Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this novel!

I found the start of this book to be so summery and loved the premise of two friends who have drifted apart having to forced together to celebrate their siblings marrying each other. Ren is our mmc and he is the typical tall, dark, handsome and a great best friend to Joni. Joni starts this story having just gotten fired from her "dream job" that actually seems to have taken over her life. Ren and Joni formed an agreement after college that they would be each other's plus one for weddings. The story jumps timelines to various weddings they have attended together. Eventually you untangle what pulled them apart and by the middle of the story I found my self rooting for these two to talk it out and share how they feel. I also loved the cast of characters that made up Ren and Joni's respective families, they all added humor to the main character's angst!

While I loved the premise and beach house setting there were some parts that felt tedious at times. First off, Joni avoids all conflict and hides herself from her family, much of her and Ren's conflict stems from her not sharing how she is feeling, this got a bit frustrating as she manages to miss out on every meaningful relationship including her sister, mom and Ren. I also found her avoidance of sharing about her job to be extreme, by not talking about it she was just catastrophizing in her head about it. Then at the end its all sunshine and roses because it means that she can easily relocate back home which fixes all her problems.

I think this is a great summer read but I am taking off a few starts for the tedious nature of the fmc!

The formatting of this book on kindle made it impossible for me to get through. So many letters are missing and the chapters aren’t divided but are just new paragraphs. I’ve tried reading it and the story line is good. I’m about 1/4 in and I just can’t keep reading with the formatting. I will read it when it comes out in correct format.

Perfect for fans of Annabelle Monaghan and Emily Henry, This is the story of Joni and Ren. They’ve been best friends since childhood. But, boy/girl relationships can be complicated! This one is so swoon worthy with just the right amount of sweet. I’ve seen mentioned that if “People We Meet on Vacation” and “Happy Place” had a baby, this book would be the end result — and that is the perfect description! Sally Blakely has earned a spot on my favorites list with this sweet romance. Thank you so much NetGalley for this early copy of “Friends to Lovers”,

I absolutely loved this friends to lovers book! That can be a hard trope to write but the author did it beautifully!
Ren and Joni have been friends since childhood. Ren developed feelings for Joni as a teenager but didn't want to risk their friendship. Present day is when they are in their late 20's.
The author did a great job blending the sneak peek of the past with the present.
All around a great read!
Tropes:
Friends to lovers
Forced Proximity
One bed
He falls first

4.5⭐️
(ARC review) — Thank you to author Sally Blakely and her publisher Canary Street Press. I received an Advanced Reader Copy for the July 2025 release of 𝐹𝘳𝑖𝘦𝑛𝘥𝑠 𝑡𝘰 𝘓𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘳𝑠 in exchange for my honest review. This is a fantastic author debut. Reminds me a bit of Emily Henry’s books. Great easy summer reading, like a warm hug. Set in a dual timeline but easy to follow. You’ll love these characters (Ren & Jodi) and eagerly will want to see how their journey unfolds. Would have loved to give this one slightly higher rating🌟but couldn’t because I wanted more at the end of the book. More of their story. So much more!! So I was bummed. If you like friends to lovers and second chance romances, you’ll enjoy this one. Loved it! Absolutely add to your Summer 2025 stack!!!!

FAVORITE QUOTES —
‘𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙜𝙤, 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩, 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙚’ • ‘𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮, 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨, 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮, 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧.’

I found myself drawn into this read right off the bat. Sally Blakely’s writing was perfection! I found this story incredibly easy to follow and felt like I was there with the characters. When Joni and Ren first reconnect in the beach house after all those years…awkward. I love that I could palpate that tension through the page like I was a fly on the wall.

Ren is a total sweetheart and the love you could tell he had for Joni made me swoon and broke my heart all at the same time. I wanted to get eye-level with Joni and ask her to get it together multiple times! The timelines, both past and present, not only progress so smoothly, but also paint the perfect interconnected story, fitting all the pieces into place.

I will admit – I’ve recently decided I just don’t think I’m a huge second chance girly. I certainly know how to hold a grudge and I’m not above it. With that being said, I think this one was written well, I didn’t find it too cheesy as I sometimes do and it was enjoyable, so if you’re someone who loves second chance, this is most likely right up your alley! I would have loved to see more of Joni and Ren together, after we got our happily ever after.

I found this to be a fun read filled with angst and love. This book is definitely up there with some of the best debut novels I have read. Thank you to Sally Blakely and Netgalley for this eARC! These thoughts are my own, honest opinions.

I really enjoyed this second chance romance book and following Joni and Ren's friendship alongside the wedding week. I'm not usually the biggest fan of friends to lovers, but having the separate timelines, it was nicely split between the second chance trope (with forced proximity as a bonus!) that I love and how it all started with their friends to lovers trope. I also loved reading the side characters in their respective families because everyone felt unique and interesting. The writing style was also excellent and Sally Blakely is definitely an author I'll happily read more of. Fans of Emily Henry should check this one out because I think it very much feels like the love child of Happy Place and People We Meet On Vacation.

4.5 ⭐️

I really loved this book! It reminded me of a mixture of Happy Place and Love and Other Words. I found Ren to be very lovable and I was rooting for him and Joni the entire time. The book also hooked me right away and I was dying to know what exactly went down with them as their relationship progressed. The dual narratives made it so fun to get glimpses of the past and present and I definitely preferred Sally Blakely's style of writing over a linear timeline.

