I honestly thought this was going to make me cry, and I’m still unsure of whether or not it’s a good thing that it didn’t? This book reminded me a lot of Happy Place, but make it childhood best friends to lovers. I appreciated the flashbacks since it helped to give a lot of context. However, their whole conflict was kind of dumb. I get that she would want to try and protect him, but the fact that they would both completely cut all contact for 2.5 years is insane. I did have a good time reading this and overall I had fun, but there were definitely some parts where I was getting annoyed and wanted to stop.

All that being said, I did start and finish this in a day… so that is pretty self explanatory.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Audio, and Harlequin Trade Press for the eARC and audioARC.

3.75 stars

I liked the overall story and the writing. The setting was really fun.

But I struggled with the reason for it all. “Something” happened that drove these two friends apart but we were 80% of the way through the book before we found out what. That combined with the fact that after not speaking for two and a half years they quickly fell into a relationship. Without talking about what drove them apart just felt weird. The story development and pacing were just a bit off for me. The title and cover of the book are also a little deceiving. They are not friends to lovers. They were friends to nothing to lovers.

But overall I did enjoy the story and will read more from this author.

Thank you to Canary Street Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC and share my honest opinion.

As someone who married their best friend, I get it. Friends to Lovers is a very easy summer read, I completed it in one day. But the beginning was really hard to get into. The time jumps and amount of wedding references was confusing until a few chapters in. It’s also hard to tell what year it is, with a reference to a Ms. PacMan machine but also the song Mr. Brightside by the Killers. Did the same generation come of age during those two points in time? Personally I found Joni’s mom to be incredibly annoying. And the friendship between the two sets of parents wasn’t fully fleshed out to make me care. Overall, this book is very okay.

FRIENDS TO LOVERS – Sally Blakely
Canary Street Press
ISBN: 978-1-335-01424-5
July 22, 2025
Contemporary Romance

Oregon Coast – Present Day

Joni and Ren have been best friends since they were children. Their families share a vacation home on the Oregon Coast, and as they are besties, they share a screened-in porch at night. It’s all platonic. Joni and Ren even attended weddings of various friends and relatives as each other’s plus one. But a couple of years ago, things changed when a sexual attraction crept up between them. Joni rejected it. No way should she have these feelings for her best friend. Since then, it’s been frosty between them as their former friendship is no longer there. However, Joni and Ren are about to be forced back together for her sister’s wedding to be held near the family vacation home on the coast. They will even have to share the screened-in porch at night. Will they survive the closeness, or will they end up forever fracturing their friendship in front of their family?

Their family and friends do not realize that they are not as close as they used to be, so things are sometimes awkward for Joni and Ren in FRIENDS TO LOVERS. In the past, they were able to share anything, but it all changed two years ago with a shared kiss. Joni doesn’t want to break the rules of friends only. She, instead, ended their relationship, and they now rarely speak. Joni has not told him that she was recently fired from the job she loved in New York City. In fact, she hasn’t told her family yet because she is confused as to what the future will hold for her. She has been living in New York City for years, but should she return to her hometown of Portland? This would bring her back into Ren’s orbit.

FRIENDS TO LOVERS is told only from Joni’s point of view, so we don’t see Ren’s feelings or thoughts. Both inadvertently arrive early at the vacation home. No one else has arrived yet. They share awkwardness but agree to remain civil because they don’t want to ruin her sister’s wedding. However, they are again forced to spend the nights on the porch because no one suspects there is anything wrong between them. They are also forced together, namely, to go and get the wine shipment for the wedding. At times in this tale, they are indeed forced to talk, plus we get flashbacks to prior times they got together to be each other’s plus one at weddings. This gives insight into the feelings that had grown between them. After all, when your best friend gets romantically involved with another person, there is bound to be a reaction from you.

How do Joni and Ren navigate the week spent together in FRIENDS TO LOVERS? Will it lead to a change of heart and going after the attraction between them? It’s an intriguing journey and one that readers won’t want to miss. Find out what happens by grabbing a copy of FRIENDS TO LOVERS.

