I can’t even explain how much I just absolutely adored this. This was a stay up until 1am, can’t put down, must finish. All the reviews said if People We Meet on Vacation meets Happy Place and it’s so perfect. Ren and Joni’s story had me kicking my feet heart soaring. I would read literally 7 books about their families just hanging out playing capture the flag, going out to bars and drinking pink shots, having babies. Their history and their relationship was just so special to me. This honestly might be my favorite book I’ve read this year. It made my heart so warm. I’m so happy I stumbled upon this one. Thank you so much for the ARC!

liked the premise, but the dialogue at the beginning felt stilted, couldn't really get into the writing style.

I really loved this book and tore through it extremely quickly. Characterization and tension were extremely well done. I do think that the getting together was a little fast, but though the following action was tight. Very sensitive and well written.

ARC format on my kindle was a little hard to follow. Cute read if you like the friends to lovers trope. This would be a nice, summer read.

Unfortunately, this one was not for me.

While the premise intrigued me, the story did not.

I feel the banter between Joni and Ren was chaotic and I didn’t not feel their chemistry.

I do appreciate the opportunity to read and hope to have more success with this authors other works.

I really enjoyed this!! Ren and Joni are childhood, family best friends. They can talk to eachother about anything, except when it comes to admitting their feelings for eachother. This friends to lovers trope was endearing, and romantic. The characters were strong, and I especially loved the close knit family element, and the way we could track their friendship via various weddings they attend. I did find the back and forth timeline a little confusing and would have appreciated more clearly labeled chapters maybe? When Ren and Joni do reconcile at the beach house after capture the flag I found it a little anticlimactic, only because we know they haven’t really talked in 2 1/2 years… I guess I just wanted more? Overall, I really loved this story and would definitely read more from this author!

Wow, what a powerful debut for Sarah Blakely!

Admittedly, it took me a bit to get fully immersed in Ren and Jodi’s story, but once I did, I was HOOKED. The way Blakely layered this story, going back and forth between current day and flashbacks with simmering tension sprinkled in between, had me cheering for Ren and Jodi all the way through.

I adored not only Ren and Jodi, but all of the side characters as well (Although Jodi’s mom did have me seeing red sometimes). They were all fleshed out, full of personality, and didn’t just exist for the sake of pushing the main narrative. We also got to “be there” for all of their respective weddings and got glimpses into their personal love lives. I would love to see more of Leo and Stevie’s love story! Maybe in Blakely’s next book. 😉

Though I lived for the slow burn and boiling tension, I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see more of Ren and Jodi finally being together in the end. One time skip chapter didn’t feel like it was enough to scratch the itch to see them as a happy and healthy couple.

Overall, Friends to Lovers was such a sweet romantic read that had me smiling and laughing alongside these beloved characters—I would definitely recommend it to all of my romance book girlies. With such a strong debut book, I’m so excited to see what Blakely comes up with next!

Tropes:
🩷Friends to lovers (shocker!)
🩷Forced proximity
🩷Second chance romance
🩷One bed (in one flashback)
🩷Weddings
🩷And a whole lot of sneaking around!

(Also, fun side note: “‘𝗜 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝘁!’ 𝗟𝗲𝗼 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲.” I only have four toes on my left foot! Leo is officially my other half. Sorry Stevie.)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Friends to Lovers by Sally Blakely is an utterly delightful and swoon-worthy summer romance that left me feeling both giddy and emotional. The story follows Joni and Ren, childhood best friends who have always been there for each other—except for when it comes to their growing feelings for one another. What starts as a light-hearted pact to attend weddings as each other's dates soon becomes a journey filled with unspoken emotions, sparks flying, and some major tension. 🌟

The chemistry between Joni and Ren is off the charts! 🔥 The author does an excellent job of balancing the playful moments with the intense emotional pull between them. The dual POV format gives readers a deeper insight into both Joni and Ren's internal struggles, and I loved getting to see the story unfold from both perspectives. It really brought the characters' emotions to life in a way that made me root for them to finally admit their feelings to one another. 💞

The setting of the family’s summer home, with the backdrop of a wedding and all the associated drama, was the perfect setting for this slow-burn romance. Forced proximity, family dynamics, and wedding chaos made for a fun mix of lighthearted and heartfelt moments. The tension between Joni and Ren, especially as they try to navigate their feelings while pretending to be just friends, created a rollercoaster of emotions. 😅❤️

