This book was pretty cute and sweet, I like how Audre despite knowing so much about psychology is still figuring things out like the teenager that she is. The concept of this book is fun, but it definitely tackles some more serious topics.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

I think this might be one of the best YA novels I’ve ever read. I loved Seven Days in June so much, and this was a perfect continuation. Definitely you could read this on its own though.

I loved the relationship and communication between Audre and her mother. Even though it took time to be open with each other, it was really beautiful to see that happen and to discuss and break generational traumas. Same with Bash and his family.

I highly recommend this book.

Audre & Bash Are Just Friends is a vibrant, swoon-worthy story packed with humor, heart, and an unforgettable summer adventure. Tia Williams brilliantly brings to life the opposites-attract dynamic between Audre, the driven and overachieving junior class president, and Bash, the carefree, effortlessly cool senior. Their witty banter and undeniable chemistry leap off the page, making it impossible not to root for them. The fun consultant concept is a fresh and playful setup, allowing the story to explore themes of ambition, self-discovery, and finding joy amid chaos. Williams’ writing is sharp and relatable, capturing the complexities of teen life, family dynamics, and the bittersweet moments of growing up.

This was so cute as a YA! I didnt expect this to be the follow up for Seven Days in June but it was adorable.

Tia Williams is one of my favorite authors of all time. Her writing is effortless and witty but un-serious, in the best possibly way. Seven days in June is also one of my most favorite books of all time so when I heard there was a YA version featuring Audre, I was so excited to get back in to this world. I found Audre to be too precocious in 7 days but in this, her character development was exquisite. She had very real flaws that made her less like a stereotypical character often featured in "set up" storyline tropes but more like someone whose precociousness is masked behind real pain and anxiety. Bash was also so lovable yet he too had a very dark upbringing. The trauma and the philosophizing of it was a lot but there were still magical moments steeped in grand romantic gestures (the tattoo scene!) and instances of perfect comedic timing that you come to expect in a Tia Williams rom com. .Nothing was ever cringe.

The summary of this book comes across as very fun and "spunky" and while there are cute, light-hearted, romantic moments, there was some heavy material and I think the premise offers a bit of false advertising. Sometimes, I felt like Bash, Reshma, Audre and Clio weren't even teenagers but actual adults and the sudden change in narration to Reshma and her storyline did throw me off a bit. I didn't find any of them super relatable as teenagers but I still was fully committed to their relationships (even though at times, it felt very Gossip Girl-adjacent). Like, you have to be ok that there is a teen professional tattoo artist, a girl who charges other teens for therapy sessions, sexual fluidity, someone who wants to write a whole book as their college admission process. Even though these are definitely not relevant to my upbringing or maybe ones of most teens, I still enjoyed reading about their complicated lives and their anxiety that comes with dealing with love and family.

While the book focuses heavily on building Bash and Audre's relationship, a lot of the story has to do with managing parents' emotions and the dysfunction that often comes with it. I wish she had elaborated more on Eva and Audre's relationship because I think it tied up too neatly, especially when it came to the book Eva wrote.

Overall though, I really enjoyed this and couldn't put it down! Tia Williams knows how to write elevated fun fiction!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. Audre & Bash Are Just Friends (a spin-off of Seven Days in June) was so good that it hurt sometimes! High-achieving, perfectionist, Audre is one of the most relatable characters I've read. Middle school/high school me would have been helped out a ton if I had this story then.

Audre & Bash Are Just Friends is cute and funny. I could see the book play out like a movie in my head, and now I really want a movie to happen for real so we have another way to live in Audre and Bash's world. Their relationship was built in such a believable way that even though my young adult life looked so different from theirs, it still felt nostalgic and familiar.

The glimpse into the very human, very real lives of one of my favorite book couples (Audre's mom and step dad, Eva and Shane from Seven Days in June) crushed me a bit. I felt disappointed in Eva a lot throughout the book in ways that were ultimately redeemed, but still sucked to read along the way. I'm sure Audre would love to dissect and therapize my feelings about their mother/daughter relationship!

All in all, this is a great YA romcom! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy!

Such a cute, fun read ! Perfect amount of emotional depth and romance. Read this if you enjoyed better than the movies, the summer of broken rules etc.

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this @tiawilliamswrites book from @netgalley I am a big Tia Williams fan and Seven Days in June was one of my favorite books of 2024. So to get to read a YA novel about the daughter of Eva from Seven Days?! Yes please! Now I need to say, I am 49 years old and the mother of a 15 year old and nearly 20 year old. I am NOT the intended audience. But I can appreciate it for the love story that it is. This does a great job of tackling the “golden child syndrome” and mental health. Audre and Bash to be so young have great chemistry and are cute as buttons. Now, having said all of this, things have changed A LOT since I was in high school. This is pretty adult in a lot of ways. Maybe things haven’t changed so much as I was just living my life differently in some ways. While I am no prude and I’m all for kids living their best lives I was a little taken aback by some of the content but I think that was mostly because most of the YA books I’ve read have been pretty innocent. This says for 14 and up but I think you’ve got to use your judgement as to whether this is content your kid is ready for (drinking, drug use, buying a sex toy). I don’t think we should shelter our kids or keep them from reading whatever gets them to read but maybe be prepared to use this as a way to discuss how to have a healthy sex life, the dangers of underage drinking and drugs. I appreciated that the characters recognized that their destructive behavior in the book was a symptom of something else. I loved the realistic relationship between Audre and Eva.

