will leave your smiling and overall at least 2 notches happier.

What I loved:
- the tropes: friends to lovers, he falls first, slow burn
- I loved Hazel and Alex and immediately felt chemistry between them
-If you love more of a cinnamon roll hero, Alex is your guy! He's so sweet and you can't help but love Alex!
- I haven't yet had the pleasure of reading any of Madison Wright's other books, but after loving the secondary characters so much, I'm going to have to get started!

All in all, if you're looking for a feel-good romantic comedy, give this one a try!

I've been following Madison since before her debut, and have been LOVING her stories. Her newest novel 'just friends' is no exeption. It might even be my favorite!

As a demiromantic girl, the friends to lovers trope is one of my favs, if it is done well. And I was absolutely blown away by it this time. The chemistry was out of this world. So palpable. So loving. So much humor and banter. I loved it. And the sensual tension, ooooh it was hot!

But it was more than just a fluffy story. It also deals with subjects like fear of abandonment, the effects of infidelity, and selflove. And those things were handled with such care, in my opinion.

If you like friends to lovers, blind dates, caring best friends, meddling siblings, butterflies, icecream and movienights, this is absolutely the book for you!

This cute friends-to-more romance about Hazel and Alex, set in Nashville, is book three in a related series. I haven't read the first two books and although those couples are mentioned in this book, it definitely can be read as a standalone. I liked that one of them reveals their feelings before the ending but I still felt like the "will they or won't they" went on a little too long for my liking. Just Friends deals with the pain that breakups and bad relationships can cause in a way that inspires hope for love after hurt, while also having a fun story with great family relationships.
Thank you to @victoryeditingngc and @netgalley for the free ebook.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4

This was super cute and I always love a good friend to lovers romance.

My only “issue” was how naive and dense Hazel is. She missed so many clues of Alex feelings.

Everyone can see that Alex is in love with Hazel. I get the beginning but it felt like a very long time for Haze to not see it or be confused about it. The signs seemed obvious with how Alex reacts to her wanting to date other people and not noticing his signs of wanting to further their relationship.

But I think once she does it was very cute.

I would specifically rate this a 3.75! I did enjoy Madison's writing and the stories that she writes.
Her romance is very clean and closed door so don't worry about any heavy spice. It's nice to read an uplifting romance that is very realistic and I've read most of her book Just Between Us and it's one of my favorite things about her stories and romance. Many times we read romance and then think well this is fiction and could never happen to me, but the characters and stories she writes make this possible to see the truth behind love and what all it entails.

I recently had the pleasure of diving into the captivating world of "Just Friends" by Madison Wright. This delightful contemporary romance novel took me on a rollercoaster of emotions, leaving me with a warm heart and a smile on my face.
Alex and Hazel were amazing characters to follow. I'm glad it was a dual-POV because it gave such a good insight on how the characters were feeling as their relationship grew from being friends into something more.

This is such a feel-good book. If you're looking for a book that will give you butterflies in your stomach 😉 then this is the one.

⭐️2

Firstly, thank you so much for giving me this ARC.

I have a lot to say about this book. It first started fine, it was entertaining enough to continue reading it and the story was interesting. But then, I don't know what happend, it just got really bad.

We have the female main character, Hazel, who wants to start dating again after her last relationship ended really badly, where her ex-boyfriend cheated on her. In the book, she mentions MULTIPLE times how her past relationships have been bad, how her ex-boyfriends always left her etc. Now, we have the male main character, Alex, who is madly in love with his best friend, Hazel. He never told her, she never knew, but apparently everyone has.

Now, I just hate when a character keep mentioning their past relationships, specifically their ex. And in this book, Hazel does this A LOT. It was so frustrating and I was getting so mad about it. It doesn't bother me when they mention it once or twice, but here it was CONSTANTLY. She always mentions her ex-boyfriendS and where they used to go, bla-bla-bla. She takes Alex to these same places. I just hated it.