Patti Fischer
Romance Reviews Today

Childhood friends to lovers ✅
Dual timelines ✅
Second chance romance ✅

All my favorite tropes wrapped up in one little package? Yes, please! I was immediately excited for Friends to Lovers, and while it delivered in some key areas, the execution felt a bit lackluster.

The premise is solid, and there’s no denying the emotional potential in this story. But the entire plot hinges on the dreaded miscommunication trope, and unfortunately, it’s used to the point of exhaustion. Our FMC, Joni, is the queen of not saying what she means...or anything at all really. She's neurotic, judgmental, and constantly pushing away the people who genuinely care about her. I found it difficult to root for her when her go-to reaction was to lie or shut down. It made her feel more immature than complex.

On the flip side, Ren was an absolute delight. Total cinnamon roll with golden retriever energy and not in an over-the-top way. I just wish we’d gotten more of him. So much of the narrative lives inside Joni’s anxious inner monologue that Ren often feels like a sketch rather than a fully realized character. He had so much potential, and I would have loved to see more depth and development.

That said, Sally Blakely’s writing shows real promise. There are moments in Friends to Lovers that shine, especially the intimate scenes. They’re subtle, heartfelt, and genuinely well-crafted. When Joni and Ren finally connect emotionally, it’s magnetic. Blakely clearly has a knack for writing vulnerability and tenderness when she lets her characters breathe.

Who will love this? If you're a fan of Annabel Monaghan, Carley Fortune, or Emily Henry, you might find something to enjoy here. And if you've ever wished The Summer I Turned Pretty had a more adult, introspective take this could hit that sweet spot.

Final rating: 3.5 ✨

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Canary Street Press for an ARC of Sally Blakely’s Friends to Lovers.

About the book:
Joni and Ren have been inseparable since they were kids. Soon after college, Joni follows her dream job and moves across the country to New York. They make a pact to be each other’s plus-ones to all weddings in the future no matter what else is happening in their lives. Then they cross a line and their friendship is damaged.

Now, 2.5 years later with no contact, they are forced together at her sister’s wedding week trip at their families’ summer house and they must face their relationship once and for all.

This book is told in 2 different timelines so the reader can follow along in present and see what happened to them in the past that led up to this point. You can tell that Ren is in love with Joni throughout the whole book. Even when he is dating another woman, he is just waiting for Joni to figure out her feelings.

This book says the main trope in the title, although other tropes included are: he falls first, second chances, first love, childhood friends, forced proximity.

The chemistry and relationship/friendship of Ren and Joni was incredible. I loved reading their interactions and felt so much of what both went through. I was so frustrated with Joni’s refusal to communicate with Ren. This book was everything I hoped it would be. I absolutely loved it. Giving it 4 stars only because I did have a hard time wanting to pick it up at times.

First, I want to say that i got this ARC from NetGalley and the copy I got wasn't the final product. My biggest complaint about this was the editing/formatting. It wasn't a finished product, but the story was good. Also, I don't think I posted any spoilers, but as always with ARC reviews, please proceed with caution. TL:DR - It's a sweet story, read it. I enjoyed it. I think it can be and will be enjoyed by others.

This one goes back and forth in time - something that I wish was clearer with the headers - but I assume when this book goes live it will have those things corrected. That being said, let's get into the story.

We have RAJ, AKA Ren and Joni. They have been besties since they were 3. Their mothers have been besties since college. Their families vacation with each other to their beach home every summer for a week where the two friends have been thrust upon each other. I mean, I make it sound like it was a chore, but they definitely were fine with it. The story starts off with Ren being invited to a wedding and saying he conveniently forgot about it and it would be best if Joni joined him... so being the bestie she is - she's in. After a successful wedding date experience, they make a pact that they will be each other's dates for any upcoming weddings either is invited to.

What could possibly go wrong?

