We’re so excited to celebrate the upcoming release of Just Friends, the swoon worthy debut novel from Haley Pham, out March 3rd. This heartfelt second chance romance follows childhood best friends Blair and Declan as they reconnect in their coastal hometown years after heartbreak pulled them apart. Told in dual timelines and filled with first love, lingering secrets, and the weight of dreams, Just Friends is a moving story about finding your way back to the person who feels like home.
We had the chance to chat with Haley about the inspiration behind the book, her writing process, and the emotional moments that shaped Blair and Declan’s journey. Keep reading for our exclusive Q&A, and be sure to pre order your copy of Just Friends today.
Q: How did you choose the setting of the coastal hometown of Seabrook and the coffee shop environment? What did those locations add to Blair & Declan’s journey?
I am so in love with the setting of this book, it’s not even funny. Honestly, I see why Elin Hilderbrand wrote thirty books set on Nantucket Island! Seabrook is inspired by Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, which I’d been to once for my one-year anniversary with my husband in 2021. I only spent four days there, but it stuck in my mind all the way up until 2023 when I started writing Just Friends. The fictionalized version, Seabrook, influences Blair’s upbringing in a big way. She’s not from there, and she when she starts living there, it’s because her Great Aunt can afford to. This makes Blair feel isolated growing up. On the opposite end, Declan has parents who are super involved in the community, and he’s a sports superstar, so everything should line up for him to feel right at home. But he doesn’t. Declan was a huge reason why Blair felt at home growing up, and then it’s the exact reason she avoids Seabrook as an adult. I think it’s so interesting how a beautiful town can be warped by your relationships with the people in it. Then, for the coffee shop, there’s one reason for it that I can’t spoil, but the other, more simple explanation, is that I am obsessed with coffee. It sounds funny, but it’s a part of my day that I always love, and even on trips, it’s an adventure to find local coffee shops. Plus, there’s no way Blair and Declan were going to seek each other out, so the forced proximity was a perfect excuse for both of them to get in each other’s way and figure out the truth.
Q: The story is told in dual timelines. Why did you choose that structure, and how did it help you explore first love, loss and second chances?
I absolutely love when you read a past chapter where two people are head-over-heels in love, and then you turn the page to the present, and they can’t even make eye contact. It’s natural tension, and it really lent itself to writing about the intensity of what a first love feels like. There’s a certain, full-bodied, over-the-top obsession fueled love that can only happen when you’re a teenager, and your brain isn’t fully formed, and you don’t have that many responsibilities. It feels like your whole world is bending around this one person. It was nice to have the present timeline focus on Blair’s journey through loss and grief, too. I like when I read a book and it feels like the FMC has a full life without the love interest, but when they do come in, they add something the FMC struggled to find by herself.
Q: The characters deal with heartbreak, silence, secrets and re-encountering each other after years. Which emotional beat was the hardest to write?
Chapter 17 nearly took me out.
It was hard for a number of reasons. First, because after everything came to the surface, it was hard to decide where they should go from there. Especially since Blair knows where she wants to go, but she doesn’t want to blurt that out in case Declan is on an entirely different page. And second, revealing the accident took so many rewrites. I wrote it from Blair’s perspective in a flashback, at least ten separate times. None of them worked because Blair’s in the dark for most of it. It wasn’t until I wrote it from Declan’s perspective in the present timeline that I liked it.
Q: The tagline mentions “the weight of dreams” in addition to second chances. How do personal dreams and aspirations play into Blair and Declan’s story?
I was really interested in writing a character who pursues a high paying job because she believes she should, and what it would take to finally pursue the career that’s actually closest to her heart. Especially when that “you need to,” or “you should,” voice was coming from the pressure she put on herself to take care of her mom. Declan struggles with a similar parental pressure, except his was explicit from an early age. So, you’ve got a character with internal pressure rubbing up against one with external pressure. I wanted to explore what those behaviors looked like in adulthood though, when they realize they have the jurisdiction to change their paths. Plus, you’ve got the accident changing how Declan viewed pleasing his parents, versus going after what he wants. Both Blair and Declan’s original dreams seem more glamorous, but maybe what they actually want is much more simple.
Q: Secrets and old wounds resurface in the book. Without spoiling, what secret did you most enjoy revealing or crafting, and why?
It’s kind of funny looking back, because almost every single character has a secret, but I wasn't sitting there thinking, ‘Okay, now what’s this person’s secret gonna be?’ It just ended up happening that way. One reveal that is much shorter on the page was Harper’s backstory, but I really enjoyed thinking about how she got to Seabrook. Also, it’s a lot of fun when she spills the beans on Declan and a certain something he keeps in his wallet. Now that I’ve typed that... it sounds like something it’s not. But I guess you’ll just have to read to find out what it actually is!
