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A Perfect Summer Romance.

Friends to Lovers is a beautifully crafted romance that held my attention from start to finish. The story follows Joni and Ren, childhood best friends who have been each other’s wedding plus-ones for years—until a pivotal moment strains their friendship. I especially enjoyed the clever use of alternating timelines between past weddings and the present, which added real depth to their evolving relationship.

Sally Blakely captures the tender, complicated journey from friendship to love with characters who feel authentic and relatable. If you’re looking for a heartfelt slow-burn romance with emotional depth, this is a great summer read.

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing | Canary Street Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. All reviews are my own.

Do you need a fun poolside read or beach read that is fun and romantic, but light-hearted enough that you don't have to use 100% brain power while relaxing and enjoying the sun? Well, this is it. A fun romcom worthy of a summer read. I enjoyed the character dynamics that the author creates. It was engaging and kept me reading. I definitely recommend you check this one out soon!

DNF, unfortunately, I'm not being drawn into the story like I wanted to be. Everything about this, screams that I would like it! After starting the book, I keep gravitating towards other books right now and will not be finishing. I will recommend to others who I think will like the book.

Friends to Lovers gave me exactly what I wanted from the trope—slow-burn tension, sweet moments, and that heart-flipping realization when friendship turns into something so much more. 💕 I loved seeing the characters’ history and connection make their romance feel so natural yet so exciting. It’s the kind of read that leaves you smiling and rooting for them the whole way through.

This reminded me of a mix of Happy Place and People We Meet on Vacation (but with a deal to be wedding plus-ones instead of vacations) - This was such a quick, cute summer read! I look forward to reading more of Sally Blakely's work!

I loved this book so so much. The nostalgia, the feelings between the characters that were palpable, the relationship between the two families. everything about this book was a 10/10. This book perfect for lovers of Carley Fortune, dual time lines and childhood friends to lovers!

Friends to Lovers was a sweet, addictive romance. Joni and Ren have been best friends since childhood and completely inseparable until Joni moves to the East Coast for a dream job. Now with an entire country between them, they decide to be each other's plus ones for all of their upcoming weddings. Until one year, something happens and they stop talking for 2 and 1/2 years. However, with her sister's upcoming wedding, she has to go home and face Ren for the first time since their fallout. They find themselves falling back into their friendship and more over the days leading up to the wedding. Can they get past the problems that separated them in the first place.

Joni and Ren's story was one of the few books that does friends to lovers right! The story flips between current day and the previous years of weddings leading up to their fallout. The dual timelines show their past connection and their relationship while also showing the current tension. Joni and Ren's yearning and pining is beautiful and so addictive. I found myself staying up late more than one night to read. I enjoyed the narrative style and didn't find it confusing even though I am not always a fan of alternating timelines. The characters grew up together as their moms were best friends. There is an element of this large family unit and Joni is afraid that any dysfunction between her and Ren could cause some division. Overall, I loved this story and couldn't put it down.

I received this book from Harlegquin Trade Publishing and Net Galley as an ARC, and I was THRILLED!! This book was a must read for me, so I was super excited! I really enjoyed this one! It was adorable, tragic, and everything I loved in a romance book.

Didn’t care for this one at all. It’s one of those “JUST TALK TO EACH OTHER” annoying tropes. The pacing also felt off where there was zero romantic tension until the last 10% of the book when all of the sudden it was will they, won’t they. Not for me.

Friends to Lovers by Sally Blakely is a slow-burning love story wrapped in nostalgia, longing, intense chemistry, forced proximity, best friends to lovers, and second chances, set against a dreamy summer backdrop on the Pacific Northwest coast. Told through a dual-timeline, and alternating between the past and present, the novel follows Joni and Ren, childhood best friends.

Joni and Ren have been best friends since they were three. When Joni moves across the country, the two make a pact to be each other’s plus one to every wedding they are invited to. When lines become blurred, their friendship takes a hit, and everything comes crashing down; allowing a silence to grow between them. A summer reunion for her sister’s wedding to finally force them to confront what went wrong.

