What an absolutely wonderful friends to lovers book! I was excited to read a book set in Australia and to read about places that I know about was so refreshing to see.

The main characters Josie and Zac, were best friends growing up but drifted apart after a tragedy. Once they were reunited they needed to reignite the friendship they once shared.

This was a slooow burn but this makes sense with the context of going from friends to lovers. There was a lot of fantastic angst and pining (ohh angst and pining!) along with the flirting and the push and pull that drew me in something fierce. The story made me feel quite emotional with everything they were dealing with. Josie with her crippling health anxieties and Zac with a trauma in his past. It was so heart warming to see them help each other through and I loved them together. It was such a beautiful story with great mental health representation and the banter between Josie and Zac was so much fun.

Also the charm bracelet. That made my heart melt :)

If you love friends to lovers, a slow burn romance, mental health rep, fun banter, and a story set in Australia, definitely check this one out!

CW: death, anxiety, grief and trauma

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc.

I always love a book set in Australia/written by an Aussie author and Natalie Murray did not disappoint.

News reporter Josie Larsen has spent the last two years without her best friend Zac Jameson after tragedy drove a wedge into their friendships. They start to reconnect after Josie’s work brings her to Zac’s new home town for six months by chance. But there’s been a lot of water under the bridge for these two and there’s some heavy wading to do before they can really be honest about how much they mean to each other.

This book was really fun, the main characters were likeable and a friends to lovers trope is always wholesome. It was a bit of a slower start and I didn’t really get that ‘don’t want to put it down’ feeling until about 1/3 of the way through. The book has some heavy topics (sudden death, cancer, health anxiety, shame and fear) and it’s not very long so it’s a nice quick read. Character descriptions are fabulous and I loved some of the characters little quirks.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I loved the way the chapters alternate between the past and present. It really gave you a good look at Josie and Zac's friendship throughout the years. But I didn't love the start. It was very slow and I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy it.

Overall, this was a sweet and enjoyable romance that is set in my hometown of Newcastle 🙌 Whilst it will give you all the feels, it also needs a trigger warning for the mental health struggles that are portrayed throughout the book. I'm really looking forward to reading more from Natalie!!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book.

Josie Larsen is a Sydney TV news reporter. She finds her life is at a bit of a stand still while everyone else’s lives seem to move forward. She has a panic attack on air. She gets banished to Newcastle by the TV station . Zac, her best friend since high school who she hasn’t spoken to in a couple of years, is also there. They reignite their friendship and find that they have new feelings for each other.

Josie suffers from anxiety owing to her family’s medical history, which is what caused her to panic on TV. She trues to revisit the past with Zac, adding another emotional layer to the friendship. She has a feeling of caution about developing things though.

Zac has his own personal issues, one of which is a fiancée who passed away tragically. He feels guilty because of his romantic feelings towards Josie.

I liked the characters in this story. I would recommend this book to others.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Love, Just In
Things I liked: I think it’s great the author had a character with health anxiety. I didn’t relate to it personally, but I’m sure many readers will be appreciative of feeling represented! Also, some of the banter was fine. My favorite part was when Zac said he might have to ask for forgiveness if he kisses Josie and Josie said “I forgive you” YES loved that so much. I liked the behind the scenes of what it’s like to be a reporter, and Josie has very human moments while still nailing her job. Spoiler ahead: I loved the twist that he and Tara broke up before she passed. It made it easier to believe that Josie was #1 instead of runner up.

Things I didn’t enjoy: I didn’t connect with Josie and Zac at all. Josie was so immature, some of the things she said or asked Zac felt so cringe to me, and her overt flirting while Zac had a girlfriend felt wrong. It also felt out of character for her accept Zac not talking to her for 2 years. Zac was just kind of bland to me. I think most of the flashbacks goes me understand their friendship a little more, but I didn’t like the jumping around on the timeline. It DID make sense for the “now” parts of the stories, but I had trouble keeping up with where they were in life.

I liked this a lot. It filled the Emily Henry sized hole in my heart (well, like half way. Because let’s be real that a BIG hole). It was heavy and gave ME medical anxiety and also I wish we had less flashback scenes and more now scenes but it’s fine. It was a slow burn friends to lovers that somehow worked for me despite me hating slow burns.

This book had Emily Henry vibes and i’m here for it.
It feels as though it is not just a romance but also a literary women’s fiction novel as well.
It was definitely better that the synopsis made it out to be.
The push and the pull, the banter, the chemistry.. all were done so well imo.

This was a good romance that deals with so many serious issues. Josie the fmc, is a newsreporter who struggles with health anxiety and seeing people in her life with cancer. Zac, the mmc is a paramedic who is dealing with grief and past trauma. They are also childhood best friends who drifted apart because of different things in the past. When Josie moves to the city that Zac is in, we see them start to rekindle their friendship even though things are different than it was in the past. This is written in Josie's pov with present and different past chapters, and we see how their friendship started, the more than friendship feelings about each other and events in their lives that have shaped them. The romance was cute, but it's a slow burn, there's some miscommunication and a lot of angst. I really liked the portrayal of health anxiety because I've been there, and I related a lot with Josie. I did want to see more of them together without any conflict, but overall, this was a very solid romance with real issues.

Tropes/themes:
- Childhood friends to lovers
- Australian setting
- Mental health and anxiety rep
- Healing from grief and loss
- Some steamy scenes

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc for an honest review.