The pacing was spot on for most of the book, though I did feel like the resolution between Joni and Ren could have been given a bit more time to fully develop. The emotional payoff was satisfying, but I would've loved to see just a little more depth in the final moments of their relationship. Still, it was a satisfying and heartwarming conclusion overall. 🌸

Friends to Lovers is the perfect read for fans of slow-burn romance, friends-to-lovers tropes, and summer love stories that leave you feeling both happy and a bit misty-eyed. If you loved books like People We Meet on Vacation and The Summer I Turned Pretty, this one is definitely worth adding to your TBR! 📚✨

I can’t wait to see what Sally Blakely comes up with next—she has certainly earned a spot on my radar! 😍👏

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a cute story and definitely an entertaining summer read. That being said, it wasn't all light and fluffy and there were a few things that bothered me. For as close as these two were, I couldn't help but wonder how the friendship didn't affect their relationships over the years. Only one instance was really mentioned. It also baffled me how much they kept from each other and how little they often shared during their long distance friendship. Somehow, it just didn't all add up to me. The pacing was also off. The middle dragged while it was a whirlwind to the finish. Everything was explained in the end, but I just didn't find the situation to be believable or to have enough feeling behind it. Definitely cute with fun characters, but there was something missing.

Thank you Canary Street Press for offering Friends to Lovers as a Read Now option. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Friends to Lovers was on my Netgalley Dashboard as a 'Spotlight' book. I impulsively hit the button to read and I don't regret it.

Friends to Lovers is exactly that, a friends to lovers romance between Joni, a recently fired movie maker living in New York, and Ren, a bartender in Portland, Oregon, who were always inseparable until they crossed the friend-zone line into a something more territory. When Joni comes back to her hometown in Oregon for her sister's wedding she doesn't expect to see Ren so soon. They had stopped talking for over two years and this is a reunion Joni was dreading. The story is told in a dual timeline: Joni and Ren had a tradition of being each other's plus ones to weddings, so for the past chapters we see them getting together at different weddings that lead to why their friendship fell apart and the present chapters are of them fixing the issues between them.

Friends to Lovers a good summer read about reunions, overbearing families, and a childhood friendship. The story is sweet, the pacing is quick, and the characters are worth rooting for. I felt a connection with the settings. I'm originally from New York and my family and I moved to Oregon years ago. It was nice to be able to relate to the story in that aspect. I do like the characters and Joni and Ren's friendship to something more.

The ending is predictable but I think that's just because of the title. You are already expecting the characters to end up together but I was hoping for an unexpected twist. In the end, the story does come across as slightly bland because of its predictability but I do think Friends to Lovers is a solid summer read for all romance lovers.

3.75 stars

Sally Blakely’s Friends to Lovers starts off slow, but trust me, it pulls you in before you know it. Set in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, the story flips between now and the many weddings Joni and Ren have attended together, each one making their feelings for each other more complicated. Blakely’s writing is so immersive that you feel like you’re right there with Joni, experiencing all her emotions firsthand. The chemistry between Joni and Ren is undeniable, making their journey from friendship to love incredibly satisfying. This book is a heartfelt exploration of love and friendship that resonates deeply. Five stars, without a doubt.

I’m forever looking for something to melt my cold, cold heart. And this did it.

Childhood friends to lovers is a superior trope, argue with the wall. I don’t think it was a perfect book but the tension of the push and pull really worked for me; mentally screaming at the main character to get out of her head for all our sakes - sitting in my glass house throwing stones.

« For the last two and a half years, I’ve drifted off into space, meandering alone, existing but not in the way I really want to, telling myself it was fine, that I didn’t really need anybody.»

Such a perfect Michigan March read- Ocean-side,
Rom com vibes with a side of flashbacks to weddings as +1 for this friends to lovers combo is such a win from beginning to end. I love the flashbacks to their origin stories, and the awkward banter of present time while all staying together in a beach house the week of a sister and friend’s wedding. I found Joni annoyingly oblivious to her own blind spots, yet she’s so endearing that you are rooting for her along the way. Ren earns the most patient friend to lover award ever, and is incredibly sweet to everyone around him.

