Review: A Guide to Being Just Friends

I had popped into Sophie Sullivan’s rom com series about three brothers with book two (my review of How to Love Your Neighbor is here) and thoroughly enjoyed it. When I had the chance to review A Guide to Being Just Friends I jumped at it and I ended up really liking this one too!

Here’s the book’s description:

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?

Friends to lovers is a favourite trope of mine so it’s no surprise that this romance hit the mark for me. It was a slow burn and while I was anxious for the pair to finally realize that, HELLO, they had romantic feelings for each other, I was just happy to be along for the ride. I really think friendship is so very important for romantic relationships so I was all in for Hailey and Wes building that foundation before jumping into bed with each other.

I loved both the characters so much. They had some of their own issues to sort out, as per usual with romances, but they weren’t insurmountable or completely ridiculous. They both wanted to succeed on their own without any help (Hailey from anyone and Wes without being tied to his father’s business, which is what he and his brothers were trying to get away from). Wes had some learning to do when it came to Hailey and how to help her and Hailey had to, you know, allow others to help (and recognize that it didn’t mean that she was a failure). As I write this, it sounds like something that would drive me nuts in a romance but Sullivan did a great job of writing the characters so I was invested and rooting for their character growth.

I also really appreciated getting the chance to hang out with the characters I had gotten to know in the second book (I still have plans to go back and read book one, Ten Rules for Faking It). They’re such a fantastic group and it was so wonderful getting to “see” them again in this book. I’m kind of a little sad that we’re out of Jansen brothers! Maybe there will be a spin-off with some of the other friends…

All in all, A Guide to Being Just Friends was super fun and enjoyable. I got to meeting characters I loved and read as they realized they were much better off being more than just friends! Sophie Sullivan is a great author to pick up when you need a feel good, pick me up kind of romance with a lot of heart and some laughs, too!

*An egalley was provided by the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*