A friends to lovers romance. I enjoyed the characters in this story. I thought health storyline line brought awareness to the condition. There was only one really spicy scene.

Love, Just In by Natalie Murray is a delightful read with great characters. While the story was probably quite predictable it still had lots of twists that kept you interested in where it was going. Josie and Zac were interesting and were very believable and realistic. Well written and while the going back and forth between time periods, was at times annoying, overall the plot was well developed.

I loved the fact that the author used this story to highlight a health anxiety mental illness and to share this with her readers.

An enjoyable read with a lot of positive energy. Recommended read.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from Allen & Unwin Publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#Love,JustIn #NetGalley

I wish this book was dual POV. I liked it but I didn’t love it.

I wanted to grab the FMC and scream some sense into her more often than not.

The conflict would’ve been solved if the 2 main characters stopped dancing around each other. That being said, it was insightful and full of depth.

dnf @ 15%

The premise of this sounded promising, especially with the Emily Henry comparison. Unfortunately, I can't get into the writing and feel absolutely nothing for either of the main characters.

I really enjoyed Love, Just In. This was my first time reading a book by Natalie Murray and I will definitely be picking up more from her. This romantic comedy is well-written and goes much deeper than a love story, giving us complex and well-developed characters, each with issues of their own, to which I believe a lot of readers will relate. And of course I must mention the sizzling chemistry. I couldn’t put this one down!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advance copy.

Very enjoyable friend to lovers story that begins in childhood. Zac and Josie,best friends in and out of each others lives, now closing in on 30. He more steadfast,she the flakier one, now each dealing with their own anxieties and trauma.
Lots of missed signals and things unsaid sometimes to the point of annoyance. Yet even as this story can be frustrating it’s also good and the ending will leave you bleary eyed with 🖤

I really enjoyed this book, it was incredible to read about places I am completely familiar and to see mentions of the places I grew up! I think it was written really well. Josie was completely relatable.

Love, Just In by Natalie Murray

Australia's answer to Emily Henry has just taken me on the most beautiful, heartfelt, moving, friends-to-lovers journey.

Whilst working through some seriously hard issues, the chemistry and build up is sexy as hell. And, phew, Zac is my new book boyfriend.

Thank you netgalley for the early copy. I will be recommending this to everyone this summer!

I always love a friends to lovers story line. I especially appreciated how this book highlighted anxiety and it's hold over some people. Loved this story!

Thank you netgalley for the chance to read this one early!

i have started to appreciate friends to lovers a lot more with how they suddenly realize that there is more than friendship there. i appreciated the health anxiety representation as well! i do think this story was a lot sadder than the blurb let on and i think i spent a lot of time stressed out. i know romance doesn’t always have to be rainbows and butterflies but i think the blurb definitely didn’t give us the right vibes that were actually there and i went in thinking this was an easier read.

Great book. The pace was a little slower than I liked, but the writing and story line were great! I would recommend this to friends.

Friends to lovers a classic trope. The book had a lot of potential but sometimes it fell flat. I had to close it and come back to it several times in order to finish it.
Lots of emotions. Good character building. I loved the dual timeline. Definitely a slow burn.

Overall, It was good just not spectacular.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this arc.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun and sweet romance. This book had me swooning.

i hate doing this which is the reason i almost never do but i unfortunately have to dnf this book. reading the description and going in i was soooo excited, but this just is not the book for me. the fmc is unbearable -- she makes horrible decisions and is extremely inconsiderate while expecting everyone else to be thinking of her. i like the mmc enough but we don't get his perspective so he's hard to understand. i really tried to push through, but this book is not worth reading for me personally.

There were several things about this book that could have lost me. I didn't feel that this was because of poor writing choices though, just personal preferences. I thought I liked friends-to-lovers romances, though often towards the middle my mind is less "will they", and more on the side of "they better". Having Josie and Zac's friendship coming after two years growing apart abruptly following a tragedy, and Zac having made his feelings more than clear, changed the dynamic in a way that had me seeing Josie as a bit of a villain. I thought she was unfair and purposely ignoring things a lot of the time, which made it a bit hard for me to like her. You don't always have to like the main character though, and I think that this book succeeded despite this.