I really liked this book! This is my first Blakely book and I liked how the book went back and forth between past and present day. Blakely also foreshadowed the ending in a way that kept me intrigued the whole time. Even after knowing what was coming, it wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be - which I'm glad about. I did think there was a lot of self-reflection done by the MC that my eyes started to gloss over towards the end. I also thought there could have been one more moment with the 2 MCs in the present-day because I don't feel like we got a whole lot of tension-building there. I'm glad Blakely didn't add any scenes from when they were kids and it was just college/post-college scenes. There were also a couple of moments (stylistically and references), that made me wonder if Blakely is Gen-Z but unlike other books it didn't take me out of the scene. Those moments actually made me grin. I'm excited to read more books by Blakely!!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Harlequin Trade Publishing, for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars! This book was everything I wanted people we meet on vacation to be!! Perfect for fans of Emily Henry looking for a summer beach read. Friends to Lovers follows best friends Joni and Ren as they try to navigate spending a week together after 2.5 years apart. I loved the characters, I loved their relationship, I loved the way Ren loves Joni. The introduction to the summer house is so beautifully descriptive and sets the scene perfectly. The plus one pact was such a fun concept that I haven't read before and I loved it! The organization was a little bit funky but I think that was mostly due to the advanced readers copy and hope it will be fixed by publishing. Everything about these two characters was so wonderful and real. However...the title... naming it after the main trope felt really cheesy and not in a good way. If I was in a bookstore I probably wouldn't have picked it up because the title isn't interesting at all and because of this I think so many people will miss out on such a perfect summer read. A cute summer read for sure!!!!

I was so excited to read this book and the fact that I got an ARC was amazing, but unfortunately I can’t read the book because when I sent it to my kindle, the chapters lagged and some words were swapped…
I am pretty sure this is a great book but I am unable to read it right now because of what happened.
(Yes, I tried to send it again, and again and again…)

I loved this book. Loved it in the way I'm still thinking about the characters days later. This felt like a fiction book with romance tied in, despite romance being at the very core of the book. This was so refreshingly written and unlike any others I've read in a while.

Sally Blakely is an author to definitely keep on your radar. I devoured this book in a couple of hours. I haven't read a romance book in a while and this was the perfect book to bring me back to this genre!

This is book follows Joni and Ren, childhood friends who at some point cross a line and ultimately worry that their friendship has been ruined. Throughout this book, we watch Joni and Ren prepare for Joni's sister's wedding. Joni is prepared to make this the perfect week, which includes pretending that her friendship with Ren is still intact.

While I was reading this, it reminded me a lot of Emily Henry's "People We Meet on Vacation". If you read that book and enjoyed it, I think that you will love Friends to Lovers!

I loved the banter back and forth between Joni and the different characters. The writing style in this book kept me engaged, I enjoyed reading the flashbacks of Joni and Ren at different weddings that they had attended together in the past.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free arc of this book in exchange for a review!

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced Arc copy!

Friends to lovers follows two childhood best friends Ren (my favorite) and Joni who grew up together and of course fall in love with each other but never have the nerve to tell each other until one faithful day they end up hooking up and it implodes leading them to stop talking for 2.5 years (or ask Ren for the exact countdown time) but have to reunite for Joni's sister's wedding where the groom is Ren's best friend. This a second chance romance, close proximity, best friends to lovers romance.

Rachel Review 4/5 stars. I'll be honest I am such a sucker for best friend romances, neighbor romances, he fell first romances etc that I read this in one sitting. I think the plot can be semi predictable -- but I did love Ren and Joni's dynamic until she overthinks everything and ruins it all. I am definitely a bigger fan of Ren's character, his maturity and his ability to speak about his feelings openly and center Joni. Overall really enjoyed this cute romance.

What can I say, I am a sucker for a good friends to lovers story. This reminded me of the people we meet on vacation only instead of vacations, we had wedding date flashbacks and way more fun. One thing I’ve learned about myself is that I love a good flashback or dual timeline, and this book delivered. I really enjoyed it. A great palette cleanser between some heavier reads. Joni and Rens friendship was top tier. Joni was easily likable and I appreciated how the book explored her struggles with anxiety and how it affected her relationships. AND REN? What a man. I also loved the side characters from both families - they really added to some fun scenes and Jonis growth throughout the book.

Thank you to netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the opportunity for this arc 🫶