*thank you to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for a copy of this eARC in exchange for my review*

Josie and Zac. Sunbeam and Favorite. These cuties tangle in a battle of who-overthinks-the-most as they navigate the muddy waters of being roommates after fourteen years of friendship and two years apart. This friends-to-lovers romance was filled with so much more heart than I expected. The pair has to wrestle with past and present traumas and anxiety, and they slowly learn that they don’t have to do it alone.

If you’ve ever had a guy best friend who you’ve suddenly found attractive, you will find Josie’s situation humorously relatable. All of the awkwardness that comes with finding your friends attractive is on display here. And while this isn’t a rom-com, I had my share of giggles in the lighter moments.

Of course, this book has heavy moments too—addressing health anxiety in a way that was so particularly sensitive that I was truly moved. The amount of compassion that I developed as I was reading honestly surprised me. But what good is the message that you’re not alone, if the readers can’t feel it for themselves? Natalie Murray has expertly crafted a story that reaches out to her readers through a relationship filled with ups and downs and most of all real love and support.

AHEM, PLS NOTE:
- dual pov
- trouble 🐶
- bad jokes and lots of sarcasm
- sweet nicknames
- fake dating
- are we flirting??
- marriage pact 🤭
- forced proximity
- “I’ll be there.”
- #IsThisAKissingBook: open door

Josie and Zac have been best friends since they were teenagers. Zac tried to break through the friend zone once - and only once - and was quickly put back in his place.

Even after that, the two were inseparable. They roomed together in college. Josie introduced him to his fiance. Nothing could come between them.

Until the unthinkable happened and Zac's entire world shattered. Josie ends up left behind while he picked up the pieces.

Love, Just In is a relentless romance where your heart never stops pounding, wondering what's going to happen next. The flashbacks build up the relationship to the point where you're breathlessly waiting for them to get out of their own way. I DEVOURED this story and cheered when the slow burn finally exploded!

The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was due to other woman/other man drama. It added to the tension which was nice but was taken a bit too far at times.

Fans of mild angst, witty banter, and second chances will fall in love with Zac and Josie!

Thank you, Natalie Murray and NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Love, Just In is about our FMC Josie reconnecting with her best friend, Zac after an incident 2 years prior had caused some distance between them. These characters didn’t have their lives together entirely which was nice, realistic and so relatable. There was a lot of tension and angst in this book- which I’m always here for! I swooned, I felt frustrated, I felt sad, I felt relief, right alongside the characters. I always feel like if a book can educate you while telling a story and making you feel, it’s a good one.

Please check out Natalie’s site for CW.

Give me a good friends-to-lovers anydayyyyy!
This story definitely has a bit more bite behind their history, which adds to the depth of Zac and Josie's reconciliation after two rough years apart. Plus, we love a good mental health rep! The author wrote such a layered tale and her characters are *chef’s kiss*, like how could you not root for them to end up together?

I had fun with this book. Josie is a great main character for a romance novel - she is driven but messy, fun but focused on career, overthinks literally every choice she makes, and at the end of the day, just wants to find her "person". Zac was charming but kept himself at such arm's length from both Josie and the reader that it was difficult to really fall for him - he was just okay for me. I thought the pacing was a little slow and the novel could have been about 100 pages shorter and been just as effective at displaying the tension between the two of them, but I still enjoyed the book overall. The ending was excellent and the spicy scenes were good, too.

This is a friends-to-lovers romance that deals with some serious topics. Josie is a TV news reporter who has always wanted to be the desk reporter for her station in Sydney. She is sent to cover for a sister station in the smaller town of Newcastle where her lifelong best friend, Zac, lives. This sounds ideal except for the fact that Josie and Zac haven't spoken in two years.

I enjoyed the friendship in this one. Zac seemed fairly perfect with the way he cared for Josie. He is still recovering from the loss of his fiancé and just now getting back on his feet as a paramedic. Zac is cautious about having Josie shake that up. Meanwhile, Josie appears to be at a crossroads. She's dealing with a lot and has severe medical anxiety that she tries to keep hidden from everyone. While I did enjoy the lighter moments of this book, the heavy topics here really felt a bit much at times. It truly made me sad while reading. In addition, both Josie and Zac are seeing other people for a good portion of the book which is not always what I love reading in a romance. That being said, I loved revisiting their memories of growing up together and the ease they had with one another. There is growth here and talk of therapy that I appreciated.

I would say to read your content warnings with this one and if you are okay with heavier subject matters in your romance, you may enjoy this one. I loved the setting in Australia and the summery feel to it. I was happy to see Josie and Zac find their way in the end.

This is a tough one for anyone who has suffered from loss, survivor's guilt, or PTSD. But it was great to see anxiety portrayed in such an honest and caring way. Plus the love story was lovely!

Josie Larkin is a journalist for Channel One News in Sydney. She also battles with crippling, undiagnosed anxiety. When an interview triggers her anxiety during a live report, she is given leave from her job and banished to the newsroom of regional city of Newcastle, instead.