Audre, a sixteen year old “unlicensed therapist”, who is also a perfectionist that suffers from anxiety, has a passion for helping teens her age navigate through tough times. Audre is known for having the “perfect” life and family, but not even her own mother knows her daily struggles.

Bash, a newly graduated high school student is an aspiring tattoo artist. He’s nice, too nice that he doesn’t confirm or deny rumors conjured his peers.

Audre and Bash form a bond that transcends into something more intimate and profound, and they soon grow to learn that they are what each other has been missing all this time.


I loved this book so much, This book has a plot that made sense and aligned with the previous book. The storyline and issues were appropriate for the age group. The story flowed at an even pace, and the development of the characters was good.

Tia Williams returns with a YA novel that is just as swoon worthy as her spicy second chance romance “Seven Days In June.” When I read “Seven Days In June”, I was hoping that the story of Shane and Eva would continue and clearly I wasn’t alone. This time Eva’s teenage daughter Audre gets her own love story.


Audre is ambitious with stacked curricular activities including being her high school’s unofficial therapist and she is hoping to impress Stanford with her own self help guide for teenagers. Her friend Reshma gives her a list of things to do that challenges Audre to have fun this summer to flesh out the self help book. Since her father canceled her trip to him in California to await her new sibling and Audre isn’t getting along with her mom and stepdad because of the new addition of her baby sister, she figures that she can do the dares.


She hires Bash, the mysterious, aspiring tattoo artist that seems to be the denominator when it comes to the broken hearts she’s recently had to be the therapist for, to be her “funsultant”. He doesn’t mind helping her complete the list since it’s a great distraction from his home life. With strict rules for professionalism (that are bound to be broken), Audre and Bash end up changing each other's lives as their chemistry takes over.


I loved the dialogue and descriptions in this book. The romance didn’t seem forced and there were twists that I didn’t see coming. It’s such a fresh and lighthearted romance with relatable issues. I’ve been a fan of Williams’ writing since “The It Chicks” and somehow she has managed to create an incredible connection in the titular characters that I almost forgot they weren’t real. I’d recommend this book to anyone who wants to be in a giddy mood over a sweet teenage love. Tia Williams does it again for me with another 5 star read.

What a fun read and ride! Audre has grown up from a pre-teen into a full-blown teenager, and she is still in pursuit of a psychology degree and becoming a licensed therapist. The problem she has identified is that she is all work and no play. Enter Bash Henry! Among the family dynamics that are shifting and an apartment undergoing renovation, to say the least, things are changing in Audre's life, and she is trying to figure out how to navigate it all. Audre's experience is relatable, especially being a young lady focused, and that young man comes in that makes time stop, and your heartbeat escalates simultaneously. This book is so rich with character development and a good time! As an adult, it brings the old feelings and memories of being in love for the FIRST time and learning to navigate the turns of familial relationships as you begin to chart your path. Tia Williams has done it again!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and author for the arc!
4.5 stars

THIS WAS SO CUTE! If you read Seven Days in June and absolutely adored Audre like myself, then you will definitely enjoy getting to know her story.

Quick spoiler free summary: We pick up where Audre is now 16 and has to think about college. She wants to stand out in her application and decides she needs to write a book about the life experience of a teenager. The only problem is that Audre doesn't really know what that is. Who has time for crazy outlandish teenage behavior? Then we meet Bash who is the new kid in town that everyone can't stop talking about. Audre decides to befriend him and asks him to teach her how to be a fun person lol.

I really enjoyed this! I don't typically read a lot of YA romcoms but I trust Miss Tia and I was not disappointed. Tia's humor shines in this one and she created two main characters who you just want to protect at all costs. It portrays the nostalgia of teenage summers where everything affects you tenfold, good or bad.

It's also interesting to see Eva through Audre's eyes. I love that they kept such complex dynamics in this romcom because I never knew what emotion I would feel next (in a good way!). I also expect a lot of open dialogue that will occur for Mothers who read this with their teenage daughters.

I absolutely loved the relationship between Audre and Bash!! Their banter was hilarious and their communication so open. I wish I could share some quotes because they had me kicking my feet!

I appreciated the mental health aspect of the story as well. I would have been obsessed with this book as a teenager, and connected with Audre on so many levels. What Audre and Bash go through, both in their past and present, was deeply relatable. All us anxious girlies deserve a Bash in their life 🥹.

