A really fun read - was it earth shattering or ground breaking? No. But it was told with flashbacks which is always a fun twist to any book. An excellent debut for this author!

I really enjoyed this book. I'm a sucker for a second chance romance. There were some.parts that felt a bit disjointed, which can totally happen when you get a past/present type of read. But overall, I liked it!

Ren and Joni have been best friends forever! They are always each other’s plus ones and each other’s wedding dates. Now at Joni’s sister’s wedding, Ren and Joni have to pretend that they are closer than ever and sharing a room together without their families knowing they haven’t spoken to each other in about 3 years.

People are saying this is what happens when you put Happy Place and People You Meet on Vacation together and I agree! Since I love those two books, I enjoyed this a lot as well. A lot of going back and forth in the timeline but pretty easy to follow. This is a great summer romance read to enjoy by the pool or by the beach. ❤️

Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin publishing for this ARC 🫶🏻

Best friends Joni and Ren have been inseparable since childhood. When Joni moves across the country for her job, the two decide to be each other’s plus-ones every year for wedding season, no matter what else is happening in their lives. It’s a tradition that works, until a line is crossed and the friendship they once thought was forever is ruined.

Now Joni is back at their families’ shared summer home for her sister’s wedding, and she’s determined to make the week perfect, even if it means faking a friendship with Ren and avoiding the truth of why they have to fake it in the first place. But as the week progresses, Joni begins to question what her life is without Ren in it. And when the wedding arrives, she’ll be forced to decide if loving Ren means letting him go, or if theirs is a love story worth fighting for.

I enjoyed Friends to Lovers. I liked both main characters as well as the supporting characters. I loved Joni's vulnerability and introspection. I did feel stressed reading this book- What happened between them that ended their friendship? Why haven't they spoken to try to resolve their estrangement? How could Joni not go to her sister's engagement party? When the reason for the lifelong separation was revealed, it was anticlimactic and frustrating. Despite this, I liked the story and thought the writing was well done.

Thank you so much Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars, rounded up. This was a sweet, friends to lovers romance. I enjoyed Ren and Joni's backstory with their families being tight and buying a beachhouse together. I was engaged right away but it dragged for me a bit in the middle. Almost too much of a slow burn for me and I wasn't a fan of all of the miscommunication between the FMC and MMC and their families. Overall, I breezed through it and will continue to read whatever Blakely puts out. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I am usually not a romance girly but this was a great read. This book makes me want to explore more romance. I am obsessed with this cover and I Connor wait to get a physical copy of the book

2.5 🌟 While there were certain aspects of this book that I really enjoyed (like the unique dual timeline and the music/playlist elements) this book mostly fell flat for me with the amount of miscommunication prevalent and the bland characters. I didn't feel a lot of chemistry and emotion reading this one, which caused the romance to feel forced & unbelievable as well as making me feel detached and bored. However, I'd be interested in reading the author's future books, because while I didn't enjoy this one too much, I think there is a lot of potential with her writing & storytelling abilities! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are my own.

I love a slow burn enemies to lovers story and while I found this to be enjoyable, I thought other books that have come out recently did this better.
The banter wasn't as great as it could have been and I found the book to be lagging in some parts.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/Canary Street Press for this eARC.

3.5 ⭐

This was a quick, easy to read, friends to lovers story. Joni and Ren have been family friends all of their lives. They are each other's default wedding plus ones and are 'just friends.'
I liked how the weddings served as a flashback point to find out what 'went wrong' in their friendship and you got a good glimpse into their dynamic.
I liked the slow burn aspect to it- you don’t really know what happened until you know.
I did feel like both families needed some boundaries and better communication styles- they were a little too in everyone's business and it stressed me out.
Overall, this was a great read that kept me engaged and giggling throughout the whole story.

I absolutely loved this book! It gave me Happy Place meets People we Met on Vacation vibes! If you like that beach summer read like Emily Henry and Annabel Monaghan, then this is for you! I really enjoyed reading this story. Thank you to NetGalley and Canary Street Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Add this to your beach read list because this is the ideal book to take on a vacation or to pick up when you need an escape!

Joni and Ren have literally been best friends since they were three. Their Moms are BFFs and their families have spent every summer together at their shared beach house in Oregon. They went to school together, to prom together, and even shared a dorm in college at one point. After college, Joni moved to NYC and Ren stayed in Oregon, but they made a pact that anytime one of them needed a plus one to a wedding, they would drop everything and step in. Flash forward to the present, Joni’s currently back at the beach house for her sister’s wedding and things are AWKWARD between her and her former BFF. They haven’t spoken in two and a half years, but they’ve been lying to their families and pretending that they’re still as close as ever. We don’t know what happened between the two of them, but the book moves between the present and flashes back to the various weddings that Joni attended with Ren as her plus one. At some point, Joni and Ren risked their friendship when they crossed a line, but as Joni’s sister’s wedding approaches, the two are forced into close proximity and are faced with the truth about what actually happened two and a half years ago.