Then the split happens. Joni follows her dream to New York and Ren stays in Portland to pursue his dreams. They still have summers and weddings. But the divide is there. Relationships happen, their relationship strains. They are separated for years and their lives go on. Ren goes to a wedding with his girlfriend. Joni starts to realize she may be jealous. Again, strain. This story goes on. The current timeline is in the summer at her sister's wedding, following two years of no contact with Ren. No one but her sister knows this.

What could go wrong?

Anyway, things have changed for Joni to put her in a different place. She's come to realizations. But has Ren grown? Has anything changed that much? Will they or won't they? I don't know, YOU read it. Would I recommend this? Yep. I struggled with 4 stars, because of the formatting, but honestly, the story was good. I enjoyed it. I think it was a story worth telling/reading. These guys were sweet. There isn't instalove. It's a slowburn for sure. We as the reader know they're perfect for each other, but honestly, we never know where Ren really stands until the end. This is told solely from Joni's perspective and I would have loved to hear from Ren's POV at times, but that added to the drama. This has mild spice - BUT there is spice. I wouldn't call this fluffy, but I would call it a romance. Joni can be prickly, Ren can be prickly, but when they get their stuff together, it feels right.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ .65
Spice: 🫑🫑🫑- I'm not giving it any chili peppers, but it was warm.

Thanks again to NetGalley and Sally Blakely for providing me the ARC for this. I enjoyed this read.

Happy Place x People We Meet On Vacation vibes. Very Emily Henry esq.

I thought this book was so cute! Normally I don’t like it when there are comparisons to other books because it gives (in my opinion) too much of a high expectation. But this was not like that. It was so cute!

Plot: Joni and Ren are lifelong besties who are reunited after a fall out two years prior. Their family and friends have no idea that they haven’t seen or spoken to each other in over two years. We see them forced to attend events and activities together and while try navigating this awkward tension between them. We get flashbacks from prior weddings, all leading up to their fallout.

My Thoughts: I thought this book was so cute and sweet! I loved the flashbacks which was very PWMOV, and navigating the now, Happy Place. I definitely saw where those comparisons were coming from. The side characters were all fun. I loved how the two families stayed friends over and years as each family grew and they still got together every year for a week. I don’t think I connected very strongly to either Joni or Ren, but that’s okay. I think this book is going to be a cute summer read for anyone who loves a good friends to lovers trope.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, The Hive and Canary Street Press for allowing me to read/review an advanced e-copy of this book.

Tropes
-Friends to Lovers
-Forced Proximity
-Second Chance
-Flashbacks
-Single POV
-Clean Romance

Rating: 4/5

Really enjoyed this one, more than I anticipated. I appreciated how quickly the story took off and how easy this made becoming invested in Joni and Ren’s story.

There is a deep and intense love between these two characters For the company, the friendship, just the presence of one another in their life. Then you add the physical attraction between them. By the end of chapter 8 I was thinking “these people miss each other! Please let them get together right now.”

The supporting characters only add to this book. Familial, platonic, romantic, this book is just full of all kinds of love. It just made me happy to read. Additionally, the challenges Ren and Joni face in their personal lives really resonated with me as someone their age. Whether jobs or managing family relationships or long distance friendships, I just felt the author really captured the experience of your late twenties and early thirties with this book.

I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 because I felt the end dragged a bit much. It just felt unnecessary for the storyline for them to not resolve things at the beach house. It came off as a half hearted attempt at a third act breakup or as though the author just really wanted to use a “he came after her” ending.

Overall a great read that I would recommend. Look forward to reading more from this author.

ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for honest review.

Friends to Lovers is as the title promises, but also a close proximity, and a second chance romance. Author Sally Blakely balances all of these well with plenty of awkward in the presence of family in the present at the families shared beach house as they prepare for fmc younger sister's wedding, and plenty of yearning in flashbacks to past weddings where our couple was each other's reliable plus-one. The family dynamics wonderful, the flashback weddings fun and entertaining, the characters growth and conversations stilted and sometimes a bit confusing to follow. The ending did tie up the many plot threads very nicely!!