AHHH i adore williams’ adult romances and getting audre’s story is TOO exciting!! she truly listens to the people, and it will be an absolute pleasure to read and review this book 💫

3.75⭐️

I thought this book was very sweet, the romance was well developed, the characters were diverse, and the language used felt authentic and accurate to current Gen Z culture.
I particularly enjoyed Audre’s character. She was very well written and relatable, and was very easy to root for. I thought it was impressive how real the author made her feel. As for Bash, he wasn’t my favourite. I thought the “bad boy boyfriend who isn’t actually bad” aesthetic was a bit overplayed, but he was still sweet nonetheless.
I do have some criticisms- I didn’t like Reshma. Her personality felt just a little too stuck up, and we didn’t get to know her enough for me to really understand her. Also, as much as I love how she was queer and had a relationship with Clio, there just didn’t feel like much buildup or development in their romance. One second they bump into each other on the streets, and the next they were dating.
I also thought the book relied a bit too heavily on pop culture references and that they were a bit unnecessary.
Overall, my biggest issue with the book was the amount of drug use. Mind you, these are 15, 16, 17 year olds we’re reading about, and they were vaping, smoking, drinking, and doing drugs/mushrooms like it was nobody’s business. Bash’s mother even offers to smoke pot with him at a point in the book. I wish this was left out or at least downplayed in the book because it made me uncomfortable how normalized it was to the characters.
Still, this book was amazing! A cute, contemporary, urban take on romance, with a believable storyline and characters. I hope to read more by Tia, and I was honoured to receive this eARC from NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

I was lucky enough to be an arc reader for this book. I absolutely love Tia Williams writing. This was my second book of hers and I cannot wait to read more. Even though I’m not normally a YA reader, This book had me laughing and kicking my feet. The relationship between the two characters was so fun and romantic. Reminded me of real life relationship.

A really wonderful YA book — reflective, connected to Williams’ previous novel, and a joy. I appreciated the growth of the characters. Well done!

Audre & Bash was such an EXCELLENT read!! I'm not surprised at all because Tia Williams' writing is always so perfect. This book was utterly hilarious. Tia Williams is very good at inserting very ridiculous and sometimes hyperbolic statements that describe a character, set a scene, or reference a moment in pop culture. I highlighted so many of these and found myself laughing so many times throughout this book.

Speaking to the romance between Audre and Bash, Audre was perhaps my favorite character in Seven Days in June. I was so pleased to find out that we would be getting a YA romance following her. From the first page, I fell in love with the characters in this book and the sweet friendship-turned-romance between her and Bash. This book felt like a true teen romance. From the very accurate Gen-Z slang to the confusing and innocent feelings of your first love to the friendship fights to the overly annoying parents, I can easily see so many teens relating to this story. I felt like Tia did an excellent job of putting the reader in the shoes of teen Audre (who was a fiesty 12-year-old in Seven Days in June. It was so interesting and heartwarming to see her perspective of Eva and Shane after learning about their story in Seven Days in June.

I cannot recommend this book enough for Tia Williams fans and YA readers overall. This is easily going up on my list of all-time favorite YA romances!

Thanks to @netgalley for approving my request, I was able to read the arc for ‘Audre and Bash are Just Friends’. If you are familiar with Tia Williams ‘Seven Days in June’ you would remember Eva’s daughter Audre. Tia mentions this, but Audre was the highlight of that book. She listened to her audience and Audre got her own story. I remember saying “I’m interesting in reading about Audre” so I jumped on this. Let’s just say I almost forgot Audre is 16 in this book. Maybe because I’m a high school counselor and Audre was counseling her peers and charging them lol I think that’s what drew me in. I don’t really like to rate books, but I would give this a 4.5.

Thank you for the arc!
There was a lot about this book I loved, and a lot that did not work. Very mixed bag experience. I love Tia Williams' adult books, but this one didn't hit as much.
Audre and Bash were adorable, if a bit cringey, in their own right. I loved both of them working through their issues with perfectionism and parental expectations. I liked them learning to trust each other and overcoming his reputation. They clicked in a very cute way.
Where this book ultimately fell flat was dealing with Reshma, Audre's best friend, and some of the completely contrived mess at the end. A point is made that Reshma throws herself at older girls, including a 20 year old. An adult while Reshma is 16. Reshma then falls for an 18 year old with the acknowledgement that their age gap wasn't enough for jail time. It left a very bad taste in my mouth because Reshma's issues were not given the weight I feel they deserve. I understand her chapters are from her perspective, but they felt very flippantly treated. I would've liked a separate book about Reshma, because her inclusion here didn't feel all the way there.
I also felt some of the mess at the end was completely contrived. Entertaining, but also very annoying. I won't list it here to avoid spoilers, but all I could think was really?
Overall, I still love Tia Williams, and I'm super excited to see what else she puts out! I would honestly love a sequel with Audre and Bash as adults.

Audre and Bash Are Just Friends is a refreshing take on friendship, self-identity, and the societal and familial pressures teens live with. With well-developed characters and a compelling emotional core, this novel offers a heartfelt and engaging reading experience.

One of the book’s greatest strengths is its characterization. Audre is overthinking, introspective, and high achiever, making her an easy character to connect with. Bash, charming, and outwardly confident, yet underneath, he struggles with feeling guilty and unseen. His dynamic with Audre is what truly makes the book shine, offering a refreshing take on male-female friendships and the blurry lines between platonic and romantic relationships.