Such an adorable romance read! This would make for a perfect beach read since it’s easy to read and super fun!

Thank you to NetGalley and Canary Street Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

SYNOPSIS: Best friends Joni and Ren have been inseparable since childhood. Their families even share a summer house… So when Joni moves to NYC from Portland, they make a pact to be each other’s plus ones every year for wedding season, no matter what else is happening in their lives.

REVIEW: This book was everything I had hoped it would be!! I purposefully drew out the process of reading it because I truly did not want it to end! Think People We Meet on Vacation remixed with Happy Place … so EmHen fans will adore this (literal) best friends to lovers, second chance romance, forced proximity, it’s always been you, rom-com.

The dual timeline gives the reader a glimpse into the ebb and flow of Joni and Ren’s friendship and the little moments together that really just tug at your heartstrings. I enjoyed all parts of this book, but I have to say my favorite parts were Joni and Ren coming back together during Stevie and Leo’s wedding weekend… the stolen moments that are relatable and make you both laugh and cry.

I can’t wait to see what Sally Blakely has in store next! What an incredible and well-written debut!! 5/5!!!!!!

Instagram (POSTED 4/26/25):
4/5 ⭐️
2/5 🌶️

Friends to Lovers by Sally Blakely explores the (un)friendship of Ren and Joni as they navigate hiding their secret while preparing for Stevie’s wedding. Anything and everything can happen in a week.
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This book started off slow but picked up in the middle and took off at the end. I would compare the writing style to Emily Henry, a little dense and takes some getting used to. Overall, this book was a cute read filled with that palpable tension. If you are looking for a summer read with a he fell first trope, this is for you!
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Thank you NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Sally Blakley for the eARC.
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#arcread #bookreview #netgalley #friendstolovers #salleyblakely


GOODREADS/FABLE/STORYGRAPH (POSTED 4/26/25):

4.0/5 ⭐️
2.0/5 🌶️

This book explores the (un)friendship of Ren and Joni as they navigate hiding their secret while preparing for Stevie’s wedding. Anything and everything can happen in a week.

It was a slow start where you had to sit down and really focus on it. The writing was on the dense side but after you got used to it, it was smooth sailing (think along the lines of Emily Henry’s writing style). Once you got used to it and read further, the pace started picking up. Sally Blakely flashes back between the past and present to paint a picture of why Joni and Ren are in the current place within their relationship/friendship.

If you’re looking for a summer read where he fell first and you can tell, this is it!

Thank you NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Sally Blakley for the eARC. All opinions are my honest review/take on the book.

Sally Blakey’s Friends to Lovers is a warm, emotionally resonant romance that captures the quiet, powerful evolution of a relationship built on trust, laughter, and years of shared history. With a soft, slow-burn pace and beautifully drawn characters, Blakey takes a familiar trope and makes it feel deeply personal and refreshingly sincere.

The chemistry between the leads is undeniable, but what truly stands out is the emotional intimacy—those small, everyday moments that gradually reveal something deeper beneath the surface. Blakey writes with a keen understanding of how love often grows in the spaces between words, in glances that linger, and in the comfort of simply being known.

The dialogue is authentic, the pacing tender but never dull, and the payoff is every bit as satisfying as you’d hope. Friends to Lovers is a heartfelt reminder that sometimes the love we’ve been searching for has been beside us all along.

Friends and Lovers is a nostalgic, slow-burn romance that captures the ache of lost friendship and the hope of second chances. Joni and Ren’s journey from childhood besties to something more is both tender and romantic, set against the backdrop of dreamy summer weddings. A charming debut with heart, humor, and just the right amount of angst. Perfect for fans of friends-to-lovers stories.

A great summer romance featuring two of my favorite tropes friends to lovers and second chance! I absolutely was hooked on this book and finished reading it in one sitting. The dual timeline was great and I was captivated to find out what had caused these former best friends not to speak one another for two and half years!

As Joni and Ren are forced to see each other again at Joni's sister's wedding surrounded by both of their families, they put on a fake display that they are still friends. This book reminded of Happy Place by Emily Henry and The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce. The chaos of Joni's sister's wedding and meddling family members added to the tension in the book. Both Joni and Ren were great characters! The book was a light read but still had lots of substance.

Thank you Sally Blakely, Canary Street Press and Netgalley for this digital arc. All opinions expressed are my own.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
friends to lovers by sally blakely (ARC)

thank you @netgalley for the ARC! this book is the perfect beach read! it was like a cross between the summer of broken rules and happy place (two of my fav romances ever). the characters were so cute and i loved their story. i finished this in just over 24 hours and i could not put it down! the playlist at the end is also SOOOO GOOD! pleaseeeee add this to your summer tbr! ☀️🩵

This was such a cute book! Sometimes I forget how much I really enjoy contemporary romance and this book really hit the nail on the head for me - it had tension, it had banter, it had the build up - it really just had it all for me.

The jumping timeline had me going back a couple of times to see which timeline we were currently in, but otherwise I really enjoyed this!

Thank you to NetGalley & Harlequin/Canary Street Press for the eARC - I can't wait to have a physical copy to add to my shelves.

I enjoyed Friends to Lovers. I think in the beginning that it was obvious that something romantic happened between them years ago, but didn’t know exactly what happened. Was it just a kiss or something more. It did drag on in some parts, but overall I liked this book.

Thank you for the opportunity for an early copy of this book! It was a very refreshing summer read. We always love a man who falls first ❤️

Once I started, I couldn’t stop.

This is where young love hurts… when you’re fearful, hesitant of losing what you have that you get in your own way and settle for what you think is the right thing to do instead of risking pain and loss — only to face it all anyway. Because when you deprive yourself of that love, you’re still losing. But being brave and taking the leap could mean you have everything to gain.

