The Friendship List by Susan Mallery is the most enjoyable contemporary women's fiction novel I have read. Inside, are two families. One contains a single mother who raised her 17-year-old boy herself without help. He's now looking into colleges but is afraid to leave his mom. He thinks his mom has no life and needs him with her.

Then, there's a single father, a well-esteemed Coach. He is known to be tough on his male students but he's also the one man the students can all rely on...He has a teenage daughter who feels like he's trying to get rid of her by sending her off to college. Her mother never wanted contact with her and now she thinks her father doesn't want her anymore either.

As this story digs deeper into these families and their troubles the two single parents have a friendship that is about to change. I loved the chemistry between characters. This book realistically drew a picture of what families go through and how they behave. The teenagers made this even more enjoyable. It felt so real. I fell in love with the cast of characters and their journeys. Each one was unforgettable. Overall, the book was action-packed, full of drama and tension, and had the best emotional rollercoaster ride.

Just when you think that Susan Mallery’s books couldn’t possibly get any better, she writes her funniest and most emotional and engrossing book yet: The Friendship List. Featuring two wonderful heroines you would simply love to hang out with over a glass of wine, The Friendship List is an outstanding women’s fiction novel from a first class storyteller.

Ellen and Unity have been best friends since the cradle. The two women have always been there for one another and together have experienced breath-taking highs and crushing lows. Always willing to help one another out and lend a sympathetic ear or a supportive shoulder, Ellen and Unity are not just best friends but sisters of the heart. Life has thrown plenty of curve balls their way and the two women find themselves at a crossroads yet again as they find themselves having to figure out the next step in their lives and wondering just what the future has in store for the two of them.

Single mom Ellen loves her life. She has a great job, a son she adores, her own home and friendships which she treasures. As a single mom with a son about to head off to college, Ellen is forever worried about how she is going to make her son’s university dreams a reality. Having spent her life saving and making one sacrifice after the other, Ellen thinks that the only thing she has to worry about is whether she has enough money in the bank for her son to go to the college of his choice – until she discovers that he will not be going as he worries that she might need him far too much. Absolutely crushed, Ellen vows to show her son that he needn’t concern himself about her, so she decides to show him that she is living her best life, but for that to happen she is going to need some help from her best friend.

Like Ellen, Unity is perfectly content with her life. Having lost the love of her life three years ago, Unity has no cause to complain. Her life might not be particularly exciting, but she has a job she loves and spends her free time at a retirement community nearby surrounded by eccentric and interesting people who might not exactly be in the first flush of youth, but who are great fun. The thought of even going out on a date with anyone else fills her with dread, but maybe the time has come to stop living in the shadows and with Ellen needing her help,
The Friendship List is born, a list that will compel the two women to take chances, be bold and embrace their wild side.

The Friendship List was only meant to be a little bit of light-hearted fun, but Ellen and Unity will end up learning the most important lesson of all: that life is for living and that friendship and love are worth their weight in gold.
Susan Mallery is at her dazzling best with The Friendship List. Written with humor and heart, The Friendship List is a gem of a novel that will have you giggling on plenty of occasions, while always wiping away a tear or two. A wonderful story of second chances, the enduring power of friendship and love in all its forms, The Friendship List is a joyous celebration of female friendship that will enchant and delight readers everywhere.

A compulsively readable novel from a virtuoso of women’s fiction, Susan Mallery’s The Friendship List is another one of her books headed straight for my keeper shelf.

Sweet young love, not to late for love story and the interactions of parents, teenage-kids and best friends. The friendship of Ellen and Unity is one to admire in different stages of their lives, yet dedicated to supporting and providing honesty to one another. When Coach Keith and his daughter Lissa take high schoolers on a college campus but tour, student Cooper and his mom Ellen make the most of their time with them. Unity is widowed several years ago and yet cannot move on. Her dedication to implementing a plan for growth leads both Ellen and Unity to build a Friendship List. Sweet story, PG-17 sex scenes and plenty of witty banter.

This is a true 2 for 1 romance novel. We get not one, but two delightful romances in this book and both are well done. Each of these girls has their own issues to overcome so the romances are different–one is a friends to lovers and one is a rebound or I might call it a meet cute. For those who pick it up after this review, or those who’ve read it already I’d love to hear your take on the 2nd romance trope.

