Another great story! Ellen and Unity are 34 and lifelong friends. They've been there for each other through the years and as Ellen approaches a milestone as a single parent: her son going off to college, she faces a challenge. After hearing her son day he might not go because his mom needs him, she starts a list to become independent. She needs to show him she has a o gr8 and will be fine when he goes away to college.

She gets Unity to make a list too, and it becomes a race to see which woman completes her list first. A spa weekend is on the line. In completing items on their lists, they actually are facing fears and challenging themselves to expand their horizons. They both find love and discover things about themselves that provide closure.

Run, don't walk to get this book and add it to your summer reading list. You'll be glad you did!

I received a free ARC eBook from Net Galley and the publisher in exchange for my honest opinions.

The Friendship List is a celebration of friendships. An absolutely delightful read about strong friendships and relationships, a mother’s unconditional love and how, when we stretch out of our comfort zones, there can be magic. It was also about how hard it can be to let go of the status quo.

Ellen is a devoted single mom whose son was born when she was seventeen and her life revolves around him and his needs to the extent that she has not dated since he came into her life. She is a school teacher. Now that her son is on the verge of going to college, she is worried about the financial implications. When she overhears her son talking to his friend and telling him how he cannot go away to college because he cannot leave her, she is determined to change his mind by changing herself so he can pursue his dreams.

Unity, Ellen’s best friend is a young widow who is still grieving over the death of her husband who died three years ago on duty. She is unwilling to move on as that might mean letting go of her love for her sweetheart.

But when Ellen tells her about what she heard her son tell his friend about not going away to college, Unity comes up with The Friendship List which is a series of challenges that will transform their lives forever. And of course, both friends have a list each because that’s what friends do. The Friendship list will make sure that after this summer, their lives will never be the same again!

Then there’s Keith, the over-protective single dad to a seventeen-year-old. He is an ex-NFL basketball Coach with a heart of gold who goes out of his way to ensure that his students get the best chances in life. Ellen and he are close friends who enjoy each other’s company and have each other’s back.

As is his custom, every summer he takes his students on a road trip to visit the colleges they want to enrol in. This summer, Ellen joins him on the two-week road trip with the students. Several events take place, not the least of which is Ellen checking off items on her Friendship List challenge, involving wearing clothes that fit (yes, that’s so cute because she usually wears baggy clothes), getting a tattoo, wearing a bikini to the beach, and so on. Keith, who has always seen Ellen as a good friend now starts to notice her with extra interest.

Will they get involved? Find out when you read The Friendship List.

After her husband passes away, Unity moves into his house from where she runs a handyman business. Her clientele largely consists of the local senior gated community. Well-meaning friends advise her to move on and get a life and tell her she ought to be around the community only when she’s sixty, not when she’s thirty-four. One of the seniors, Dagmar, (a lovely character, thank you, Susan Mallery) who is fond of Unity tries to set her up with her nephew.

Will Unity, who is stuck what she thinks is the only true love of her life move on? Will she tick off items on her Friendship List challenge? Will she find love again?

Read the Friendship List.

What I loved about The Friendship List

It reminded me of my own solid lifelong friendships
Great character development with characters I couldn’t help but fall in love with
The writing was emotional, mixed with good doses of humor
I loved that Ellen is inspired by her son to be the change that transforms her life

The premise of the book is such fun – I think we should all make a personal Friendship List and get moving on it. What better way to push ourselves out of our comfort zones and feel the magic of life?
I did find my eyes filling up in a couple of places along the book and also when I finished the book. Reading the book made me feel I was part of the events and involved in what was happening.

I couldn’t decide which of the characters I liked the most – they were all beautifully portrayed. While Ellen’s role seems like much more fun, I couldn’t help but feel right along with Unity as she went about her days.

Do read the book. I think you’ll love it.