I wasn't particularly interested in the journalism career Josie was following, or the ways that she would have to compete to get stories. My interest flagged a bit, but when Josie was reporting on the scene of a fire, it did open my eyes a bit to a world I'd never considered. Having to report on a tragedy, get in the way slightly of those trying to do their best to save people, seems like a heartless, cold job. How many times have I looked up articles, trying to find out exactly those answers though? Never thinking of the person who would have to be at the scene, inserting themselves for my and a community's peace of mind.

Another thing that really stood out was the way grief and guilt were handled following an unexpected death. As well as medical anxiety - an anxiety I'd never heard of or considered, but that deserves to be recognized all the same. I thought these were handled so well, something that I'm enjoying seeing more and more in fiction, and really appreciate.

There were some steamy moments, trope typical miscommunication, and plenty of heart. All together, a solid read!

Rounded up from 3.5 stars. Thank you to the publisher through NetGalley for the ARC!

This is a pretty classic childhood friends to estranged to tentative friends again to lovers. This is single POV, dual timeline (the flashbacks are luckily brief).

I really appreciated the mental health rep of this, particularly medical anxiety. I don’t read that enough. I also found the FMC job as a newscaster to be really fun and interesting. An also, as an American married to an Australian, all the Aussie references were so good!! I was proud of myself for knowing them. Lovely setting.

My biggest hang up with this is how when they first meet up again it’s very sad and tense and not in a good tension way or even angsty way. It made it hard to believe the MMC was ever going to be into the FMC romantically or even on a friendship level. To spare spoilers it just felt like one sided effort and not a lot of chemistry. Similarly, it’s usually a pet peeve of mine for main characters in a romance to be dating other people for a significant chunk of the book and that happens here.

I felt that their dynamic was believable as childhood bffs though so I appreciate the writing there and how quick witted the FMC was with her banter. I just needed more from him in return.

I also agree with other reviews in that the blurb doesn’t accurately convey that this has a pretty sad tone throughout. This can be heavy for some readers. Going in with that mindset would have helped me enjoy this more as it is well written.

This is a solid read, solid 4 stars from me. Thank you to Allen & Unwin for this ARC!

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of Love, Just In by Natalie Murray.

I wasn't ready for the rollercoaster of emotions that this book was going to make me feel.

I loved how mental health was portrayed. Josie is an amazing character, and I really identified with her. Zac was a perfect character to follow along with.

It was a great read, and I would totally recommend it !

Thank you NetGalley, and Allen & Unwin for sending me this ARC.

Rating: 3.5 ⭐️ (rounded up for platform purposes)

💭 BOOK THOUGHTS: This was a cute romance that had a lot of potential. I loved some parts of the book, other bits I wasn’t so keen on, so ‘Love, Just In’ fell somewhere in the middle for me. I felt that the friendship between Zac and Josie was genuine and I adored Zac - he was just the sweetest and most supportive MMC! It was great to get glimpses into their past with the dual timeline at just the right moment to get context before the next chapter’s important plotline. There were also some major swoon-worthy and heartstring tugging moments interspersed that I loved, plus I was happy to see complexity in Josie’s character with her mental health journey. However, it was really hard for me to relate with Josie aside from that and I just didn’t connect with her as a character. A lot of the plot was predictable, which is fine, but the miscommunication and back-and-forth between Josie and Zac was not something I enjoyed. I would say I liked the second have of the book the most and it was overall a good read, just not one I absolutely loved.

READ IF YOU LOVE:
• Estranged friends to lovers
• Dual timeline
• Mental health/anxiety representation
• Sunshine/Sunshine
• Cute nicknames for MCs
• Slow burn

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Allen & Unwin and Natalie Murray for an eARC copy in exchange for my honest review.