⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5
🌶️🌶️🌶️ 3/5

This book had me nearly crying, wanting to throw my kindle across the room, repeatedly groaning at Sophie's immature actions, and reminiscing on what young love was like for me at their age. This is very much an emotional push and pull romance and I had to constantly remind myself that the characters are in high school and the beginning of college so of course there's bound to be a lot of stupid decisions made by both Sophie and Cooper. Any book that can get me to experience such a wide range of emotions is an automatic favorite for me and this book did just that.

While I spent most of the book mad at Sophie, it was so worth it to see how much she and Cooper grew individually and how their relationship evolved from childhood friends to lovers back to friends and then back to lovers yet again. I can honestly say that I did not have any issues with the book itself, only with the decisions being made by Sophie and Cooper throughout their story 😅

This book is the third installment in the Finding Home series but can be read as a standalone. I read this one as a standalone and was not confused at all, but I could tell whenever the other characters from the first two books were referenced which made me excited to go and read those as well!

Tropes to expect-

🛹 Childhood friends to lovers
💕 The girl next door
🛹 Dual POV & timeline
💕 Second chance
🛹 College/high school romance
💕 Right person, wrong time

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’ll start this off by saying a huge thank you to the publisher, Tisa Matthews and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and give my honest review on this title.

Unfortunately I decided to DNF this book at 26% which I felt was plenty of time to give it a chance.

I think if I had read this book when I was 16-20 I would have really enjoyed it, but for me at the age of 23 I felt like it was a little bit juvenile and young for me personally.
I can 100% understand why people would love this book though, and I don’t have anything bad to say about it. I just felt a little bit uncomfortable reading about a 16 year old having her first sexual experiences.
From what I did read, I liked the dual POV aspect, I always appreciate reading the thoughts and feelings of both main characters. I do think that Tisa is a very good writer and I found the book flowing very well!

It’s a shame I couldn’t continue reading, but I just didn’t feel comfortable personally reading those kind of scenes with someone so young.

Thank you to Victory Editing & NetGalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really wanted to love this book, the cute cover and synopsis drew me to it, but unfortunately it fell flat for me. Finishing this book was a tumultuous task, as it was so repetitive chapter after chapter to the point it was just aggravating. The dual timelines that also switched from POV every other chapter was extremely hard to keep up with. I also understand it was a best friends to lovers trope with a huge emphasis on miscommunication, but it was just too much. If you enjoy those tropes you may really like this book, but for me I just didn’t enjoy it.

Cooper and Sophie have been best friends their entire lives after growing up next door to each other. When they both begin to feel stronger feelings for each other, they decide to give a relationship a try. But with Cooper heading to college and Sophie still in high school it’s a tough start. As Cooper heads to school they break up for the first time, and what ensues is the dual timelines of their relationship back then and how it continues in college. It’s a constant back and forth between them in what felt like a very unhealthy and toxic relationship. Although they find their happily ever after at the end, it felt rushed and really mundane after all they had gone through.

**I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

3.8 🌟🌟🌟⭐

Sophie and Cooper have been best friends since childhood. Growing up two grades apart didn't feel like much until Copper's graduation and he reveals his feeling for her.

I really enjoyed the dual point of views between Sophie and Cooper and the back and forth timeline.

Cooper was such a lovable guy and definitely could of made some better choices but probably my favorite character. I understood a lot of reasoning behind his actions.

Sophie was a bit frustrating at times but overall good.

Sophie is an avid reader and her least favorite trope is miscommunication. We'll let me tell you there is A LOT of miscommunication in this book so if that's not your thing you may not enjoy it.

I read this book in a day so it definitely kept me entertained and excited. It had quite a bit of spice and lots of sweet moments. I would absolutely recommend to friends!

Best friends to lovers supremacy!! This was so cute with some emotional punches thrown in there but wow, how have I not read any Tisa Williams before? Need to read her other books in this series because this was a fun, sweet, easy read! 3.5 stars!

I read this book as a standalone novel, although it is recommend to read it in order (this is the 3rd book of a series).
And let me tell you, I NEED TO READ ALL OF THEM!!

I'm totally obsessed with these characters!!! I can relate to so many things about Sophie 😍 her passion for books is just the best thing in the world!
Reading a book that talks about books is my GO TO.

I think that, above all, I read this book at the right time, I was looking for a good slow burn, which goes back and forth between the present and the past of two characters who have known each other since childhood.
And I have to tell you, this book broke my heart to pieces.

If it's meant to be, it'll be

This book is going straight to my favorites of the year! This is 🤌

this one was tooo sweet 🥹 from the beginning you’re hit with emotional feels and you’re drawn into a unique and beautiful storyline between sophie and cooper. i’m not normally one who enjoys dual timeline, but the way matthews portrays it was easy to follow and made the plot make even more sense (if that makes sense 🤪)

i loved how realistic this was. this is a young and in love sort of romance and all the insecurity and miscommunication made sense and was so relatable, and it’s really nice to see how matthews was able to weave that sort of naive love to it, while also making it have a little spice. it was a great mix of everything i could want in this sort of second chance, young love novel.

this is a perfect and beautiful story and it’ll break your heart and put to right back together again. also, i’m officially a tisa stan so brb i’m going to buy all her books and read more because i cant get enough 🏃‍♀️

also this cover is literally perfection let’s all take another moment to appreciate it.

Omg I loved this book!! I finished this book in less than 24 hours. This was the perfect best friends to lovers. You get to watch Sophie and Coopers relationship grow from kids to young adults. Cooper is the ultimate boy friend. No matter what is happening in their lives he has her back. There was the perfect amount of spice and plot. The dual timeline kept we engaged,

This book was beautiful, I did not put it down!! Finished in one day!! Sophie and Cooper were just perfect for each other since childhood. The clashing and banging heads irked me but the love between the two made up for it! The spice was just right.

Can We Just Be Happy Now? is a great novel, and is exactly what it says in the title. I spent most of the novel impatiently waiting for the characters to get their happy ending. The author cleverly used a dual timeline, weaving Sophie and Cooper’s past and present into a bittersweet narrative that juxtaposed happy and heartbreaking moments into an engrossing tale that will keep you hooked! It was honestly more angsty than what I usually read and what I anticipated but don’t let this deter you. Overall, Can We Just Be Happy Now? was a great read that I finished within 24 hours, and I would definitely recommend checking it out!
I had not encountered Tisa Matthew’s work before Can We Just Be Happy Now? but I will definitely be going back to the other books in the series!

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC copy of this novel through NetGalley.

#CanWeJustBeHappyNow #NetGalley