{"id":29809,"date":"2023-01-18T09:02:54","date_gmt":"2023-01-18T13:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/?p=29809"},"modified":"2023-01-18T09:02:59","modified_gmt":"2023-01-18T13:02:59","slug":"review-a-guide-to-being-just-friends-by-sophie-sullivan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/18\/review-a-guide-to-being-just-friends-by-sophie-sullivan\/","title":{"rendered":"Review \u2764\ufe0f A Guide to Being Just Friends by Sophie Sullivan"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-29809\" data-postid=\"29809\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-29809 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    \t\t\t<!-- module_row -->\n\t<div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_row themify_builder_row tb_z0xa408 tb_first tf_w tf_clearfix\">\n\t    \t\t\t<div class=\"row_inner col_align_top gutter-narrow tb_col_count_2 tf_box tf_rel\">\n\t\t            <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-1 tb_qbkm408 first\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module image -->\n<div  class=\"module module-image tb_fot3408 rounded drop-shadow customBorderRad_top image-center auto_fullwidth tf_mw\" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div class=\"image-wrap tf_rel tf_mw\">\n\t\t    <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"325\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/a-guide-to-being-just-friends-sophie-sullivan.jpg?resize=325%2C500&#038;ssl=1\" class=\"wp-post-image wp-image-29811\" title=\"a-guide-to-being-just-friends-sophie-sullivan\" alt=\"a-guide-to-being-just-friends-sophie-sullivan\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/a-guide-to-being-just-friends-sophie-sullivan.jpg?w=325&amp;ssl=1 325w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/a-guide-to-being-just-friends-sophie-sullivan.jpg?resize=195%2C300&amp;ssl=1 195w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/a-guide-to-being-just-friends-sophie-sullivan.jpg?resize=400%2C615&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 325px) 100vw, 325px\" \/>\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/image-wrap -->\n    \n    \t<\/div>\n<!-- \/module image --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_s9o6408 customBorderRad_bottom repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">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.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">Wes Jansen never did understand the fuss about relationships. With a string of lackluster first dates and the pain from his parents\u2019 angry divorce following him around, he\u2019d much rather find someone who he likes, but won\u2019t love. Companionship, not passion, is the name of the game.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">When Hailey and Wes find each other in a disastrous meet cute that wasn\u2019t even intended for them, they embarrassingly go their separate ways. But when Wes finds Hailey to apologize for his behavior, they strike up a friendship. Because that\u2019s all this can be. Hailey doesn\u2019t want any distractions. Wes doesn\u2019t want to fall in love.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">What could possibly go wrong?<\/span><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n                        <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-2 tb_pjr9408 last\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_739h408  repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16466 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3-hearts-1.jpg?resize=135%2C44&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"135\" height=\"44\" \/><\/p><hr \/><p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong>\u00a0Jan 17, 2023<br \/><strong>Heat Level:<\/strong> Warm<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong>\u00a0Macmillan<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong>\u00a0St. Martin&#8217;s Press<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $11.99<\/p><hr \/><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">Hailey is driven when it comes to her business. Opening her shop is ultimately the end game, and nothing will stand in her way. She ends up embarrassing herself in front of a complete stranger, and let\u2019s just say that it leads to a newfound friendship that she was not expecting. Can she balance her new relationship and her dreams?<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">Wes has been there and done that when it comes to relationships. He is perfectly fine with the single life. When he tried to rectify a situation with Hailey, he finds himself enjoying his friendship with her. He may even admit that he is enjoying even more than a friendship. Can he let go of past trauma to enjoy what can be something good?<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">I enjoyed this meet cute romance. It starts off strong with Hailey and Wes both on the same page. Neither of them wants to be in a relationship. They slowly embark on this friendship that is cute and funny at times. The banter with Hailey and her staff was fun. \u00a0Wes and his brothers are great. I think I liked the side characters a bit more than the main characters.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">Over the past few years, I have tolerated the slow-burn romances more if executed perfectly. This just falls slightly short because the steam factor is not there. The level of intimacy that is to be expected in the background and the sexual tension between Wes and Hailey is off.\u00a0 Wes is so scared because of his pain from previous relationships. Every time I would think that we were getting closer, he retreated. Hailey is so driven that at times, I wanted her to take a look around her. She didn\u2019t connect with Wes until the very end. At some point, the slow burn became painful.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">If you have read the previous books in this series, you are in for a treat because the couples from the series are in this one. This is still a stand-alone novel but it was nice to see what the others have been up to.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">Overall, if this is perfect for fans of the series to close it out.