The book’s told in first person entirely from Joni’s POV and the side characters all feel like they could be members of your own lovable family. There were some emotional moments and I really like how it’s not just about Joni and Ren, but how much they care about the rest of their loved ones. The tension and the spice were well-written without being explicit. Kudos to Sally Blakely for making me feel like I was at the west coast and in the beach house with Joni, Ren and their family. It definitely gave me Happy Place meets People We Meet on Vacation vibes, but while fans of Emily Henry will enjoy this, Sally Blakely isn’t writing a knock off of either of these books. I’m looking forward to whatever Sally Blakely writes next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Canary Street Press for the ARC, and thank you Sally Blakely for writing a perfect beach read!

The pacing was so quick that it felt like I was rushing towards the finish line from chapter 1.

There was a spark between them but the way it was written left a lot to be desired. I’m not sure if it was the writing, the narration, or the characters. There was just something missing and I feel like that’s why it was rushed.

The story was off.

Title: Friends to Lovers
Author: Sally Blakely
Genre: Romance   
Rating: 4 out of 5

Best friends Joni and Ren have been inseparable since childhood. So when Joni moves across the country for her job, the two devise a creative way to stay in touch: they’ll be each other’s plus-ones every year for wedding season, no matter what else is happening in their lives.

It’s a tradition that works, until a line is crossed and the friendship they once thought was forever is ruined.

Now Joni is back at their families’ shared summer home for her sister’s wedding, and she’s determined to make the week perfect, even if it means faking a friendship with Ren—and avoiding the truth of why they have to fake it in the first place. How hard can it be to pretend to be friends with the person who once knew you best?

But as sunny beach days together turn into starry nights, Joni begins to question what her life is without Ren in it. And when the wedding arrives, bringing past heartaches to the surface, she’ll be forced to decide if loving Ren means letting him go, or if theirs is a love story worth fighting for.

This was a cute read! I love the friendship between these two families and all the intermingled relationships. The varied friendships were my favorite part of this read, actually. I liked the scenes in the past and the glimpses we got of how Joni and Ren got to where they are. Their friendship was great, and I loved their interactions and little inside jokes and stories. Definitely recommend this read!

Sally Blakely is from Montana. Friends to Lovers is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin Trade Publishing | Canary Street Press in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog link live 7/22).

This book was fun to read and perfect for summer. It gave me the same vibes as People We Meet on Vacation which is one of my favorite books, so I ate this one up. Such a great rom com!

To be honest, I only read maybe 10-20% of this book. The cover is what drug me in and the premise is a cute summer read. However, the writing and characters felt too childish for my taste.

In the vein of “People We Meet On Vacation” this story is told in dual timelines of the past and present. I don’t love a story like that, it always ends up super boring for like 50% of the book and just a lot of talking and non-events. It’s a super slow burn, but in the very end they find each other. It’s well written for this format, it’s just not a format I prefer. I probably won’t remember a thing about this book in a month. Ren and Joni have been best friends their whole lives but eventually grow apart as they enter adulthood but eventually find each other again.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/Canary Street Press for this ARC!!!

Friends to Lovers by Sally Blakely completely took me by surprise—in the best way possible. I went into it expecting a sweet friends-to-lovers story, but what I got was so much more: layered family dynamics, emotional flashbacks, and a genuinely touching second-chance romance.

One of my favorite parts of the book was the use of flashbacks to build the history between Joni and Ren. It made their connection feel authentic and gave the story real emotional weight. I’m a sucker for a second-chance romance, and this one delivered.

That said, I did get a bit stressed by the secrecy and miscommunication at times. Joni’s family—especially at the rehearsal dinner—had me frustrated, and her relationship with her mom was definitely a rollercoaster. And don’t get me started on Ren’s mom constantly bringing up his ex as if she was the gold standard—especially when everyone else could clearly see where his heart really belonged.

The third-act breakup had me yelling “Don’t be silly, just be together!!” at my book. But even with those moments of frustration, I was so invested in the characters and loved the writing. Sally Blakely does a great job developing the story and characters in a way that feels grounded and emotional.

All in all, Friends to Lovers was a lovely surprise. It balanced romance, tension, and family drama in a way that kept me turning the pages. I’ll definitely be picking up more from this author in the future!

Joni and Ren have been friends since age three. Their parents have been friends for a long time and they buy a summer beach house together where the families meet every summer (where ppl will notice if you skip any summer).

After high school, Joni moves away for her new job and essentially becomes a workaholic. They decide to be each other’s plus one to at the very least see each other at weddings. Life continues to happen with new relationships and priorities. Their relationships evolve and they have to make big decisions on how they want to navigate it with real consequences.

The book is a fun summer romance that was entertaining and easy to read within a day. I was a little confused on some of the time jumps and there wasn’t a lot of character development but it was a fun read. 3.75 rounded up

I really enjoyed this one. It’s light, delightful and fun. The characters are well mapped out and the romance is really nice.

3.5* Rounded Up

I generally enjoyed this book and it was a great summer time read, but it did remind me a lot of another friends to lovers vacation book so I did not quite love it as much as I had read something too similar before. I did enjoy the characters and though their friendship was very cute, the PNW setting was also nice as it was very familiar for me. I liked the alternate timeline way the story was told as it kept me engaged throughout. Overall this was a quick summer read that is perfect for an Oregon beach vacation.

I received an eARC thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing. All opinions are my own.