I started this with high hopes, especially seeing it was recommended for fans of Emily Henry, but it ultimately fell flat for me. I was not drawn to the characters and found myself not interested and not wanting to pick it up. Can't win 'em all! Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity!

When I started reading Love, Just In by Natalie Murray, ​I​ was looking forward to a cute romance. And while it was a cute romance, it also had some great substance, and ​I ended up reading it in a single sitting!
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Josie has a great job as a TV reporter in Sydney and is working her way up the ladder when an on-air panic attack gets her sent off to a smaller station in Newcastle. With a plan to fight her way back to Sydney (and hopefully to a full time newsreader position), Josie heads off to the sleepy beach town...and to her best friend, Zac, who moved there two years earlier, after his fiancée passed away. Although they were best friends since high school, Josie and Zac haven't really talked since his move. Now, they have the chance to reestablish their close friendship, and perhaps their secret attraction, as well.
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Growing apart from friends can be so painful, and reconnecting with them, while very nice, can be very awkward.I loved watching Josie and Zac reestablish their friendship, at times falling back on old inside jokes to feel connected, and at other times pushing each other to grow.
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Moreover, Murray portrayed Josie’s health anxiety and Zac’s grief so authentically. Josie's anxiety spirals, although specific to health, were easy to relate to, and ​I​ was so happy to see her finally open up to people she trusted to get help and support through very stressful times. Zac's grief also felt real, and ​I could really understand why it had, at times, driven a wedge between Josie and him.
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Overall, ​I really enjoyed Love, Just In by​ Natalie Murray. If you like sweet, funny, and genuine stories about love and friendship, Love, Just In is out now! Many thanks to Allen & Unwin, Natalie Murray, and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

There’s a reason the cover evokes Emily Henry’s novels - Natalie Murray could very well be the Aussie Em Hen! This is a romance with heart, heat, humour, a lot of will-they/won’t they, and emotional depth and back story that builds the slow burn.

I love how this all came together. The explanation for why the friends were never anything more in the past can sometimes let a story down, but LOVE, JUST IN & Josie & Zac’s backstory totally worked for me.
And while we’re talking about Zac…More of his transition from friend-zoned paramedic to dirty-talking sex god, please 👏

✅ Love a romance with mental health rep.
✅ Love an Aussie-based romance (and even better for this Sydneysider, a NSW setting!).
✅ Love some heat & a little forced proximity.
✅ Love a happily-ever-after.

LOVE, JUST IN was a winner for me!

This was just an okay read for me. I loved the writing style, but couldn't get into the characters.

3.5 rounded down.

I’m not sure I was the intended audience for this book. There were many parts of the book that I liked. I’m usually a sucker for friends to lovers romance. I appreciated the roommate debacles. And overall I liked the tension between the fmc and the mmc. The spice was good and well places. I also did like the medical anxiety and the way it was presented.

Things I didn’t like-
Fmc acting very immature. Lack of communication. The whole have the boxes ticked by 30 trope. Getting in a car with anyone after drinking really? Maybe I’m just too old to commiserate with these kinds of plot points.
Book felt drawn out, mildly repetitive, over written. I feel like we could have slimmed down a bit and still gotten the points across. There were definitely points where I lost interest.

Arc provided by netgalley. My opinions are my own

I loved Josie and Zacs friends to lovers romance. It was absolutely beautiful. I loved it! I will he put this on a shelf to keep. Love love loved it! Can't wait to read more from Natalie Murray.
I just reviewed Love, Just In by Natalie Murray. #LoveJustIn #NetGalley
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I’m learning now that I actually am a fan of friends-to-lovers books! Love reading a story where the characters already love and respect and care for one another.

I do see the similarities with Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation, but Josie and Zac were just two characters I couldn’t find myself super invested in. I’m glad we learned more about Zac’s experiences later in the book, but other than that, seeing him from Josie’s perspective in this way just painted him as yet another squeaky clean, sweet, patient, perfect guy while Josie herself is—in her own eyes—a mess. When it came to Zac and her love life (only when it came to these things!) I couldn’t much stand Josie’s woe-is-me attitude and some of her very knowingly careless choices.

On another note, Josie struggles with some mental health obstacles (that won’t be spoiled in this review), and I think Murray did a great job of approaching how Josie learned more about it and navigated it as part of her personal and professional life.

All in all—not a book that I would return to, but I do like Murray’s writing style and would be interested in reading more books by her.

3.5 stars!

This was a cute friends-to-lovers and second-chance romance. I was invested in these characters and was rooting for them from the start. This story was told from a dual timeline, past and present. Josie suffers from anxiety, and I felt that it was handled in such a delicate manner by Murray. It was nice to see a voice given to anxiety.

There was such great character development throughout this book. It made me feel lots of varying emotions as it dealt with some difficult topics. All of this made this a great read. This is my first book by Murray, and I truly enjoyed it.

Thank you NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for an ARC in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

Love, Just In by Natalie Murray is a book about life being messy and how differently people deal with it. I will say that this is written nicely, I just couldn't finish it. I hope to try again as so many reviewers enjoyed it.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC
Friends to Lovers Rom-Com that also touches on serious issues. It is very heartwarming. There are time jumps to showcase how the two met. It takes place in Australia & there is a cute dog.

Unfortunately could not get into this one. Was very excited by the description, and comparison to Emily Henry’s novels. While the book covers some heavy themes, felt the execution just fell a little flat. Thanks to NetGalley for the chance!

Thank you NetGalley and Natalie for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for a review.

I absolutely loved this story! 6 months that change everything!!

We have mental health and breast cancer awareness, which is absolutely amazing!!

In Love, Just In we meet Josie, who is approaching 30 and feels like she hasn’t accomplished anything. When her job requires her to be relocated for 6months, her life changes for the better.

After not speaking with her best friend Zac for nearly 2yrs the two have to try to learn to navigate their friendship again. However, it is not easy when the two clearly have a hidden attraction to one another and a bunch of secrets they’re hiding.

This book is honestly amazing and set in Australia! I would highly recommend!!

This was a great read. Light but heartfelt. Loved Josie being a tv reporter, it felt real and nuanced as a women having to navigate regional television. Loved Zac. Loved the real way Natalie Murray navigated their past, present and future. This is a great read.

I requested this book because the cover reminded me of Emily Henry's books, and this book did not dissapoint. I thought it was super romantic and funny. I will be sure to look for more books by Natalie Murray in the future. It was super cute and just what the doctor prescribed to a diehard romantic such as myself. I loved it.

If you like Emily Henry or Tessa Bailey you are sure to enjoy this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my review!

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This book did not manage to hold my interest beyond the first chapter. The writing was good, but it didn't strike me the way I expected when I read the description.

An Enjoyable, fun and entertaining story set in a beautiful city. Characters are relatable and real.

Epitome of just another romance. It was boring and the plot moved way too slow. It was a chore to get through.

It's always refreshing to read books based in Australia. This was a good read! I have to admit the FMC annoyed me a little as she comes off as self centred but I guess it's all for the plot!

This was such a good book! I enjoyed this romantic comedy and read it in one day! I would definitely recommend this book!

This was cute, but I think I had some issues buying into the romance. I am a big friends-to-lovers fan (even more than enemies-to-lovers, but I know I'm in the minority), but there are a few factors that can really make or break it. The first is that I really need to buy into the friendship/closeness between the characters, and there also needs to be enough romantic chemistry to convince me that they should be *more*, and I don't think this really accomplished either.

This also had some general pacing issues, where I felt like the middle was a bit of a slog. I just wanted there to be a bit more going on, and this one fell a little bit flat for me.