Zac is Josie's best friend, since their school days, but they have been estranged since his fiancee died in a car accident and he shut Josie out of his life. But her arrival in Newcastle gives then the chance to repair their relationship - if only Life would stop getting in the way.

There is a LOT going on in Love, Just In:
* We have the tale of Zac and Josie told through interleaving chapters of 'Now' and flashbacks to 'Then'. The flashbacks are not in any chronological order, but they make sense with the present-day plot.
* We have the tale of Josie's health anxiety and physical health concerns
* We have the tale of Zac and his fiancee
* We have the tale of the newsroom and the off-camera politics
* We have the dramas of the side characters: Meghan, Christina, Lindsay, and "Dahvid"

So there's a lot to unpack. With all of these different storylines woven together, this is a rollercoaster of a book. From the nudist housemate to the delivery of a baby, this book does not let you come up for air. There is one chapter with a couple of sex scenes, but most of the book is about relationships first and foremost.

I loved that it is set in Australia, and the characters are relatable. I LOVED how honest this is when talking about mental health challenges and anxiety, but its not an earnest, serious book on the topic: one can be a functional person and still battle mental illness.

Its a rollercoaster of a story, that elicits laughs, tears, WTF moments and much more.

~Many thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ~

I loved this book so much! The Emily Henry comparisons had me nervous going into this but my goodness Natalie delivered!

This book is friends-to-lovers, second chance and has wonderful mental health rep. Zac and Josie’s story was beautiful and had me feeling all the feels!

Fans of Emily Henry truly will love this book, and the Australian setting was such a comfort and joy to read for me :)

I was really surprised by just how addictive this read became. I am usually not a fan of Friends to Lovers but this was written so well and there was just such depth to each character that I really loved it.

Josie and Zac have been best friends since they were thirteen. But then 2 years ago something happened and Zac cut off contact from Josie. They both went through so much but now they find themselves in the same town trying to reconnect but is there just too much history and unknown between them now to go back to the way it was?

I enjoyed how the author discussed health anxiety which is a prevalent topic in this book as it is something so many people go through and yet it often isn't discussed. This focused in on breast cancer and I know personally having had experience with people with breast cancer it is something I think about often and I can often work myself into an anxious state about it so I really appreciated how raw and honest the author made these characters about this.

I figured this would be a good read to have on the sidelines but I quickly found that I was not able to stop reading as with every chapter I needed to get to the next. I needed the answers, I needed the characters to talk, I needed it all. I was certainly impressed with this read.

LOVE, JUST IN - Natalie Murray

FUN! - 4 stars

Plot - 4 stars - After a couple of problems, Sydney TV news reporter Josie Larsen is sent to cover another reporter's six-month leave at a regional bureau in Newcastle. The city also happens to be the home of Zac Jameson, her best friend since high school, although they've lost touch. Now thrown back into each other's lives, Josie and Zac have to navigate their neglected friendship and secret attraction to each other while struggling with their careers and mental health.

Writing - 4 stars - This is a new-to-me author, and I found her writing to be light and easy-to-read. She has built enjoyable characters with a little more personality than the usual. Their foibles are clear, but approachable, and I enjoyed sharing in their disappointments and vulnerabilities.

Characters - 4 stars - Zac is the ultimate male main character. He's a genuinely nice guy, a paramedic dedicated to his job, and recovering from the death of his fiancée. However, he's conflicted in his feelings for Josie, not wanting to risk their BFF status, but also having thoughts that are very un-friend-like. Josie is appealing, in a mildly annoying kind of way. She's a good reporter, with scruples and heart, but she gets caught up in her hypochondria, and this makes her seem flightier than she actually is. She also has feelings for Zac, but both are paralyzed with fear that they'll lose their close friendship, so they don't address the issue directly.

Title - 3 stars - I guess this refers to a news phrase, while also indicating that this is a romance. Kind of cute, but a little awkward, in my opinion. Especially since their love has been building for years and isn't really anything new.

Cover - 3.5 stars - I'm not a big fan of these cartoon-y covers, but they seem to be popular at the moment. The bright colors definitely catch the eye.

Overall - 4 stars - This book has all the elements of a fun, light-hearted romance developing between two friends. Unfortunately, their characters are both so worried about what they'll lose if they take a chance that they are stuck in their present unsatisfactory situation. On the other hand, both are fun, and I liked their sense of humor. I also was impressed with their dedication to work and loyalty to their long-term friendship. Interestingly, I learned a lot about health anxiety, something I had not heard of before, and I found it fascinating. I applaud the author for bringing it to our attention in an understanding and understandable way.

A get you in your feels friends to lovers romance. Both main characters suffer anxiety and trauma that they work through together as they rekindle their friendship and explore locked up feelings. It’s not a light read and deals with triggers of death, cancer, mental health but still has all the feel good of a romance.

It’s also set in Australia. Cue the hot men with accents!

