🌱| What if your best friend was always your forever? Heartfelt. Emotional slow burn. Light and easy romance filled with the swoons.

➜Summer Romance
➜Childhood Friends to Lovers
➜Dual Timelines

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for this ALC.

Patti Murin did a great job with this audiobook.

I really enjoyed this story and they were able to bring it to life and keep me invested.
Joni and Ren have been family friends all of their lives. They are each other's default wedding plus ones and are 'just friends.'
I liked how the weddings served as a flashback point to find out what 'went wrong' in their friendship and you got a good glimpse into their dynamic.
I liked the slow burn aspect to it- you don’t really know what happened until you know.
I did feel like both families needed some boundaries and better communication styles- they were a little too in everyone's business and it stressed me out.
Overall, this was a great story and Patti kept me engaged and giggling throughout the whole story.

This book was just, the actual sweetest. I loved the storyline and trope of longtime friends to lovers, constantly visiting other friends weddings and feeling like they were each others people but it wasn’t the right timing. It was always a missed connection and had me on edge rooting for the FMC & MMC to get together. It was a very sweet listen & I loved every moment

Did not finish - listed to 48% of the story. This story seemed to focus on Joni's job, and spiraling friendship with her best friend, Ren. There was no love story for the first half of this book. It was not an engaging listen.

Joni and Ren, how you made me YEARN!!!!!

The dual narrative is always fun and keeps me on my toes. The two timelines, current and past, piece together this story so beautifully. The contrast of who they used to be and who they are now… so well done. All of the small details that make a person, their quirks and habits, crafted so perfectly to make this pair.

I have never experienced a fictional man that was so attractive and irresistible so effortlessly! I mean… a simple hand placement and I am SWOONING! I am so grateful for the ending of this story!

Audio: there were som repeated sentences and random pauses in production, but the narrator did an excellent job!

This is a new favorite!!!

I enjoyed the narrators of this book but otherwise I was a little bored and did decide to DNF at around 40%.

Friends to Lovers by Sally Blakely ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I was in desperate need of a book that was easy, light, fun, and enjoyable… and this was just that! Friends to lovers is always my trope of choice, so I was excited to root for them from the start. It was a little bit predictable and not overly deep, but I enjoyed it and binged it in a little over a day!

Ren and Joni have been best friends since childhood. When Joni gets a job in another state, they promise to reconnect at weddings and remain each others plus one. It worked… until it didn’t. Now Ren and Joni have to navigate moving forward after lines have been crossed.

Pub. Date: 7/22/25.

Perfect if you like:
•Friends to lovers.
•Second chance romance.
•Back and forth timeline.
•Only one bed.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
Mood: 🍩🌮

🚪: chapter 22.
⚠️: explicit language.

Childhood friends x second chance romance is such a good combination, and Sally Blakely did it so well in this debut novel!

I really enjoyed switching between past and present and seeing the little ways how they fell for each other.

The side characters added to the story and I really enjoyed the idea of the book taking place over the course of multiple weddings.

I can’t wait to read what Sally writes next!

Friends to Lovers is not normally my favorite trope, but this was written so well and I loved it! I like how different the dual timeline was, following different years and different weddings. This story also had a little bit of miscommunication towards the end and I absolutely hate that trope and it just made me want to shake Joni (FMC) and tell her to just be HONEST. But I know that's hard when you think you're doing the right thing for someone else. Overall I had a really fun time with this story and the narrator for the audio was so talented! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital and audio ARC!!

A L C • R E V I E W 🎧
Friends to Lovers by @Sally Blakely
Narrated by Patti Murin
Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Publication date 07/22/2025

This audiobook is the perfect book to read/listen to during the summertime. @pattimurin did an amazing job narrating this audiobook. 💖

Joni and Ren are childhood best friends who make a pact to always be each others plus one to the weddings they get invited to.

The tension, the banter everything they went through I felt in while listening to the audiobook. I was literally laughing out loud. I can honestly say I will definitely be reading book by @sally.blakely

Tropes:
• friends to lovers
• second chance romance
• forced proximity

Thank you @netgalley and @harlequinbooks for sending me an ALC for my honest review.

