Joni & Wren have been best friends since they were three years old. Now they’re strangers, reunited awkwardly at a wedding. After all, they made a pact to be each others plus ones for the many upcoming weddings that they are invited to.

The writer tells the story of Joni & Ren in a dual timeline fashion, writing between present, and meaningful past moments that lead up to the here and now. It’s clearly that the forever +1 wedding dates are undeniably in love with each other, but they’re both too timid to admit it. With their friendship on the line, they struggle to make the first move.

Friends to Lovers, is both the trope & the title. It took me a minute to get into the story with the dual time lines, but once I was hooked, I could not put it down. The time invested in building the characters backstory really built up the plot, the tensions & the arc of the story. Joni and Wren are both lovable & sweet characters that just need to land on the right timeline.

Thank you to NetGalley and Canary Street Press for providing the ARC.

This book was basically an amalgamation of Emily Henry's books, and I'm here for it.

This was a second-chance romance between two best friends turned lovers who crashed and burned spectacularly almost three years prior to the events of the story. Told in a series of back and forth scenes between the now and the previous weddings that Joni and Ren had promised to attend as each other's plus ones, you see just how they fell apart. But this book is about reconciliation and growth, both of which can be messy even if you're committed to both of them.

Joni struggles with depression and anxiety, and often finds herself centering herself as things get too hard for her to manage in the moment. Ren is stoic and calm, and has quietly been pining after Joni for years, but unable to tell her the truth about his feelings. The yearning in this book is palpable - you can almost taste it. It is obvious just how much Ren loves Joni, even when she breaks his heart.

This book was a great debut from Sally Blakely. If you love EmHen, you'll definitely enjoy this one as well.

Grab your sunscreen, head to the beach, and read this book! Friends to Lovers is a must read this summer. From the first chapter I was rooting for Joni and Ren. I enjoyed how the book started in present day and then went back 10 years to fill in the spaces of how they got to where they are. It wasn't confusing at all, the writing flowed very well and I thought the characters were well developed.

If you like forced proximity, second chances, friends that are more like family, mild family drama, and the idea that your plus one may be your true love then you need to read this book!

Thank you NetGalley, Sally Blakely and Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing an ARC in exchange for honest thoughts.

This was an entertaining enough summer read. I loved the setting and found I was more interested in some of the supporting characters. Would recommend for a beach/vacation read.

ARC Review!!!

Ren and Joni have been friends for what seems like forever. After realizing they'll have so many weddings to attend they decide to start a pack that they will be each other's plus-one's going forward, that way no one is ever missing out or needing to find a date. After a couple of weddings and life changing events, Joni moves to the East Coast while Ren stays out on the West Coast. While being on opposite ends, they find it harder and harder to communicate and just aren't on the same page.
After another wedding comes around, Ren's sister - Sasha, both Ren and Joni are each other's date and excited to see each other after such a long time. Well tension rises and they get physical and Joni is realizing she's actually in love with Ren and is scared of what this means.
This book is the definition of Friends to Lovers. The title truly is the book, a quick read and enjoyable.
3 stars!!

definitely a summer read, it’s set at the beach and has “beachy days that turn into starry nights.” i wanted to love this but i truly struggled with this one. i didn’t feel connected with the characters, and i fear this may be because im not a huge friends to lovers girly. i went back and forth between my e-arc and alc — thank you to the publishers!

two best friends joni and ren have always been inseparable. that is until joni moves across the country for her job; but they come up with a creative way to stay in touch. no matter what is going on in their lives, they will always be each other’s plus-one’s every year for wedding season. this has worked for them, until a line has been crossed and their friendship was no more. joni’s sister is getting married and is determined to make the week perfect, even if she has to fake her friendship with ren (while avoiding spilling the truth of why they aren’t friends anymore to her family). is she going to let ren go or is their love story worth fighting for? read and find out ;)

audio: pacing was perfect for me. the single narrator for both of the main characters was great and kept me engaged with the story because of it.

tropes: friends to lovers, second chance, forced proximity, dual timeline

Thank you to Sally Blakely, Harlequin Trade Publishing | Canary Street Press, and NetGalley for giving me an eARC of Friends to Lovers in exchange for my honest review.

