I’m not even sure where to begin! Sophie and Cooper were the perfect version of young, messy love. After growing up together as best friends they both realize they were meant to be more and the journey they take us on to get there was- rough to say the least. But isn’t that how young love is? It is messy. It’s not perfect. There’s going to be miscommunication and jealous. It’s just reality.

Cooper writing in her birthday books every year may be one of my favorite book moments ever.

I enjoyed the dual POV and the dual timelines. What a rollercoaster, but so worth it in the end!

So grateful for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

What an infuriating, frustrating and exciting representation of young love, of coming of age of finding who you are and what it means to be yourself in a relationship.

First loves are a big deal and they are a part of us forever. We would have done anything for them. But when you are young and finding out what love is, it is full of self sabotage, stupid decisions, overthinking and some more overthinking. This book had all of that in a dual POV and dual timeline where we follow Cooper and Sophie as their friendship blossoms into something more and what that means for them, their families and their future.

Cooper has my ENTIRE heart, eventhough I wanted to hit him in the head once or twice because his actions were frustrating to me. Young him and a little older him was a total sweetheart, a gentleman (although still a guy in love) and he is the perfect representation of he fell first, he fell harder and he will do anything for who he loves.

Sophie and her internal turmoil and her journey of discovery can be frustrating but at least for me it was very relatable. And I had to keep reminding myself of how young she was. Plus for someone who hates the miscommunication trope, she sure found herself in that situation a lot.

Can we just be happy now? is an emotional, heartbreaking, warm and fuzzy, frustrating, wholesome book about love that has always been meant to be but it does not come easy. A representation of the fact that the one has to be chosen time and time again and that it requires work.

Tisa definitely gave me all the feels and she got my reaction of how I could not put this book down and read it in less than 24 hours.

This book is part of the Finding Home series and can be read as a stand-alone but I recommend you read the entire series first because stories intertwine and there are recurring characters through them all.

*Review has been/will be posted to Instagram, Facebook, Amazon and Goodreads*

3.5⭐️

I was in the mood for a childhood friends-to-lovers second chance romance with some angst and this hit the spot. This book follows childhood best friends Sophie and Cooper and their on and off relationship. It is dual timeline. The past one starts from when they are 16 and 18 and first get together, to a some months before the present timeline (i.e., her in college), where they have recently broken up again.

There was a lot of push and pull in this book. They characters would make the same mistakes over and over again. It didn't bother me too much because I knew this going into it and they were acting like their ages. The way they acted was almost too realistic for people their ages. I see a lot of people frustrated with Sophie. I was too, but I felt for her. Cooper had spent the past 2 years sleeping around and focusing on himself (which he says many times he had fun and enjoyed) and that's what she was pushed to do by multiple characters. I didn't love her choices, but I could see how she got there. Overall, I did enjoy their HEA and could see how they both grew up (Sophie especially). There were a lot of sweet moments between them.

If you read for safety, I'm not sure this would be for you. It didn't bother me too much, but expected as much going in.

OMG! When I think of young love, this book explains it so well! Sophie and Cooper did so much improvement and growth. The back and forth of being a young couple in love is portrayed ON POINT. Can we talk about how good all the advice was in this book (except the dad lol, iykyk). This storyline is a blueprint of how falling in love young and guiding yourself to that person takes time and commitment. Although it's hard to see characters go back and forth, I think Tisa did this perfectly. I think what made me like the push and pull even more was that Cooper was waiting for Sophie to choose him. What makes it so good, is that it is very relatable. I think we all have been head over heels at a young age and found it hard to navigate a relationship. This story has warmed my heart so deeply!

Goodreads review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6211630047

posted on; 1/31/24

I’ll start this off by saying a huge thank you to the publisher, Tisa Matthews and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and give my honest review on this title.

Unfortunately I decided to DNF this book at 26% which I felt was plenty of time to give it a chance.

I think if I had read this book when I was 16-20 I would have really enjoyed it, but for me at the age of 23 I felt like it was a little bit juvenile and young for me personally.
I can 100% understand why people would love this book though, and I don’t have anything bad to say about it. I just felt a little bit uncomfortable reading about a 16 year old having her first sexual experiences.
From what I did read, I liked the dual POV aspect, I always appreciate reading the thoughts and feelings of both main characters. I do think that Tisa is a very good writer and I found the book flowing very well!

It’s a shame I couldn’t continue reading, but I just didn’t feel comfortable personally reading those kind of scenes with someone so young.

