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.* 

Review: How to Love Your Neighbor

I had unintentionally missed reading How to Love Your Neighbor back when it was first released in January (can I blame a new school semester?). But once I got into Sophie Sullivan’s novel, I didn’t want to stop reading! It was a super fun read.

Here’s the book’s description:

Interior Design School? Check. Cute house to fix up? Check.
Sexy, grumpy neighbor who is going to get in the way of your plans? Check. Unfortunately.
Grace Travis has it all figured out. In between finishing school and working a million odd jobs, she’ll get her degree and her dream job. Most importantly, she’ll have a place to belong, something her harsh mother could never make. When an opportunity to fix up—and live in—a little house on the beach comes along, Grace is all in. Until her biggest roadblock moves in next door.
Noah Jansen knows how to make a deal. As a real estate developer, he knows when he's found something special. Something he could even call home. Provided he can expand by taking over the house next door--the house with the combative and beautiful woman living in it.
With the rules for being neighborly going out the window, Grace and Noah are in an all-out feud. But sometimes, your nemesis can show you that home is always where the heart is.

This wasn’t a perfect read, though, so I’ll get some of that out of the way first. Grace and Noah both had some serious parental issues. Grace’s mom wasn’t very maternal so Grace left home at 18. Her mom is toxic and continues to reach out for money. Noah, on the other hand, has an overbearing father who clearly wants to control all his children. Those are some deep problems to deal with but it sometimes seemed like it was just a plot point to check off. Like – how terrible can these parents be and how much drama can they cause for the couple before they’re able to rise above their upbringing and rule the day together forever for the rest of their lives? I just didn’t think it added enough to the overall story and every time their parents were mentioned, it kind of pulled me out of the book.

Noah was a bit of an ass when he and Grace first met but he was self-aware enough to (eventually) realize how his actions were affecting her. The book’s description paints this as more of an enemies-to-lovers kind of story. And they were, technically, enemies but simply because of logistics. Noah wanted the house. Grace owned the house. It was completely business, not personal. (But that wasn’t something Grace could wrap her head around, which I get.) So, I was able to get behind the enemies-to-lovers, a trope that’s usually not my cup of tea.

Noah and Grace were lovely humans, once you got to know them. They each have a certain, hard exterior they put up to keep themselves from getting hurt but they don’t realize the full extent of those walls until they start spending more time together. I was totally rooting for them and found their banter too adorable.

I hadn’t realized that this book is part of a series about Noah and his brothers so I’m definitely going to go back to read Ten Rules for Faking It and I’m really looking forward to A Guide to Being Just Friends as well.

And I just loved the design part of this story! It gave me all the best HGTV vibes and it was too fun to read as Grace designed Noah’s house.

How to Love Your Neighbor was a lot of fun to read. Sophie Sullivan’s novel is a great choice for a summer weekend (or evening…or anytime, really!) if you’re looking for a sweet and entertaining romance.

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