Ellen and Unity have been friends since forever and have always had each other’s back, in good and tough times. So the time has finally come for them to both realize some hard facts about their current situations and work together to make changes that will hopefully let them live their best lives. Neither is really looking for romance through this list, but both are looking for a little sex. What neither realizes is that this crazy list they come up with will propel them into their better halves while opening their eyes to how much better things could be.

Ellen discovers she can have room for more than just her son and that she deserves more than to be defined by her teen pregnancy and that some mistakes are the best things in life whether others agree or not. She discovers love with a very close friend who is also a single parent and understands the demands of her job and her son in life and is willing to love her all the same. They both suddenly realize being out of the friendzone and lovers instead is so much better. They both have a lot of baggage to work through on their journey to everlasting love, but they put in the work.

Unity literally has love thrown at her, but she doesn’t recognize it because she is so attached to the life she lost when her husband was killed on active duty. She is awkward, lonely and just existing when the next best thing to happen in her life is thrown at her by another friend who wants her to see she can still love her first love and have a new person fill her heart too. She doesn’t need to live in the shadow of the life she had with her dead husband. She grieves through the whole list process, but discovers a friend in Thaddeus. Thaddeus discovers he has room for more than just company takeovers and his best friends. He just has to convince Unity he’s worth taking a chance and patience is his best friend in all of this.

Finally, Susan creates an amazing community of educators, kids and elderly in this book which gives it a hometown feel and you hardly realize you are reading two separate stories, but feel like it is all part of the overall picture of this little town. She gives so much depth to her characters you can feel the emotion and the struggle, the joy and the laughter with them as if you’re there. I honestly love books like that. It’s like I’m on a movie set seeing it being made.

You really must pick this one up. Although the love stories are slow burn, the build up scenes are very entertaining and you never feel like it is moving too slow. Susan gets us to the HEA in her own way which I loved. I’m giving this a 5 of 5 propellers because honestly I don’t have anything bad to say and after a couple weeks, it has stayed with me. Perhaps this will be on the Top 10 list for 2020. We’ll all have to wait and see.

Susan Mallery has been a go-to author for me for YEARS. The Friendship List is one of her best.

Best friends Ellen Fox and Unity Leandre need to make some big changes in their lives. When Ellen overhears her son telling his best friend that he can't possibly go away to college because his mom needs him too much, she is horrified. As she looks at her life, she realizes she has been stuck in the past for her son's entire life. She wears clothes that are huge and baggy, and hasn't had a date in 17 years, all because her parents gave her rules after her one and only sexual encounter landed her pregnant at 17.

Unity's young husband died in service to his country just a few years after their marriage. She has spent the intervening years living in his childhood home, sleeping in his childhood bed, and wallowing in her grief. Her handyman business is the only thing she's done for herself. Because most of her clients are in the Silver Pines community, most of her activities center on things she can do there. She has attended their grief group for 3 years, making little progress. She plays in their pickleball league, and because she's young, she dominates. Her first blow comes when she gets kicked out of the league. The final straw is when the counselor recommends she do "in person" counseling instead of the grief group. Feeling like everyone is ganging up on her, she blows up at Ellen, too.

The ladies each see that they need to make changes, so they come up with lists for each other of activities that will get them out of their comfort zones, and hopefully start them on the path toward healing their hearts. Ellen has to buy clothes that fit, for one thing. Unity has to move her business out of her home, and hire an employee. The lists are challenging, sexy, and some are even fun.

I loved both of these ladies and their wide open relationship. Believe me, there's NOTHING these two don't share with each other! I also loved the two guys who caught their interest. Keith was perfect for Ellen, and as a bonus, they'd been friends for years, helping each other through parenting their children. Thaddeus was also perfect for Unity. He even has a surprise in store for the reader. I know my eyes widened when I read how he earned his first paycheck.

If you're looking for a contemporary romance with lots of emotion, pick up The Friendship List. Susan Mallery seldom disappoints, and this one was hard to put down!

I love stories about friendship and the lengths women will go to cherish them! This is my first Susan Mallery book, and I am so impressed, and sort of kicking myself for not reading some of her books sooner!! I found this to be the perfect laze around the house, read and drink coffee. I found this book very relatable, many women could go through some of the things the women in this book did. I love that it felt so real, and not overly generic!