Friends to Lovers is such a fun book! There is something so magical for me when I am reading a friends-to -lovers romance. I am not sure why, but I think it mainly has to do with being able to see the obvious chemistry between the friends before they have even recognized it. In this book, Joni and Ren have been friends their entire lives, and as they get older, decide to be each other's plus one's to every wedding. However, that eventually goes wrong and they have not spoken in over two years. That is, until Joni's sister is getting married and almost outside of Joni's sister, no one knows that they are not on speaking terms. So the two decide to fake being friends. However, you can only fake something for so long before things start to feel real. And the thing is, what went wrong has to do with them catching feelings.

This book does have several elements that remind me of The Summer I Turned Pretty, however, it is very much different. There are some underlying concepts and themes are the same such as a beach house and the mom's being best friends. However, that is where the similarities really end. I will say that I was shocked at how much I enjoyed this book. While I do love friends-to-lovers (the trope), it is rare that I really enjoy a book with alternating timelines. However, with this book, those alternating timelines allowed me to see the chemistry between Joni and Ren develop over the years, which we would not have otherwise gotten. That is the key with a friends-to-lovers romance, you need to be able to see the connection between the friends develop into more, otherwise you are simply being told "oh hey they are friends and now they are in love." I would HIGHLY reccomend this book to all romance lovers out there, it is a fun read for sure.

As the title suggests, this book follows Joni and Ren who have been besties since forever. and their families are super intertwined. With adulting threatening their friendship, they devise a plan to always be each other's plus ones to events as a means to make sure that they see each other. Their friendship gets complicated when feelings get mixed into the equation and they've decided to keep this a secret from their families. Back at their families' beach house to celebrate her sister's wedding, Joni is determined to keep the focus on the bride and away from her now non-existent friendship with Ren. It was so clear from the very beginning that there was mutual attraction and feelings that neither of them wanted to act on to preserve their friendship. It was fun summer read and perfect for reading on the beach! I did a combination of digital and audio and the narrator was fantastic. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the gifted eARC and ALC.

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3.75⭐
Joni and Ren have been best friends from childhood through high school and college. After she moves to NYC to work at her dream job in an animation studio, they still remain close, talking everyday. Besides reuniting for shared family events, they made a pact to always be each other's plus-one at weddings. Until one wedding and something changed. Told in a dual timeline, present day when they meet up for her sister's wedding after two and a half years of not seeing or speaking to one another. Beautifully written and introspective. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Oh I loved this so much!!! This gave PWMOV (friends to lovers alternate timelines) x The Ex Vows (coming together for a wedding) x The Summer I Turned Pretty (family dynamics & the beach house) aka all my favorites so I ate this right up. I personally love friends to lovers and thought this was a beautifully done story with that trope. If you love Emily Henry I think you’d love this one!! From page one I was in love. The writing, pacing, and storytelling were all excellent. I was constantly engaged and glued to the pages, invested in Joni and Ren’s story. I loved the dual timeline to give us a good understanding of Joni and Ren’s friendship progressing into a relationship. I absolutely loved the beach house setting and the dynamics between all the family members. LOVED Joni’s relationship with her younger sister as an older sister myself <3 i loved Joni and her character growth. I could really relate to her a lot with feeling lost and anxious about where life might take us. I really enjoyed all the characters and the bits we got about each of them and the roles they played in this story. I obviously loved the romance and could literally feel the yearning coming off the pages!! I’m between a 4.5 - 5 star rating for this one so I’m going to sit on it! Overall an excellent summer romance that I highly recommend <3

I liked the premise of childhood friends who had broken up for some mysterious reasons and now are gathered back together for a wedding. However, I found this a bit tedious. The story jumps back and forth between the couple’s history while growing up and as adults and then back to the present. It just went on too long without much plot. I would have liked for 50-100 pages to be cut. It was easy to have a good idea basically about what had broken them up so I didn’t even have the urge to read to find that out. I just found the FMC rather tiresome. I liked her sister better. And I couldn’t really see why Ren, the MMC was so deeply in love with her except that they had been best friends most of their lives.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

3.5 Stars ! This cover screams summertime romance reading ! I enjoyed the friends to lover trope in this book. I felt like I was able to connect to the characters. Parts of the book were a little slower than I would have preferred and I felt a little bit bored at times. But it did pickup and I enjoyed the ending and liked the book overall. I would giving it a read if you enjoy friends to lovers and romance books.

Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

Ren and Joni, life long friends, are not talking at the beginning of this story. Of course, they have a mutual wedding to attend at their childhood shared family house, so they'll be face to face for the first time in over two years. Why did they lose touch and will they be okay when they see each other? This friends to lovers story is engaging with a lot of well developed characters and endearing interactions. I enjoyed this story and thank Harper Collins Publishing and Net Galley for the ARC.

