I knit because stabbing people is frowned upon. Yep, pure Jill Shalvis picking up something current and using it to her story’s advantage. Those of us who knit will immediately google how to get this T-shirt. BETTER THAN FRIENDS is about growing up in a smallish town. Always an issue of haves and have-nots. In any civilization and community whether small or a metropolis. Bullies are also everywhere. So when Olive goes home to help support her best friend from childhood she is inundated with memories, some tender and sweet but many not so. Her life was one of being on the receiving end of bullying. Learning how to cope, react and challenge took a long time. In the beginning, she often had help from her few friends who learned how to take a step back and allow Olive to assert her brand of revenge.

Olive had two best friends, Katie, and her twin brother Noah, two that were good at the whole sibling thing. But Olive knew they had her back. The problem was Olive didn’t have her own support group. Her parents were flighty, so it was her grandmother who filled in.

So upon her return from London, which is where Olive wound up living and creating her impressive public relations business, there is lots of catching up to do.

If we have any questions about how Olive and Noah got to this point in their non-relationship we have Jill Shalvis providing short glimpses into their prior years together growing up. We need these to understand why some choices were made. Choices that were filled with angst back then, and still hold some weight.

Internal conversations, you know those you have with yourself, are primed and ready to entertain in this latest joy to read by Jill Shalvis. Honestly, I don’t know how she comes up with these almost curmudgeon thoughts. References to current media dialogs keep coming. BETTER THAN FRIENDS is a page-turner. You can’t help but fall in love with these characters and become their cheering squad. Dialog is crisp and filled with humor which is a Jill Shalvis trademark.