People say that men and women cannot be "just friends." Josie Larsen and Zac Jameson appeared to defy the odds as they forged a friendship at age 14 that lasted into adulthood. They even lived together during University. Of course, the signs were present that there was an underlying attraction, but one of them usually had a relationship when the other one started having "feelings." Fast forward to their late twenties when they have grown apart through tragedy and location. When Josie is temporarily transferred to Zac's town, she hopes to regain their friendship. In traditional "friends to lovers" romance, there are starts, stops and stumbles as they figure out how they feel about one another. Natalie Murray does a great job of building the tension and releasing the tension. This is an open door romance that delivers.

The second half was better than the first. There were some beautiful moments (courtesy of Zac), but the book in its entirety just seems to drag on. I think it could benefit from an edit that removes many of the flashbacks and instead establishes the history of the friendship versus reliving it. The simultaneous dating relationships with Zac + Meghan and Josie + Lindsay didn’t need to go on so long either. The first 50-60% of the book is the MC’s dating other people, whilst being lovesick for their best friend.

I did appreciate the focus on real issues (grief and anxiety) but it also felt like it took up so much emotional bandwidth from me as I was reading. I’d like to see a better balance of hurt AND HOPE written in. With some adjustments, this could easily be a 5 star book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Josie and Zac have been friends, just friends!, since they were kids, but when they find themselves living in the same town years after growing apart all of that is about to change… Josie is a news reporter who’s trying her best to succeed in her fresh start after her health-anxiety caused her to have a mini meltdown on air at her previous TV station. Zac is a paramedic who’s recent trauma, and forever crush on Josie, caused him to flee his hometown and bury his head in work. But when one thing leads to another, and Josie is left crashing at Zac’s place, the pair are forced to rehash their past separation, and come to terms with these scary new feelings.

I unfortunately just couldn’t really get into this book. I became much more connected with the characters around the halfway mark, but up until then I had no desire to read this book to learn more. I did love, love, LOVE the jealousy and pining and general squashing of their feelings until it all came out in a blaze! But ultimately this book relied too strongly on the dreaded miscommunication trope, and there was somehow 1.5(ish) third act breakups; even 1 is too many for me! Definitely some sweet moments that had me kicking my feet giggling, but I never felt fully sucked into the story.

Well written and emotional.
After freezing on national television Josie is sent to the Newcastle news desk. However in Newcastle is Josie’s estranged best friend Zac who she hasn’t spoken to since his fiancé died in a car crash two years ago. Josie must navigate a new job, crazy roommate, health concerns, and her growing feelings for Zac.
This story was well written and the characters well developed. However I found it a stressful read with not enough hopeful moments of sunshine to offset the angst. Maybe the portrayal of anxiety was triggering for me, I’m not sure.
There is a happy ending but there is so much angst to get to it.
If you like friends to lovers, flashbacks and emotional stories you’ll love this one. It just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to the author, publisher and netgalley for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are mine.

💕Friends to lovers
💕Second chance
💕 Mental Health/ Health anxiety
💕Slow burn
💕 Alternating timeline
💕 Set in Australia

This book reminded me I love a good friends to lovers troupe. As I was getting towards the end of the book I was hoping there would be a second book about their relationship. I loved his nickname for her was Sunbeam! I appreciate the author sharing her experience with health anxiety through Josie as it is relatable.

This book was not what I was expecting at all and I don’t mean that in a good way. I dnf’d about 50% of the way through because I was dreading picking it back up and just did not want to continue to read a very depressing and sad story rather than the lighthearted and fluffy one I thought I was getting. It also annoys me when authors from a different country insert their political opinions on what’s happening in the US into what’s supposed to be a romantic comedy. Please stop! I read to escape not to hear a regurgitation of what every liberal news station is saying on repeat.

I laughed, I cried, and I adored every second of this book!

Josie and Zac are the PERFECT friends-to nothing-to-friends again-to lovers trope.
I will not accept any other takes (okay, I *will*, but really, who would argue with me?).

Bonus points for really helpful and informative depiction of medical anxiety and an accurate portrayal of the way grief affects relationships of all kinds.

I absolutely 100% recommend this book!

I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley, all opinions are my own and a review was not required.

A slow burn, friends to lovers romcom set in Australia (we love)! This was fun and fresh and had enough depth that it was engaging and captivating. We love to see a an exploration of deeper issues to make it more realistic and relatable. Keen to read more from Natalie!

Josie is a news reporter who struggles with hypochondria; she’s constantly worried that she has cancer among other things. She ends up going to Newcastle to cover another reporter’s leave, and reconnects with her estranged best friend, Zac.

Zac had always had feeling for Josie, but he never acted on them. When they were apart, he fell in love with someone else, but she died in a car accident. So when Josie comes back into his life, he’s wary of letting her back in.

Josie and Zac were clearly both struggling with their own mental health, but they were there for each other. And it was great that they managed to rekindle their friendship and turn it into something more.

