This was a fun, quick contemporary romance focusing mostly on the "friends to lovers" trope.

Josie is an aspiring news reporter, who has been put on a six month placement in Newcastle to prove herself with a smaller station. Josie is frustrated with herself due to the events that caused her relocation. However her best friend from high school, Zac, lives in Newcastle, and Josie is keen to reconnect with him.

I enjoyed that both characters felt flawed and had genuine issues. There was a good mix of fun moments and serious moments, with the story often touching on career and health issues, and mental health. However Josie did sometimes feel a bit childish; for someone meant to be older than me, I found myself questioning her sometimes (however, people are different). Her health (and other) anxiety did actually feel really relateable though, as something that I struggle with.

There was quite a bit of miscommunication between the main characters, even from the start. At times, it does fit for the characters, but it did get a bit much.

Overall, I did enjoy this one!

Thank you Allen & Unwin for an e-arc of this one! All opinions are my own.

This book sounded so promising, but I just couldn’t get into it. The constant use of first and last name irked me, as did the writing style. For someone who was nearly 30, Josie’s voice felt teenage-ish. Unfortunately, I couldn’t finish this book.

A very cute story that was fun to read. Definitely pick this one up if you are looking for a fun, quick read!

This is a best friends-to-lovers trope and it has all the feelings.

There were parts of this book where she really grated on me though. She seemed to me to be very uppity, hypocritical and found it very easy to misdirect blame and anger, her communication was lacking and I know she had trauma and was trying to find herself, but she really tested my patience and honestly I still have my doubts that she was on the same level as him.

Aside from those things, I enjoyed this slow burn, second chance at romance, emotional contemporary romance story but this book, in my opinion, is not rom-com material. It deals with some seriously heavy topics: anxiety, medical issues, car accidents, grief, guilt, PTSD, abandonment issues, to name a few, and I thought it was going to be more of a rom-com. It didn’t make me like it less, it was just an adjustment in mind for what I thought was going to happen based on the blurb. I would think this is more of an emotional contemporary relationship story, than to have it limited to being a 'romance'.

📚 Love, Just In
✍ Natalie Murray
📖 Contemporary Romance
⭐ 4/5
🌶️ 🌶️
➡ Aspiring news reporter Josie Larsen's been gunning for a promotion for months. After an on-air panic attack gets her relocated from the big news station in Sydney to a smaller satellite station in Newcastle to prove herself, she's left frustrated but determined as she moves to a new city to take on the role. She may be unfamiliar with the coastal town but her best friend since high school, Zac lives there and she's excited to reconnect with him after their relationship fizzled two years ago following the traumatic death of his fiancée. As they relearn the ropes of their friendship as adults while coping with too often nude roommates, career stresses and their own mental health, they'll find that what keeps them grounded may be the one person that's always been there.
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🙏 Thank you to NetGalley and Alley & Unwin for the advanced copy of Love, Just In. All opinions are my own.
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🎯 What I loved: Love, Just In was a great balance of heartfelt, emotional moments with a few joyful laughs thrown in. Murray found a way to weave together some truly traumatic experiences with hope to create warm, endearing characters that were easy to root for. I felt the slow burn on this one and was so ready for the characters to finally get together by the time they did- but the steamy scenes were 🔥 and totally worth the wait.

🙅‍♀️ What I didn't: Though I liked her character, I found a lot of Josie's personality difficult to relate to. While I appreciated the underrepresented challenge of health anxiety playing a role in the plot, I struggled to understand Josie putting off appointments and living by the 'no news is better than bad news' policy amidst her struggles. There was also a TON of miscommunication (essentially the entire past timeline felt like missed opportunities to me), so if that's your trope petpeeve, this may not be for you.
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Read if you love:
*second chance/friends to lovers
*love after loss
*slow burn
*it's always been you
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See also: Life's Too Short; Maybe Once, Maybe Twice; The Love Rematch

Thank you to Allen & Unwin and NetGalley for the ARC for my honest review.

