The Goodreads blurb says this one is "in the vein of Emily Henry's People We Meet On Vacation." Say no more. That book sits on my favorites shelf, so I immediately requested this one. It's cute, and has what may be difficult content for some, but I didn't love it. I liked the mental health representation, but this book is about 150 pages too long. After about 450 pages it's wrapped up quickly and neatly at the very end. PWMOV it is not. Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC.

My thanks for the ARC goes to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin. I'm voluntarily leaving a review.

Genre: Romance
Spice Level: Predicted to be high
DNF (did not finish)

I liked how it was shaping into a friends to lover story, and I loved the setting in Australia.

At about 25% there is a scene that I thought was too strange (between secondary characters) and decided the book wasn't for me. I also couldn't see why the mc would give Lindsay the time of day when she wanted to reconnect with her best friend from growing up.

So I didn't finish the book, but if you're looking for a spicy romance, this one might be perfect for you.

Synopsis: Two long time best friends find themselves having to figure out their relationship while also working through their own mental health concerns.
Pros: I did not expect to love this as much as I did! It read realistically, the characters had great chemistry- and when the spice kicked in- it was spicy. The premise reminded me of Friends We Meet On Vacation (but better!)
Cons: The only thing knocking a point off was the miscommunication trope. It spanned most of the book, which was frustrating, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it and loved the ending.
Thank you to NetGalley, Allen and Unwin for this advanced copy, and good news- you don’t have to wait too long for its release! Check it out January 3!

Sweet story of love lost and then found again with charming characters. This was a heartwarming romance that kept me engaged and cheering for happily ever after!

This friends-to-lovers romance was absolutely wonderful.

I don't want to say its like Emily Henry, because I feel that this could be a discredit to the author. Absolutely beautifully written, and sucked me in from the first page.

Josie is almost 30, and works as a TV new reporter in Sydney. Despite her best efforts, she hasn’t been able to progress her career. After having a panic attack mid air, she is sent to Newcastle for six months to cover a news reporter. Disappointed, the only redemption being that her high school best friend lives in Newcastle - except he has barely spoke to her in the past two years since his fiancé died in a cat crash. Can Josie survive her six months in Newcastle, and will she be able to reconnect with Zac?

Touted as the new Emily Henry, I had to read this book straight away. It’s a classic tale of what could have been, and old friends rediscovering each other and what truly happened in the past. The Australian setting makes it that much better.

Love, Just In is out on 3rd January. I recommend you get your hands on a copy!

Thanks to @netgalley and @allenandunwin for the review copy.

I absolutely understand the comparisons being made to Emily Henry, and I always appreciate when a romance can weave in real, emotion-inducing struggles. It was a bit on the long side and felt slow in some parts, but you can't help but root for Josie and Zac the entire time.

3 stars.

"Love, Just In" by Natalie Murray is good, but not great. I found myself frequently frustrated with the main female character, Josie. In fact, I found her to be just shy of unbearable. She is one of the most selfish FMCs I have read in a long time. She expects everyone to drop everything in their pursuit of her and her feelings but doesn't so much as think twice about anybody else. She is also an absolute airhead. There is no way a person could be as dense as she's made out to be. Zac, the main male character, tells her he wants to date her when they are teenagers, but she has ~*absolutely no clue*~ that he has been in love with her for decades?! COME ON. She makes bad decisions, like, horrendously bad decisions, while hurting everyone else around her (mentally, emotionally, and sometimes, even potentially physically). Zac is an almost perfect character, certainly wonderful for the way he puts up for Josie's crap for as long as he does! I found him to be a sweet cinnamon roll soul. I can't say I blame him for wanting a huge amount of distance from her after everything that happened between them. His heart and head were almost always in the right place, even when it meant hurting himself in the process. One thing author Natalie Murray does well is banter. Zac and Josie have a terrific back-and-forth with one another. I also liked Josie's relationships with her side-character friends, even though her pals are too good for her and she's selfish a lot of the time (until the end portion of the book). But by far, my favorite part of this novel is its portrayal of health anxiety. Talk about having me in my feelings! As someone with health anxiety, this book gave me what might be the push I need to talk to someone about fixing my issues. I have always feared dying like Josie, and the way her feelings manifest themselves... it was like Murray reached into my brain and my life and pulled out my real-life events and put them to the page. It's a very serious thing to go through. Health anxiety can be crippling and can hinder almost every facet of one's life. I like how Josie resolves some of her anxieties but has to work at them repeatedly and is never miraculously cured of her anxieties. It might be triggering for some readers to read stuff about health anxiety. so keep that in mind. All in all, the romance part of not great and got on my nerves because of the actions of the main character, but the other not-so-romance-y stuff is great.

