Thank you to #HarperAudio, #Avonbooks, #JillShalvis, and #Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to this book. All opinions are my own.

Better Than Friends is a second-chance romance novel set in the beautiful Lake Tahoe region of the US. When her best friend, Katie, asks for help after her husband, Joe, has been in a serious car accident and is still in a coma, Olive Porter returns to Sunrise Cove from the UK to help out. Reconnecting with her best friend, Katie, is something she is looking forward to, but she is apprehensive about seeing Katie's brother and her old flame, Noah. After arriving, Olive cannot get in touch with her unpredictable and unreliable vagabond parents, so she decides she has to go find them, and who better to help her than Noah, an investigator with the National Park Service. This story takes the reader through Joe's accident, Olive spending time with her grandmother who is a neighbor of Katie's, the highs and lows of reconnecting with Noah, and the search for her parents. While this was a fun, light read, I felt like some of the characterizations did not make sense and were exaggerated at times. This didn't leave much for the reader to figure out, but sometimes it's nice to read a book like this--just some light entertainment.

Another great romance story by Shalvis! She is so good and I always enjoy her books.. The audio was great for this one and I liked the characters. It was definitely heartfelt!

I always love Jill Shalvis stories, but this one wasn’t my favorite. The way the description read it seemed like they’d be searching for her parents as a main point in the story. It doesn’t even really kick off until like chapter 15! It also gets a bit anticlimactic in some regards. If the story has been spun a little differently I think I would have enjoyed it more.

The narrator is, as always, really good so if you like audiobooks it’s a sure bet.

This was the first book that I have read/listened to by Jill Shalvis. After listening to this book I realized that I wanted to go back and read the rest of this series. I have a daughter that is autism and is high functioning. Listening to Katie's character cracked me up. My daughter hates hugs from strangers or really most people. Katie was very frank with everyone, leaving you with no doubt of how she felt.

This story is about Olive who comes back to her hometown to help out her best friend Kaite who's husband is lying in a coma. Katie's brother and her husband are best friends. Side note is that Olive and Katie's brother have a tangled past.

I really enjoyed this book.

I listened to the audio book version of this book, and the narrator did such an amazing job. I absolutely enjoyed every minute of this book. It was a beautifully written novel by Jill Shalvis with a second chance trope. There is so much more than that going on in the novel, but I don't want to spoil it for other readers. It was such a well written novel, and I can't wait to read more from this author. I highly recommend this novel to other romance readers.


Thank you Net Galley, Avon and Harper Voyager, and Jill Shalvis

I have never met a Jill Shalvis book that I did not love. And this second chance romance is no different. Olive and Noah are both funny and fun loving characters that had a past that did not end well. When a family/friend emergency occurs, Olive comes back to her home town to help, as well as face her past. As always, there is a cast of supporting characters that meddle and make you laugh all through the book.

I love a good romance by Jill Shalvis and always look forward to reading them! Better Than Friends is book #7 in the Sunrise Cove series. I loved going back to the Lake Tahoe setting and getting to know Olive and Noah as they reconnect after years of separation. They were high school sweethearts so now they have a second chance at love since they are both back home for a while. Olive is home to help her best friend Katie who is Noah's sister. They can't help but collide and, in the end, Noah helps Olive look for her parents who seem to be missing. I enjoyed Katie's sarcasm, and her little boy Joey was a lot of fun. Great family characters that made you want to go visit them just for the crazy family dynamic.

I read/listened to the audio and thought the narrator, Andi Arndt, was perfect for this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Publication date: 21 January 2025

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me access to this audiobook. This was a typical light romance by romance writer Jill Shalvis. The narration was nice, very easy to listen to. I think it could have been shorter. It seemed like a lot of rehashing was happening. It was refreshing to have characters that are not all neurotypical, and problems that are realistic.

A cute, albeit lengthy, romance where exes and friends are together again as adults. Everyone around them knows but they won't admit they still have feelings for one another. A sweet listen.

This was great! Jill Shalvis has earned a spot on my list of favorite authors. She writes characters who feel like family and you just want to see things work out for them. This story was no different. Olive and Noah were obviously meant for one another if they could just figure out how to make things work. I was hooked by this story very quickly and couldn’t wait to see Olive and Noah finally get over their past.