Sally Blakely struck that chord perfectly. Friends to Lovers is exactly why I struggle with the combination of friends to lovers and second chance tropes. It just feels like someone has ripped my heart out and keeps squeezing it until it’s about to burst. I could actually feel the hollow ache in my chest reading the flashbacks, and it made reading the present-day chapter that much harder.

The tension between Joni and Ren from the flashbacks and present day was subtle yet absolutely painful. With each wedding that passes in the past, we’re given a clearer picture of the impact time and distance has had on their relationship— and you can already guess how they ended up in their current situation. AND ALL I WANT TO DO IS DIVE INTO THIS BOOK AND LOCK THEM IN A ROOM AND TELL THEM TO CONFESS IT ALL.

It’s painful, yet heartwarming. And the promise of an HEA got me through this book because I was so desperate for Joni and Ran to finally get the ending they deserve.

I love how interwoven the families are. How in-sync and perceptive the siblings and parents are, how Ren and Joni can fall back into themselves despite their years apart. I have this dream of owning a home where my best friends and our families gather. A home that’s home to everyone we love. And I love so much how this cozy Nancy-Meyer cottage along the Oregon coast is the setting for this story. It’s picturesque but obviously also so loved and well-worn, how could anyone resist falling in love?!

Thank you #NETGALLEY for the opportunity to read this lovely story.

FRIENDS TO LOVERS is the first book I've read by this author and I really enjoyed her writing style.

Told in present time with flashbacks, we get a front row seat to Ren and Joni's relationship. Obviously, as the name implies, this a friends to lovers story yet it is so much more. It's about growing up and into who we are meant to be.

I am hoping this is a series that I'm late to as I'd love to read about the other couples in the story.

4 solid stars!!!

This book had everything I love in a romance. The story had depth, but it never felt heavy. The flashbacks were done just right—not too much, just enough to give you the backstory without dragging things out. Ren might seriously be one of the best book male characters I’ve read in a long time. The writing was super easy to read, and I flew through it.

(I loved this so much I preordered a physical copy before I was even finished reading.)

Loved this book! Such a cute easy read - reminded me of an Emily Henry type book. Hard to put down once you pick up, enjoy !

Thank you NetGalley, Sally Blakely, and Canary Street Press for the arc copy I received so that I can give my honest review.
4.5 stars Honestly this book is a perfect summer/beach read. Curling up with this book in a hammock by the beach on a warm day is a perfect afternoon. Though definitely predictable, I don't mind because that's fairly typical with most romance novels. The chemistry between Joni and Ren was great. I don't normally like flash backs but these were well done. I really loved this book and practically couldn't put it down. I did relate to Joni especially her struggles with anxiety but that made it more irritating when she just wouldn't communicate with her friends and family. But I suppose that's the flaw that makes the story interesting. Overall I would definitely read another Sally Blakely book.

A super cute, flashback style, friends to lovers storyline perfect for fans of Emily Henry! Blakely does a great job of weaving together our 'then' and 'now' and highlighting the relationships between our main characters and the wild dynamic of their two respective families. Bonus points for the book being set in the PNW (Portland, Oregon) !!

I have to say, I think I am realizing that maybe friends to lovers is not entirely for me - it seems very obvious that they are in love with each other even in the 'then' timeline and I was screaming at them to just act on it. Also, something I have not seen mentioned in other reviews that happened just before 50% and I was never really able to get over: In the 'then' timeline when the two characters are dating other people but still attending weddings as each other's plus-one, there is some lack of respect of the other's relationship / boundary crossing that really rubbed me the wrong way.

Overall, this is a sweet story to read on a beach vacation or girls trip.

Thanks to Sally Blakely, Harlequin Publishing, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Are you looking for the perfect summer beach read? Fans of Emily Henry's books will be excited to discover Sally Blakely's debut novel, Friends to Lovers. Joni and Ren have been best friends since childhood. When Joni moves across the country, they make a pact to be each other's plus-one for every wedding they are invited to. However, as their friendship evolves and tensions rise, a summer reunion for Joni's sister's wedding forces them to confront what went wrong between them. This story is a classic case of the right person at the wrong time until they realize they have always meant to be together.

I love the combination of friends-to-lovers and second-chance romance—it might be my favorite trope pairing. From the moment I started reading, I couldn't put the book down. The angst, nostalgia, and undeniable chemistry raise the stakes for these childhood friends.

I will definitely keep an eye out for Sally Blakely's future books! Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing | Canary Street Press for the advanced digital copy; all thoughts are my own.

This book is a sweet, light read with just the right amount of romantic tension. A comforting pick for fans of the trope. Really enjoyable!

I really wanted to love this book, but I just couldn’t get into it. It’s definitely a slow burn—which isn’t usually my favorite, but I can appreciate when it’s done well. Unfortunately, Friends to Lovers struggled with unbalanced pacing that constantly dangled the promise of emotional clarity or plot progression, only to fall short. I was hoping to get swept up in the friends-to-lovers dynamic, but this one just didn’t land for me.

4.5 Stars!!!!
MAAAAANNNN, slow burn to the MAX. But I will say that it had me kicking my feet and giggling so often. The book was long and it definitely was a cute slow burn, but I felt like I got lost often with how many characters there were. Just be aware you have to remember who is who and who is related to who. There was just one spicy scene that I would say is a little intense for younger readers. The book followed the friends to lovers as the two characters grew up together and spent lots of time together at their shared family cabin. They were the kind of friends that people would probably ask "are you two a couple?" fairly often. I would 100% read this book again and would happily read a sequel with a story line of the other characters as well.