Thank you to NetGalley, Natalie Murray, and Allen & Unwin for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review,

Love, Just In is a classic friends to lovers, second chance, healing journey romance and it was so good! It is a tale of two people working through a lot of trauma and personal issues, and desperately clinging to the nostalgia of their old friendship. Plus it takes place in Australia and has great vibes!

Josie Larson and Zac Jameson have been friends for a long long time but once upon a time, Zac may have asked Josie out and hinted at some pretty not friend-like feelings. The two overcame the awkwardness of a moment of adolescent humiliation, and went on to live a great life together “as friends” through high school and college until tragedy struck Zac, and his fiancée died in a car accident. Since then the two have drifted apart, but have a chance to reconcile when Josie gets a job in Zac’s town. Josie’s story is so relevant to many women today and anyone dealing with health anxiety. She’s seen loved ones die from an illness she is slowly convincing herself she also has. Her bravery and vulnerability was so heartwarming.

I thought Love, Just In was a great story between two real people. Both characters were so well developed. There were several flashback scenes and I could see how they had grown and changed as people each time. The storylines were mature and well thought out. For those wondering, there was some spice in the book but this is definitely more of a slow burn with good drawn out angst!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance reader copy of Love, Just In in exchange for an honest review!

This is a slow burn, friends to lovers story with a few twists. Zac was in a car accident a couple of years ago that changed his life. Josie lost two family members to breast cancer and feels she is under the sword of Damocles herself, to an unnatural degree. Each is dealing with emotional issues, job issues, and how their friendship changed. Through the course of the book I wanted to give each a kick in the rear at times when I disagreed with their actions, but that is one of the characteristics of a good story. The reader gets sucked into the story to the point of wanting to give advice!

Thank you NetGalley and Natalie Murray for the ARC!

I thought this was a cute friends to lovers romance! The novel follows Josie and Zac’s friendship turned steamy relationship.

My rating for this hovers around a 3/3.5. It was a super cute romance and I enjoyed it while I was reading it, but once I had finished, the book didn’t really stay with me, as in I just wasn’t thinking a whole lot about it once I was done.

Trigger warning for health anxiety, mentions of cancer (specifically breast cancer) and a brief mention of child death.

I think if the flashbacks would have occurred in chronological order rather than jumping around from 15 years earlier to 2 years earlier then back to 11 years earlier it would’ve helped with the flow of the novel a bit more.

I had some difficulty with determining exactly how much time had passed between the jumps in time in the present day portions of the novel. *spoiler* Josie’s friend announces she is pregnant and before I knew it she was stating she was 36 weeks along and I honestly was wondering how that even happened. I knew that the whole present day takes place over a 6 month time line, but I wish the author would have been a bit more specific in stating that 3 weeks had passed or 1 month just so that I could get a feel for how much time was passing by.

I think the mental health aspect was represented well, however, having anxiety myself, it was a bit tough to read because I could feel myself getting worked up and anxious along with the main character. So, just a word of caution for those who may have anxiety too. It wasn’t terrible, just something of note.

I found this one to be incredibly cute and adorable and emotional. Do not go into it thinking it's a Hallmark-type feel-good read. Oh no! These characters are extremely well-developed and complex and carry a serious amount of baggage, unresolved trauma and mental health issues. If you love the friends-to-lovers troupe, this emotional read will surely pull at your heartstrings and will have you rooting for Zac and Josie every step of the way. A huge thanks to NetGalley, Allen & Unwin and the author for the gifted ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Love, Just In by Natalie Murray
Publish date: Jan 03, 2034

I really just adore when a book completely surprises you and this book seriously caught me off guard in the best way possible.

Now, it started off a little rough, I won’t lie. But that’s where the delightful surprise comes in. There’s so many things about this book that I just adored.

The switch between past and present was so enjoyable, I loved that there would be little mentions of a certain thing that happened in the past and then later you got the full past pov of that happening. Every single one of Zac’s silly t-shirts had me smiling. And let’s talk about the health anxiety rep. Wow. I truly felt so seen and just connected with Josie on a whole new level than usual, it was fantastic and real and so raw.

