haley pham – Christy Grace Scarlet Pen

Estimated Reading Time: 3min

The ‘friend zone’ is something that is often seen as less than ideal, especially when you might have broken up due to a misunderstanding, like being on a break…

Just Friends is a second chance romance and childhood friends to lovers story, which looks at two young adults who had been together in school, and are reconnecting when the FMC (Female Main Character) returns to the small town full of rich people, including her ill great aunt.

This book has the added challenge of being written by someone quite well known in the online book space, Haley Pham. This meant that she was going to be facing extra support, but also extra scrutiny from the bookish community. Boy, did she ever.

Just Friends

Blair and Declan were inseparable growing up—best friends who knew each other better than anyone else. But when an impulsive kiss took them from friends to something more, everything changed. Just as quickly as their romance started, one moment shattered it all, leaving them with nothing but heartbreak and silence.

Now, four years later, Blair is back in their coastal hometown of Seabrook to support her mom and care for her great-aunt Lottie as her health declines. To make ends meet, Blair applies to work at a coffee shop—only to discover it’s managed by none other than Declan. The boy she loved. The boy she lost. The boy who still makes her heart race.

As Blair’s path keeps crossing with Declan’s, old wounds resurface, secrets are revealed, and sparks reignite. But could their future ever be free of their past?

Told in dual timelines that unravel the magic and pain of first love, Just Friends is a moving, romantic story about second chances, the weight of dreams, and finding your way back to the people who feel like home.

Grab the book Here

Content Warnings

There is a heavy dose of grief and death in this one. Quite a substantial death for one of our characters occurs. There is also discussions of a traumatic car accident discussed.

My Review

Aside from a few words or sentences that felt unusual or out of place, I thought this book was well written and pretty good.
There wasn’t anything that felt particularly original, but it was still an enjoyable read overall.
The characters were pretty Meh, but I understood their motives and decisions for the most part. I liked the ending as well.

Would I Recommend This Book?

While this book was readable, it was also pretty bland. If you’re looking for something interesting, with a high engagement and depth in plot… this isn’t it.

BUT, if you want something that is easy to read (but pay attention to the content warnings if things like grief trigger you), was perfectly acceptable as a story.. this would be it.

So, would I recommend it? Sure. Depending on your expectations and desires.

Similar Books You Might Like

If you are thinking what kind of books would have similar feel, themes or content, here is a list that you can consider:

Better Than The Movies (Lynn Painter)
The Summer I Turned Pretty (Jenny Han)
Tweet Cute (Emma Lord)
People We Meet On Vacation (Emily Henry)

See You in the Adventures!
Christy Grace

Estimated Reading Time: 5min

Alright, last one’s the one that sticks. There have been some really fun discoveries, some confirmations that books are not for me (and warnings should be heeded), but ultimately, the experiment is coming to a close with some of the most interesting options… let’s go!

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

I read this in one sitting. It was so easy to get through and so much fun to watch the plot unfold. The holiday feel, along with the arguing fake dating/married, as well as emotional turmoil thrown in was a great combination. I was hooked and enjoyed the ride.
I don’t usually Like miscommunication but felt it made sense in this story. I thought some of Ethan’s progress was slow and clunky at times, but since we didn’t really see his POV I was okay with shrugging that off and excusing some things as seeing through only Olives eyes.
The obligatory “third act break up” moment felt earned due to the stakes and it didn’t annoy me as much as the ones that don’t seem to flow with the story or character growth. It felt like a natural progression of what was happening in the story, rather than a plot device. Hooray🥳
Flirty and fun, along with emotional drama… what else can you ask for?

Grab the book Here

The Will of the Many by James Islington

This was a long one. Almost 700 pages long. I honestly thought there was no way a story needed to be that long, but when you consider that there were around 3 different stories crammed into one world, time and setting, it made sense. It was well written, the magic system and world building was very good, and I enjoyed the varying characters. I do think if the books were split into more, rather than cram this much into so few, it would have been easier to consume. Having said that, lots of books out there exist that are longer than this, and it is the first extremely long book I’ve read.
With a bit of scouting on the follow up book, I’m not sure what to think of where this story is going, but I am intrigued.

Grab the book Here

Just Friends by Haley Pham

Just to clarify why this book is on the list. It’s not because there were content warnings that would have stopped me from reading it, but more that it came from a Booktoker (who I liked) and I didn’t know what that would mean for the writing.

Aside from a few words or sentences that felt unusual or out of place, I thought this book was well written and pretty good.
There wasnt anything that felt particularly original, but it was still an enjoyable read overall.
The characters were pretty Meh, but I understood their motives and decisions for the most part. I liked the ending as well.

Grab the book Here

The Fine Print by Lauren Asher

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. Grumpy sunshine with a Disney park type background was really fun.
I thought the character development was pretty well done. The plot thread in the other brothers in a way that I am excited for their stories.

Spicier than I would normally go for, but I zoomed past those bits and what I was left with was an incredibly uptight and annoying guy who is enchanted by a sunshine bubbly woman. I liked the push-pull of it.

Grab the book Here

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Stopped about 1/4 through.
I was not enjoying this at all. Every book written in this time period especially ones that focus on women as main characters, Is super pessimistic and negative. People were actually still happy in the 50s and 60s. Everything was marred by sexism, feminism, Racism etc.
Elizabeth and Calvin did nothing but lie to each other and keep secrets from each other. I don’t even know why they were together in the first place.
Rowing seemed random and didn’t have a place in the story except for the author just to talk about rowing.
There were point of view breaks but for some reason we didn’t often change point. Breaks usually signify time period changing or a point of view changing, but mostly it just felt random and Didn’t really Have a purpose that I could see.
We don’t know why we got the point of view of a dog, but we did.
There was a very pessimistic opinion of Christians in this book, even though not all Christians are bad. Christians did a lot for the world that was good, This book was intent on deciding that God and Christians were not a good thing.
Finally, I came looking for a book about a scientist who did a cooking show and made that work for her, I was still waiting for that story.

Grab the book Here

Every time I’ve done one of these challenges, I have been surprised. Am I sad that there are books with content warnings that I’m never going to read? Yes. Am I also happy to stick to my boundaries with reading again? Also yes. I will say though, I might start letting a book slide here and there if the story sounds irresistible 🙂

See You in the Adventures!
Christy Grace