Alternating between the past and present and beautifully written and descriptions, making me feeel like I was right there at the summer beach house with the characters. It's the perfect summer read. For a debut author, this is a wonderful story, especially for those who love second chances and friends-to-lovers romance.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.
#FriendsToLovers #HarlequinTrade #NetGalley

I was lucky enough to get this ARC from Netgalley. I really enjoyed this book and it hooked me more than books have in a long time. It was so real! Life is messy and full of ups and downs but there is always hope. I really loved this book and the messaging.

What an adorable summer read. I read on a few other reviews that this book was what would happen if “People We Meet on Vacation” and “Happy Place” had a baby, it would be this book. As these are my two favorite Emily Henry books, that was enough for me and I can definitely say it delivered.

If you love friends to lovers, and second chance romance, this is definitely a book for you. This book is sweet, heartfelt, but also filled with the tension we ultimately need to challenge our main characters and move our story along. I honestly can’t believe this is a debut by this author. I loved every single minute.

Are you a fan of a great slow burn? Angst? Holding your breath occasionally while you read? This is a great book for you to pick up.

A very special Thank You to NetGalley, Harlequin/Canary Street Press, and the author for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was so cute and so sweet! I lOVE the trope friends to lovers and omg this was done so good, i ate it up!

This story was so emotional for me! I felt so much for these characters, and my heart literally hurt for them.

Joni and Ren have been best friends forever. Until 2.5 years ago when everything fell apart and they stopped speaking. Now they're together for a week for her sister's wedding. Old feelings and heartbreaks spring to the surface and they have to decide if they are meant to be together...either as friends or more.

Told in dual timelines, we get to witness Joni and Ren for several years before the end of their friendship, and also in present time. Watching them fall in love without realizing it was so beautiful and also so devastating. The yearning and pining and missed opportunities were so heartbreaking. The love and care between these two friends was truly stunning to witness and all I wanted was for them to be together! And then in the present timeline there was still so much grief and hurt, and I honestly didn't know how their story would wrap up. I was very happy with it though, despite the frustrations that I had at various times, especially with the lack of communication.

This book is perfect for anyone who like friends-to-lovers, second chance, he falls first romances. I highly recommend it!

2.5 stars
Oof ok so I kind of hated Joni and Ren. They were both so 'me me me' focused that neither of them bothered to really sit down and talk to eachother. I wanted to love this book so badly. The premise was great and I think some people will abosolutely love it, I just wasn't one of those people. The pacing felt slow and the amount of time it took for them to actually TALK about it all was painful.

At the beginning, I thought awnn this is gonna be a cute read but honestly, I got really bored and the characters just felt like they were missing something + the side characters were kind of annoying.

Man i truly wanted to love this book. The cover and the end pages are everything but sadly it wasn't a summery romance in my opinion. I also didn't love the romance either but it is what it is. overall it was a cute and fast read but not one I really loved.

This book was maximum 2 stars. The writing was fine. Fine enough to not DNF this book.

Now the bad. There was too many characters. To many past timelines (some being totally irrelevant or just too much story). The miscommunication trope is the worst trope to date and the FMC still didn't communicate at the end! Both MCs cared WAY TOO much about what others thought, especially with their parents. With almost being 30 years old, these characters were very immature. The FMC did not have character growth and this relationship, at the end, would 100% fail.

I did not like this story and I will not recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the earc. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book! It had me hooked almost immediately. The characters were likeable and relatable, even the few times that I wanted to shake the book at the MC to wake up to the obvious. I did feel like the whole reason they were estranged felt a bit forced, but not so much that it took away from the book for me.

The pacing was good, and I really enjoyed the writing style. I would definitely pick up another Sally Blakely book for sure.

**Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for sending this book for review. All opinions are my own.**

Im not sure why but something about this was off for me and i didnt really click with the characters or writing. the flashbacks did not feel relevant and were kind of boring to me, i ended up dnfing around 30% because i did not care about what happened at all.