After a tragic accident Olive left Sunrise Cove and never moved back. Only coming home for special events here and there, she denied herself the family she always wanted. After Katie, her best friend, calls her and asks for her help Olive comes home for her longest stay in over a decade. She’s happy to be back but there’s still tension between her and Katie’s twin brother Noah. Olive and Noah’s feelings for each other are complicated, and so they try to steer clear of one another. Unfortunately that is impossible staying under the same roof. Things get really steamy when Olive is forced to rely on Noah to find her missing parents. Are Olive’s parents okay? Will Noah and Olive finally work things out? Will Olive be able to return home to Sunrise Cove and live the life full of family and stability she desperately craves?

This story had a lot going on. Kudos to the author for weaving it together so well. It was quite the work of art. I really enjoyed the found family and adventurous parts of this book, but the romance was not for me. Personally I’m not a fan of the hot and cold treatment Noah gives Olive throughout the years, and he just all around annoys me for stringing her along. It was one thing when they were younger but he’s almost 30 now. Grow up lol.

If you like second chance romances, being stranded in a storm with one bed, will they won’t they, a little adventure and almost no spice this book is for you.

Olive Porter valued her friendship with the Turner's. Growing up in a family without a foundation, her grandmother and the Turner's provided the stability she needed. A fake relationship with Noah masked real feelings. When an accident forced Olive to flee Sunrise Cove, she sought shelter in anonymity. Returning to her best friend, it wasn't home but a stopping ground before returning to London.

Years later, Katie needs her help and Olive makes her way across the Pond literally almost running into Noah. Forced to confront her past, will she be able to move on from teenage heartbreak or are those embers long since buried about to catch fire?

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for the early edition of #BetterThanFriends in exchange for an honest review. I'm a fan of the author's Sunrise Cove series and each new release feels like coming home. Olive's return to her childhood home stirs up feelings she thought were in the past. Will being thrown in Noah's path create an obstacle she doesn't want to overcome?

Jill Shalvis knows how to weave a story and this book is no exception. I liked the characters in the book however I didn't love them - too many issues, both real and imagined seem to keep the main characters from growing on me. This 7th book in the series is a good one but I would love to see characters from the past books make an appearance just to see how they're doing. I look forward to the next installment from this Author! Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and Author for the opportunity to review this book, all comments are my own.

Olive never expected to see Noah again after so many years of not speaking to each other. To her surprise, she will be dealing with him in close proximity when she agrees to help her best friend. Hopefully, Olive will be able to contain her compose and her heart with Noah. She always loves him, but it’s best to keep the distance. 

Noah wants to go back to work; unfortunately, he has to recuperate his injuries. And it doesn’t help that his sister and mother keep setting him up for dates, or he has to deal with Olive after so many years. She still gets to him no matter how long the years past. He just needs to protect himself, even though he still loves her. 

I always love reading any of Jill Shalvis books. She knows how to write romance or women's fiction. And it’s no different with this book, Better than Friends.

What I loved about this was the main character, Olive. She may not be for everyone because she is all about her work and composition. But Olive has guts and determination whenever she deals with an issue, no matter what. I like that very much for the main character whenever they are dealing with major issues in their stories. 

What I didn’t like in this book was Olive's best friend opinions. No matter what, you should always support your best friend. Olive's best friend has strong opinions about her not staying close by. Everyone has their own path, so she should not judge at all. Personally, I think the best friend needs to be a little more supportive and less opinionated. 

Honestly, I think everyone will enjoy Jill Shalvis books. It’s such wholesome yet a bit messy women's fiction read.

old flames come together to help each other, a second chance at love story. Love Jill Shalvis books.

Jill Shalvis has crafted an absolute treasure with this book. Olive and Noah’s journey is a thrilling ride of rekindled romance set against the backdrop of a charming small town. The enemies-to-lovers and second-chance elements are done to perfection, with their fiery history and current forced proximity creating an irresistible mix of tension and warmth. The balance of family, friendship, and true love adds layers of depth to their story, making it both heartwarming and unforgettable.

Better Than Friends by Jill Shalvis is another winner from this prolific and beloved author.

Olive returns to her hometown and ends up needing the help of the man she left behind all those years ago, Noah. It's a second chance at love/frenemies type of book that I know I will love from Ms. Shalvis because she always has the banter going between the main characters and this doesn't disappoint. She makes her characters dialogue realistic and it sucks me in every time.

The secondary characters are always great and the sprinkling of other characters from this series, make it feel like catching up with old friends.

This can be read as a stand alone, but it's better if you read the others in the Sunrise Cove series. I hope there are many more books in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this book, all opinions are my own.

Olive Porter owns and runs her own PR firm in the UK. She returns to Sunrise Cove, California to help her childhood best friend. Being home again brings a tumult of memories, especially ones about Noah Turner – her high-school crush. When Olive cannot contact her eccentric parents, she needs to rely on Noah to help locate them. Can Olive let go of the past to start anew with Noah? Or did they both miss their chance to be together?

Noah Turner works as a special investigative agent for the National Park Service. When his brother-in-law is severely injured, he decides to return home and help his sister. Noah never expected to run across Olive there. He cannot forget their past nor his dormant feelings for her. Noah feels he cannot offer Olive what she desires most: stability and security. Will Noah be forced to let Olive go again? Or will he grasp his chance with her?
Both Olive and Noah are haunted by their shared past and regrets. However, they both drop everything to help Katie through her ordeal. Even if it meant being around the other. I love that about them!

What I like the most about Noah is how he looked after Olive in high school. He may have been the “golden boy”, but he did not behave pretentiously like most do. I adore Olive’s patience with Katie’s neurodivergent tendencies. Other people would not be so understanding or patient. Instead, Olive loved that about her best friend, often teasing her about hugs or sense-of-humor things.

