A Guide to Being Just Friends

This book couldn't catch my attention. The male narrator was ok, but I lied the female. I may try this book another time.

easily the best book out of the series

Hailey Sharp, owner of an up-and-coming salad shop, wants to leave men in the past to better her business. Wes Jansen will do anything to avoid relationships due to his parents' rough past. After their not-so-meet cute, Hailey and Was slowly grow as friends and have to decide if they will remain just that or go against everything they wanted to commit to love.

I personally didn't read the first few books in the series and was still able to follow along. These can definitely be treated as stand alones but you will get more out of the character dynamics if you read them in order. Despite that, I really enjoyed Hailey's character. It was refreshing to see a character that was quirky but not totally spaced out of reality. She had her life together and genuinely loved her business.

Wes on the other hand made me angry. He clearly led her on even though he knew he didn't want things to go further, and he has big commitment issues that made me not root for him or them getting together. By the end, I didn't believe any feelings between them and weirdly preferred them as just friends. Because of that I give it a 2.5/5 stars but will round it up to 3 stars.

I personally do not enjoy closed door romances but in this case, it worked well for their dynamic. It would have fully taken me out of the story.

Overall, the writing is so well done, I just didn't personally like Wes. I would still recommend this book to people who enjoy closed door romances with a tight knit family dynamic and lovable fmc.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Our leading lady opens a business that is doomed to fail because she has no idea what she's doing, but meets a group, including our romantic interest, that continue to help her until she starts to figure it out. The relationship in this book felt extremely stagnant, it didn't really build up to anything and I don't think the book have been any different if they had just remained as friends the entire time. The story was okay, but I wouldn't consider this to be a romance so much as two awkward people figuring out how to make friends.


*ARC via Netgalley.

I liked this book for the most part. I had the audio and liked Hailey's narrator. Unfortunately I didn't like Wes's at all. I'd waited for the audio a while and the ebook would be even longer so decided to just do it.

I like Wes – more than Noah, but Chris is still the best Jansen brother. I liked that Wes didn't share Noah's sentiment when it came to money (that it's meant to be used for everything) and that he respected Hailey a lot for having her own business.

Hailey and Wes wercute together. And I'm saying this as a person who's NOT into the friends-to-lovers trope. I'm not a fan of it. I either have to trust your recs or just happen upon the trope while reading. But I ended up liking it a lot! It fit the characters well and I'm glad it did and I liked it. Though I won't go running to read all the friends-to-lovers books anyway.

I loved Hailey almost as soon as we were introduced to her. She runs her own business and wants it to be successful. She doesn't want people to help her out with her business just because they feel sorry for her. I'm glad that Noah wasn't her love interest because I think he would very easily throw money at her and they would've clashed too much.

Wes fit her well. He gave her solid business advice without coming across as “I know better than you”. It made me like him a lot – happy to after his brother did me dirty. He did do a little “here, lemme throw money at you/the problem” but I'm glad Hailey stood up to him.

I liked how he's analytical, a bit uptight, wanting to do things his way and Hailey's just “lets do this”. It makes for a good balance and one that could go very far if they communicate well. Which they didn't do all the time. That was one of the things that annoyed me – especially in the third act breakup.

I did like this book but I do think it should've been worked on for longer. The pacing jumped all over the place and I found it difficult to keep up with “are you slow or fast now?” The plot also felt like it wasn't tied down too much – I like my plots to be neat. Especially in a Contemporary Romance book – which I don't read as much as other things. Like Fantasies I could accept a bit of a messy plot because there's so many things to keep track of. With Romance books you're always in the real world, so what's your excuse?

As I'm reading more romance books I become more acquainted with the terms and discourse surrounding the genre. One term I'm very familiar with is the third act breakup. Mostly I'm fine with them. The other two books handled it okay (the second one a little less, but I could just be feeling that because of Noah); this book didn't at all (handle it okay). I felt annoyed all throughout and just wanted to get it over with. Which I didn't like because I liked the book otherwise! I didn't understand why the breakup had to be that and why it took so long. I could see in the future they might run into further miscommunication issues if they don't work it out.

I want to thank the author and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an ecopy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. 

I read the second book in this series last year and enjoyed it. I didn't even realize this was part of that series when I accepted the invitation to read it. I do still need to go back and read the first book but luckily each book follows a different brother so you can read them as standalones. 

Hailey just opened a business called By the Cup and it's a salad shop. I liked the inclusion of this food shop. It was unique but totally something people in LA would go for. I do kind of wish there was a little more description when it came to her restaurant though. Hailey has had the best track record when it comes to relationships whether that be with her parents or romantically or with friends and because of that she is very much a I can do everything on my own I don't need anyone's help kind of girl. 

Then there is Wes who also has a complicated family history which has skewed his opinion on love so much so that he doesn't ever want to love someone. He's not against relationships but he doesn't want the emotions to be involved. Oh and did I mention he's rich. In my review for the previous book I mentioned about how the characters relationships with their parent was constantly mentioned and how it got annoying fast that did happen in this book as well but it was nowhere near the extent it was in the previous book so that's a plus. 

Hailey and Wes have an awkward meet cute and then they go on to be friends and then lovers. They spent probably over half of the book being friends even though it was painfully obvious they were both into each other. I loved that they talked to each other and were able to work through things. I will say the 3rd act breakup was less than desirable. I know pretty much all books have these and I am totally fine with them. The only issue that I had with this one is how fast it happened and was resolved. If you're going to have a 3rd act breakup I think you should drag it out a little bit. Not a whole lot but definitely don't have the characters have the breakup and then the makeup all in the same page or 2 or I don't know don't have the 3rd act break up at all that would definitely be a welcoming change. 

I am so glad I was able to read this one because even though I had some issues I still enjoyed it over all and I definitely need to go back and read the first book soon.

DNF. I was so bored reading this book. It's supposedly a slow burn and I can agree with the slow part but there was nothing burning here whatsoever.

This is for rom-com lovers that YEARN for the slow burn and love the friends-to-lovers trope. It had all the warm and cozy feelings of your favorite romance movies.
Sophie Sullivan does such a great job at making her characters multidimensional, full-fledged people that you can see yourself in. Some moments felt like I was actually enjoying the holidays and friend gatherings with them.
I love novels like this that go beyond the general plot and touch on important topics. This especially goes for the way the author showed how the characters' past traumas completely distorted their thinking and impeded their present lives. Everyone can relate to this in some form and it was just great to see the characters learning that they can change their habits and negative thinking.
A major aspect of this novel was community and found family. There was so much love written within the pages that made me want to jump into this cozy world.
This is the 3rd book in the Jansen Brothers series by Sophie Sullivan. I haven't read the previous ones so you can definitely read this as a stand-alone. Past characters are heavily mentioned through the story so readers of the previous books get updated on their favorite characters.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sending an ARC in exchange for an honest review.