Thank you so much to Canary Press for the E-ARC of this title.
I knew I would love it based on the title alone.
Second chance, friends to lovers are my favorite tropes. Combine them and I'm in book heaven.

Ren and Joni has been best friends since the ripe age of 3. Together, they are the sun and the moon in which everything else just rotates around them. Until everything changes. They find themselves at the opposite ends of the country and their friendship in a state of disarray.
Two years pass of not seeing each other, not speaking, and keeping it all a secret from their family and friends.
That is until they meet once again at Joni's sister's wedding, at the same place they spent endless summers. Where they weaved a basket full of stories, memories, and feelings.

When they both have nothing to lose, they find their way back to one another, melting the happiness and pain of the past and molding it into their future.


This book is dual timeline highlighting the little moments that make up a friendship and the slow burn of falling in love. From stealing hoodies to polaroid pictures. From being plus ones to all of their friends' weddings. All the laughs and the tears. The phone calls and weekend trips from Portland to New York. Time might have passed, but the sun and moon can't exist without the other.

You'll like this if you like:
-Second chance romance
-Forced proximity
-He falls first

Joni and Ren were best friends until they crossed the line that would take them out of the friend zone and caused their whole relationship to come crashing down. They were always each other’s plus one and now they just do it again at Joni’s sister’s wedding. On top of that, they have to act like nothing is wrong.

This was a fun read! I was so excited to get approved for this on NetGalley & glad this one didn't disappoint!

Thank you NetGalley and Canary Street Press for this ARC!

4.25 stars!

oh my, this was SUCH a treat. this was such a sweet romance of two friends who turn into lovers (duh! that's the title!) and i ate it up. i thought the dual timeline was done so well and i loved how the story was told through weddings.

this was packed with witty banter and an emotional punch. it had strong relationships, character growth and a good arc. i loved getting to know the cast of characters and how everyone was intertwined.

great for fans of every summer after and love and other words!

a big thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this arc <3

Friends To Lovers is (shockingly!) a perfect pick for fans of the friends to lovers trope. With its dual timeline and second chance storyline, I’d recommend it to readers who loved Love and Other Words, Every Summer After, and The Summers Between Us.

I really enjoyed the story and loved the characters, but knowing heartbreak was coming made it a tough read for me.. Being 65% in and finally getting a present-day reconciliation, only to watch things fall apart in the past timeline, gave me too much anxiety! I’m just not in an era of life where I want that level of angst. For those that do, it’s very well done.

That said, I adored the characters: their history, their friendship, their growth, and ultimately, their romance. I finished the book with a huge smile on my face, so in that sense, it’s absolutely a winner.

The writing was amazing. Witty and sharp! Loved the settings, too. I don’t like the miscommunication trope one bit so had it not been for the author’s writing style, I would have bailed. Definitely worth the read.

This is definitely a slow burn romance. There was an “incident” that happened two and a half years ago which put a rift between Ren and Joni.

Best friends who have always been each others plus one. Who have been estranged are now forced back to their families beach house. Joni’s younger sister is getting married and only she knows that Ren and Joni haven’t spoken in two and a half years.

This was a good romance where you get plenty of wonderful characters. There is character development and some growth along the way.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

I didn’t have a clue what kind of emotional ride I was getting when I started this book. This book was everything I could want in a book.
It is two best friends who were close until something happened and didn’t talk for over 2 years and came back to face each other for the FMC sisters wedding.
We went back in time and learned about all the weddings the two main characters went to and learned why they stopped talking. We went back to the present and see how they are both drifting back to each other.
This book was beautifully written and I was part way through when I realized the MMC feelings and the FMC wasn’t there yet. I loved how they came together and the wedding helped bring them back. I had so many emotions reading this and this is another book that I will be buying for a shelf trophy.
Thank you so much for the ARC.

In Friends to Lovers by Sally Blakely, childhood best friends Joni and Ren have long been each other’s wedding season plus-ones, until one romantic misstep breaks their bond. Back home for her sister’s wedding, Joni is determined to fake their friendship and keep the peace. But as old feelings resurface, she must decide whether to protect her heart or finally fight for the love that’s always been right in front of her.

This was such a sweet and funny summer romance. It felt like a bright breath of fresh air, and I barreled through it on audio in one joyful, marathon weekend session. The story beautifully captures what it’s like to build a lifetime of memories with someone who knows you inside and out. I especially loved seeing how much comfort Ren brought Joni through the years, and watching her finally accept that their bond was always more than just a plus-one arrangement.

It wasn’t like it was some big secret. Ren and Joni both knew the truth, deep down. They just needed the right moment to finally embrace it. The book also offers gentle, meaningful messages about knowing what really matters and not letting perfectionism or career pressures steer you away from what you truly want. Add to that the personal soundtrack woven throughout their story (including a playlist!) and it just felt extra special.