(Link to the full review: https://vidyasury.com/2020/08/the-friendship-list-book-review.html)

I just loved this book! I love how I can lose myself in Susan Mallery's books. Women Fiction is one of my favorite genre and she is also one of the reasons why. I just devour her books.

Review featured at www.books-n-kisses.com

4.5 Hearts Every year Mallery takes us away from Happily Inc/Fool’s Gold and takes us on a journey of friendship instead of romance. Not that it doesn’t have romance involved… what would a Mallery book be without romance?... but the books are mostly about friendship and the “other” relationships in our lives.

In this story we have Ellen and Unity. They have been friends for what seems forever and they make a pact. This will do the things on their bucket list and the one that doesn’t get everything complete will pay for the winner to have a spa weekend.

I will be honest and say I had moments of dislike for every single character. But you know what? That is life. Even the people we love most drive us crazy. Or we want to kick them in the butt and say “It is what it is. Get over it.”

Mallery brings real life to paper. The way we handle our teenagers and their grown up actions. Our friends and their childlike behavior. And of course love and romance. So many moments with the teenagers in the story I wanted to yell at them or yell at the parents for what they were/were not doing. But when a book can make you feel so involved you know you have been taken into the authors world and out of your own.

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The summer read that reminds us sometimes things really need to change to kick us out of our ruts and find something amazing. Perfect for anyone in need of a pick-me-up.

This is a story of two friends who are in a rut and need some excitement and to move past loses. They decide to create a list of things they wouldn’t normally do such as get a tattoo. As they work to complete their lists they go places and with people they never thought of.

The story is told from the view of Ellen and Unity separately and together. Their journeys are different and both very interesting. I loved the way they both came out of their comfort zones.

Thank you to Net Galley for the advanced copy of this book. I have enjoyed Ms. Mallery's books for a long time and this book was no exception. I loved the relationships between the two friends who found themselves in similar type ruts within their lives and unable to find their way out to enjoying a more fulfilling life. The answer of creating a list with a contest involved was genius and the threat of competition allowed them to step out of their comfort zones back into a real life. These friends were amazing with each other, while still having moments, they also supported each other every step of the way. This is a great read for anyone who enjoys strong female characters and close friendships. Many laugh out loud moments while at the same time many poignant moments. All in all a great read!!!

This delightful story sure to be a 2020 beach read favorite. Ellen and Unity have a lifelong friendship, a connection so deep they can finish each other’s sentences. They've supported each other through single parenthood and the loss of spouse. When Ellen overhears her soon to be college bound son say he can't go away to college, because he's all his mom has, the subsequent need to change her life is born. This prompts Unity to create a list for Ellen, and for herself. Challenges that fulfill a long list of life to do's, and the friendship list is born.

This is such a great story focusing on the character growth for two women in their mid-thirties. They are driven by some low-level competitiveness, but really because they both begin feeling how each and activity changes them. Some are subtle, some are much bigger.

Ellen needs a reboot on her self-perception. She never doubts her intelligence, and she's outgoing enough, but the changes she makes open her up for the possibility of romance and love. She needs to learn to trust her loved ones and herself. Unity on the other hand is really stuck in her grief and the past. The death of her husband leaves her desire for a family, for children, a casualty as well. It seems unlikely she'll ever get over him and even when a love interest insinuates himself in her heart, she self-sabotages their chance at togetherness.

I loved the pacing of the story and how each woman go through multiple “growth spurts”. These little lesson along the way add up and ultimately, as individuals, they recognize their strength, both apart and together. The epilogue is wonderful and left me really satisfied and very happy. 4.5 stars and recommendation!

Whenever Susan Mallery has a new book, it's always on my reading list! Her books are always like a
comfort read to me! I loved the Pacific Northwest setting, and my favorite character was definitely Ellen! Susan always puts such real, likable characters in her stories, which I think is why I love them so much! Thisbook is no exception! While it wasn't my favorite Mallery read, I still really enjoyed it.

