I enjoyed listening to Cole and Laila! Andrew Eiden/Teddy Hamilton is always a great listening experience for me. Cole was very sweet and I enjoyed their relationship. It felt a little immature for the age of the characters but it was good for a road trip!

Tropes:
Lifelong best friends to ❤️
Romcom
Mutual secret pining
Cinnamon roll hero who would do anything for her

Hilarious romcom and super sweet read. Thank you NetGalley for the ALC.

DNFed at 36% for three major reasons.

1. While it seems to be marketed as a stand alone, it is clearly a continuation of another book and doesn’t give a recap of that book. I felt lost but not interested enough to find a copy of the first book to get context.
2. The relationships in this books just don’t ring true to me. I just don’t buy two high powered celebrities being best of friends with two bumpkins who have nearly never left their small town and are too naive to realize they have been in love with each other for 25 years. The friendships *might* have worked for me if they were all 10 to 15 years younger.
3. The is a dual POV story. Hers is in first person and his is in third person. I’ve never noticed a book doing this before. It was jarring every time the POV changed.

I absolutely loved this story! Before reading, I saw some reviews that complained about the characters seeming immature for their age, but I didn't feel that way at all. I turned thirty-five this year so the MCs are 4+ years older than me and I feel like their thoughts and actions were absolutely on par with my reality. Does anyone ever actually feel completely grown up?! I adored all of the pop culture references peppered throughout. They were perfection. This was my first Bethany Turner book, but I can't wait to read more!

Laila...what an absolutely relatable FMC...and one of my favorites lately! I love how Laila isn't chasing some crazy career or intense goal. She truly loves being a waitress and interacting with all the people of Adelaide Springs, sewing, and hanging out with Cole. Her life is a simple one, but she is so happy and I love that.

Cole...He honestly reminds me a lot of Luke in Loyally, Luke by Pepper Basham. He's fiercely loyal, works hard, and has a great beard. I loved his journey to realizing his feelings for Laila. To be honest, friends to more is not usually my favorite, but I think Bethany just did it so well in this one!

Things I loved...The friendship between Cole, Laila, Seb, and Brynn, the way loss was dealt with in such a genuine and respectful way, Laila's cats and their names (I don't even usually care for cats), all the music, TV, movie, etc. references (❤️), the humor (I laughed so many times), the precious little things Cole and Laila do (and have always done) for one another, and the simplistic ending (I usually love a good epilogue, but I felt like this bare bones wrap-up was so true to the book).

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🌶️

5 out of 5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Christian Publishing group for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

It's official, Bethany Turner is on my auto buy list. I absolutely adored this book. She perfectly encompasses the small town feel. This felt like a well written hallmark movie on the page. The friends to lovers trope without miscommunication driving the plot made the book more enjoyable to me. I found that reading books with older MC's was different from what I normally read (in a good way!) This book is a second book to Brynn and Sebastian hate each other and, spoiler for my review, I LOVED that one too! You don't have to read the first book to enjoy the second but I highly recommend book one as well. Keep in mind, like book one, this book is a sloooooow burn. You get cute moments all throughout the story but it is definitely a slow burn.

Now onto the narrators: I loved them! Teddy Hamilton was especially amazing and he has become one of my favorite narrators to date. I would listen to him read the phonebook. Talon David also did an amazing job and I look forward to listening to audiobooks narrated by her in the future.

I am becoming a bigger and bigger fan of the friends to lovers trope, slow burn and definitely Bethany Turner. I definitely recommend this book if you are fans of these tropes.

Right off the bat, friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes, so when I saw this description on NetGalley, I was excited from the start. I had no idea this book was the second in a series that starts with "Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other," which I just so happened to have listened to. While I don't think you must have read Brynn and Sebastian's book first, it certainly sets up this book with a lot more context - and honestly, my favorite thing about Brynn and Sebastian's book was the townspeople (including Cole and Laila).

Cole and Laila's story as the best friends all of their lives - but unwilling to consider anything else for the sake of their friendship is a classic. I love it because the author doesn't have to convince us that the two MCs know each other well enough to fall in love. In this case, it is 1000% obvious that they do. They are so in sync that they know how to comfort, make each other smile, and almost read each other's minds (except when it comes to a budding romantic interest).

Cole and Laila's romp through NYC was a love letter to the city and very fun for anyone who loves a good New York TV show or movie. I have also visited some of my favorite NYC TV/Movie haunts with my best friend with the same unfiltered giddiness.

