Katie, Olive and Noah have been friends for a very long time.
Actually, I think Noah is the one that got away for Olive
They are reunited again when Katie’s husband and Noah are in a terrible accident.

I liked Olive right away and know what took me a bit to warm up to, but once I did, I really enjoyed them.

Like small town, romance and Second Chance novels this book is for you!

Classic Jill Shalvis! Better Than Friends is 100 percent charm. Filled with a charmingly quirky cast of characters (both two and four footed), Olive and Noah’s happily ever after tale is a heartwarming good time. I loved every minute.

Jill Snacks is one of my favorite authors. This was such a cute read. A little romance, a little quirky and of course a pet or two. The story holds your interest, I started the book today and finished it tonight, quick read for me!!! Always look forward to her books, seldom disappointed! Thank you for the opportunity to read this book!!!

Olive comes back home after years of avoiding to help her best friends family. Her avoidance from Noah has resulted in her relationships not being what they should be. Olive and Noah play the avoidance game while flirting from a distance. They both have their own issues and we follow along as they come to terms with the past and grow in the present. Great story if growth and found family. Loved how these two went from friends to enemies to lovers.
I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a complimentary copy

I loved Oli and Noah and how they got their HEA. Joey stole the show along with his furry pals. This author never disappoints and this series has been a wonderful one.

This book was pretty good. I loved how the author wrote the Katie, the best friend. She never mentioned an actual diagnosis, just wrote about how everyone loved her for her. The relationship between the main characters was a bit confusing but still cute. I laughed out loud every time Joey popped up at an inopportune moment.

I love Jill Shalvis' wit & snarkiness! Her characters are always fun & relatable to me. This story kept me hooked and I couldn't put it down!

Let me start by saying I have not read any of the other Sunrise Cove books but was able to jump right into this book no problem!

Better Than Friends had an interesting premise although I thought the plot line with Olives parents was a bit of a waste. It was not a bad story over all just didn't really hold my interest. As other readers have mentioned Noah was tough to root for because he was so hot and cold. I enjoyed the setting and Olives character. She is always willing to help and has overcome so much in her life and still managed to be successful.

If you like small town, second chance romance and found family check this one out for sure when it comes out in January.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jill Shalvis, and HarperCollins Publishers for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was perfect for me! Joey was absolutely hilarious throughout this book! The interactions and communication between characters was great and written very nicely. It took some time for me to get used to Katie but I can also relate to her neurodivergent tendencies and how it can come off to other people.
The strong female friendships is what made me love this book because it was just so refreshing to see and just made the book that much more comforting.
The writing is so good and I was able to get immersed into this book so easily.

I love Jill Shalvis books!! This was no exception. What a fun read! The book is about a second chance romance with a little mystery thrown in. Olive is back in Sunrise Cove to help her best friend. While she is back she starts to look for her parents. She ends up getting help from an old friend who happens to be her best friend’s brother, Noah. Old wounds and secrets come out and they realize they have a love that cannot be denied. Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager and Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I truly enjoyed this story about Noah and Olive. They had a history that complicated their relationship. Olive came back home to help Katie and her son because Katie’s husband was in a coma. Noah and Olive are thrown together and aren’t happy about it. Katie was wonderful with her quirkiness. She had difficulty understanding social cues. I would recommend this book . I was gifted an arc from Net Galley but this is my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. This book is an easy, delightful read. The characters are easy to like though it did take awhile for Katie to grow on me. Another Jill Shaves goodie!

I loved this beautiful story of young love rekindled. It's been years since I read something by Jill Shalvis and I've definitely been missing out. She writes expressive, relatable characters that you want to know better. The main characters had plenty of baggage and left over childhood trauma shaping who they were as adults and the relationship choices they made, but there was also such wonderful growth. Seeing them get their happily ever after was a joy.
I look forward to reading more stories based in Sunrise Cove!

There was a lot about this book that I liked, the forced proximity trope being one of them, but it didn’t feel like anything I hadn’t read before. I enjoyed it but not as much as I had hoped I would

This is the first book in the series I stopped midway (42%) through. DNF. The storyline was not original felt as though its been done before.



*****************************I received an ARC for my honest opinion via NetGalley.**************

Overall an average read. If you enjoy Shalvis’ past work, you’ll probably enjoy this book.

There were parts of this book I enjoyed including
- The overall plot - I love a found family and second chance romance. I understood the reason they were separated for years and could see a believable path to successfully getting back together.
- Elements of the writing - I enjoyed the flashbacks in time and different perspectives from Noah and Olive (though more uncommon for the genre that it was in 3rd person)
- The underlying message around embracing your differences and loving your friends unconditionally

A few pieces that weren’t my favorite
- The writing itself - it felt like forceing common saying or memes (e.g., math isn’t mathing) to a fault, forsaking consist and realistic dialog/writing
- The back and forth between Noah and Olive - I understand they cared for each other and we’re struggling with their own issues with love, but it felt unhealthy and the type of relationship I wouldn’t wish on a friend
- Some of the characters felt over the top and more like caricatures (e.g., Olive’s mom, Katie…unless Katie is autistic in which case I think that should have been more clear)

Thank you to NetGalley, Jill Shalvis, and HarperCollins Publishers for providing me with an advanced reader copy.

There were some things and moments in this that I really liked— the heroine was a particular highlight— but ultimately something about this book just wasn’t for me. I quite liked a lot of elements in this, and it’s certainly not badly written, but the romance between Noah and Olive just wasn’t my favorite. Noah in general wasn’t my favorite; I think he really made the book drag for me.

Olive is back in her small hometown near Lake Tahoe to help her friend and see her grandma. And that’s it. She’s not here to see, Noah, her childhood crush and the only man she’s ever really loved. And Noah’s never forgiven her for leaving town and barely looking back. In fact, he won’t even let his sister (and Olive’s BFF) Katie even talk about Olive.

Olive and Noah are stone walls against love—they’ve both been burned and have no interest in going there again. But they’re forced into close quarters and all kinds of situations together, and forced to confront their feelings for each other. Watching them push each other away and try to deal with the complexities of their relationship, mistakes in the past, meddling families, and life in general is fun and rewarding. There are some cliches and phrases taken from various memes that I could have done without, but overall, Better Than Friends is a solid, enjoyable read. I wavered between 3 and 4 stars, so ended up rounding up.

Read if you like: Second chances, enemies to lovers, small town, only one bed, childhood friends/teenage crush, good side characters.

Once again, Jill Shalvis delivers a great story filled with humor, wonderful characters, and animals we fall in love with. This book is part of a series, but it definitely stands on its own. Family and second chances are part of this heartfelt book.

I loved the imperfect characters in this book. Olive left home as a teenager and lived with her grandmother. She was friends with Katie and Noah (twins who lived next door.) After Olive accidentally runs Noah's leg over with an ATV ending his baseball college hopes, she leaves town. Katie is married to Joe who is in a coma after an accident while Noah and he were investigating a criminal case. Olive comes home to help, and the past comes back to make things interesting. This was a great story about families and how they impact us no matter how old we are. This is a well written story with great characters. I received an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley, and this is my honest opinion.