The Friendship List by Susan Mallery was enjoyable, but not quite what I was expecting. I'm a huge fan of Mallery as she writes great characters and engaging stories. I liked the premise of the story: Unity and Ellen are good friends, both clearly stuck in a rut, and have written a list to shake up their lives.

This is definitely chick-lit - it's easy to read, light, and packed with both good humor, and a lot of sex (at least, for Ellen, a woman who has been pretty much celibate since she was a teen mom). Her character felt the most uneven and almost unbelievable at times.. Unity's situation was harder to relate to, but one I could be sympathetic with, as I can imagine how hard it is to move past the loss of her husband.

But when the senior community kicks you off their pickle ball team, and there goes your social life of sorts, you've clearly been in more of a rut. Unity was in a deep, deep hole.

Ellen's story moved at breakneck speed, getting a makeover, shedding the saggy clothes and getting a new wardrobe, and falling into a relationship with her best friend - which also means lot and lots of sex. She has 17 years of making up to do, and she clearly isn't wasting any time. Unity's story unfolded a little more slowly, and I was rooting for her. Letting go isn't easy.

The personal growth stories weren't limited to Ellen and Unity, either. Their romantic interests also saw a bit of growth; Ellen's Keith comes to grips with the fact that his daughter is growing up and will soon be an adult, while Unity's Thaddeus learns that life doesn't always fit neatly into your "plan".

The novel is laugh-out-loud funny at times, and infuriating at others. The side characters were especially strong. I loved Ellen's son Scott - he's a well grounded kid. Dagmar, Thaddeus' aunt and Unity's confidante, was simply a hoot. I want to be her when I grow wiser.

Three-and-a-half stars for this one. I enjoyed it, but the main characters were just too uneven and unbelievable at times for me.

This started off as a book centered around friendship (which I thought it was going to be focused on). However, it transformed into a story about physical relationships in my opinion. It was overall a good book, but it wasn't what I was expecting based on the title and description.

What a great premise for a story. We all talk about bucket lists and what we want to before we die. This story got you thinking about what would you do. A good listen while driving in traffic.

***This ARC was provided by Netgalley for an honest review***
Ellen and Unity met in middle school when tragedy struck Unities family she moved in with Ellen and they became more like sisters than friends.
Ellen finds out she’s pregnant when she was just 17 years old she gives birth to a son and continues to live with her parents who have very strict rules.
Unity gets married very young to a wonderful man who joins the military she loses her husband during the war before they can have any children.
With such great losses will they ever find love again? Are they ready to move on with their lives?
I love the story and I have enjoyed all of Susan Mallery’s other books that I have read! Always looking for more from one of my favorite authors.

Right from the start we are introduced to characters that are so relatable, full of emotion, and down to earth. I found myself feeling like I was talking with the characters as the story unfolds, not reading about them! The friendships and life struggles that they navigate are profound and realistic, which I usually find makes for a very powerful read. Susan Mallery creates characters that come to life with valid stories that anybody can relate to! This was such a lovely story, that brought emotion and wisdom to the surface. Sometimes in life you have to want more for yourself, and sometimes you have to rely on your friends to show you what you truly deserve. If you love stories about friendship, family, and life, then this is a must read! You never really can go wrong with a book by Susan Mallery!

I love a good read about friends in the summer, and this heart-warming story about two friends learning to discover all that life has to offer was just the thing I needed! Ellen and Unity have been best friends forever, but Ellen has sacrificed her personal life in order to be a wonderful single mom and Unity is still mourning the loss of her young husband in the military. They both are ready for a new lease on life and challenge each other to do things out of their comfort zone (hence the “friendship list”). This was a fun read, at times laugh-out-loud funny, and both these characters reminded me of myself when I was single at 35. One note – there is sex in this book. Just letting you know!!

Thank you for my review e-copy and for making me part of the tour!

Great summer read! I read this book really fast because once I started reading, I just didn't want to stop. I thought that the relationships in the story were just fantastic. Definitely a story that I would recommend and author!

There's something about seeing the Harlequin logo that has me one-clicking, ready to indulge in a great romance. And this author definitely brought me that. This story really got to me.

