Book Review for Better Than Friends by Jill Shalvis

Sunrise Cove #7

Better Than Friends by Jill Shalvis

Published: January 21, 2025 by Avon

Genre:  Contemporary Romance

Taken from Goodreads:  Old flames reignite in Sunrise Cove in this charming enemies-to-lovers, second-chance, small-town, forced-proximity love story about family, friendships, and true love from New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis.

When Olive Porter’s off-the-grid parents go missing, she reluctantly seeks out Noah Turner, her ex and the only person she both trusts implicitly and not at all.

As a special investigative agent for the National Park Service, Noah’s used to living under intense pressure. Or he was until he got injured on the job. Now unhappily recuperating at home while being smothered by his loving but nosy family, he’d love nothing more than a good distraction.

So when Olive shows up looking like a million bucks, he has to do a gut and heart check. Because nope, no matter what, he can’t fall for her again, the woman who once blew up his entire life and never looked back. How ironic then that his own personal hell (Olive) is also his ticket out of town. The question is, will the risk be worth the reward?

 

My Thoughts: Jill Shalvis is a must-read author who delivers HEA, sweet romances, sexy scenes, wonderful friendships, and interesting families. Better Than Friends has all of this, plus a compelling relationship between Noah and Olive. Despite their efforts, they can't escape their past or each other.  

Better Than Friends is an easy book to read.  I relaxed and just let the story flow as I got to know the characters and see how they would find the HEA.  I love the secondary characters; Joey was my favorite by far.   I am not sure what I thought of Olive’s parents, I feel like that storyline could have been left out and I would not have missed it.  Noah’s family was a must-have part of the family, and I liked that they all lived close together so they were overly involved in each other’s lives, maybe too involved. 

I recommend this book to anyone looking for an easy read with fun characters and a sweet storyline.  

Thank you Avon for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

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About Jill Shalvis (taken from her website):  New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jill Shalvis writes contemporary romance and romantic comedies filled with madcap adventures and shenanigans and sexy times. (just don’t tell her mom). She’s sold 20 million plus copies worldwide to date and lives with her family in a small mountain town near Lake Tahoe full of quirky characters (Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is mostly coincidental).