I loved their friendship "bucket list" and all their adventures. This book was a really fun read--perfect for an afternoon in the hammock, which is where I read the entirety of this book! I love Mallery's writing style--she hooks you in from the beginning and it's so easy to keep turning the pages! It you're in the mood for a sweet, "chick lit" style book to escape to this summer, this one is perfect!

There’s an old saying that the only difference between a rut and a grave are the dimensions. And that’s where this story begins, with best friend Ellen Fox and Unity Leandre both stuck in very long ruts. Very, very long.

The problem with ruts is that they can be surprisingly comfortable down there at the bottom. There’s nothing challenging a person out of their comfort zone. Ruts are easy and change is hard – and frequently painful.

Ellen had sex once, 17 years ago, found herself pregnant and unenthused about the process that got her there and settled into life as a single mother with a tiny bit of help and a whole lot of grief and attitude from her disapproving parents. Now she’s in her mid-30s, her son is at the end of his junior year in high school, and the kid is unwilling to apply to the colleges he really wants to go to because he’s afraid of leaving his poor mother all by herself because she doesn’t have a life outside of her teaching job, her two best friends, and him.

The worst part is that he’s not wrong.

Unity is even more stuck than her bestie. Her young husband died serving his country, but Unity seems to have thrown herself at least partway in that grave with him. She lives in his childhood home, sleeps in his childhood room, and has kept all of his things right where he – and his late parents – left them. She’s either living with his ghost or waiting to die. Or both. All of her friends except Ellen live in the age-restricted community where she does a lot of her home handyman work, and it’s a good thing the place is age-restricted or she’d have moved right in. If she could bring herself to move, that is.

Even Unity’s grief group has had enough of the way that Unity seems to feed her grief instead of letting it heal.

So they challenge each other to step out of their oh-so-comfortable ruts. To stretch their horizons and find out who they still have plenty of time to be before it’s too late. Before the dimensions of their ruts close off at the ends into graves.

Because they are both still young and have way too much life ahead of them to spend it waiting for the end. They’ll just have to make that hard climb over the sides of those ruts.

Escape Rating A-: Ellen and Unity may need to step out of their comfort zones, but in picking up this book I stepped right into mine. This was just the kind of friendship story that this author does so well, and reading it was a terrific pick-me-up for these troubled times.

What was great was that I felt for the situations of both of these women, in spite of both of their experiences being so far outside my own. Sometimes I wanted to beat them both with a clue-by-four, but in the way one does with long-term friends. As in I may think you’re way off base and I’ll tell you that in private while in public I’ll defend you from all comers.

Ellen and Unity have that kind of friendship and it’s an enviable one. It’s also easy to empathize with the way that they are both just trying to get through this thing called life and doing the best they can at it, even if from the outside it’s clear that they’re not really doing all that well at all. They are sabotaging themselves in ways that are easy to recognize and understand.

I also loved that they were able to finally figure out that many of their issues were sourced in the same place – Ellen’s rule-bound, disapproving parents – and that they both started figuring out ways to remove themselves from those naysaying voices.

One of the highlights of the story was Unity’s friendship with the larger-than-life Dagmar, and the contrast between Dagmar’s 70-something joie de vivre and eagerness to live each day to the absolute fullest, while Unity seems to be counting down the days, weeks, months and years until she can move into the senior village. Dagmar is clearly refusing to go gentle into that good night, in stark contrast to Unity who seems to have already went even though she’s still alive.

I loved the way that they each managed to work their way out of their respective ruts. It also felt very real that they had to be separate for a few weeks in order to make that happen. They were clearly enabling each other to stay stuck, whether intentionally or not.

But as much as I enjoyed this story, and I very much did, there’s a niggle that kept it from being an A. I think I’d have enjoyed the whole thing more if the solution to both women’s issues hadn’t been a romance. Or if it hadn’t felt like the romance and the healing were tied in a bit too strongly together. These women both needed to heal themselves first, and that’s not quite how it felt, particularly in Unity’s case. That Unity was healed enough at the end for an actual HEA doesn’t feel right, although Ellen certainly earned hers.

