Just Friends by Jo Lovett

Published March 14th 2022 by Bookouture

About the Book: Lily took a deep breath. She wasn’t going to pass out from her now-galloping heart. She was thirty-three years old and way beyond having issues seeing an ex. Even the ex. She was going to just ignore Matt and enjoy her best friend’s wedding…

Lily is fine. Really, truly, she’s ok. She might have to attend her best friend’s wedding with the ex-boyfriend she never got over, on a gorgeous Greek island that’s so small it’s impossible to avoid him, but she is determined to be friendly.

And Matt, too, is completely and utterly fine. Lily may have broken his heart, but he moved on. And surely they can be amicable, as this week is about his best friend’s wedding too? So he will be civil, stay out of her way as much as he can, and get on with the celebrations.

But then the wedding comes under threat, and Matt and Lily are thrown together in the efforts to save the day and – yet again – sparks fly. What happens when you try to repeat the past though? Can a holiday romance turn into a lasting love, for the second time? Or are Lily and Matt destined to remain just friends, forever?

A totally gorgeous, escapist holiday will-they-won’t-they romantic comedy for fans of One Day in December, This Time Next Year and Paige Toon.

4 Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Lily and Matt used to be together but have now been broken up for 8 years. During that time Matt was married and divorced. Now, 8 years later, they are reunited at a wedding in Greece. Lily expected Matt to be at the wedding as he is the bride’s cousin, but was surprised to see him there for the pre-wedding parties and celebrations. It seemed they kept running into each other on the small island they were all staying on. Lily was the one that broke off their relationship and even 8 years later Matt doesn’t know why. As they have a few humorous situations they become closer and finally they talk. Matt begins to understand what happened as well as learning about Lily’s vulnerabilities and they end up spending the night together. It seems they both still love each other. Once again Lily lets her issues almost destroy their second chance together.

Just Friends is all about the right person but at the wrong time. Lily and Matt had great chemistry but Lily kept putting up roadblocks. I’m not going to share what they are, but there were times I wanted to reach into the book and shake her. I loved all the secondary characters in this story from her BFFs to Carole and Norm, Tess and Matt’s aunt and uncle, all their friends and of course Pythagoras. There was a lot of humor in the story and I did laugh out loud several times. One of the biggest messages to take from this book it the importance of communication. Things could have been sorted earlier in their relationship if Lily had talked to Matt, although with all the traveling he did with his job, it also seemed he was not around very often. I enjoyed the story for the most part, but did get frustrated with Lily quite often. I am glad she changed by the end of the book. I have to say that the setting was amazing. I loved the small Greek Island, the food and the beaches. It made me want to hop on a plane. This story deals with childhood illness, family relationships, guilt, workaholics, grief, friendship, second chances and of course romance. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book upon request. The rating and opinions shared are my own.

Purchase Links: Amazon – Apple – Kobo – Google

About the Author: Jo Lovett lives in London with her family.

She worked in Corporate Tax before taking a longer-than-expected career break to have more-than-expected children (five). She started writing romantic comedy when she realised that she was regularly begging her oldest son to let her do his English homework but she wasn’t actually that interested in haunted houses or Macbeth.

Jo was runner-up in the Good Housekeeping/ Orion First Novel Competition 2018 and shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Award 2019.

When she can escape from her laundry mountain and childcare, she enjoys reading, tennis and wine.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoLovettWrites

Advertisement