BOOKWORM REVIEW: A Guide to Being Just Friends by Sophie Sullivan

 

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐
SPICE: 🔥

This read was just okay for me. 

Hailey Sharp and Wes Jansen have been burned by love in the past, so to protect their hearts, they individually built a fort around it and keep anyone of non-platonic potential at bay. Their meet-cute was based on a misunderstanding when salad shop owner Hailey comes into the café next door to get her caffeine and sugar fix and Wes mistakes her to be his blind date.

Circumstances keep bringing these two together until they agree to have a just-friends relationship. Yet as they grow closer together, they find that there is more to attraction than similarities. Chemistry and easiness can also foster and grow a connection that is hard to find with others.

Books this length usually take me a day or a day-and-a-half to read, but I found it hard to push through at some points of the book because of the pacing. I understand the point of establishing a great rapport between Hailey and Wes, but I felt like that point was revisited so much that it took away from the story. I also think a little bit of steam or spice might have helped, but that is totally a personal preference.

That aside, it was a good story about two people who have closed their hearts to love and their journey to finally opening said hearts. I appreciate that it wasn't just their own relationship that compelled them to give love a shot again, but that they had a great support system consisting of their families and friends to also help them open up.

If you like cute slow-burn friends-to-lovers, you might enjoy this light rom-com.

** I am voluntarily reviewing an advance copy of this book. Thank you to Sophie Sullivan, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for providing an ARC. **

ABOUT THE BOOK

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?



MEET SOPHIE SULLIVAN

SOPHIE SULLIVAN is a Canadian author as well as a cookie-eating, Diet Pepsi-drinking, Disney enthusiast who loves reading and writing romance in almost equal measure. She writes around her day job as a teacher and spends her spare time with her sweet family watching reruns of Friends. TEN RULES FOR FAKING IT is her romcom debut novel, but she's had plenty of practice writing happily ever after as her alter ego, Jody Holford.

Connect with Sophie