Still, this was a lovely read and I’m very glad I read it. I just picked up the ARC for Susan Mallery’s next standalone book, The Vineyard at Painted Moon, and I’m already looking forward to it.

In the meantime, if you’re thinking about picking up The Friendship List, I posted an excerpt from the first chapter last week as part of a tour. You can still follow the tour entries to get a taste of this delicious story.

Oh my gosh! I loved this book so much. I can't believe that I haven't read Susan Mallery's books before now. If her other books are just as good, and I'm sure they are, then I have some catching up to do, for sure.

The Friendship List focuses on the interesting and fun characters, Ellen and Unity. Different as night and day, but best friends since forever. On the other hand, they are the same in the respect that they are both stuck in the ruts of their lives and don't know how to get out—or even if they want to.

Thus the lists are created, each of them thinking they are doing them to help the other one change. Working through the lists is where the fun comes in as the two women step outside their comfort zones to try to find their way to happiness.

I devoured this book and highly recommend it. I definitely will be checking out more of Susan's books. Seriously, how have I not read her books before now??

Oh wow! The Friendship List is a fantastic story about two women who have known each other their whole lives. Now, they are both on the cusp of a new life, but they’re not sure how to proceed.
For Unity, everything is hard, she’s been existing in a vacuum since her late husband was killed three years ago, and going through the motions just won’t do it anymore. She gets pushed by some of her friends to move forward, but she still kind of feels like she isn’t ready.
For Ellen, things are changing too. A single mom to a soon-to-be senior, she knows Cooper will leave soon to go to college. And she only wants what’s best for him. However, she’s not so sure what she’s going to do when he leaves home.
Thus Unity and Ellen make their friendship list - it’s kind of like a bucket-list, but different. Because they both need to challenge themselves to move forward and be the best they can be. And fully live.
I found it very interesting that Ellen was <i>still</i> living by her parents’ rules, even at 34. But at the same time, it was normal, as everything that happened when she was younger had made her parents very strict. And following the rules was the only way for her to hope to be able to keep her son, finish college and finally be independent.
Ellen had lived her whole adult life solely for her son, she had never dated, never done anything crazy. But now, with the list, she finally agrees to open her horizons a bit, and my goodness does she achieve a lot of good for herself!
For Unity, things are a bit more difficult, but she is still trying her very best - and that’s all we can do, right? Try our best to move forward, to live, to love, to find some joy...
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about female friendships, love, and how taking a risk can be so very scary, but also so very rewarding.

The Friendship List by Susan Mallery has all the ingredients that makes this a beach read. Ellen Fox got pregnant at 17 and the rest of her life has been centered around her son. Unity Leandre is a young widow who refuses to move on from her husband's death. When Ellen realizes her son will not go away to college because of her, she realizes it is time she begins to focus on herself. Unity decides to change when everything and everyone around her push her into doing so.

What I loved: The men in the story: Keith and Thaddeus; the Teens; Dagmar. The author had great, sharp dialogue and descriptions and some funny moments and scenes. The Friendship List and how it cemented the friendship and I love lists and challenges even though these were frivolous. Overcoming loss and grief and how to move on. I loved that Unity owned a handyman business.

What I didn't like: The immaturity of the women themselves. Ellen hadn't dated in 17 years was unbelievable and Unity was literally shaking to talk to a man. They were in their 30s and my sisters are that age. I couldn't see them behaving so naive. It wasn't cute. It was annoying. The teens were more advanced than they were. Maybe if this were set as historical that could work, Maybe. Doubt it.

Overall, an easy read where the minor characters steal the show in terms of depth. Dagmar was a gem and had some of the best lines in the book. I loved everything about her character.
"Healing isn't easy and sometimes it hurts, but you will be better for it."
Thank you #Netgalley for the ARC.