This is told in alternating timelines, but it’s not chronological. So it did get a little confusing, at times.

But overall, it was an enjoyable read between two best friends turned strangers turned lovers.

Also, it was fun because it was set in Australia.

This was a super slow burn friends to lovers romance. I did not care for the duel timelines. It got a bit confusing. Josie was a bit annoying as well. Easy read but kind of slow paced.

Love, Just in is the first book I’ve read by Natalie Murray. I was nervous to start this book since there were so many comparisons to Emily Henry and I am a huge Emily Henry fan. I was afraid Love, Just In would not live up to the hype. I was pleasantly surprised once I started reading because Josie and Zac’s story had me hooked from the very beginning.

Josie and Zac used to be best friends and Zac has been in love with her for most of their friendship. A series of events causes these best friends to lose contact for a couple years and when they’re brought back together, they’re forced to address everything that happened. The miscommunication between these two was infuriating at times but caused some much needed angst for a romance. Their story was wonderfully written, and Natalie Murray did a fantastic job describing this story and painting a beautiful backdrop of Australia. Also, as someone who struggles with mental health issues, I enjoyed learning about health anxiety and the struggles that come with it.

Love, Just In will make you laugh and cry. It brings out all the emotions you would expect in a slow-burn romance. When Josie and Zac finally give in to their attraction, we get the perfect amount of steam and romance. I loved this story from beginning to end and I know you will too.

This captivating love story follows a woman who moves to her lifelong best friend's town for a temporary assignment after a two year separation instigated by a traumatic event. We're in her head as she recognizes his irreplaceable position in her life and her feelings about him begin to change. Or are finally understood, depending on how you look at it.

I stayed up until 4am and finished this in two days. I couldn't put it down. It's a testament to consistency and being there for someone you love. There are no grand romantic gestures in this novel. The author simply explores what happens when you realize you'd rather sit around and watch tv with your person than go out to dinner or on a trip with anyone else. It's the kind of love that lasts and the kind that is often overlooked in modern romances. The chemistry is off the charts due to the 14+ years of history reflected upon in the flashbacks throughout the book. I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the genre.

Love, Just in is a classic slow burn, friends-to-lovers romance, set on the east coast of Australia.

Josie and Zac are high-school best friends that have recently been reunited. But Zac has been avoiding Josie for the last two years… Will the two re-kindle their friendship or will it fall apart?

This book was a cute classic romance! A little bit cliche but also a lot cute and I did really enjoy reading it. The writing style makes for a quick and easy read and I do love reading books set in Aus.

I do think that this book could have done without most of the flashbacks. I felt having every second chapter as flashback took away from the present plot and was a bit distracting. While some flashbacks did provide context, I think there could have been less overall.

But what I liked more about this book, than the romance was the discussion of some of the more serious issues, especially the discussions around health anxiety. This is something I have personally experienced a lot more of post pandemic, so it was nice to see it represented in a book.

*I received this as an ARC* 3-3.5 stars
Love, Just In follows the story of Josie, a news reporter in Sydney, Australia. She gets reassigned to a smaller town, which she tries to use as an advantage to prove to the big-wigs at Sydney that she’s ready for something bigger.
And who lives in this smaller town? Of course, it’s her estranged male best friend from childhood/college roommate, Zac.
A lot of miscommunication ensues as the two circle around each other as now-single adults and their respective personal problems. Zac had an extremely traumatic event happen two years ago which coincides when he stopped keeping in touch with Josie. Josie has significant health anxiety that at this point is interfering with her job and life.
Overall, this was a cute, quick friends-to-lovers type read. However, it was very miscommunication trope-heavy, which I didn’t love.

Thanks to NetGalley and Allen and Unwin for the opportunity to read this book.

This is a friends to lovers rom-com that deals with some serious topics like health anxiety and grief. I'm going to admit to not loving the main female character Josie for the first half of the book. She came across as completely self-centred to me. But as the story progressed and she opened up about her anxiety, she became easier to understand, and I felt bad for me previously unkind thoughts towards her. I liked that this friends to lovers relationship was so slow burn and seemed more true to life.

Overall, it is an enjoyable story to lose yourself in the pages of.

I've read a lot of romcoms. Yes the friends-to-lovers is a common trope, but this one managed to feel fresh. The writing was crisp and witty. The author skillfully handled writing about the female MC's anxiety. I would like to read more by Natalie Murray!

Josie is a struggling newscaster in Australia. There was one incident where Josie froze during a live segment in Sydney. She is sent on a short term assignment in Newcastle as punishment. It’s where her high school bestie, Zac, lives and works. they did everything together back then. They even lived together for a while during university.

She struggles with illness anxiety disorder where she is constantly afraid of having cancer because of a minute symptom. This is the reason she froze on camera and it could likely happen again. It’s important to speak to a medical professional about this, but it takes Josie quite some time before she does so.