Overall, Cole and Laila's story was the right mix of slow burn, heart-aching, and satisfying. It's also good to note that this book has zero spice (kissing is the farthest it goes). I find it easier for folks to enjoy when they know that going in.

Cole and Laila are Just Friends. Is a book I've set with and the narration was great the story not so much. They never thought about being together. Ok thats fine but then its a thought and I feel like they just go around with what the other person says. We should try a date oh okay. This won't work. Oh okay that makes sense. the actions and dialogue just didnt make sense. I almost DNF'd this but carried on...


Thanks to Netgalley for this audio arc in exchange for my hones review.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing access to the audiobook *Cole and Laila are Just Friends*! Wow, what a fantastic book that had me rooting for Cole and Laila to become more than friends right from the start! I instantly fell in love with Laila and her vibrant personality. The narrators did an incredible job bringing Bethany Turner's characters to life. This book earns a solid 4 stars! Let it take you on an unforgettable ‘friendship’ adventure!

I liked the continuation of the Brynn/Sebastian story line. I didn't really care for the friends to lover angle, even though that was the whole point of the story. I just didn't buy the relationship by the end of the story. I wasn't invested.

I received an advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

Cole and Laila are Just Friends written by Bethany Turner and narrated by Talon David and Andrew Eiden is an absolutely adorable book!! The narrators do an excellent job voicing each character’s POV.

Cole Kimball and Laila Olivet have been BFFs forever. They have done almost everything together, even working together at a restaurant where Cole is a chef and Laila is a waitress. When Cole’s grandpa passes unexpectedly, Laila is there to help Cole. However, after reading his grandpa’s will, Cole shuts down and won’t let anyone in.

Laila helps Cole navigate both his grandpa’s death and betrayal and supports him on a trip to NYC.

Cole and Laila soon find out that they may just like each other a little more than friends. After an adorable date in the city, the BFFs realize how much more they are than just friends. Unfortunately, Cole is set on moving to NYC and Laila is not willing to move from Adelaide Springs, Colorado.

The story touches on heartache and abandonment issues and really forces the main characters to dig deep and communicate. It’s just a sweet, very G rated romance book. I enjoyed its innocence. And, I am pretty sure we all need a Cole in our life. ;)

I enjoyed re-meeting Sebastian and Brynn from Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other. Seems like they are doing very well and living out their HEA. ;)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins Christian Publishing, and Thomas Nelson for an advanced listen of Cole and Laila are Just Friends in exchange for my honest review. All thought and opinions are my own.

3.5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book early! I love the friends to lovers trope so I was really excited for this book. However, this book wasn't my favorite. This book follows Cole and Laila. They've been friends since they were kids and now they're almost 40 and life is changing. They both work at his grandfather's restaurant and are each other's person, but when his grandfather dies and sells the restaurant, Cole and Laila aren't sure what's next. Cole feels hurt and betrayed that his grandfather didn't tell him anything, so he's really wanting to leave their small Colorado town. He gets an offer to be a chef in Brooklyn, so a lot of the book is Cole and Laila scouting out NYC. Laila has no desire to leave Colorado, so their friendship is on the brink of a huge change. They have a married couple as friends, Brynn and Sebastian, and I guess they have their own book and while it wasn't necessary to the story, I feel like it could've really helped set the stage. They're famous and uber wealthy so they have a house in Manhattan as well as Colorado and, even though Cole's job is in Brooklyn, most of the book is them exploring Manhattan. There was really no mention of him even checking out the job, so that was weird. Furthermore, for being almost 40 (39), these characters read VERY young. They were so naive about each other and talking about deep stuff, it was not great. The AHA moment from friends to lovers also felt very weird and insignificant for a 30+ year relationship. The ending was also very convenient. So while I love this trope, the immaturity of the characters, the slightly underdeveloped plot, the convenience of the switch, and the ending made this just a little better than an okay read for me.

this book was super cute. Just like the first one. Another smash it. I love everything about this world and I can't wait to see what happens next.

5 Stars
I loved this book! It was such a great example of writing a story without the miscommunication troupe that is in so many romance books. The characters had great emotional intelligence that was such a breath of fresh air. This is a great summer read that I will think about for a long time. I am adding all of this authors other books to my list because I want more of whatever she is writing. I also really enjoyed the narrators. I love an audiobook with more than narrator and they were phenomenal. I was greatly surprised by this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Christian Publishing for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook.

My standards are higher for this title because of it being published by a Christian publisher. The book has no Christian fiction elements but more so questionable elements if it was a real Christian fiction (shared bed and living space).

