Friends and Lovers is a nostalgic, slow-burn romance that captures the ache of lost friendship and the hope of second chances. Joni and Ren’s journey from childhood besties to something more is both tender and romantic, set against the backdrop of dreamy summer weddings. A charming debut with heart, humor, and just the right amount of angst. Perfect for fans of friends-to-lovers stories.

A great summer romance featuring two of my favorite tropes friends to lovers and second chance! I absolutely was hooked on this book and finished reading it in one sitting. The dual timeline was great and I was captivated to find out what had caused these former best friends not to speak one another for two and half years!

As Joni and Ren are forced to see each other again at Joni's sister's wedding surrounded by both of their families, they put on a fake display that they are still friends. This book reminded of Happy Place by Emily Henry and The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce. The chaos of Joni's sister's wedding and meddling family members added to the tension in the book. Both Joni and Ren were great characters! The book was a light read but still had lots of substance.

Thank you Sally Blakely, Canary Street Press and Netgalley for this digital arc. All opinions expressed are my own.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
friends to lovers by sally blakely (ARC)

thank you @netgalley for the ARC! this book is the perfect beach read! it was like a cross between the summer of broken rules and happy place (two of my fav romances ever). the characters were so cute and i loved their story. i finished this in just over 24 hours and i could not put it down! the playlist at the end is also SOOOO GOOD! pleaseeeee add this to your summer tbr! ☀️🩵

This was such a cute book! Sometimes I forget how much I really enjoy contemporary romance and this book really hit the nail on the head for me - it had tension, it had banter, it had the build up - it really just had it all for me.

The jumping timeline had me going back a couple of times to see which timeline we were currently in, but otherwise I really enjoyed this!

Thank you to NetGalley & Harlequin/Canary Street Press for the eARC - I can't wait to have a physical copy to add to my shelves.

I enjoyed Friends to Lovers. I think in the beginning that it was obvious that something romantic happened between them years ago, but didn’t know exactly what happened. Was it just a kiss or something more. It did drag on in some parts, but overall I liked this book.

Thank you for the opportunity for an early copy of this book! It was a very refreshing summer read. We always love a man who falls first ❤️

Once I started, I couldn’t stop.

This is where young love hurts… when you’re fearful, hesitant of losing what you have that you get in your own way and settle for what you think is the right thing to do instead of risking pain and loss — only to face it all anyway. Because when you deprive yourself of that love, you’re still losing. But being brave and taking the leap could mean you have everything to gain.

Sally Blakely struck that chord perfectly. Friends to Lovers is exactly why I struggle with the combination of friends to lovers and second chance tropes. It just feels like someone has ripped my heart out and keeps squeezing it until it’s about to burst. I could actually feel the hollow ache in my chest reading the flashbacks, and it made reading the present-day chapter that much harder.

The tension between Joni and Ren from the flashbacks and present day was subtle yet absolutely painful. With each wedding that passes in the past, we’re given a clearer picture of the impact time and distance has had on their relationship— and you can already guess how they ended up in their current situation. AND ALL I WANT TO DO IS DIVE INTO THIS BOOK AND LOCK THEM IN A ROOM AND TELL THEM TO CONFESS IT ALL.

It’s painful, yet heartwarming. And the promise of an HEA got me through this book because I was so desperate for Joni and Ran to finally get the ending they deserve.

I love how interwoven the families are. How in-sync and perceptive the siblings and parents are, how Ren and Joni can fall back into themselves despite their years apart. I have this dream of owning a home where my best friends and our families gather. A home that’s home to everyone we love. And I love so much how this cozy Nancy-Meyer cottage along the Oregon coast is the setting for this story. It’s picturesque but obviously also so loved and well-worn, how could anyone resist falling in love?!

Thank you #NETGALLEY for the opportunity to read this lovely story.

FRIENDS TO LOVERS is the first book I've read by this author and I really enjoyed her writing style.