Joni & Wren have been best friends since they were three years old. Now they’re strangers, reunited awkwardly at a wedding. After all, they made a pact to be each others plus ones for the many upcoming weddings that they are invited to.

The writer tells the story of Joni & Ren in a dual timeline fashion, writing between present, and meaningful past moments that lead up to the here and now. It’s clearly that the forever +1 wedding dates are undeniably in love with each other, but they’re both too timid to admit it. With their friendship on the line, they struggle to make the first move.

Friends to Lovers, is both the trope & the title. It took me a minute to get into the story with the dual time lines, but once I was hooked, I could not put it down. The time invested in building the characters backstory really built up the plot, the tensions & the arc of the story. Joni and Wren are both lovable & sweet characters that just need to land on the right timeline.

Thank you to NetGalley and Canary Street Press for providing the ARC.

This book was basically an amalgamation of Emily Henry's books, and I'm here for it.

This was a second-chance romance between two best friends turned lovers who crashed and burned spectacularly almost three years prior to the events of the story. Told in a series of back and forth scenes between the now and the previous weddings that Joni and Ren had promised to attend as each other's plus ones, you see just how they fell apart. But this book is about reconciliation and growth, both of which can be messy even if you're committed to both of them.

Joni struggles with depression and anxiety, and often finds herself centering herself as things get too hard for her to manage in the moment. Ren is stoic and calm, and has quietly been pining after Joni for years, but unable to tell her the truth about his feelings. The yearning in this book is palpable - you can almost taste it. It is obvious just how much Ren loves Joni, even when she breaks his heart.

This book was a great debut from Sally Blakely. If you love EmHen, you'll definitely enjoy this one as well.

Grab your sunscreen, head to the beach, and read this book! Friends to Lovers is a must read this summer. From the first chapter I was rooting for Joni and Ren. I enjoyed how the book started in present day and then went back 10 years to fill in the spaces of how they got to where they are. It wasn't confusing at all, the writing flowed very well and I thought the characters were well developed.

If you like forced proximity, second chances, friends that are more like family, mild family drama, and the idea that your plus one may be your true love then you need to read this book!

Thank you NetGalley, Sally Blakely and Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing an ARC in exchange for honest thoughts.

This was an entertaining enough summer read. I loved the setting and found I was more interested in some of the supporting characters. Would recommend for a beach/vacation read.

ARC Review!!!

Ren and Joni have been friends for what seems like forever. After realizing they'll have so many weddings to attend they decide to start a pack that they will be each other's plus-one's going forward, that way no one is ever missing out or needing to find a date. After a couple of weddings and life changing events, Joni moves to the East Coast while Ren stays out on the West Coast. While being on opposite ends, they find it harder and harder to communicate and just aren't on the same page.
After another wedding comes around, Ren's sister - Sasha, both Ren and Joni are each other's date and excited to see each other after such a long time. Well tension rises and they get physical and Joni is realizing she's actually in love with Ren and is scared of what this means.
This book is the definition of Friends to Lovers. The title truly is the book, a quick read and enjoyable.
3 stars!!

definitely a summer read, it’s set at the beach and has “beachy days that turn into starry nights.” i wanted to love this but i truly struggled with this one. i didn’t feel connected with the characters, and i fear this may be because im not a huge friends to lovers girly. i went back and forth between my e-arc and alc — thank you to the publishers!

two best friends joni and ren have always been inseparable. that is until joni moves across the country for her job; but they come up with a creative way to stay in touch. no matter what is going on in their lives, they will always be each other’s plus-one’s every year for wedding season. this has worked for them, until a line has been crossed and their friendship was no more. joni’s sister is getting married and is determined to make the week perfect, even if she has to fake her friendship with ren (while avoiding spilling the truth of why they aren’t friends anymore to her family). is she going to let ren go or is their love story worth fighting for? read and find out ;)

audio: pacing was perfect for me. the single narrator for both of the main characters was great and kept me engaged with the story because of it.

tropes: friends to lovers, second chance, forced proximity, dual timeline

Thank you to Sally Blakely, Harlequin Trade Publishing | Canary Street Press, and NetGalley for giving me an eARC of Friends to Lovers in exchange for my honest review.