If you're a fan of Emily Henry and Christina Lauren and you like second chance romance and friends to lovers tropes, I'd definitely recommend picking this one up.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC. All opinions are my own :)

Thank you to Net Galley and publisher for this e-arc!

This was such a sweet story of friendship, second-chances, and the soul-mate kind of romance. What a lovely debut novel! While friends-to-lovers and second chance romance are not typically my favorite tropes, I loved this story and these characters. This will be a perfect summer read.

“Friends to Lovers” by Sally Blakely is a cute, slow-burn romance about childhood best friends Joni and Ren figuring out if they’re meant to be more. The story jumps between past and present, showing how their relationship has evolved over the years.

I really liked the deep friendship between Joni and Ren—it felt genuine, and their history added a lot of heart to the story. But the back-and-forth timeline sometimes made it hard to stay fully invested. While the romance was sweet, the plot was pretty predictable, following a lot of familiar friends-to-lovers tropes without many surprises.

Overall, it’s a solid, enjoyable read, just not one that completely wowed me. If you love slow-burn romances with a lot of nostalgia, you’ll probably enjoy this one!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Really enjoyed this read! Felt like People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry with the dual timelines, loved it!

Thank you to @htp_hive @htpbooks for the e-ARC of Friends to Lovers by @sally.blakely 🩵✨🐚 this gave all the good vibes and it’s so true that everyone said this gave off The People We Met on Vacation vibes ✨

One of my favorite reads are a friends to lovers second chance romance and this one delivered that! Joni and Ren are you two main characters and they have been best friends since they were kids. They make a pact together to be each others plus ones for a wedding they got invited to and the more time they have spent together on this trip sparks and feelings start to develop.

The chemistry between these two was so intense and you can tell it was there especially how well Sally described their connection in this book. Well done!

Looking forward to reading more from Sally as I believe there will be a book 2! 🫶🏼✨

Novel is releasing on July 22, 2025 🩵

This seemed like a Happy Place by Emily Henry reboot. Slow start, slow burn, lots of characters, friends become lovers (as the title suggests). Would have loved some more backstory on Ren and Joni as they seemed like somewhat surfacey characters.

This one was sadly not a standout for me. I had a hard time being placed in the story and understanding who all the characters were. With two families it was hard to keep track of who was related and just friends. I’m not sure the relationship also provided any new or interesting insights about romantic relationships. By the end I really wanted to love it but it felt like it was trying too hard to be Emily Henry.

4.5 ⭐️

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and Sally Blakely for providing me this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts! Such a cute read, I could not put it down! It is very well written and grabbed my attention within the first couple of chapters. They are childhood best friends who would always be each others plus ones to weddings but they have not spoken to each other in 2.5 years. I do wish the book contained a few more chapters of Ren and Jodi as a happy couple though.


Tropes:
- Friends to Lovers
- Second Chance
- One Bed Trope
- Forced Proximity

Friends to Lovers

To be honest, I'm quite shocked that this is Sally Blakely's first novel. There was so much emotion and feeling to every sentence in this book. I loved it! She did such a great job writing their story from childhood to present day, so much so that you want to have had a childhood friend become your plus one for life. The supporting characters (siblings) added to the fun as well.

I truly couldn't put down this book and am hoping for another book some time soon from Ms. Blakely.

This was overall a great read. Thank you for the advance copy to enjoy!

This is “Happy Place” meets “People We Meet on Vacation”! And from someone who loves Emily Henry, this was really good! This book also has some of my favorite tropes, friends to lovers, forced proximity and second chance romance. The tension and the romance was immaculate.

-3.5 rounded up-
This book is the perfect summer book for reading on a beach! The main characters in this book are Ren and Joni, two estranged childhood friends who are reunited at Joni’s sister’s wedding. Friends to Lovers follows Joni and Ren’s path from best friends, to awkwardly avoiding each other at family events. I think the best comparison that I can think of is People We Meet on Vacation, which is also a vacation setting and has the same flashbacks that this book has. This book was very emotional, and I felt everything. For most of the book, I felt it was leading up to the point where we find out why they are estranged, which is honestly heartbreaking. I did think that the writing was a bit subpar at times, but I think the plot made up for it.

Features-
- Childhood friends
- Friends to lovers
- Second chance
- Forced Proximity
- Fake dating
- Weddings

Several of my favorite tropes all in one sweet story: best friends to lovers (title gives that one away obviously), second chance and forced proximity.

Friends to Lovers is told from past/present viewpoints and ties together perfectly at the end. Ren and Joni have been best friends since childhood and each other's "plus one" at any wedding event they were invited to. When life took them different directions, they agreed to keep one thing the same- they would always be each other's plus one.

I definitely got some "The Summer I Turned Pretty" vibes with the beach/beach house setting in addition to Ren and Joni's mothers being best friends. There was also a little bit of family drama and secret keeping that added some angst to the story.
Sally Blakely wrote a page turner because even though we know how romance stories typically end, I wanted to know exactly how Ren and Joni ended (or started) their story. You will absolutely be rooting for a happy ending for the two of them.

I loved this and would highly recommend getting it on your TBR!

Thank you NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing and Canary Street Press for the opportunity to read this e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

The friends to lovers trope is one of my favorites and romantic fiction. This novel does not disappoint. Excellent setting in chemistry between the two main characters. Believable depiction of situations between friends who become more. A fun read that is highly recommended. I received this novel as an advanced reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review..