
Author: Sophie Sullivan
Series: Jansen Brothers #3
Published by: St. Martin's Griffin on Jan. 17, 2023
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 336
Format: Paperback
Source: St. Martin's Press
Book Rating: 7.5/10
A playful and emotional romantic comedy from the author of Ten Rules for Faking It
Hailey Sharp has a one-track mind. Get By the Cup salad shop off the ground. Do literally everything possible to make it a success. Repeat. With a head full of entrepreneurial ideas and a bad ex in her rearview, her one and only focus is living life the way she wants to. No distractions.
Wes Jansen never did understand the fuss about relationships. With a string of lackluster first dates and the pain from his parents’ angry divorce following him around, he’d much rather find someone who he likes, but won’t love. Companionship, not passion, is the name of the game.
When Hailey and Wes find each other in a disastrous meet cute that wasn’t even intended for them, they embarrassingly go their separate ways. But when Wes finds Hailey to apologize for his behavior, they strike a friendship. Because that’s all this can be. Hailey doesn’t want any distractions. Wes doesn’t want to fall in love.
What could possibly go wrong?
Review:
Engaging, heartfelt, and fun!
A Guide to Being Just Friends is an alluring, friends-to-lovers romance that transports you to the idyllic San Verde and into the lives of the hardworking, heartbroken Hailey Sharp, who is determined after a disastrous breakup to put all her time and effort into making her new salad shop a success, and the intelligent, successful Wes Jansen who is content with casual dating and determined to never fall in love.
The writing is witty and light. The characters are sweet, helpful, and friendly. And the plot is a charming blend of life, love, introspection, friendship, family, awkward situations, misunderstandings, undeniable attraction, and taking chances.
Overall, A Guide to Being Just Friends is an amusing, lighthearted, slow-burning tale by Sullivan that is the third and last book in the Jansen Brothers series, and even though it can definitely be read as a standalone, as someone who missed the first two novels in the series, I think I would have enjoyed this one even more if I had had the chance to read them.
This book is available now.
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Thank you to SMP Romance – St. Martin’s Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.