Zac is recovering emotionally after being in a car wreck that killed his fiancée because of a drunk driver. They were actually in their way to tell her parents that they’re breaking off their engagement. He’s super patient with most people, except those who drink and drive. There’s no tolerance for that. Did I mention that Zac it an emergency medical technician?

My favorite character is Zac because he’s so level headed and cares so much about his friends. He’s the guy many women would want as their other half because he’s so loving and looks out for those he cares about.

I did find it helpful for Josie to share about her experiences with her illness anxiety disorder on a news segment along with a therapist who acknowledged that the illness is common and therapy is recommended.

I give this book 4 out of 5 tiaras because it was slow going the first half or so of the book. I was nearly ready to give up and not finish it. But I wanted to know more about how Zac and Josie got to be such good friends. Thanks to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for access to this work.

Did not expect to relate to this one as much as I did! It piqued my interest due to being set in my hometown, something I have never seen in a book, but I had no idea that I would be relating SO HARD to the mental health struggles of the main character.

Love, Just In follows Josie who is sent just north of Sydney to Newcastle for work. There she catches up with her childhood best friend Zac, who she had drifted apart from in recent years.

Friends to lovers is not my favourite trope, however I really enjoyed this book for the health anxiety representation. It's something that I have been struggling with a HUGE amount since becoming a mum, so seeing a character in a book deal with this was lovely.

The only things I didn't enjoy a great deal within the book was the fact that the only cute comments the main characters made to each other were when they were drunk. This may be because of my personal history with drunk people (I do not like them lol). The main character also did start to annoy me at points, for example she was giving "pick me" energy such as:
"‘Shut up. Let the record show that I’m the last person who’d ever be described as delicate.’ I down the remainder of my glass in one go to prove my point."

But overall really enjoyed this one! And I'll be getting myself a physical copy!

"It’s time to admit that my life isn’t made up of a series of adorable little ducks sitting in a perfect row. My ducks are injured and losing feathers, and one possibly has a bung eye, but that’s OK. That’s me, stumbling through life."

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

Love, Just In
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Author: Natalie Murray

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Allen & Unwin and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: Sydney TV news reporter Josephine "Josie" Larsen is approaching 30 and coming dangerously close to failing at life. Lost in a vortex of other people's career milestones, engagement parties, and baby showers, Josie is perennially single, abandoned by her globetrotting family, and invisible to her boss - except for the one time he tuned in while she was mid-panic attack on live TV. As a punishment, Josie is shipped off to cover another reporter's six-month leave at a regional bureau in Newcastle.

But Josie has more waiting for her in Newcastle than yawn-inducing stories about bicycle lane protests. The city is also the domain of Zac Jameson - her best friend since high school. This should be a happy turn of events, but Zac has barely spoken to Josie for the past two years. Not since his fiancee tragically died in his arms in a car accident and he left Sydney to try and cope with his grief.

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.

My Thoughts: This was an endearing, beautiful story. It dragged in some parts, but overall a very cute love story. The author was an entertainment reporter in another life and that experience bleeds over into this story, really upping the authentic and realism feel. Josie is approaching a milestone birthday, 30, and feels like she has failed at everything in life. She has been completely unseen by her boss, except for the one time she had a panic attack on live TV, he is now shipping her to cover another reporter while they are on leave. Not just anywhere, but to Newcastle, where her best friend is living. Zac has been dealing with his own issues, experiencing his fiancée dying in his arms after a car accident and just trapped in inconceivable grief. Now they are back in each other lives, trying to repair their friendship, while coming to grips with secretly pining after one another for years. The author does an amazing job at mental health representation, specifically, anxiety. Showcasing that it is a real disorder and there is not a one fits all approval and it can be a lot more complex than “just calming down.” To learn that the author also suffers from anxiety puts a tad bit more authentic approach on this topic. This follows the tropes of best friends, friends to lovers, miscommunication, and second chance.

The story is narrated by Josie, in her POV, in present and past. I love when a character’s past is involved that we get snippets throughout the story to fill in the gaps. This is a slow burn, palpable tension, built up angst, and some miscommunication. Josie and Zak have missed their opportunity to be more than friends more than once. The author tackles some serious topics, such as cancer, grief, loss, mental health, and anxiety. The characters were well developed with depth, witty banter, chemistry, and creatively spun. The author’s writing style was complex, steamy with plenty of spice, funny at times, serious at other times, and engaging. The author did an amazing job with setting the scene, the details were so vivid, I really felt like I was there in Newcastle, Australia.

This book really touched my heart. Even at a slow burn, I loved the palpable tension and chemistry between our MCs and their love story is just heartwarming. I highly recommend picking up today!

This book gave me vague "People We Meet on Vacation" vibes. It addresses some pretty heavy topics -- grief and severe anxiety, specifically health anxiety -- and is at the same time cute and entertaining. I was rooting for Josie and Zac the entire time. This was one of the most true-to-life friends-to-lovers romances I've read.