From the title of Susan Mallery's new novel, The Friendship List, you would assume that a friendship plays the major role in the book. And while Ellen and her best friend Unity's friendship is important, there are some very sexy scenes that will have readers reaching for a cold drink to cool down.

Ellen is a high school English teacher and single mom to Cooper, 17 years old and a football player. For all their lives, it's just been Ellen and Cooper, as Ellen got pregnant in high school and never had a relationship with Cooper's father beyond the one night.

Her best friend since childhood is Unity, who lost her parents in a car accident when she was a teenager. Unity married her high school boyfriend whose career in the military meant they moved around a lot. When he was killed in action three years ago, Unity's life fell apart and she has yet to recover.

Both Ellen and Unity don't have a lot of experience with dating, and their friendship has been the cornerstone of the life. It's also kept them from experiences that many adult women have had.

When Ellen discovers that Cooper is reluctant to go away to college as they had planned, it is because he is fearful of leaving his mom alone. She overhears him tell a friend that he believes she depends on him for everything, and he just can't go.

This spurs Ellen to join with Unity and create the Friendship List. On this list are things the women plan to do to expand their horizons. There are things like skydiving, rock climbing, getting a tattoo, and having sex with a hot guy on the list. The first one to complete the list gets treated to a spa day by the other one.

Ellen's other good friend is Keith, the high school football coach. They have dinner together frequently, and have never thought of each other as anything more than friends. Ellen is traveling with Keith, Cooper and some football players on a college tour trip. She decides that it will be the perfect time to show her son that she has a life of her own.

She gets a tattoo, and buys a sexy outfit to wear to dinner with Keith. Ellen's lack of experience does not dampen her enthusiasm for sex, and the scenes where she inadvertently tortures poor Keith are amusing and sexy. The dialogue between the two is witty, even laugh-out-loud funny.

Meanwhile, Unity's older friend Dagmar sets her up on a date with her nephew Thaddeus. Thaddeus is a wealthy entrepreneur and former stripper (how is that for a double whammy?) who is tired of the dating scene and looking for "the one".

But Unity cannot move on with her life after the death of her husband three years prior. She works as a handywoman, with a large clientele at the local senior living complex. For fun she plays in the senior pickleball league (even though she is only 34), and she still attends a weekly grief support group.

Can Ellen and Unity shed their fears and move forward with life? You'll have to read this delightful story, The Friendship List, to find out. I read it in one day, and it moved me (Unity's heartbreaking sadness)
and made me smile (Ellen's curiosity about sex) in equal measures.

If you are looking for a terrific story that has female friendship and steamy sex scenes, put The Frienship List on your TBR list. It's a great summer read.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on Susan Mallery's blog tour.

I was so excited to start reading this book because I loved the idea and it sounded adorable. Parts of this story were very cute, and the multiple POV worked so well for this one. I loved how the lists played a part in the story but didn't take it over completely. I loved the strong friendships in this one and can not wait for more!

I want to be the third musketeer with Ellen and Unity When one friend who is stuck in her comfort zone is pushed out of her comfort zone by her best friend laughter, tears and adventure quickly follows. Throughout this book, I kept thinking how much I would love to be given a list of things to push me out of my comfort zone and help me grow as a person ( don't get any ideas friends!) If you are looking for a poolside read about timeless friendship, this is the book for you.

Ellen and Unity have been friends since they were young girls. Ellen, a single mom of a seventeen year old son, got pregnant the night of her junior prom (the last time she went out with her son's father). She had her son, finished high school and then college while living with her parents, and then got on with life as a single mom. Unity married her high school sweetheart. He was in the army and when he was killed she returned to their hometown. Ellen and Unity have been stuck in emotional ruts and they realize they aren't getting any younger so they challenge each other with writing a list of things each woman wants/needs to do.  It was fun to see them start to come out of their shells as they crossed items off and courageously moved toward a new phase of life. Susan Mallery balanced the serious subjects with a light tone and humor. A reader discussion guide and a few recipes are included at the end.

