I have never been more honored to receive an ARC than I was for this book - thank you so much NetGalley and Atria Books! Fredrik Backman is my all time favorite and because of this I am really trying to savor this story. I know that is not the ultimate purpose of sending advanced copies but I also know that at only 20% in to this story it is tied with the Beartown trilogy (because i refuse to decide between the 3) as my favorite Backman book. It's easy for readers to feel that the author put a little piece of his heart and soul into both stories. I am only 1/5 of the way done with the story and I have laughed and cried... there are so many excellent snippets that I would basically be copying the entire book if I tried to summarize my favorite quotes/ highlights. I want to continue to savor this book but I can already without a doubt say I would recommend it to anyone and feel comfortable giving feedback so the ARC has done it's purpose! I will share a full review on the linked accounts once I complete the story. Thanks again to both NetGalley and Atria for choosing me!

i couldn’t love this book more. frederik backman has again written a book with such soul that will leave me wishing that i belonged in his book. masterfully done.

Thank you NetGalley and @AtriaBooks for this ARC. All Louisa wanted to do was see a particular painting up close before it was auctioned off. This painting has meant the world to her and has gotten her through her turbulent years in foster care. When someone accuses her ofnsabotaging the painting, she runs, smack into the actual artist in the alley, looking like a homeless man. Through his friends, she learns the background of the kids in the painting and their lifelong friendship. This book. This story. This author. Amazing 😭. I devoured this book. #MyFriends #FredrikBackman #May2025

What a great story about a lifetime of true friendship. Sometimes heartbreaking, Sometimes joyous, but always filled with the wonders of childhood friends

Fredrik Backman is an amazing writer.
This book drew me in from the very beginning.
It made me laugh and cry.
He has such a unique style of writing and his character development is absolutely amazing.
Though I did enjoy a man called Ove more than this one. I still enjoyed this book tremendously.
I will definitely be recommending this book to my customers

I’ve long been a fan of Fredrik Backman, and while this isn’t the first book of his to make me feel something, there’s something truly special about this one.

From very early on in this book, I found myself both laughing and crying. I had to take my time reading it, because I felt so emotional every time I picked it up. Backman gives such life to his characters, and I couldn’t help but become deeply invested in their journeys. I rooted for them. I laughed with them. I grieved with them.

My Friends is, at its core, about the bond shared by four friends. Despite facing real struggles and trauma, their friendship is so beautiful it left me envious. The story is deeply character-driven, and when I reached the end, I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to them. Is it possible to miss fictional characters this much? The novel captures how human connection and art both help us navigate the most difficult moments of life.

Backman has truly outdone himself here. He captures emotions I often struggle to express and gives them voice in a way that resonates deeply. I found myself highlighting passage after passage in the digital copy I read, and many of these quotes will stay with me for a long long time.

Thank you to Atria Books, Fredrik Backman, and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC. This review is my honest reflection, given in exchange for the opportunity to read the book.

Frederik Backman the consummate storyteller is back with his unique voice writing of three friends growing up together in a poor coastal town with few opportunities. One of those friends is an artist. Twenty-five years later, the artist’s first painting is being auctioned. Ted is one of the three friends and is at the auction. He meets 18 year old Louisa, an aspiring artist and homeless. She ends up owning the painting. They embark on a journey together that is transformative. Like many of the best things in life, this starts slowly, but the ending comes too soon. Read the book. You won’t regret it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Really enjoyed this one! The characters were all developed and I liked the plot. I was a bit nervous early on that the narrator felt a bit too intrusive or philosophical but I ultimately didn’t have a problem with it. Without spoiling, some of the decisions at the end for the characters were a bit of a letdown but the book overall is one I’ve already started recommending to others.

I was ten pages into My Friends when I realized that this novel would be one of my top reads of 2025. First of all, Fredrik Backman's writing is razor-sharp. The unique and clever storyline made this book almost impossible to put down. The characters were multifaceted and pulled at my heartstrings. I finished the book nearly 4 weeks ago, and I am still thinking about it. Please keep writing Fredrik Backman; you are a treasure.

Oh my gosh.. I am such at a loss for words. This book is magnificent, a masterpiece!! This book is unforgettable and will always have a special place in my heart. The characters are lovable. This book made me laugh and cry, and made me super nostalgic for the friendships I've had when I was 14. Plus I have the same nickname as the artist in this book! <3

Okay, I sat with this book for a few weeks before writing this review because I wanted to process it and see if some distance would change my perspective. Because when I finished this book I felt such a twisting wistfulness that I wasn’t sure I could be unbiased enough to give it a proper review. Which is always a good sign as a reader haha

It’s honestly magical how the right books can creak open the doors of our hearts and make us *feel* a bit more. Some books stay with us, and this is one I’ve thought of and felt still now, weeks after finishing it.

So, first of all it’s a Fredrik Backman book. If you’ve read his books before, you already know what you’re getting into writing-wise. Backman has a way with words that few others do, and his writing always twists my heart in the best ways.

What stuck out to me the most with this book was how much I related to Louisa in that I desperately wanted to know everything about the story behind the painting but also I was so worried about learning the ending that I wasn’t sure I wanted to know it all. I literally had to make myself read this book at times, I was so worried about what may happen. Not a regular occurrence for me as a reader, for sure. But this book was surprising in that way and others.

How Backman creates such deeply complex characters in such a short amount of time, I’ll never know. But he does it here yet again. Louisa is infuriating and hilarious and I found myself rooting for her with my whole being by the end of the book. I’m so glad she found Ted and was able to pull him out of himself, even if by force.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book and will need to buy a physical copy so I can highlight all the passages that are still pinging around in my head and my heart.