Overall, that aside the writing was poor (mixed first and third person between chapters), characters were very immature for being 40- I kept having to remind myself they weren’t 20, and even with friends to lovers being my fav trope- this fell flat and wasn’t showing me why I should route for them and felt more immature than believable. Overall, this author and series isn’t for me because I felt the same about the first book. I’m also still eagerly waiting for Thomas Nelson to start publishing real Christian fiction again.

Cute! I love a fun friends to more story. And Cole and Laila are just adorable and you can definitely see that they are the best of friends. The perfect start to any relationship! I loved how they knew each other so well that they could anticipate what the other was thinking or feeling. That's a gift to have in any relationship. But I will say that I had to suspense reality and my disbelief that these two have known each other their whole lives and are 40ish years old and this is the first time that they are realizing there is more to their feelings than just a platonic friendship. Yes, the author does put some thoughts in both characters' POVs about them brushing off those feelings and just staying friends but now with Cole getting ready to leave their small town, those feelings come rushing to the surface. So if you can suspend reality and your disbelief on those and go with the story, it is really cute and full of humor and great references that older adults will love! Gilmore Girls and many other tv show/movie references, and lots of celebrity references that those in their 40s+ will understand and giggle over. And hey, hopefully others who are younger will catch the references and will enjoy them as well!

The book opens with some sad news that builds up for Cole thinking about moving to NYC where his and Laila's best friends live. We get to go on an adventure in the Big Apple with these two and I loved that!

I listened to the audiobook and loved that there were two narrators, one male and one female to capture the personalities of these two characters! Well done. I really enjoyed it a lot!

Content: There is a one bed trope moment that the main characters share a bed. Nothing happens but some looks and thoughts but the thoughts didn't get graphic. Some kisses but nothing further. Clean language.

I received a copy of the audiobook from the publisher, Harper Collins Christian Publishing, via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions in the review are my own.

Happy Reading!!!

This one is, by far, my favorite of Bethany Turner’s so far. It had several points that left me chuckling and I was so happy with how their relationship progressed. I personally also love when a couple exits the friend zone which may have an impact on my rating here. It’s a more difficult trope and I feel like the author did a great job with it. Cole is also the sweetest MMC ever!

🌀Synopsis
Cole and Laila have been best friends forever. When Cole’s grandpa dies things get crazy for him and Laila is right there to support him. Even when that means they take a trip to New York so Cole can escape and think about pursuing a new career. Laila can’t imagine life without him but knows she needs to be supportive.
In New York a different Cole and Laila emerge. One where they recognize there may be deeper feelings than just friendship. They go on dates and finally are able to show the affection that’s been hidden for so long.
The problem is still that Laila can’t move and Cole is. When Cole leaves early to take care of the remaining paperwork Laila is heartbroken. She chases after him, realizing it’s now impossible for her to live without him and it’s impossible to be just his friend too.

This book really didn’t do anything for me - seemed like a force second book. I didn’t like that the characters were completely platonic for 85% of the book. Their friendship wasn’t even really shown but rather told. We were never really shown special moments and memories between them. It seems like they were emotionless and had to be told they love each other which makes it seem like an external relationship to satisfy friends and family. Then they had their date were they pretended to be strangers and it felt very cringe. Overall the book just felt forced.

Very enjoyable story, just like a hallmark movie. I enjoyed this friends to more story. These characters are in late 30s + 40s, they have been best friends for ever, each other's person. when the rug gets pulled out from Cole his life turns on its head. One last birthday together and things shift. The usual things happen, it falls apart but seeing its obvious to everyone but themselves that they were meant to be it comes together for a HEA.
This is a sweet story nothing more than some sweet kisses. Audio was easy to listen to and was also enjoyable.

I love books with pop culture references and this one had so many, it was delightful. And while the friends to lovers trope is not my favorite, this one was still cute and a fun read.

I liked the idea of this book, but after getting a quarter of the way through it and still not caring about what happens, I'm DNFing. I like the friends to lovers trope, but this one just felt like it dragged on and to be friends for your literal entire life to the degree that these two were and have the intimacy and proximity that they do with each other was unbelievable to me. For them to have coupled friends that are also in their late 30s and none of them have ever suggested anything more happens between Cole and Laila is REACHING. I talk about a boy once and my entire friend group thinks that he and I are about to start dating lol. I have no desire to read any more of this one and with as many ARCs as I have to get through right now, it just doesn't seem worth it to try to push through any further.