Love, Just In took a little while for me to get into, but for the most part I enjoyed this read. It's a childhood friends to lovers with flashbacks, which can be a tricky trope to make satisfying. But at least there wasn't an awful thing in the past that made them lose contact. I mean, there was, but it wasn't typical of other books I've read. Josie and Zach have been best friends since junior high and are in their late 20s now. Two years ago Zach's fiancé died in a car crash and he fled Sydney because the pain was too much. He also stopped returning Josie's texts and phone calls. After She has a on-air panic attack at the news station in Sidney where she's a reporter, Josie is relocated to another town for a temporary job assignment. The town happens to be where Zach resides. Josie is hopeful that she and Zach can get back to the friendship they had before the tragic accident.

I liked Josie and the mental health representation in this book. The flashbacks were short and moved the story along slightly. Zach was a very sweet MMC, but I would have liked to have seen the side characters fleshed out a bit more. It felt a little predictable and formulaic, and I didn't feel super swoony at the HEA. That being said, I will definitely check out more writing from this authos.

This was a quick read! The slow burn romance had me wanting to yell at the characters to finally give in and kiss already. This is not a light, fluffy romance, but one that delves into some heavier topics such as death, survivor’s guilt, extreme health anxiety, and panic attacks. The two main characters have been through a lot, but it is positive to see them acknowledge their trauma and work at healing from it. While there is a lot of miscommunication that is not my favorite, I found myself rooting for these best friends to give in to their love for each other, and it’s extremely satisfying when they finally do.

Overall, a 3.5 rating.

I really enjoyed the story of Josie and Zac and their growth and rebuilding of their friendship. It was really a great read to see that development with the chapters giving events of the past and present. I would have liked to have seen some more chapters in Zac’s perspective. But seeing the struggles Josie works through is really refreshing. She is t the perfect FMC and I loved that!

This is a fun rom-com book to read and only gets heavy a few times. But it is a great friends to strangers to friends to lovers book!

Thanks to NetGalley, Natalie Murray, and publishers for getting to read this ARC.

Josie and Zac became immediate best friends in high school and stayed close through college. After navigating life’s changes together, their friendship drifts apart after Zac moves away following the tragic death of his fiancée. When work offers Josie the opportunity to spend six months in Zac’s new town, they attempt to reconnect like no time has passed.

A heartwarming friends to lovers rom com, Josie and Zac will have you swooning. Relatable characters will pull you in immediately. A great beach read for anyone looking to escape to Australia!

Thanks to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for the ARC in exchange for a fair review.

3.5 star rating

Overall, this is a good read--not too heavy, but just weighty enough to read like fluff. The flashbacks give the reader a lot of the insight into the hero without being in his PoV. The heroine's struggles read rather refreshing, though I thought her rather dense for not noticing the hero's interest much sooner.

Thank you NetGalley!!

Although this was a good romance story there were several serious issues that were covered. Josie and Zac’s relationship started in high school. A tragic event tore them apart so they haven’t seen each other for a while. Then Josie has a temporary assignment which brings her to Zac’s town. We watch the journey of their feelings and how they negotiate being friends again.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is a gorgeous, heartfelt and a little bit of an angsty read - so good!

Both Zac and Josie are thirty-ish professionals, they have trauma in their backgrounds which plays out in how they connect to each other in this friends-to-lovers romance set in Newcastle, on the Australian east coast. There’s steam and communication and adulting and friends and ambition, and work challenges.

Zac is recovering from the death of his (ex-)fiancee, and Josie is grappling with frustration in her job, and the need to find herself . Working out what she wants and needs while struggling with paralysing health anxiety is a huge challenge. Yes, sometimes I wanted to give her a shake but her indecision is really part of her anxiety and it’s very well portrayed.

I so wanted them to get together and look after each other. There's some light moments and a dual timeline which unfolds their back story. Great writing, original ideas, a lovely young couple, this is an excellent read - four stars and highly recommended!

Thank you thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC.

This was quite an enjoyable novel. It was set in Australia., which I love, and had a good premise. The characters were warm complex and interesting. Josie is a television reporter who gets sent to Newcastle from Sydney to fill in . Here she is able to catch up with her best friend Zac, from whom she has been estranged for the last two years following a tragic incident in Zac’s life. This is an interesting story, however one criticism that I would have is that it is a little drawn out. Thanks to Netgalley and Allen and Unwin books for an ARC of this novel.