Best of all, the author gives readers a lovely epilogue so we’re not left wondering what comes next. Patti Murin's narration was absolutely perfect. She brought all the emotions to life and is quickly becoming one of my favorite audiobook narrators. I’m giving this a fun 4 stars. I truly enjoyed every minute.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for the advance listening copy. All opinions are my own.

I loved this! This story is told from Joni’s POV and jumps back and forth between present day and different weddings she and REN have gone to over the past several years. The romance between them was a delicious slow burn, I never got to the point where I was frustrated that they hadn’t gotten together yet. Agree with other reviews that mention Emily Henry vibes.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC!

Sally Blakely expertly delivers the friends to lovers trope without over dramatizing rules or blurring friendship lines. It’s a well written love story that every character and reader wants to see!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing | Canary Street Press for the early copy of this book!

Can I give this book 6 stars? ⭐️ I absolutely loved Ren and Joni’s story! Told through Joni’s perspective, this dual-timeline story is perfect for fans of friends to lovers (duh!) and second chance romance. My heart was in my throat the entire time I was reading! I can’t recommend it enough!

I really enjoyed this novel! I hope to read more from this author! Thanks for the ARC. This was my first time receiving a copy from NetGalley! I’m still learning the ropes of how this all works but I’m posting a link to my Goodreads review from back in April!

This sweet romance focuses on Joni and Ren, estranged best friends since childhood, as they reunite for Joni’s sister’s wedding in Oregon. Joni and Ren used to have a pact where they would be each other’s plus ones to weddings throughout the years, until a rift unexpectedly occurs at the last wedding they attended together.

Now, with years of silence between them and their close-knit families unaware, they must navigate through pre-wedding activities and the tension they both feel, without alarming the wedding party. But the more time they spend together, the harder it is to deny that deeper, more complicated feelings remain between them.

This was a cute summer romance that alternates between the past weddings that Joni and Ren attended throughout the years, and the present one where they must face their collective past together. Joni is an authentic character who deals with anxiety, and I appreciated how that was handled in this novel. The dynamic between Ren and Joni was sweet, and I liked seeing how their relationship evolved throughout the years.

I definitely recommend checking this one out, especially if you’re in the mood for a summer romance!

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for this #gifted eARC, in exchange for my honest review!

Friends to lovers is a trope I either really like or dont, but since this one had kind of miscommunication as a theme I leaned towards dont :( I like how Sally writes but this book was not my cup of tea but I think many will enjoy it!

Friends to Lovers is one of my favorite tropes, if not my favorite trope, and I love a dual timeline romance. However, this book fell prey to the wrong type of friends to lovers, where the characters simply don't communicate and if they had, the book's conflict would have been wrapped up on chapter one.

A wonderful beach or summer read. I enjoyed it, however I didn't feel as connected with the characters as I would've liked. I loved the summer vibes and that it was a quick read. Fast paced and easy to digest.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for accepting my request! Honestly this book was such a nice surprise. This is my first time reading something from this author and it won’t certainly be the last time! I loved the story so much, I found the characters to be entertaining and well written. I recommend!

I’m not always a fan of the friends to lovers trope because it can be portrayed almost as insta-love sometimes but honestly.. this was done so so well.

I saw a lot of myself and my own life struggles and inner-monologue in the FMC so I really resonated with her! There was some miscommunication in this book but not so much that it completely threw off the story for me. About 60-75% felt a little slow until towards the end!

I actually loved these characters so much and am a sucker for dual POV but this is all from the FMC POV.

Great summer romance, light spice, lots of tense moments between the two main characters! It’s very Emily Henry adjacent

Now, it's essential to start this review with the fact that I normally dislike friends-to-lovers stories, so when I began reading a book literally called "Friends to Lovers," I genuinely didn't have high expectations.

Boy, was I proven wrong!! This book follows Joni and Ren, whose families have been friends for decades, so they have been best friends since they were toddlers. As teenagers, Joni and Ren promise to be each other's Plus One for any weddings the other is invited to. They hold to this promise, but at the start of the book, they've been estranged for two and a half years. We discover why through a series of flashbacks to their time at the various weddings they attended together.

They are forced into proximity of one another again during Joni's sister Stevie's wedding, where their closest friends and family, and the pressures of the situation, cause secrets to come to light.

As many others have said in their reviews, this was incredibly reminiscent of Emily Henry's writing, which I, of course, LOVE! Something about this style of prose and storytelling just really elevates a book for me!

I so appreciated a friends-to-lovers story that intentionally showed how deep the friendship was that it turned into love, rather than just creating surface-level characters who are pushed together just because. The ensemble of side characters was so integral to the story as well, and they were fully developed, realized characters, not just plot devices.

And ugh, the love confessions <3 This was just really well-written and cinematic and everything I want in a romance novel!!!

Overall I enjoyed Friends to Lovers. It was a slow start for me and I kept getting confused on all the different moments in time. But about three quarters of the way through the book it became the best book ever. It just took forever to get there! I also loved that it was set in Portland and the Oregon coast because that’s where I’m from. Anyway, read this book and keep in mind that it gets better and better near the end.