Friends to Lovers is such a fun book! There is something so magical for me when I am reading a friends-to -lovers romance. I am not sure why, but I think it mainly has to do with being able to see the obvious chemistry between the friends before they have even recognized it. In this book, Joni and Ren have been friends their entire lives, and as they get older, decide to be each other's plus one's to every wedding. However, that eventually goes wrong and they have not spoken in over two years. That is, until Joni's sister is getting married and almost outside of Joni's sister, no one knows that they are not on speaking terms. So the two decide to fake being friends. However, you can only fake something for so long before things start to feel real. And the thing is, what went wrong has to do with them catching feelings.

This book does have several elements that remind me of The Summer I Turned Pretty, however, it is very much different. There are some underlying concepts and themes are the same such as a beach house and the mom's being best friends. However, that is where the similarities really end. I will say that I was shocked at how much I enjoyed this book. While I do love friends-to-lovers (the trope), it is rare that I really enjoy a book with alternating timelines. However, with this book, those alternating timelines allowed me to see the chemistry between Joni and Ren develop over the years, which we would not have otherwise gotten. That is the key with a friends-to-lovers romance, you need to be able to see the connection between the friends develop into more, otherwise you are simply being told "oh hey they are friends and now they are in love." I would HIGHLY reccomend this book to all romance lovers out there, it is a fun read for sure.

As the title suggests, this book follows Joni and Ren who have been besties since forever. and their families are super intertwined. With adulting threatening their friendship, they devise a plan to always be each other's plus ones to events as a means to make sure that they see each other. Their friendship gets complicated when feelings get mixed into the equation and they've decided to keep this a secret from their families. Back at their families' beach house to celebrate her sister's wedding, Joni is determined to keep the focus on the bride and away from her now non-existent friendship with Ren. It was so clear from the very beginning that there was mutual attraction and feelings that neither of them wanted to act on to preserve their friendship. It was fun summer read and perfect for reading on the beach! I did a combination of digital and audio and the narrator was fantastic. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the gifted eARC and ALC.

Instagram post will be live before or on release date.

3.75⭐
Joni and Ren have been best friends from childhood through high school and college. After she moves to NYC to work at her dream job in an animation studio, they still remain close, talking everyday. Besides reuniting for shared family events, they made a pact to always be each other's plus-one at weddings. Until one wedding and something changed. Told in a dual timeline, present day when they meet up for her sister's wedding after two and a half years of not seeing or speaking to one another. Beautifully written and introspective. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Oh I loved this so much!!! This gave PWMOV (friends to lovers alternate timelines) x The Ex Vows (coming together for a wedding) x The Summer I Turned Pretty (family dynamics & the beach house) aka all my favorites so I ate this right up. I personally love friends to lovers and thought this was a beautifully done story with that trope. If you love Emily Henry I think you’d love this one!! From page one I was in love. The writing, pacing, and storytelling were all excellent. I was constantly engaged and glued to the pages, invested in Joni and Ren’s story. I loved the dual timeline to give us a good understanding of Joni and Ren’s friendship progressing into a relationship. I absolutely loved the beach house setting and the dynamics between all the family members. LOVED Joni’s relationship with her younger sister as an older sister myself <3 i loved Joni and her character growth. I could really relate to her a lot with feeling lost and anxious about where life might take us. I really enjoyed all the characters and the bits we got about each of them and the roles they played in this story. I obviously loved the romance and could literally feel the yearning coming off the pages!! I’m between a 4.5 - 5 star rating for this one so I’m going to sit on it! Overall an excellent summer romance that I highly recommend <3