Thank you to Victory Editing & NetGalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really wanted to love this book, the cute cover and synopsis drew me to it, but unfortunately it fell flat for me. Finishing this book was a tumultuous task, as it was so repetitive chapter after chapter to the point it was just aggravating. The dual timelines that also switched from POV every other chapter was extremely hard to keep up with. I also understand it was a best friends to lovers trope with a huge emphasis on miscommunication, but it was just too much. If you enjoy those tropes you may really like this book, but for me I just didn’t enjoy it.

Cooper and Sophie have been best friends their entire lives after growing up next door to each other. When they both begin to feel stronger feelings for each other, they decide to give a relationship a try. But with Cooper heading to college and Sophie still in high school it’s a tough start. As Cooper heads to school they break up for the first time, and what ensues is the dual timelines of their relationship back then and how it continues in college. It’s a constant back and forth between them in what felt like a very unhealthy and toxic relationship. Although they find their happily ever after at the end, it felt rushed and really mundane after all they had gone through.

**I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

3.8 🌟🌟🌟⭐

Sophie and Cooper have been best friends since childhood. Growing up two grades apart didn't feel like much until Copper's graduation and he reveals his feeling for her.

I really enjoyed the dual point of views between Sophie and Cooper and the back and forth timeline.

Cooper was such a lovable guy and definitely could of made some better choices but probably my favorite character. I understood a lot of reasoning behind his actions.

Sophie was a bit frustrating at times but overall good.

Sophie is an avid reader and her least favorite trope is miscommunication. We'll let me tell you there is A LOT of miscommunication in this book so if that's not your thing you may not enjoy it.

I read this book in a day so it definitely kept me entertained and excited. It had quite a bit of spice and lots of sweet moments. I would absolutely recommend to friends!

Best friends to lovers supremacy!! This was so cute with some emotional punches thrown in there but wow, how have I not read any Tisa Williams before? Need to read her other books in this series because this was a fun, sweet, easy read! 3.5 stars!

I read this book as a standalone novel, although it is recommend to read it in order (this is the 3rd book of a series).
And let me tell you, I NEED TO READ ALL OF THEM!!

I'm totally obsessed with these characters!!! I can relate to so many things about Sophie 😍 her passion for books is just the best thing in the world!
Reading a book that talks about books is my GO TO.

I think that, above all, I read this book at the right time, I was looking for a good slow burn, which goes back and forth between the present and the past of two characters who have known each other since childhood.
And I have to tell you, this book broke my heart to pieces.

If it's meant to be, it'll be

This book is going straight to my favorites of the year! This is 🤌

this one was tooo sweet 🥹 from the beginning you’re hit with emotional feels and you’re drawn into a unique and beautiful storyline between sophie and cooper. i’m not normally one who enjoys dual timeline, but the way matthews portrays it was easy to follow and made the plot make even more sense (if that makes sense 🤪)

i loved how realistic this was. this is a young and in love sort of romance and all the insecurity and miscommunication made sense and was so relatable, and it’s really nice to see how matthews was able to weave that sort of naive love to it, while also making it have a little spice. it was a great mix of everything i could want in this sort of second chance, young love novel.

this is a perfect and beautiful story and it’ll break your heart and put to right back together again. also, i’m officially a tisa stan so brb i’m going to buy all her books and read more because i cant get enough 🏃‍♀️

also this cover is literally perfection let’s all take another moment to appreciate it.

Omg I loved this book!! I finished this book in less than 24 hours. This was the perfect best friends to lovers. You get to watch Sophie and Coopers relationship grow from kids to young adults. Cooper is the ultimate boy friend. No matter what is happening in their lives he has her back. There was the perfect amount of spice and plot. The dual timeline kept we engaged,

This book was beautiful, I did not put it down!! Finished in one day!! Sophie and Cooper were just perfect for each other since childhood. The clashing and banging heads irked me but the love between the two made up for it! The spice was just right.

Can We Just Be Happy Now? is a great novel, and is exactly what it says in the title. I spent most of the novel impatiently waiting for the characters to get their happy ending. The author cleverly used a dual timeline, weaving Sophie and Cooper’s past and present into a bittersweet narrative that juxtaposed happy and heartbreaking moments into an engrossing tale that will keep you hooked! It was honestly more angsty than what I usually read and what I anticipated but don’t let this deter you. Overall, Can We Just Be Happy Now? was a great read that I finished within 24 hours, and I would definitely recommend checking it out!
I had not encountered Tisa Matthew’s work before Can We Just Be Happy Now? but I will definitely be going back to the other books in the series!

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC copy of this novel through NetGalley.

#CanWeJustBeHappyNow #NetGalley