4.5 rounded up

Warm, witty and filled with chemistry, this book had me swooning and I loved every second of it. The story is centered around two best friends whose bond feels natural and strong. They stumbled a bit along the way, found each other again years later and seemingly picked up right where they left off. It captured the magic of long-term friendship that blossomed into love with heart, humor and vulnerability. The characters are also some that will stick with you well after you’ve finished the last page. A must read for summer!!

Thank you Harper books for my copy!

Sally Blakely’s debut is a heartfelt, slow-burning summer romance that captures the tender ache of unspoken love and second chances. Set against the atmospheric backdrop of the Pacific Northwest, the story follows childhood best friends Joni and Ren as they reunite for a family wedding after years of silence. Through a beautifully woven dual timeline, Blakely builds a rich emotional tapestry filled with nostalgia, longing, and the quiet heartbreak of timing gone wrong. The friends-to-lovers, second-chance dynamic is explored with raw vulnerability, and the characters’ chemistry crackles with every charged glance and hesitant conversation.

Blakely’s prose is lyrical yet grounded, her pacing deliberate, allowing the emotional depth of Joni’s journey and Ren’s steadfast love to unfold with authenticity. The story carries echoes of Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation while carving its own path with a unique voice and nuanced exploration of identity, fear, and the courage it takes to confront the past. Despite a minor reliance on miscommunication, the novel shines with its bittersweet honesty and swoon-worthy moments. A stellar debut, perfect for fans of emotionally resonant, character-driven romances.

I loved this book so much. As soon as I finished reading/listening to my eARC I immediately looked up Sally Blakely to see if there were any other things of hers I could read (not yet!!)

Friends to Lovers is a beautiful rendition of the friends to lovers trope as you’d expect!! It also details excellent representation of anxiety and panic attacks (some of the stigma that comes with it), the desire to love and be loved, and navigating your own identity within and outside of relationships.

Joni and Ren are such a sweet combo and their friendship is iconic, tender, and fun. This book tackles very relatable experiences and somehow engages in good depth while being low angst. I was so deeply compelled to keep learning more about their story. I loved the dual timeline aspect and it had me hooked from the getgo.

I love a good friends to lover story! Especially one that includes childhood friends. Getting to know Joni and Ren was a lot of fun and I truly enjoyed reading their story and getting to know them!

I’m quite surprised I liked it!
I heard some say it’s similar to PWMOV and I had to pick it up!
It’s a best friends to lovers which is my favorite trope of all time and honestly it wasn’t disappointing, everything about it was great, I liked the variety of characters, and the vibes really did hit the spot, perfect beach/summer read if you ask me.
I found myself a bit lost and unsure of what’s happening at times, and I don’t like having dual timelines, but I understand that it’s important for explaining the main characters’ friendship through the years.
I didn’t feel anything special about the book but wouldn’t hate it either, I feel like I would reread if I felt like I need some light, short and witty romance.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange of a honest review.

This book gives you all the SUMMER VIBES.

Beach house ✔️
Weddings ✔️
Music ✔️

Joni is in her late 20’s feeling unsure of where her life is going after being fired.
She decides to fly out early to the beach house where the families vacation .
Thinking she will have some alone time before everyone arrives for her sister’s wedding. Joni was not prepared to reunite with Ren her estranged best friend who she hasn’t spoken to in the past 2.5 years.. You’ll have to read it to find out where it goes from there 😆

📖1st person POV
📖Past and present timelines.
📖Second chance romance

If you’re a fan of Emily Henry and Carley Fortune then i think you would enjoy this book.

It’s The People We Meet On Vacation, but swap the vacations for weddings.
Plus a beach house like the one from The Summer I Turned Pretty would equal this summer read. ☀️


*Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for the ARC/ALC.

Who doesn’t love a friends to lovers, second chance romance story? This book delivers all the feels—sweet, emotional, and full of that slow-burn tension I love. It’s a familiar trope, but Blakely brings enough heart and charm to keep it fresh and fun. The chemistry between the characters is real, the pacing is just right, and their journey feels both relatable and satisfying. Perfect for fans of People We Meet on Vacation and The Summer of Broken Rules. A great comfort read that reminds you why this trope works so well. Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/Canary Street Press for the ARC.