Olive returns home to help her best friend, Katie after her husband, Joe, is injured on the job. Katie’s brother, Noah, is also there to help which makes things interesting since there is some history between the pair. Both Olive and Noah have some guilt that they need to deal with along with a few career decisions to make. It quickly becomes apparent that the feelings they had for one another as teens have only grown stronger and the chemistry between them is off the charts. I thought that these two were perfect for one another and enjoyed seeing them reconnect.

Andi Arndt does a fantastic job with this book. She does such a great job with both the male and female voices which really helps pull the listener into the story. I love how she is able to add just enough emotion to her reading to make it feel like you are right there with the characters. I had no problems listening to this book for hours at a time and believe that her narration added to my enjoyment of the story.

I would not hesitate to recommend this book to others. This is the seventh book in the Sunrise Cove series but works perfectly well as a stand-alone since the books in this series are only loosely connected. I can’t wait to read more of this entertaining series.

I received a review copy of this book from Avon Books and HarperAudio.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. I enjoyed getting to meet the characters and their families. This is a second chance romance, but it also a great story line. Noah and Olive have this history and an accident pushes them apart. They both come home after an accident to help family. This book is filled with relatable family drama, helping family and showing that love can overcome anything. Jill Shalvis does a great job of describing the setting to make you feel like you can see what she sees. I think the family history and connections made me relate to Better Than Friends and the title is very fitting. I have recommended this for purchase at my library and will be recommending it to my library patrons. I can't wait to read more of the books from this series.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I liked the story and the supportive characters. However, Oliver and Noah started to drive me nuts in the end. They rehashed their story so often that I just wanted the book to end.

This book is a new favorite. I adored the characters, especially Olive, Noah, and Katie, and the strong ties they have to each other and their shared past. The dry, witty banter is the type of humor that I love and the chemistry between Noah and Olive is hot. They were just meant to be together. Andi Arndt narrates the audiobook perfectly and brings a unique voice to each character. I enjoyed it immensely and have already listened to it twice.

A quirky enemies-to-lovers, small-town, friendships story!

Olive Porter is concerned when she cannot get in touch with her off-the-grid parents.

She reluctantly asks Noah Turner for his help to find them.

Noah and Olivia have a love/hate relationship with some unresolved issues. Will they finally come to terms and reveal their true feelings for each other.

Andi Arndt is one of my favorite narrators. She has a way with voicing the characters that’s so soothing and natural. She brought this book and the characters to life beautifully. This book was written so well and I really enjoyed it. The ending was a little cheesy but romance books tend to end that way. This is one our library patrons will enjoy.

Title: Better Than Friends
Series: Sunrise Cove #7
Author: Jill Shalvis
Format: 🎧
Narrator: Andi Arndt
Publisher: Harper Audio
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Pub Date: January 21, 2025
My Rating: 2.6 Stars
Pages: 336

True- I am not a big romance fan I do like a nice sweet cozy love story.
I have read several in this series and l enjoyed them.
.
Although when I started this I was a bit surprise with some of Oliver’s unnecessary foul language. Since I loved the others I read I hung in there thinking her language was anger.

In this story ~ Olive Porter’s parents are missing, she reluctantly seeks out Noah Turner, her ex and the only person she both trusts implicitly as well as not at all.

Noah Turner is a special investigative agent for the National Park Service, Noah was dedicated to his job and lived under intense pressure. However, when he got injured on the job, he had to recuperating at home while being smothered by his loving but nosy family.
When Olive shows up looking like a million bucks, he has to do a gut and heart check.
Needless to say, things do heat up between these two.

As little Joey said” Uncle Noah said a bad word.”
Yep I feel the same way. The ‘bad words’ did pop up ‘now and then’ and definitely got in the way of my enjoyment of this story.

Want to thank NetGalley and Harper Audio for granted me this early audiobook.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 21, 2025.

Jill Shalvis. A cozy backdrop. Memorable characters and a second-chance romance? My heart was yearning for a story like this. Heartfelt and beautiful!

Jill Shalvis is my go-to for a feel-good book. This one did not disappoint. I enjoyed the characters, the history and how they worked through things. It was a beautiful story and I can't wait until the next one in the series!

This was a heartfelt second chance, dual POV, small town romance that delivers all the feels, was good on audio narrated by Andi Arndt and can be read as a standalone. I liked the animal and human side characters and thought this was a cozy feel good read for winter. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!