Told in present time with flashbacks, we get a front row seat to Ren and Joni's relationship. Obviously, as the name implies, this a friends to lovers story yet it is so much more. It's about growing up and into who we are meant to be.

I am hoping this is a series that I'm late to as I'd love to read about the other couples in the story.

4 solid stars!!!

This book had everything I love in a romance. The story had depth, but it never felt heavy. The flashbacks were done just right—not too much, just enough to give you the backstory without dragging things out. Ren might seriously be one of the best book male characters I’ve read in a long time. The writing was super easy to read, and I flew through it.

(I loved this so much I preordered a physical copy before I was even finished reading.)

Loved this book! Such a cute easy read - reminded me of an Emily Henry type book. Hard to put down once you pick up, enjoy !

Thank you NetGalley, Sally Blakely, and Canary Street Press for the arc copy I received so that I can give my honest review.
4.5 stars Honestly this book is a perfect summer/beach read. Curling up with this book in a hammock by the beach on a warm day is a perfect afternoon. Though definitely predictable, I don't mind because that's fairly typical with most romance novels. The chemistry between Joni and Ren was great. I don't normally like flash backs but these were well done. I really loved this book and practically couldn't put it down. I did relate to Joni especially her struggles with anxiety but that made it more irritating when she just wouldn't communicate with her friends and family. But I suppose that's the flaw that makes the story interesting. Overall I would definitely read another Sally Blakely book.

A super cute, flashback style, friends to lovers storyline perfect for fans of Emily Henry! Blakely does a great job of weaving together our 'then' and 'now' and highlighting the relationships between our main characters and the wild dynamic of their two respective families. Bonus points for the book being set in the PNW (Portland, Oregon) !!

I have to say, I think I am realizing that maybe friends to lovers is not entirely for me - it seems very obvious that they are in love with each other even in the 'then' timeline and I was screaming at them to just act on it. Also, something I have not seen mentioned in other reviews that happened just before 50% and I was never really able to get over: In the 'then' timeline when the two characters are dating other people but still attending weddings as each other's plus-one, there is some lack of respect of the other's relationship / boundary crossing that really rubbed me the wrong way.

Overall, this is a sweet story to read on a beach vacation or girls trip.

Thanks to Sally Blakely, Harlequin Publishing, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Are you looking for the perfect summer beach read? Fans of Emily Henry's books will be excited to discover Sally Blakely's debut novel, Friends to Lovers. Joni and Ren have been best friends since childhood. When Joni moves across the country, they make a pact to be each other's plus-one for every wedding they are invited to. However, as their friendship evolves and tensions rise, a summer reunion for Joni's sister's wedding forces them to confront what went wrong between them. This story is a classic case of the right person at the wrong time until they realize they have always meant to be together.

I love the combination of friends-to-lovers and second-chance romance—it might be my favorite trope pairing. From the moment I started reading, I couldn't put the book down. The angst, nostalgia, and undeniable chemistry raise the stakes for these childhood friends.

I will definitely keep an eye out for Sally Blakely's future books! Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing | Canary Street Press for the advanced digital copy; all thoughts are my own.

This book is a sweet, light read with just the right amount of romantic tension. A comforting pick for fans of the trope. Really enjoyable!

I really wanted to love this book, but I just couldn’t get into it. It’s definitely a slow burn—which isn’t usually my favorite, but I can appreciate when it’s done well. Unfortunately, Friends to Lovers struggled with unbalanced pacing that constantly dangled the promise of emotional clarity or plot progression, only to fall short. I was hoping to get swept up in the friends-to-lovers dynamic, but this one just didn’t land for me.

4.5 Stars!!!!
MAAAAANNNN, slow burn to the MAX. But I will say that it had me kicking my feet and giggling so often. The book was long and it definitely was a cute slow burn, but I felt like I got lost often with how many characters there were. Just be aware you have to remember who is who and who is related to who. There was just one spicy scene that I would say is a little intense for younger readers. The book followed the friends to lovers as the two characters grew up together and spent lots of time together at their shared family cabin. They were the kind of friends that people would probably ask "are you two a couple?" fairly often. I would 100% read this book again and would happily read a sequel with a story line of the other characters as well.