<\/p><p><em>~ Samantha<\/em><\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">\u00a0<\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_strw408 customBorderRad repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3iKDRYT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a><\/span><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apple.co\/3wgWvus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">iBooks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/a-guide-to-being-just-friends-sophie-sullivan\/1141344028?ean=9781250624215\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">B&amp;N<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/a-guide-to-being-just-friends\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Kobo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Sophie_Sullivan_A_Guide_to_Being_Just_Friends?id=aolrEAAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Google Play<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n            \t    <\/div>\n\t    <!-- \/row_inner -->\n\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/module_row -->\n\t<\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,48,50,59],"tags":[146,216,217,419],"class_list":["post-29809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-macmillan","category-reviews","category-samantha","category-st-martins-press","tag-3-stars","tag-contemporary","tag-contemporary-romance","tag-rom-com"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review \u2764\ufe0f A Guide to Being Just Friends by Sophie Sullivan - Smitten by Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/18\/review-a-guide-to-being-just-friends-by-sophie-sullivan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review \u2764\ufe0f A Guide to Being Just Friends by Sophie Sullivan - Smitten by Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hailey Sharp has a one-track mind. 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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.<\/p><p>Wes Jansen never did understand the fuss about relationships. With a string of lackluster first dates and the pain from his parents\u2019 angry divorce following him around, he\u2019d much rather find someone who he likes, but won\u2019t love. Companionship, not passion, is the name of the game.<\/p><p>When Hailey and Wes find each other in a disastrous meet cute that wasn\u2019t even intended for them, they embarrassingly go their separate ways. But when Wes finds Hailey to apologize for his behavior, they strike up a friendship. Because that\u2019s all this can be. Hailey doesn\u2019t want any distractions. Wes doesn\u2019t want to fall in love.<\/p><p>What could possibly go wrong?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3-hearts-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"135\" height=\"44\" \/><\/p><hr \/><p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong>\u00a0Jan 17, 2023<br \/><strong>Heat Level:<\/strong> Warm<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong>\u00a0Macmillan<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong>\u00a0St. Martin's Press<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $11.99<\/p><hr \/><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">Hailey is driven when it comes to her business. Opening her shop is ultimately the end game, and nothing will stand in her way. She ends up embarrassing herself in front of a complete stranger, and let\u2019s just say that it leads to a newfound friendship that she was not expecting. Can she balance her new relationship and her dreams?<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">Wes has been there and done that when it comes to relationships. He is perfectly fine with the single life. When he tried to rectify a situation with Hailey, he finds himself enjoying his friendship with her. He may even admit that he is enjoying even more than a friendship. Can he let go of past trauma to enjoy what can be something good?<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">I enjoyed this meet cute romance. It starts off strong with Hailey and Wes both on the same page. Neither of them wants to be in a relationship. They slowly embark on this friendship that is cute and funny at times. The banter with Hailey and her staff was fun. \u00a0Wes and his brothers are great. I think I liked the side characters a bit more than the main characters.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">Over the past few years, I have tolerated the slow-burn romances more if executed perfectly. This just falls slightly short because the steam factor is not there. The level of intimacy that is to be expected in the background and the sexual tension between Wes and Hailey is off.\u00a0 Wes is so scared because of his pain from previous relationships. Every time I would think that we were getting closer, he retreated. Hailey is so driven that at times, I wanted her to take a look around her. She didn\u2019t connect with Wes until the very end. At some point, the slow burn became painful.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">If you have read the previous books in this series, you are in for a treat because the couples from the series are in this one. This is still a stand-alone novel but it was nice to see what the others have been up to.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">Overall, if this is perfect for fans of the series to close it out.<\/p><p><em>~ Samantha<\/em><\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3iKDRYT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apple.co\/3wgWvus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iBooks<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/a-guide-to-being-just-friends-sophie-sullivan\/1141344028?ean=9781250624215\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">B&amp;N<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/a-guide-to-being-just-friends\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kobo<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Sophie_Sullivan_A_Guide_to_Being_Just_Friends?id=aolrEAAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Play<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29809"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29820,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29809\/revisions\/29820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}