#bookreview #bookcommunity #bookrecommendations #audiobooks🎧

Friends to Lovers, the debut by Sally Blakely started a bot slow for me, but quickly caught my heart with main characters Joni and Red. They were childhood best friends, and somewhere in their teens or early 20s they made a pact to become each others plus one during wedding season's, platonically of course. As with many childhood friendships, things happen, and the friendship fades, but Joni and Red decide to reunite for one last wedding, even though it has been years since they have spoken.

The story turned out to be much more than the Rom-Com I was expecting it to be. This story had so much emotional depth. Joni's feelings for Ren will feel familiar to many readers, loving someone more than you realize. Their connection to each other remains strong even after not speaking for many years.

The setting is beautifully detailed through Blakely's writing. She places you right in the middle of a Pacific Northwest summer. Its dreamy.

Friends to Lovers is the perfect summer romance, it is sweet and heartfelt, but not to sugary. There is just the proper amount of tension between Joni and Ren, just enough to having you wondering what they will be doing next. There is a bit of heart tugging or heart break, from Joni realizing she actually loves Ren. There is also so much more in this book, but I don't want to give any more than I already have.

Beautifully written by the author and narrated by Patti Murin, Friends to Lovers was exactly the type of book I was looking for.

Thank you to Harlequin Audio for the advance listen.

Friends to Lovers has a Pub Date of July 22, 2025

Super cute. Like I’m watching a rom-com the whole time. Reminds me how much I enjoy reading friends to lovers trope. I love the narrator, Patti Murin, as well. I think it’s my fourth book read by her. Definitely a warm and fuzzy book that would make you feel good after a long day. I’ll definitely check out more Sally Blakely in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for the audio ARC.

3.5 stars for me! Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Sally Blakely’s Friends to Lovers is a heartfelt, charming summer romance that hits all the right notes for a vacation read. Told through alternating timelines, the story balances nostalgia and emotional growth, making the slow burn between the main characters both believable and satisfying.

The characters are easy to root for—relatable, flawed, and genuinely likeable. I especially appreciated how the story portrayed Joni’s struggles with anxiety. While she did come off as a bit whiny at times, her inner spirals felt real and familiar. As someone who also deals with anxiety, I found that aspect of her character relatable and sensitively written.

I listened to the audiobook version and thought the narrator did a fantastic job bringing the story to life. The dialogue, chemistry, and emotional beats were all well-paced, and the voice work helped make the transitions between past and present feel seamless.

This would absolutely make a cute romantic movie—think beachy setting, emotional depth, and just the right amount of tension. If you're looking for a cozy, feel-good romance to escape with this summer, Friends to Lovers should be on your list.

This was such a good story! Just like it says, this is a classic childhood friends to lovers story. A second chance romance. Full of angst and flirting…so much obsessing!! I loved it.

We get the full scope of Ren and Joni’s relationship through flashbacks from present day. They bring us in to see how it began and how it all fell apart, and what happens when it all comes back 2.5 years later. It was honestly heartbreaking seeing it all fall apart in the past. But I really love how much depth that brought into the story telling.

Ren and Joni grew up best friends. Tied together with their families being best friends and owning a shared beach house. Their families are such a big part of their story. Overbearing mothers, meddling sisters and brothers and friends all mixed up together. All of them watching and waiting to see what’ll happen with these two.

This story also explore self worth tied with careers. How to handle expectations and having a life. Enjoying that life outside of work, knowing work isn’t the end all be all. It doesn’t have to consume everything.

This is the perfect beach read for the summer. Captured that vacation feeling so nostalgically. And it was so swoony!!! Would highly recommend.

🌊 ARC Review
Friends to Lovers by Sally Blakely
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🗓️ July 22, 2025
Format: 🎧

This book felt like a summer sunset—warm, wistful, and full of hope. Friends to Lovers is a breathtaking debut filled with aching glances, unspoken feelings, and all the magic that comes with falling for someone who’s always been there.

Joni and Ren have been inseparable since they were toddlers, but years of distance turned them into comfortable plus-ones—always together, but never together. Until one final wedding brings them face to face with everything they’ve been avoiding.

Told in a flawless dual-timeline format, we’re swept between sun-drenched childhood memories and the emotional present, where buried feelings finally rise to the top.