The author describes, A LOT, of things so weirdly. And when reading it, I, personally, thought didn't even make any sense. Here are some examples:

“𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵, 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗽𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗵 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗯𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗻.”

“𝗜 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝗿, 𝗳𝗮𝗿 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝟱 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗹𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝘅 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝗳𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗵 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿.”

“𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗸, 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘄𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗸𝗲.”

“𝗛𝗲𝘆,” 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀, 𝘁𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀. 𝗛𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗹 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝗼, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝗺𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗵, 𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿.”

The author also loves to make Alex's eyes "darken" one minute and then he immediately clears them. I'm sorry, but the only thing I can imagine is that one moment in Super Natural when the demon is talking through another person's body and their eyes "darken".

Also, there was this really weird phrase that left me speechless and I didn't think it was appropriate to say something like this:
“𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗲 𝗮 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿.”
Like what??? I was really confused.

This book is too long for absolutely no reason. Hazel, makes me so fucking (I'm sorry for the vulgarity) mad. One moment, she's like "I think have feelings for Alex," and then two seconds later she overthinks about them not working out and her losing Alex. I mean, I understand. But, it's too repetitive to the point where it wasn't fun reading the book anymore.

A somewhat positive note, I loved the part where Alex confessed his feelings for Hazel. It was really sweet and I just loved this whole moment and the way it was described. I acknowledge that. I loved it even more knowing that it was in Alex's POV. It's my favorite, and the best, part of this book.

This book felt like cuddling up in a blanket with a cup of tea on a rainy fall day. So comforting. Hazel has had a string of bad relationships, with the last being one of the worst. Alex is her best friend and he has been in love with her for as long as he has known her. When Hazel decides that its time to get back into the dating world, she enlists Alex's help. She decides that they will set each other up on blind dates. As you can imagine - the dates fail. Just friends was a comforting, sweet, super slow burn romance and a perfect pallet cleanser read.

This is the absolute sweetest friends to lovers summer romance that will fill your heart with warmth and sunshine!

I couldn't get enough of Hazel and Alex. The way he's there for her after a bad break-up and always supports her, even when she decides she's ready to date again and proposes they set each other up on blind dates.

Full of a great cast of secondary characters from the other Nashville is Calling books, ice cream, butterflies, 90s romcoms and a lovely road trip to Hazel's small mountain town of Fontana Ridge (and I'm really hoping we get more books set there in the future!).

Perfect for fans of Sarah Adams, Hailey Gardner and Juliana Smith. If you love kissing only, slow burns with lingering touches and the beautiful writing, this is a must read! Many thanks to NetGalley and the author for sending me an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Favorite quote:
"...thinking about a life with Alex fills me with more joy than it does fear. It will be a life with ice cream and movies, lake days and sunshine, bad dancing and whatever drink I'm in the mood for. It will be butterfly wishes and stardust and the magic of simply being with my person, the one who makes my soul sparkle."

This is Hazel and Alex’s story two friends who decided they should set up each other on a date with other people. This is my first book from the author and I wasn’t expecting anything special from it but it was adorable!! This book was such a light and cute read. Best friends to lovers is one of the cutest tropes. Alex was so gentle, sweet and kind. He was absolutely amazing! Hazel had some trouble accepting her feelings and it’s okay because the ending was so worth it. The way Alex was talking about Hazel will have your heart melting. Soulmates behaviour.
If you are looking for a quick, friends to lovers, cute book then this is for you!!

* spoiler free *

This was such a sweet story, It gave me the same feels that Happy Place did (one of my fave books of the year). Friends to lovers is slowly becoming a new fave trope of mine. It was refreshing for the MMC to not be grumpy or mysterious - he seemed more REAL. Hazel also felt so real too and I could relate to her and her fears on a deep deep level.

Although I loved the book, there were too many analogies throughout the story and by the end they felt redundant which is why I gave this a 3-star. Aside from that, this was a quick low-spice read that I enjoyed!