This was a very funny and endearing book about two best friends, Ellen and Unity, who have taken themselves off the dating market. Unity was a widow who wanted to hang around with people in a retirement complex and Ellen was an unwed mother who had been influenced by her parents that her life must circle around her son. The son is a senior in high school now and is afraid to go away to school because Ellen still hasn’t dated. The seniors kick the other Unity off the pickleball team because they want her to hang out with people her own age. When friends and family refuse to let them continue their self-imposed loneliness, Ellen and Unity make a list of things they will do over a summer which includes letting a man come back into their lives. I loved the humor, the stubbornness of the two characters who are set in their ways, and the romance. Great read!

I obtained this book through Net Galley and have left an honest review.

Perfect read for the beach...quick, engaging, easy to pick up and get lost in. I love friendship stories, the background, the dynamics. In that respect, I felt this was an honest look at two lifelong friends that grew up together and are more like sisters.

Ellen is a single Mom who got pregnant at 17 with son Coop. Unity is a widow, who was raised by Ellen’s parents after her own died. I enjoyed the friendship between the women, but separately, I found them both about annoying and somewhat immature, as they wallowed in self pity, blaming, basically, Ellen’s parents for everything. Both women are relatively young, early 30s, and closed off from the outside world looking for something more in a small area, refusing to look at the bigger picture.

Loved the idea of the list, each women challenging the other to try new experiences. This part of the story got lost somewhere around the middle of the book. I really expected to bond with and relate to the characters, But sadly couldn’t. I enjoyed all the other characters, especially Dagmar. I felt all the characters were more realistic than Ellen and Unity. I am no prude, but there were far too many graphic sex scenes, which seemed to dominate the middle of the book.

Thanks to Ms. Mallery, Harlequin and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.

Susan Mallery has an uncanny knack for writing about female relationships that I’ve never quite found in another author. I’ve read several of her books that focus on sister/sibling relationships and she always nails the dynamics at play between family members. This time around she explores the relationship between two longtime best friends, Ellen and Unity, who are as close as sisters anyway and once again she created wonderful characters that felt so damn real.

Ellen and Unity have both gotten a little too comfortable in their lives lately so they decide to make a list of things to do that will push them outside of their comfort zones. At first, they both start the list not actually for themselves, but Ellen so her teenaged son will realize she’ll be ok when he goes to college and Unity so Ellen isn’t doing it alone and both have no real intention of getting anything meaningful out of the list. But as they spend the summer trying new things (skydiving, tattoos, etc) they both actually start to not only have fun, they learn a few things about each other and themselves. So, an adorable premise with a little something for everyone. Besides the BFF relationship there is some romance with some heat 🔥, plenty of humor and some emotional depth and growth as well. Definitely recommended by me as a super fun summer read.

What a delightful read! A real homage to friendship and what it means to have true friends, and what you will do for and with them in the name of friendship.

A captivating story of two people that choose to start living their lives again after love and loss. This book put all of my emotions through the ringer, between tears of sorrow and laughter, my heart is inspired by these stories. Ellen has basically put her entire life on hold to raise her son since she was a teenager, and she's determined to show him that she can have a life of her own if he goes away to college. Unity on the other hand...her story is so heart-breaking - being a widow at such a young age, never believing she can achieve any of her life goals now that she's alone...I was torn between wanting to hug her or shake some life back into her. This is a book that will inspire you to take chances and live your life to the fullest, and for that I will be forever grateful!

Ellen and Unity are both only 34 but neither has any love life. Ellen stopped believing in love after she got pregnant at 17 and was left to raise her son Cooper on her own. Unity gave up on ever loving again after her husband died. They realize they’re both really in a rut and challenge each other to try new things (and maybe even date). At first this starts out almost as a joke but once they start doing a few things like buying new wardrobes and trying rock climbing- they realize they weren’t just in a rut they were dysfunctional and in desperate need of change!
Each has a hunky love interest and you find yourself laughing along with them as they try thrilling new things. The book is charming and fun and it makes you feel like Ellen and Unity are your friends in real life. While it’s funny, it does touch on serious issues and these ladies have some emotional growth that’s has you cheering them on. Overall, I really enjoyed this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review this book.