Sally Blakely’s writing is gorgeous and immersive. You feel the salt in the air, the ache of longing, the pulse of nostalgia. Joni’s emotional growth and Ren’s unwavering devotion had me absolutely hooked.

This one belongs on your summer TBR ASAP.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for the advanced listeners copy. This heartfelt romance stole my heart.

✨ Tropes:
• Best friends to lovers (of course)
• He falls first 💘
• Second chance romance
• Forced proximity
• Dual timelines
• Big emotional climax at a group event

I love Patti Murin narrated books! I know when she’s reading it’s gonna be a great one and this one met that mark! The production is great in this audiobook. The store is a cute second change, obviously friends to lovers story. Fun read!
Side note - Ren is right: Mr. Brightside IS America’s song.

In this story, Joni and Liam were brought together as toddlers when their families became best friends and bought a vacation cabin together to share. The two grew up together and became best friends. Throughout the story, you see how Joni and Liam’s love story evolved from friendship to being more than friends over their lifetime.

Friends to Lovers had me engaged from the start. The characters were likable and I enjoyed how the story went back and forth between past events and back to the present to let the story unfold.

The only part I did not enjoy was the reason given for their breakup about 80% into the story. It seemed like the FMC made a decision for the two of them which made them miserable without each other for several years. Their suffering could have been avoided with simple communication. However, I am glad the story ended happily!

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the friends-to-lovers trope in their romance novels!

3.75 Stars

Childhood friends to lovers, long distance friendship, enter conflict, estrangement and then forced proximity... it's a set up for some fireworks, no? Joni and Ren made a pact when Joni decided to move across the country for her job that they would be each other's plus one for weddings going forward. A tradition they kept until one fateful summer when they crossed a line that broke their friendship. Fast forward two and a half years and they are forced to reconnect for Joni's sister's wedding and act as if there is nothing wrong -- they've been pretending for the entire separation anyway, what's another week? The old sparks fly and it's not so easy to forget.

I've read other reviewers perspectives and this book has been compared a lot to Emily Henry's People We Meet on Vacation... but I've never read it, so... who knows? What I will say is that this story does jump around in time a bit and following the timeline was a bit confusing when listening to the audio. I just ran with it and hoped I was keeping all of the weddings straight, but even if I was off, I got the point and knew what was going on in their relationship based on how the author described the scenes. It was a pretty easy listen, it took me a few hours and I read it in one sitting, I wasn't bored, but I also wasn't overly impressed. It was good, something I would borrow from the library.

My thanks to Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for the ALC, all opinions are my own.

🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🌶️🌶️🌶️/5
📆 Pub Date Jul 22nd 2025
♥️ Summer love
♥️ Childhood friends to lovers
♥️ Slow Burn
I was so obsessed with this book that l immediately requested the Audible version when I saw it available on Netgalley! Patti Murin, one of my favorite narrators, truly brought the story to life. Having already read the book, experiencing the characters' emotions through her narration was incredibly special. I highly recommend either version— it's that good

(3.5⭐️ rounded up to 4⭐️) I’ll start by saying that friends-to-lovers, is my favorite trope. So it was a no-brainer that I’d want to pick this book up. That said, big thank-you’s to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for approving me for an ALC.

So many reviewers compare this read to People We Meet on Vacation, and I can definitely see the similarities. I didn’t mind though, as I loved that book as well. In similar fashion, there’s also a miscommunication trope, and that is one trope that I really am not fond of. I also don’t particularly like when one MC makes decisions for the other based off assumptions, and unfortunately, that was also an issue with this read. However, I really enjoyed when they finally just sat down and talked about the issues and their feelings, even if they were kind of forced to do so. If you’re “best friends” like they always said they were, they should always have the hard conversations. We got there in this read…it just took a while to get there.

I will say that, given the fact that this story was told in dual timeline, the audio would’ve been better served by dual narration. Having just the one female narrator with little to no inflection as to which character’s perspective was currently being presented, made several parts of the story feel very jumbled up. I think if I were to ever revisit this book, I’d have to do so as an immersive read, or as strictly a physical read.

In the end, I enjoyed the story and I’d recommend it particularly to people that are fans of this trope.