Just Friends by Monica Murphy

Release Date: September 13^th, 2016
Genre: New Adult Romance

Synopsis:

It’s the end of summer. Just before I start senior year with my two best friends in the whole world. Dustin and Emily are everything to me. We’ve been inseparable since middle school, and when we’re together, nothing can go wrong.

But things aren’t always what they seem. Em’s turned into a drunken mess who parties too much. Dustin and I have hooked up a few times―and now he’s ready to take our relationship to the next level. Yet I’m not sure I want things to change. I’m scared if I take it any further with Dustin, our friendship will be ruined forever. Then there’s Ryan. The new guy. He’s hot. He flirts way too much. And Em has totally set her sights on him.

So when my best friend betrays me in the worst possible way, guess who’s there to help me pick up the pieces of my broken heart? Ryan. But he’s so confusing. Annoying. Sweet. Sexy. I want to trust him, yet he makes it so hard. What I really want is for everything to go back to the way it was before.

Before I found out that best friends make the worst kind of enemies.

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OH.MY.GOD!!! I will go ahead and say this is the BEST book I’ve read all year. Bar none. End of story. Now I know that you are saying…Harlie isn’t this a YA/NA story? You HATE angst in any book and doesn’t this book have a lot of it? Yes, yes and yes. But wait…Harlie, isn’t it about teenagers? Yes. Wait for it…this book spoke to me. Emotionally and figuratively.

A few things to know about me and why the book spoke to me:

I substitute teach at our high school. I see and hear the angst all day long. In fact, I read this book while I was working at the high school.
I remember being all that angst filled and I graduated from high school 31 years ago. (May 24, 1985)
I remember that one friend that betrayed you in the worst way. I still feel the sting.
I remember that one guy. *sigh*
I also remember the guy I ended up with, too.
This brought up so many memories. The good, the bad and the ugly.

I also want to say that I read the other side of Monica and have for years. I have to admit this is their BEST book to date. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. It’s that good and engaging. The setting is in California but heck, it could be in any town.

As you can tell I’m Team Dustin and you will just have to read the book to find out why. Some will say Team Ryan but I will leave that judgment to the individual. I won’t go into detail about the guys right now. If I did, it would just spoil it. I will, however, comment on Em. She is a bitch, through and through. I honestly don’t think that she knows what she wants much less who she really is. I see girls like her all the time. Heck, I went to school with some of them. I felt sorry for her in the beginning but then, the betrayal just ran too deep for me and I gave up on her. I don’t know how Ms. Murphy will be able to somewhat redeem her. Honestly, I don’t think that she is redeemable.

Olivia, Olivia. She is a strong girl and character. Truly she is. She put up with just the right amount of crap before she cried bullshit and I liked that about her. My heart did break for her. I felt her pain and heartache. I also felt that she made a very bad decision when it came to Ryan. Again, you need to read the book to find out. However, I believe that she found a true friend in Mandy. I loved Mandy. I want to shake her when it comes to Jordan. Give the guy a break. Ugh!

Overall, I could go on and on about Olivia, Em, Dustin, Ryan, Mandy, and Jordan. This is a book that is well thought out and with just enough angst that makes you flip the pages. Oh yes, I was glued to the book. I couldn’t stop reading it. And yes, I was sad when it ended. And yes, I’ve already connected Monica with when is the next book coming out because you just killed me with this one. And yes, Harlie is THAT obsessed. Bring it…

Buy Links:

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2bHAn2k
iBooks: http://apple.co/2aeSduM
B&N: http://bit.ly/2bIDYNr
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2bNGXUX
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2bIEISO
Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/2bhsEbM
Amazon AU: http://amzn.to/2byYFg7

About the Author:

Monica Murphy is the New York Times, USA Today and #1 international bestselling author of the One Week Girlfriend series, the Billionaire Bachelors and The Rules series. Her books have been translated in almost a dozen languages and has sold over one million copies worldwide. She is both self-published and published by Random House/Bantam and Harper Collins/Avon. She writes new adult, young adult and contemporary romance.

She is a wife and a mother of three who lives in central California on fourteen acres in the middle of nowhere along with their one dog and too many cats. A self-confessed workaholic, when she’s not writing, she’s reading or hanging out with her husband and kids. She’s a firm believer in happy endings, though she will admit to putting her characters through angst-filled moments before they finally get that hard won HEA.