You have to roll the dice. Just remember that when you're afraid, the fear is often worse than the danger itself.
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This one was the most delicious and slowest of slow burns, as well as friends to second chance lovers, and I loved every minute of it. I don’t want to give away some of the causes of the underlying tension and the page-turning elements, so I’m going to try to keep this review short and sweet. I went in with no idea what I was getting into and I think it was all the better for that. Natalie portrays the mental health struggles through both Zac and Josie beautifully, and all the mishaps and tears and everything in between made this a really beautiful journey to go on. And the side characters! Can I just tell you how much I absolutely adored Christina?! I even warmed up to Natasha by the end. This world was one I stayed up way too late reading and one I did not want to leave. I hope you feel the same when you pick this one up in January!

This was the endearing second chance childhood romance 💝 story I have read this month.

Alternating chapter of the past and the present, the structure gave the reader an insight of the highlighting points of Zac and Josie childhood friendship.

This is definitely guy fell first. Zac is the typical boy next door that grew into a fine man like wine. I love how empathetic he is and how supportive and loving he is to Josie.

There is a health scare. Josie has health anxiety - a type of mental health. The way it was incorporated was very realistic and highlighted the importance of mental well-being, getting checked, and having a good support system.

This is definitely a second chance romance. I like how at the beginning and the end of the book complete a loop. You’ll have to read it it find out but it was perfect for their happy ever ending.

Thank you netgalley for this earc for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgallery and the publisher for this eARC. I enjoyed the book and overall it was an easy read. I honestly wasn’t prepared for the darker topics (i.e, drunk driving and health anxiety).

Wins:
1. Friends to lovers.
2. Happily ever after.
3. Supportive friends - the side characters.
4. Strong female professionals - Christina and Natasha!

Meh:
1. Josie was kind of annoying and stressing me out. The way she was like, I love Zac but I don’t love him and then I love him again. Then all the health anxiety stuff was actually scaring me a little bit.
2. The way Zac led Tara on and then the way she was removed as an obstacle for Zac and Tara.
3. The forgettable guy that Josie dated. Zac’s old roommate. He was horrible! I can’t believe Josie dated him to make Zac jealous.
4. Meghan. Poor Meghan being led on by Zac (what a pattern) and then hated on by Josie. At least she wins at the end with getting her dream job!

* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

While I do think many people can connect to different aspects of this book, I thought the story was way too long and drawn out. The flashbacks really didn’t add much value for me and the story would probably read the same way without them. I also found Josie a little too annoying and didn’t have the best judgement, and I really just didn’t get any romantic vibes from her and Zac at all. The slow burn was wayyyy too slow for me and coupled with the lack of romantic chemistry, it didn’t make for an exciting read.

Wouldn’t recommend. There are plenty of other slow burns out there if that’s what you’re looking for.

Review

Love, Just In
By Natalie Murray

Description:
Contemporary Romance

💕Friends to Lovers
💕Second Chance
💕Slow Burn
💕Some Spicy Scenes
💕Past/Present Timelines
💕Mental Health- Anxiety
💕Set in Australia

Cute emotional read with likeable characters.

It did drag a bit in some places but overall enjoyed the book.

My rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

Thanks, NetGalley for a digital ARC copy of this book.

#netgalley #allenandunwin #nataliemurray #lovejustin

I am a sucker for a childhood friends-to- lovers trope, and Love, Just In, ticked all of my boxes. Zac and Josie have been circling each other since the age of fourteen, one or the other to afraid to risk their friendship for the big love they both feel simmering below the surface. Full of sparkling banter and just the right amount of tension, I was caught up in the very real traumas that keep Zac and Josie from jumping all in. Thank you to Allen & Unwin and #Netgalley for my gifted ARC.

"Love, Just In" by Natalie Murray offers a refreshing take on the friends-to-lovers romance genre. The story of Josephine "Josie" Larsen, a Sydney TV news reporter, and her rekindled friendship with Zac Jameson in the picturesque city of Newcastle, is a delightful journey. Murray weaves a narrative that blends humor, heartwarming moments, and a hint of spice, creating an engaging romcom that kept me hooked. The characters, especially Josie and Zac, are relatable and well-developed, adding depth to their evolving relationship. The backdrop of career struggles and mental health challenges adds a layer of realism to the story. While not groundbreaking, "Love, Just In" is an enjoyable read that brings a smile with its charm and wit, making it a worthy addition to the romcom shelf alongside authors like Emily Henry and Sally Thorne.