I haven't had the opportunity to read anything by this author before, but after reading this, I will definitely be looking for more of her books. Josie is a TV news reporter in Sydney, Australia. Her life hasn't really been going that great, and to make things worse, she has a panic attack live on TV which her boss sees, so she is sent to another city to cover for someone else. While there she reconnects with her best friend from high school who she had lost touch with for the last two years. They each have their issues to deal with while trying to find their way back to their friendship and navigate these feelings of attraction that are also between them.
This was an emotional, friends to more romance that captured my attention from the start and held it till the end. The characters were well-developed and relatable and I was immediately endeared to them. The story was well-written and focused on grief and mental health, friendship, and love, and was a truly emotional read. Very much enjoyed it!
I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

Josie and Zac - friends forever but can they be more?! I loved the will they/won't they of this story - it was based off of real struggles friends have when considering if they can be more than friends, while dating others and dealing with real life. Although Josie and Zac seem to have a lot of real struggles they need to work through and for themselves before they can be together. Josie's struggle with health anxiety is not one I have come across in a book before and I really appreciated the look into how it impacts her. I feel like there is a lot of relatability there even if you don't personally struggle with health related anxiety.

I really enjoyed this one. Zac was a great hero and I really liked Josie, although I didn't always love her choices. There are a lot of serious issues addressed in this story, which were well done, although the blurb makes this seem like more of a rom com than it really is. I enjoyed the chapters alternating between past and present, although by the end I was more invested in the present story and found myself skimming the past chapters to see what happened.

Love, Just in is a friends-to-lovers romance set in sleepy Newcastle, Australia. Josephine “Josie” Larsen is on track to be one of the top Sydney TV news reporters, but when she suffers a panic attack on air, she is shipped off to Newcastle to cover another reporter’s six-month leave as punishment. While there, she tries to reconnect with her one-time best friend, Zac Jameson, after losing touch for the last two years. The pair have barely spoken since Zac’s fiance tragically died in his arms in a car accident and he left Sydney to cope with her passing. Can the pair get their relationship back to how it was before, or will the feelings towards each other that they both have been ignoring finally push them to something more?

I was so excited to read this rom-com set in Australia, and it did not disappoint. The very beginning was a little rocky for me. I wasn’t sure I was going to like Josie, but after a little bit, her character grew on me and I ended up loving her and Zac. They are both hilarious characters and I loved their banter and inside jokes. It really felt like they had been best friends for years. There have been some friends-to-lovers books where that connection isn’t really there, but this was top tier for me.

I really enjoyed the format of the storytelling as well. Throughout the story, we get little scenes from Josie and Zac’s past that add context and lend a bit of extra understanding to the things that are happening in the present. Even though these flashbacks aren’t in chronological order, they were a really successful way to build the relationship between the pair and I could see all the little moments that make them what they are.

I’m very interested in checking out the next thing that Murray writes. I hope I love it just as much as I did this one

Thank you to NetGalley, Allen & Unwin, and Natalie Murray for an e-arc of Love, Just In in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

TW: car accident, character death, cancer

A powerful romance of friends to lovers. There are trigger warnings of car accident, cancer and health anxiety.
The theme of health anxiety being included in this book was something that i enjoyed. The characters were incredibly likeable and its a blessing to know others get to enjoy the themes in this book too as they have realistic and relateable problems. Thank you Netgalley for the oppurtunity to read this arc.

PWMOV lite

Honestly, this book was a little disorganized 😬 It took me a little while to get into it, which is unfortunate because I do love childhood friends to lovers. Josie and Zac picking up after a couple years and us not getting the full potential of their friendship was rough, especially considering the flashback chapters were so short.

I appreciated the conversation on Josie’s health anxiety- it’s so hard to not catastrophize when you suspect something is wrong. I continuously have to have my blood pressure and heart rate taken twice at the doctor bc my anxiety is so bad. I have put off appointments I know will give me a peace of mind because “no test means no bad results,” so I absolutely connected with Josie in that way.

I would be interested to read more from this author!

I did not enjoy this one, unfortunately. I read a lot of reviews that said it starts out slowly and gets better in the second half, so I thought I'd give it a go. It surely did start out really slowly, and there were so many annoying interactions in the first half of the book that I almost didn't push through. Josie is so very selfish and frustratingly obtuse when it comes to Zac's trauma. Her anxiety is untreated and makes the book tedious to read. The Lindsey character was an abomination and I can't imagine her character not seeing that immediately. It was so strange. Then once the love story happened there was still so much miscommunication between Josie and Zac that it soured the rest of the book. As far as romcoms go, this was not a favorite.

Thank you for the ARC.

This was not for me. I could not STAND the main character Josie and didn't want any good things to happen to her, ever. The plot itself was a traditional rom-com but executed poorly. It took FOREVER to get anything going and talked itself in circles several times. It frustrated me to NO END that Josie couldn't communicate properly with ANYONE. I yelled "oh grow up" at my Kindle more than once. Please do not compare this to Emily Henry, because this was not even close to that.
I will not be recommending this to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for the ARC!