Someone should have warned me about falling in love with my best friend. Carolina Little did I know when Rex came to my locker attempting to bribe me, that he’d turn into my everything.We’d become best friends.I’d steal his heart. He’d steal mine.Nothing has changed in the years of our friendship.Not our connection, not our feelings, or that we still hold each other’s hearts.But his heart isn’t … hold each other’s hearts.
But his heart isn’t the only thing I’ve kept.
The secret I’m hiding could shatter the only man I’ve ever loved.
Rex
I’ve loved Carolina since the day she called my bluff.
Our friendship always came first.
She believed in me when no one else did.
I tucked away my feelings because I couldn’t survive a life without her.
We crossed the line once, and I swore it’d never happen again.
As time passes, the harder it becomes to live up to that promise.
Until finally, there’s no holding back.
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“Just Friends” is a fun, sweet and steamy friends to lovers story that I enjoyed. Rex and Carolina have been best friends since high school when he tried to bribe her to write a paper for him. They instantly become friends when she calls him out on his antics.
I loved how the story line progressed and we see their friendship grows through the years. The constant back and forth of the “will they or won’t they” was wonderful and one of my favorite things about the story. Rex is super protective of Carolina and will do anything to help her. He was truly the best friend a girl could ask for. When something from her past come backs to haunt her, he is the first one to help her. Seeing Carolina grow from a shy teenager to a confident woman was a treat. The ending was perfect. This is the 6th book in the series but can absolutely be read a stand-alone.
Aaron Shedlock and Samantha Cook were amazing narrating Rex and Carolina. I’m never disappointed or bored whenever I listen to them.
I love tropey romance books! Rex and Carolina were the best of friends who happened to be hopelessly in love with each other. I thought the reasons they each had for not wanting to cross that line in their relationship made sense and were relatable. Rex has never had a good example of what a relationship should look like and Carolina felt like she could not compete with other women who threw themselves at Rex. She was just waiting for him to find someone who would take him from her. The obstacle that they faced was surprising, I definitely did not expect it.
This book was personally hard for me to get through because I too had a gamer best friend that I loved. This book was almost like the what if had happened so it was bittersweet for me to read. Getting past my own emotional connection, I loved Charity’s writing and the story. It is starting to bother me the constant theme I’m seeing of “I have a secret that can break everything, I’m not going to just tell the person, no wait I am, just kidding they found out already”. I’m someone who values honesty so this triggers me a bit, but the rest of the story is amazing enough for me to overlook this. I loved Rex and Carolina, they deserve the love they got and I loved watching their relationship unfold. A great ending to this series.
I am sad to say that this was my least favorite book in the series, and even sadder that it was also the last. I guess my expectations was through the roof on this one which probably contributed to my disappointment since it couldn’t meet those expectations. There were however bigger issues not necessarily related to what I expected. One of them being the plot.
The whole idea of them being friends, Carolina wanting more but Rex too terrified of commitment making them stuck in the friend zone was very appealing. Especially with the hookups, jealousy and strict disapproving parents thrown into the mix. This drew me into the story immediately, but sadly the book had a problem with following through on this plot line. With that start it felt strange that the plot became all about this heavy secret Carolina carried and this guy somehow tied to it instead of the conflicts introduced in the beginning. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the suspense and mystery to it all and how it developed the relationship further between her and Rex. This either completely minimized or removed the issues presented by the story in the beginning though.
Yes, the parents were still strict and held high expectations for both of them. This was however only mentioned in passing moving forward and never ever dealt with. It felt natural that the story would build up on this until some sort of confrontation with said parents would occur, but this never happened which was kind of unsatisfying. The same thing with Rex’s fear of commitment. Sure, he had his reservations about it but it basically went from him holding back to him then fully taking the jump into a relationship with her without much thought, rhyme or reason. It was like his commitment issues never had existed in the first place, this most likely due to the plot being forced into the whole secret guy twist, leaving too little room to build up or develop the rest.
I don’t know if it was because of the way the plot was written but I also had an issue with connecting with the characters. There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with either of them apart from the fact that Rex had a dog name. I just couldn’t get into their minds or feelings, if that makes any sense? Maybe I’m wrong here, but I feel like this would not have been the case if the whole commitment thing the story started of with would have been the main conflict in the story. I feel like that would have forced a bit more struggle, development and characterization into the relationship and made it feel more natural. The main conflict as it was with the secret was underwhelming to me, one reason being we did not get to see it take place in the book since it happened behind the scenes. The second reason being that when all was revealed it was resolved quickly and without really that much impact.
The ending in general felt pretty rushed. I mean, I am satisfied with the ending since it was a happy one, but at the same time it threw so much in there that it became rushed and sort of messy. Also, I gotta ask; are birth control pills basically tic tacs in this universe? They don’t seem to help anyone prevent pregnancies. However maybe that’s a good thing since I really loved seeing what the future held for all characters and also seemed to hint at a second generation series that I’d be more than happy to read.
This was probably my favorite book in the Blue Beech series. I just love their ‘love story’ and standing by each other through each of their individual struggles. Love their chemistry. Well done on this one.
I was given a copy of Just Friends in exchange for an honest review. I am new to this series, so read this book as a stand-alone. Having not read any of the previous books, I did not feel that I missed anything within this story.
The book is about Carolina, a pastors daughter who is besotted with her best friend Rex. Unfortunately due to witnessing his parents failed marriage, Rex does not do relationships, although the can’t help but be tempted by Carolina at every turn.
This is a sweet friends to lovers romance with a real twist. Carolina may appear sweet and innocent, but she is keeping some pretty big secrets, secrets that could destroy what she is hoping desperately to build with Rex.
This was an easy read with some really cute moments. If you like protective boyfriend characters, then Rex will meet this criteria for you.
I was immediately drawn to Just Friends.
I loved this beautiful story from beginning to end. I couldn’t stop smiling throughout the pages and, of course, I shed some tears.
I enjoyed the incredible writing of Charity Ferrell. She can go smoothly from sweet to steamy to heartbreaking in matter of words.
I’ll definitely spend a few days catching up with this series!
I voluntarily reviewed an advance complimentary copy of this book.
This is the first book that I’ve read by this author and I absolutely loved it. This is a friends to lovers romance and a real slow burn kind of love.
Coraline is a very determined, strong minded young woman and once she’s set her mind to something there is no going back.
Her parents have always put a hell of alot of pressure on her even when she was very young.
Rex is an amazing guy a real genuine, loyal protective man who is completely head over heels in love with ‘ Lina.’ Rex can’t imagine his life without her in it but they seem to fight it.
It is always tradition of the Lane men to go into law only Rex doesn’t want that either he wants to go down a different path.
There bond is so strong and they share this powerful connection.
Will they ever realise there feelings?
Is it ever worth risking everything ?
( NO SPOILERS ).
This book moves up through the high school years of Carolina and Rex. He took her virginity and now he had to pretend like it never happened. Only he doesn’t want to. He has real feelings for her and I think she does too. Rex is her security blanket and he is very protective of her.
This book really holds your attention and there was a twist I didn’t see coming. There is no communication between them both and I just wish they’d talk about how they feel it’s obvious there in love with each other. I absolutley love books with epilogue and I love seeing where the characters are now and where they end up. This book is told from different points of view which I always like to.
Thank You to the author and publishers for allowing me to read a copy of this book.
This book is out now.
This book is sweet, funny, entertaining and a great read!
I loved how the characters started their friendship and the fun of their relationship. There is also intrigue and parts that kept me on my toes along with sweet and tender moments. It was great to see how the characters developed and grew within themselves and to see them make it through!