Can two best friends change their lives over the course of one summer, even when their friendship is tested? Ellen Fox is a single mom whose life is just fine. No she has never dated since having her son, who is a year away from going to college. But she has always felt that she has had true contentment. However, after overhearing his concerns for her well-being, she wonders if he will seek whatever future he deserves.

Unity Leandre is Ellen's best friend. Unity is a young widow who still hasn't been able to deal with the loss of her husband, even with attending a grief group. Unity is not overly concerned with her life, however. She wants Ellen to step out of her comfort zone so she devises a list of challenges for Ellen. Will Ellen go along with Unity's suggestions? What about Unity? Will she attempt even a few things she put on the list for Ellen?

What a lovely story. This book did a great job at making me feel like both Ellen and Unity could be my friends. They both soon found chances for romance, but in neither case they were without challenges. For Ellen, she soon finds her good friend, a coach at the high school where she teaches, could be far more than that. Meanwhile, they both are parents of teenagers, so although they seek and find ways to draw close together, they must deal with what is going on with their kids.

Unity does meet someone, and he is too sexy for his own good. While drawn to him, Unity must deal with the fact that she still misses her husband desperately, and she must find a way to deal with those painful feelings and memories, all while figuring out that she deserves happiness and a future, especially since at 34 years of age, she really wishes that she was a mother.

I adored this story. As mentioned, I felt that I could relate to both women, albeit on different levels. I always wanted to be a mother and was blessed with a large family, so I understand how much Unity wanted that in her life. With Ellen, I could relate to her dedication to her son, to the exclusion of her own needs. So although I didn't face their issues in my own life, I sensed and connected to the deep emotion behind their feelings.

I have read a couple of other books by Susan Mallery and have come to enjoy her writing style. I enjoyed how she enjoyed making an emotional story about two friends be more than a bit sexy, dealt with the woes of parents of teenagers, and bringing readers to a happy conclusion.

Many thanks to HQN Books and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

I've only read a couple of Susan Mallery's novels throughout the years but she is pretty big in the romance world. She's written a bananas number of novels (seriously, I tried counting on her website, got to 40, and gave up) and, now that I've read her latest, The Friendship List, I've read just four of them. And one was a cookbook. And...I hate to say it because I know she's well-loved but...I think I'm done. Between this book and the last one I read (Meant to Be Yours, which I reviewed here), I haven't been thrilled.

Here's the synopsis:
Ellen and Unity have been best friends basically since birth, but they couldn’t be more different. Unity married her childhood sweetheart just after high school and became an Army wife, moving from base to base…until her husband's shocking death in the line of duty leaves her a widow. Grief-stricken, it’s time for Unity to come back home to Ellen—the only person she can trust to help her rebuild her life. But Ellen has troubles of her own. Boys never seemed to notice Ellen…until one got her pregnant in high school and disappeared. Her son is now 17 and she’s wondering what to do with herself now that he’s heading off to college and he's literally her entire world.

But now that Ellen and Unity are reunited, they’re done with their stale lives. It’s time to shake things up and start living again, knowing that they'll always have one another to lean on. So they create a list of challenges they have to accomplish--everything from getting a tattoo to skydiving to staying out all night. And whoever completes the most challenges is the winner. But with new adventures and love just around the corner, there’s no such thing as losing…
As I said, Mallery is known in the romance world. But like a lot of romance authors, she's been writing a few more titles that are being marketed as women's fiction. I don't like to use that genre term these days but I have yet to figure out a better descriptor. Contemporary is the best I've come up with. Some of these authors are doing pretty well with writing stories that aren't "simply" romances (Sarah Morgan is one whose contemporary novels I'm enjoying as well as her romances). And some? Not so good.