I think one thing that really stood out about this is how realistic the characters felt. Especially towards the end, when both Zac and Josie need time away from each other and are considering this thing between them might not work out.
It just felt like something that would happen outside of a romance book and I loved that aspect. There was just something so beautiful about being able to read their journey.

This book really stole my heart and took me through a whirlwind of emotions and captivated me so heavily I was in emotional DISTRESS over these two’s story! I cried, I laughed, I gushed over how cute Josie and Zac are and I found yet another book that I will forever hold close to my heart.

Thank you so much to Natalie, the publishers & Netgalley for this ARC.

Thank you Allen & Unwin for the ARC of Love, Just In. I was so excited to read this because it hit so many of my favorite tropes in a fell-good romance: friends to lovers, he fell first, cinnamon roll boyfriend.

What worked in the story: Zac’s incredibly tragic backstory, the healing process, and underlying reason for the conflict. Josie’s rejection of him a young teen, their lifelong “best friend” push and pull, their “back up plan” pact. Her grief over loosing her family members and the roadblocks she had reporting on the topic. The super hot open door spice.

What didn’t work: The grief having the effect which turned into health anxiety adding an entirely different storyline to follow. If I could revise the story, I’d step that storyline down to grief and fear over it happening to her and perhaps make the health anxiety (which I think is an important story to tell) the main conflict in a different book, but here it became too busy, too much conflict. It kept it from feeling like a romance and made it feel more like women’s lit. So much conflict it became a bit un-swoony which is unfortunate for a romance that grew 14 years in the making.

Overall I liked it a lot and I’d give it 4/5.

Wow. This one was so much more than I expected. I love a great friends-to-lovers trope. This one did not disappoint, but it was so much more than that. Zac and Josie have been best friends since they were 13. Pulled apart by tragedy, and brought together again by circumstances, they fight to gain back their lifelong friendship and mend the past. What happens when feelings change, or where they there all along? Natalie's writing is fantastic, pulls you in from the start, never lets go, makes you fall in love with these characters, and I definitely lost some sleep staying up late to see what would happen! For romance lovers, this is one not to miss!! Thanks so much to Natalie Murray, the publishers, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this advance review copy!

this book was lost in my kindle so I have not yet read it--didn't know it was there till I got this email. I will read and report back!

Josie moves to the town her former best friend lives in for work. She sees it as the opportunity for them to reconnect but didn't realize how far they could go reconnecting.

The Australian based romance may look like a romcom but it is much more serious than that. Josie and Zac have been through so much in their lives that it changes and affects so much around them, including their own relationship. A lot is held back early in the book but needless to say, once things start coming out, you feel so much for both of them and their missed opportunities.

Make sure you go into this knowing it will make you very sad at times and break your heart in others.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the gifted copy. My reviews are always honest.

I really wanted to love Love, Just In, especially since the mc’s anxiety is very similar to my own, but unfortunately just didn’t connect well with the story.

I absolutely loved this friends-to-lovers romance! I’d say it’d make a great summer read (which it is in Australia where it takes place) but for those of us in the US it’s a great way to spice up a cold winter night! I could not put this one down!
The subplots and some of the traumas that the main characters are working through are quite serious but never took away from the care and love that these two best friends have for each other, despite their distance in the past several years. Sydney news reporter, Josie Larsen is sent to Newcastle on assignment loan and as punishment for botching a live broadcast. Coinsidently, her best friend since high school, Zac Jameson had previously moved to Newcastle. Instead of this being a happy reunion though, the two friends had hardly spoken in two years, cause Josie some anxiety when reaching out.
This was a fun and heartwarming story, with two very likeable characters who you won’t be able to help but root for! Zac is just a dream of a guy, and I loved him as a main character! I was always interested in journalism and appreciated the peek inside the competitive industry and the balancing act that on the scene reporters must make. I also appreciated the author including her own issue of Health Anxiety into the storyline. Not a term I was familiar with, but something I think that touches each of us but usually in a much lesser way than what I now realize some people suffer.

I just could not get into Love, Just In. I don’t feel like it’s completely fair to judge it since I am someone who has anxiety, and a good chunk of the premise is about a woman with health anxiety. The last thing I want to do is read about someone else’s fears. Yet I also didn’t connect at all with either character. I didn’t love the writing and there was nothing for me to grasp onto to get me into the story. All in all, I just didn’t enjoy this one.