BETTER THAN FRIENDS is the seventh book in Jill Shalvis’ contemporary-romance series, SUNRISE COVE. This story, like its predecessors, can easily stand alone. It is not necessary to read the series in order. The only aspect each book shares is the setting: a charming small town on/near Lake Tahoe in California. Sometimes I do wish the author would allow characters from past books to make a small cameo or honorary mention.
I am not a fan of second-chance romances. They always leave me dissatisfied. However, I adore Shalvis’ approach with Olive and Noah. Certain chapters start with a flashback to their high school day. Those passages satisfied my need to “experience” the start of their feelings.

Shalvis never disappoints me. I love the humor she weaves in each book, especially the dialogue between the characters. And the animals – they always add a great (and sometimes personal) touch to the story.

Better than Friends is a second-chance romance with lots of heart. The friendships and family relationships in this have such depth. It has extra cute characters with Holmes, the heartbroken Hound, and Pepper, the kitten who helped piece his heart back together. Little Joey is a hilarious kid, catching his "Aunt" Olive and Uncle Noah kissing on more than one occasion and remembering conversations word for word.
It took Noah a REALLY long time to get his head out of his a$$ but we do get our HEA.

Thank you to Jill Shalvis, Avon and Harper Voyager, and Netgalley for this ARC

Better Than Friends is Jill Shalvis’s latest work. She is one of my favorite authors and I was not surprised that I loved this book. I must read.

Better Than Friends is a really great second chance romance! I found this book very entertaining and overall a really enjoyable read! I had high expectations because this is a Jill Shalvis book and I found this book definitely delivered. I'm not sure I would quite call the main relationship in this book enemies to lovers but mostly because to me it seemed that their history left them with more complicated feelings than can be summed up by saying they're enemies. But perhaps that's just my opinion. I did think that Better Than Friends did really well with being a second chance romance, as I said. If that's a trope you like, I think this book is a must read!

The characters are great and Olive & Noah are definitely characters I could root for, and I thought their relationship was well-developed. Shalvis always seems to excel at writing believable and fun characters, so that was definitely a treat in this book!

This book is obviously for fans of Jill Shalvis and for readers of her Sunrise Cove series. That being said, you do not need to have read this series in order to love this book, and I do think a lot of romance readers will be pleased if they pick up a copy of Better Than Friends! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I never fell in love or had sympathy for the two main characters. They started out being jerks to each other, while at the same time lusting after each other, which was a bit too big of a pull and a push. Let me have my characters hate each other than grow into liking them, rather then having them both pine after each other from the get-go.

This book had so many good tropes. Second chance romance, best friends' brother, single bed, just to name a few.

Olive returns to Sunrise Cove to help her best friend after her husband is in an accident. She does not have the best track record there, known as the girl who ran over the town's golden boy, her best friends bother Noah. When she was 18, she left town without a backwards glance and made a life for herself. Now that she is back, she will have to face everyone that she left behind including Noah.

Noah was driving when his best friend was hurt. Seeing Olive after all this time just adds to his problems. Now that she is back the last thing, he wants is to be around her. The problem is that he has always had a problem staying away from her. He thinks that she left him of her own accord. What he finds out will change everything.

This was a cute second chance romance. There was great character development. There were times that I wanted to shake Noah to make him get with the picture. Little Joey was one of my favorite parts of the book. He added such a cute character to the mix.

Thank you Avon Harper Voyager and NetGalley for this title. This is my very honest review.

Not a bad story for Olive and Noah. However, and I say this with love, it was too repetitive. I liked the back story as an explanation but the current part was always the same.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Avon for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Oh my goodness, this was SO GOOD! It had all the elements that I love about a Jill Shalvis story: snarky dialogue, wonderful main and supporting characters, a wonderful love story, cute animals and kids, and a very satisfying HEA. There was a sweetness to this book similar to that of "The Sweetheart List" even though the story itself is very different.

This is definitely a "buy when it's published" book and audiobook!

A smattering of profanity and R-rated love scenes.

First, I have to say that Joey made me laugh out loud multiple times, like loud snotty laugh out loud! Loved the interactions between characters. Katie took me a little to get used to due to her neurodivergent personality. Sometimes her lack of emotion was a bit jarring like when her husband was in a coma. She didn’t seem to be all that affected by it. As the book went on you got see delve much more into her emotions. Nick and Olive were friends way back in HS and find their way back to each other in this book. Overall, a good read

Quirky family, both found and actual, with long history and long held secrets and feelings, that brew and bubble over only for more to brew up again. Fear of feelings and rampant miscommunication abound, with a solid story and diverse and interesting characters. Will definitely keep you entertained to the end.

The queen of small town rom com is back with a delightful addition to The Sunrise Cove Series. This second chance, best friends brother, friends to lovers rom com will fill your heart with engaging characters and off beat humor. I absolutely loved Olive and Noah.

This friends to exes to lovers just didn't work for me. And I usually love a good second chance romance. This could be because this was an early arc, and some things will get fixed later on. There were just too many of them. So take my review with a grain of salt.

I never fell in love or had sympathy for the two main characters. They started out being jerks to each other, while at the same time lusting after each other, which was a bit too big of a pull and a push. Let me have my characters hate each other than grow into liking them, rather then having them both pine after each other from the get-go.

There was also too much backstory delivered, but it could be because this is the 7th book in the series, and this was told in other books, Hard to say. This is the first one I've read.

And hopefully handing a phone over to a kid with chocolate on their hands, or letting the same six-year-old into the ICU will be fixed in the editing process.

So, if you love this author, and have read this series, then this is probably something you would continue to love.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for making this book available for an honest review. This book will be coming out the 21st of January 2025.