This story is supposed to be about two friends who have realized they're stuck and create a list to push themselves out of their comfort zones. The list means less as the novel goes on, and that's fine, because they realize that getting a tattoo or going skydiving is really the least of their issues. Unity, especially, has a lot of baggage to take care of. My problem was how much the romantic relationships took over the story. Romance and dating is a part of life and I'm a big fan of love stories in every single thing I read or watch but something about the romances played out in this novel drove me up the wall. Keith and Ellen have been friends for years and it's always been platonic. But as soon as Ellen buys some new clothes that don't hide her figure, Keith is all, "Holy shit, she has a body and breasts and now I can't stop thinking about sleeping with her." Just because she wore clothing that fit her body and made her feel good. That's a whole lot of nope from me. Thaddeus, the love interest for Unity (and what is that name? Sorry to anyone who is or knows or birthed a Thaddeus but I just can't do it as a male hero name), is gorgeous and super duper successful and could sleep with any super duper attractive woman and he just can't understand why Unity, who's "pretty enough", has gotten under his skin. In both instances, Ellen and Unity, who are great women, are reduced to their looks and I couldn't get over it even though both men are, for the most part, really good men.

Ellen and Unity are both 34 which is just a year older than I am. Now, I did not have a child at 17 (or any age after) and I haven't been married and then widowed. So I don't really know how much those incidents would mature a person. I do know that these women did not act like 34 year olds. That's part of their problem and the reason they're making their lists but I felt like I was reading about characters who were a good decade older and I had to constantly remind myself that, nope, they're basically the same age I am. I could be in the minority but it really felt like the story should have been written for older characters but that age is the only one to really work for a young pregnancy and then also being able to have more children, if the character(s) chose to. It's a hard one to explain but I would love to know what other readers who are in their early thirties felt about the portrayal of Ellen and Unity.

The characters Mallery created were ones I wanted to read about and that pushed me to finish reading this book. I really did like Ellen and Unity. I could feel their pain and frustration even if I had never been in their shoes before. Ellen's son, Cooper, and Keith's daughter, Lissa, were wonderful and I would totally read a YA book about their side of the story. And Dagmar, Unity's friend and Thaddeus's great-aunt, was a total joy and I want to be like her when I'm in my seventies.

I really wanted to love The Friendship List. The cover and initial description of Susan Mallery's latest novel really intrigued me. The end product though? Left a lot to be desired. For me, anyway. Sometimes books just don't click for a reader and that's why there are so many different kinds of books out there for us to read.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Harlequin, via NetGalley in exchange for a review for the purposes of a blog tour. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Favorite Quotes:


She’s a wizened old cow who hasn’t had sex in over a decade. I’m sure her girl parts are about as interesting as day-old bread.

“Are you wearing eyeliner?” “Yes. And it’s not easy to put on. I tried a smoky eye yesterday, but I just looked like I got in a fight.”

It’s all I can think about. I’m glowing so much, I’m practically radioactive.


My Review:


As with every Susan Mallery book I have been lucky enough to stumble upon, The Friendship List was better than an all-day all-you-can-eat and carryout trip to Willy Wonka’s. It was good fun with several cleverly written, witty, and highly entertaining storylines that held something for everyone. I adore and covet Susan Mallery’s writing style, she is a master storyteller and I quickly fall into her smoothly scrolling tales that seem to be populated with oddly endearing characters who are delightfully easy to know while realistically flawed and endeavoring for improvement. Her dialogues and observant narratives are crisp and lively yet comfortable and a pleasure to navigate. Of course, my favorite character in this tale was the all-wise and lovely Dagmar, a woman I am sure was crafted by the use of hidden cameras following me!

While I didn’t have one thing in common with the main characters I enjoyed them anyway. Unity was a grieving young widow who was stagnant and unable to move on even after three years, and Ellen was a single mom of a teen who had not been on a date since becoming pregnant as a teen herself. Their friendship and sassy banter sparkled with delightful humor and were a welcome reprieve and absolute joy after a reading a slate of tense thrillers. I have decided I need a regular infusion of Susan Mallery in my life for good balance.