A GUIDE TO BEING JUST FRIENDS

Can men and women ever be friends? A restaurant owner and a businessman put the immortal question from When Harry Met Sally to the test.

After getting dumped by her self-involved actor boyfriend, Hailey Sharp throws herself into work. She uses her experience working for food services trucks on film sets to open her own brick-and-mortar salad shop, By the Cup. She’s looking to run a successful business, not fall in love. Enter Wes Jansen. After a botched meet-cute where he thinks she’s the blind date who stood him up, he confides in Hailey that he’s over the dating-app scene. His parents’ acrimonious divorce soured him on love, and he’d much rather focus on the company he owns with his brothers, which has the goal of helping small businesses grow. Hailey agrees with his philosophy, and the two of them decide to be just friends. Of course, as Wes helps Hailey with her business and she joins in on his family celebrations, friendship starts to look a whole lot like falling in love. All of their friends, including Wes’ brothers, can tell they’re perfect for each other, but Wes doesn’t want to damage their friendship—and Hailey doesn’t want to lose herself to another man who can’t commit. But when their attraction to each other becomes too strong to ignore, they’ll have to decide if love is worth being vulnerable. In the third and final installment of her Jansen Brothers series, Sullivan creates warm and likable leads. Hailey is strong and relatable as a woman attempting to restart her life after derailing it for an unworthy man, and Wes, while pricklier, is loyal and supportive of all his friends, especially Hailey. Although their journey to true love encounters quite a few obstacles, it’s still an entertaining trek to discover their happily-ever-after.

A fun, enjoyably light read for fans of the friends-to-lovers trope.