One word to describe this book…angsty. Josie and Zac are childhood friends who faced a traumatic event and went their separate ways. Work takes Josie to the city Zac now calls home and after years apart they reconnect. While it isn’t easy to rekindle their friendship, they finally fall back into their old ways. There’s always been an attraction and now circumstances seem “right”. But life isn’t as it seems on the outside for either of them and both are hiding true feelings. Josie is keeping what she feels is the biggest secret.

This book took me a little while to get into even though I did love how the very beginning grabbed me. The hidden feelings and all of the worry about how the other was feeling got a little old but once I got to the middle of the story I was invested. Mental health is no joke so seeing life through Josie’s eyes, while difficult, is reality and I appreciated the author bringing it to life.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this book a little early.

This is a sweet friends to lovers story about two best friends who have been pulled apart by their own tragedies and struggles finding their way back to each other. I loved everything about this story- down to all the new Australian terms sprinkled throughout the book. Josie's struggle with health anxiety is relatable and authentically written. Zac is immediately loveable and your heart aches for him throughout the whole book. Fans of Emily Henry, Christina Lauren, and Carly Fortune will love this book!

I loved the storyline and how the author painted the fictional reality of these characters. Tho the story takes it's time to build and you feel the anxiety and mounting fears and pressures for how they are going to overcome these challenges. And, this story was totally filled with so many of them. It has has had my heart racing. It deserves nothing but full 5 stars. I so loved this book!

Not my favorite
Felt a little like wanted to tackle so many things that the story didn’t grip me. Characters didn’t either so it was a cute love story and the resolution was solid

The pacing and the gradual development and easiness in their relationship followed by the cute moments was just chefs kiss good. Plus, I loved the hero for being so patient, caring. The heroine was fun, relatable and entertaining too!

I requested this book as I loved the premise and the cover just hooked me in.
The story definitely had potential but in the end it was not really for me.
I was confused for part of the book, especially with the panic attacks that Josie had regarding cancer. The back story for that just came a bit too late for me in the book.
I did enjoy the chapters set in the past which showed how their friendship grew over time.
But then Zach ghosted Josie for two years and she basically just accepted it instead of going up to Newcastle to demand answers. Just didn't fit for me with the friendship that they have shared the majority of their lives.
I would have also liked more internal dialogue of Josie as we are reading from her PoV but we didn't get a lot of her internal monologues or thoughts.
I did appreciate that Josie got help for her health anxiety as mental health is very important.

There was so much to love about this book! First, the setting of Australia. I studied abroad in Oz so I have a deep affinity for this magical place. Now I wish I’d made it to Newcastle! I also loved this story. There were so many layers to it, and I think we can all relate to the health anxiety part to some extent. I think the author did a great job of dealing with these heavy topics in a “light” read. I really enjoyed the way she told the story of their journey… plenty of build up and steam too! The only thing I didn’t love was the nickname Zac has for Josie; it felt kinda cheesy, but that’s just me ;)

Josie Larsen is a TV news reporter in Sydney and has been sent to regional Newcastle for six months. Zac Jameson is Josie’s best friend since high school and happens to live in Newcastle. However, Zac has barely spoken to Josie since he left Sydney two years ago after the tragic death of his fiancée. Love, Just In is a friends-to-lovers romance that explores what happens when these two old friends come back together and have to repair their friendship and navigate a love that has existed between them all along.

I found this book to be well-written and funny. I enjoyed the banter and the chemistry between Josie and Zac. I’d never read a book set in Australia and as someone who had the pleasure of living there for two years, I really enjoyed the setting. I think the author treated the topic of mental health delicately and I appreciated that aspect of the story. Sometimes when two characters have disconnected I end up really disappointed when I get to the reason why but I think that part of the story was laid out well and believable. Zac Jameson was lovely. *I* am in love with Zac Jameson.

I didn’t care for some of the flashbacks. Some of them told me nothing in the flashback that hadn’t already been said. I did not always find Josie easy to like, at times she was self-centered and lacked accountability.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read. Thank you to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for allowing me to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of Love, Just In by Natalie Murray!
The first couple chapters I didn’t think I was going to enjoy this book but glad I kept going. I really enjoyed Zac and Josie’s friends to lovers evolve.

Love that this is set in Australia. Always good to read a Aussie romance

This is a slow burn friends to lovers.
Zac is a big softie and I just wanted to give him the biggest cuddle and make him smile.

Josie was a little hard to like at the start for me but she warmed up and turned into the sweetest character.

It a great book to read and I highly recommend

⭐️ news reporter x paramedic
⭐️ friends to lovers
⭐️ illness anxiety
⭐️ slow burn
⭐️ He falls first and hard

Love, Just In available January, 2024

3.5 stars – This was such a good story! It was very slow for me in the beginning, and I wasn’t a fan of how often the author jumped back and forth between the present and the past. But stick with the story as it comes through big time in the end. Zac and Joise are friends from high school and are attracted to each other but through miscommunication and the timing of life events, they miss out on deepening their relationship.

Please note that there are several trigger warnings that a reader should be aware of.

A big “Thank You” to NetGalley, Allen & Unwin and Natalie Murray for allowing me to read an advance copy in return for an independent, honest review.

I am telling you guys my heart grew legs and walked out of my chest to spend the day in this book. It was utterly emotional, a friend's to lovers romance that I never knew I needed.

The piece of anxiety in this story was relatable, it held my hand saying I see you. I loved this story to pieces.