I got an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, but all opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review the book, and thank you to the author for creating such a beautiful story.

As usual (for me, at least) Fredrik Backman never disappoints and, once again, he delivers an adorable, touching, funny, and heartfelt novel about friendship, chosen family, and grief.
I loved all the relationships in this book, but mostly the unexpected one between Ted and Louisa (how I laughed and cried with these two!).
This book is full of dialogues, which makes it, in my opinion, more especial, genuine and easily relatable to the characters.
Maybe, just maybe, this book could have been just a little shorter, but I wouldn't say the repetitive scenes ruin the reading experience at all.
If you have read and loved any books by this author before, I dare say it's quite sure that you'll love this new one, too.
Be ready to laugh and cry while reading this one.

Thank you, NetGalley and Atria Books, for providing me with a free eARC of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.25 ⭐️ I never thought I’d see the day I’d give a Fredrik Backman book less than four stars, but there’s a first time for everything!

My Friends follows two storylines. The first is Louisa, an 18-year-old girl who grew up moving from foster home to foster home and recently lost her closest friend - the only person who ever felt like family. Then there’s Ted. As the story unfolds, we learn about his childhood in a dead-end town, where he and his three best friends spent their days at the pier, each navigating rough family lives. One summer, one of the boys paints a remarkable piece that will one day connect Louisa and Ted, changing their lives forever.

As someone who considers Beartown one of my all-time favorite series, I was especially excited for a book centered on friendship. One of the things I love most about Backman’s writing is his ability to capture the beauty, intensity, and significance of young friendships. Unfortunately, the first 60% of *My Friends* dragged for me. It felt repetitive, overly saccharine, and drawn out. The same kinds of gut-punch Backman quotes that usually hit hard felt watered down, likely due to the pacing and buildup. I truly think this 448-page book would have been stronger at 350 pages.

That said, I don’t want anyone to think I disliked this book. I still appreciated the characters' connections, the themes, and the nostalgic wonder of childhood friendships—when your friends *are* your whole world. While this wasn’t another five-star Backman read for me, I’ll always be a huge fan and can’t wait to see what he writes next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the free ARC!

I have enjoyed reading books by Fredrick Blackman so was excited to get to read this book early. I found this book to be one where I liked the characters and thought character development was good. I do want to warn people that there is both physical and sexual abuse, however I felt the author handled those things well.

I had a hard time connecting to the characters in this book/story. But otherwise, a good read. I think it also hit too close to my own family trauma that I struggled to get through it. It was hard to see the struggles and the trauma.

This was such an incredible, emotional, heartbreaking book. I loved the way the story was told and the way the two timelines were woven together. They blended in a way that made me not want to put the book down because I needed to know what was happening in each storyline.
There was so much depth to the characters and their lives that by the end of the book I was happy they were happy and I was sad when they were sad. I felt so connected to them, as if they were real people that I knew. They all experienced so much hardship in their lives and I just kept hoping for something good to happen.
Even though this book was really sad and heavy at times it was also ultimately hopeful. This book is about love and hope and the people who shape you when you’re young and I felt like overall this book really showed the good side of people. The roles that people played in the four friends’ lives, and that they in turn played in Louisa’s life, was so real and raw and beautiful. I loved the way they all looked out for each other and showed that they cared.
I really dont have the words to sum up the depth of how this book made me feel but just know that I absolutely loved it.
Thank you endlessly to Atria for the ARC!

Thank you for letting me read this book by Berkley publisher. It was the hug. I needed Fredrick Backman is an awesome author. I love it writing it is his perfect for the summer. Friendships that develop in a teenage year and last a lifetime. People will love this book. It was so hard to choose my favorite character.

This book was lovely, although not my favorite Backman book. .Using a dual timeline to tell the story, Backman tackles trauma and grief but ultimately winds up with a hopeful read. I found it to be a bit maudlin and tool long, but otherwise enjoyable.

I don't even have the words to describe Fredrik Backman's ability to write and capture my heart with every single word. He is, hands down, my all time favorite author, and this book is another breathtaking testament to his genius.

The story weaves together the past and present in a way that only Backman can - deeply, beautifully, and with an emotional pull that lingers in my mind forever.

It's about four lost teenagers who find solace in each other, creating a friendship that transcends time. Their shared moments on the pier, their struggles, their dreams - it's all painted so vividly that you can feel the salt in the air, hear their laughter, and ache with their heartbreak.

And then there is Louisa, on her own journey to uncover the mystery behind a painting that holds their story. As she searches for answers, she finds herself - proving once again that art and human connection have the power to change lives.

This book made me laugh, cry, and sit in complete awe of Backman's storytelling. The depth of emotion, the way he captures the human experience - it's simply unmatched. I felt everything. Absolutely everything.

I wish I could give this book more than 5 stars! Backman has a gift at weaving his characters into your heart and mind, and he's done it again. However, I feel that even while I have loved so many of his books this one may become my favorite. Not only for the storytelling, and it is divine, but for the way Backman has written the way we connect and care about our friends. By pairing how we feel about our closest people to how art can make us feel it takes human connection to another level. Beautifully crafted, and I absolutely never wanted to put this book down. I could feel what it was like to be a child with your best friends back before we become adults. I knew the sounds of laughter and felt the new intertwining that happens when you find someone who becomes your own "one of us".

Powerful, moving, and altogether beautiful.