A review by brandece1
Almost Just Friends by Jill Shalvis

3.0

This book has been on my radar for quite some time now. I was initially drawn to the adorable cover (a cover that in my opinion now that I have read the book is silly cause the dog was only in the book for like 3 pages and Piper's feelings about the water). This was my first Jill Shalvis book so I wasn't sure what to expect going into it as far as steam, storyline, writing style and such. Overall I enjoyed this book, but it was definitely not a favorite, but I would read this author again. I loved listening to the audio, truthfully I think if I had sat down to read this book it would have taken me a while to get through it. It was nice to listen as I worked or did chores around the house. One thing that I loved about this book was that it had multiple POV's not just Piper and Cam's but also Piper's brother Gavin. The thing that I didn't love about the multiple POV's was that we didn't get Winnie's (Piper's little sister). I feel like all of the Manning's had so much going on and I loved seeing them work through it, and felt like there was a real missed opportunity to tell Winnie's story. I saw that this is a series so I went through the synopsis for the next books hoping that Winnie would get a book and we would be able to see her get a HEA, but nope. As far as steam I would say it's Hallmark kicked up a few notches. While there is some sex on page, it's not overly descriptive and it almost fads to black. I loved the premise of this book, and while I didn't love it as much as I wanted I ultimately enjoyed my time with the Manning's. I'm not sure I'll binge this series or even pick up another one set in this world, but I will keep a look out to see if Winnie gets a book in the future.