I really enjoyed Friends to Lovers. I am a sucker for a friends to lovers romance, and this one did not disappoint. This truly reminded me of People We Meet on Vacation and Happy Place by Emily Henry. I liked the different time perspectives as it went back and showed the different weddings they went to together. The family dynamic was also great. If you're in the mood for a sweet romance with minimal spice but all of the yearning, this is a good one!

This whole book is based on keeping secrets and 30-year old adults too afraid of having a grown-ass conversation. Worst plot device ever.

Spoilers & rant incoming:
The angst in this book is off the charts. Like, we know early on that SOMETHING bad happened between Joni & Ren, two lifelong best friends, but we don't even find out what it was until like 85% because they won't talk to each other about it! The timeline jumps from present-day to 4 years ago, when the BIG thing happened 2 1/2 years ago, and it's so annoying. And the BIG thing is -surprise!- literally just something she overheard, then instead of talking to Ren about it LIKE an ADULT she just overreacts, doesn't tell him and ruins everything. But then I guess there wouldn't be anything for this author to write about if had been realistically resolved.

Joni has some effed up family members who don't really care a thing about her, although they want to think that they do. A sister who yells out Joni's devastatingly private secret ("life-changing" in her own words) to a room full of people at her rehearsal dinner, a controlling mother who thinks she's entitled to Joni's every emotion and tries to have a therapy session in front of the room full of people (like WTF?), and a father who sits back and lets it all happen. And then in the end the author tried to frame them as so caring. It was so dysfunctional!

And Joni is so spineless, hiding secrets about her life like losing her job and being in love with a great man because she's afraid of what others will think of her. I think she's supposed to be 30, but she acts like she's 18.

Ren is the only person with some semblance of having his crap together, and is the one who tries to open communication with Joni. But he ultimately lets her walk all over him in the name of love.

And it was so lame how the tension in the 3rd act break up was created because Ren forgot his phone charger & couldn't charge his phone??? Like in all his travels from Portland to NY he couldn't buy a $5 charger?? How unimaginative.

I like my FMCs with a lot more personality and backbone, and a plot with a lot more substance than just characters avoiding hard conversations, so this book was definitely not for me.

Friends to Lovers is a classic feel-good romance that's perfect for the summer! Ren and Joni have been best friends since their childhood. We follow their friendship-turned relationship-turned complicated through present-day (at Joni's sister's wedding week) and flashbacks. There were so many moments I loved. You could see Ren loving Joni - even though she didn't see it yet - and him giving her the space to realize how she felt. Joni owns her mistakes in letting their relationship/friendship implode. Joni's thought process when she ponders why she didn't recognize his love or hers over the years was perfect to include. Overall, it was a fun read and gave me all the happy feels but it didn't blow me away. I did have a bit of a hard time keeping all the characters straight for the first part of the book. This is super picky, but the title isn't my favorite. There are so many things that could have been pulled out to create the title (something with playlists or music could have been a better route. It just felt like a really impersonal title for a book that had some fun and unique perspectives and characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and Canary Street Press for a copy of this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This story was a delightful read that captured my heart from start to finish! The narrative beautifully balances strong character development with an engaging plot. Both the main and side characters felt vivid and relatable, each adding depth and charm to the story. The author’s attention to detail in crafting these personalities truly brought the world to life.

Although the ending was somewhat predictable, it didn’t detract from the overall experience—in fact, it was a comfort to watch the pieces fall into place. The journey was so captivating that every moment was a joy, even with the anticipated outcome. The "friends to lovers" trope, a personal favorite of mine, was handled with finesse, showcasing all the delightful nuances and emotional growth that make this theme so satisfying.

If you’re a fan of heartwarming stories, rich characters, and the enchanting transition from friendship to romance, this book deserves a spot on your shelf!