Friends to lovers is one of my favorite tropes, but I also think that it is one of the most difficult to pull off. It's hard to establish the connection and then turn that chemistry into a romantic one. This author does a pretty good job of doing that.

I liked both characters and thought they had pretty good chemistry. Loved the game that they all played during the bachelorette/bachelor party. Everything really started to ramp up!

I love this narrator and have listened to quite a few books read by her. I did listen to the audiobook at 2x the speed but just my preference.

My only drawback was that I felt the past story line took too long to figure out what ended the relationship the first time and it played out as the drama of the present day timeline.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio of the ALC!

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of Friends to Lovers audiobook. I absolutely loved this book. It has all the angst a person could ever want. I really enjoyed the characters. Ugh...Ren. 💗 Everyone needs a Ren. The writing kept me engaged throughout the entire book. Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this audio ARC.

This is a debut book similar to People We Meet On Vacation. I definitely feel like this could have had a different title. We don’t need to advertise the tropes this plainly.

Joni and Ren are reconnected at their shared family summer home for her sister’s wedding after not talking to each other for almost 3 years. Something happened all those years ago that made them go their separate ways.

This book is told through dual narration. The present day is when Joni’s sister is getting married. Joni and Ren are trying to tip toe their way through being around one again, having to speak to one another, while not letting their families in on the secret. In the past, we see bits and pieces of their shared lives - them going to wedding as one another’s plus one, being best friends, and experience life together.

This was done well. I enjoyed reading about their lives and begging them just to get over themselves and kiss already!

The narration was done so well. I loved listening to Patti Murin. She did such a good job conveying all the different characters. The production of it, however, kind of bothered me as there were strange pauses between sentences. This might just been my file though? Honestly though, it didn’t care away from the enjoyment of listening to the audiobook.

Tropes:
- Dual timeline
- Second chance
- Friends to lovers (as per the title…)
- Fake friendship
- Weddings
- It’s always been you

This was a fun summer read. A sweet romance book with a touch of sizzle sprinkled in. It pulled at my heartstrings in a what could’ve been way.. i also really enjoyed the narration.

Joni and Ren have been best friends since childhood. They have always been each other`s plus ones for events. After a line is crossed the friendship is ruined... But throwing them together for Joni`s sister`s wedding where they have to fake being friends might just change things. I enjoyed this romance book a lot. I love friends to lovers as a trope and felt their friendship was real and they cared about each other a lot. I liked the flashbacks a lot and the narrator did a great job.

(4.25 stars) IM A SUCKER FOR A SECOND CHANCE CHILDHOOD BEST FRIENDS TO LOVERS SUMMER ROMANCE OKAYYYY. ren is a certified yearner

I'd like to first thank Harlequin Trade Publishing & Harlequin Audio for the eARC & ALC of this book to read/listen to. Patti Murin did a fantastic job with the narration on this one!

I'm going to give this one a 3.75/4 and round up to a full 4 stars.

I really enjoyed this one, and I think that friends to lovers is a trope that I've found myself liking more and more lately. The idea that someone can be so important to another for most of their lives, and eventually lead into love is such a beautiful thing to me.

In this book, we get Joni (our FMC) and Ren (our MMC), who start off the story in an estranged ex-best friendship situation, and we get flashbacks of them through previous years to see exactly what happened along the way to get us to said point.

I don't love when a book has a conflict at the last 90% or so in the book, which is why I rated this one the way that I did, because the ending always feels rushed to me (when it's a romance, because we are *always* team HEA).

If you enjoy these tropes, you might want to give this one a read:
- Friends to lovers (obviously)
- Non-linear timeline
- Single POV
- Childhood best friends
- Wedding pacts (always their plus-one)

Closing this out by also thanking HTP Hive for allowing me the ongoing opportunity to enjoy these titles <3

This was such a fantastic debut and I can’t wait to read whatever Sally writes next!

Former best friends reconnect for a weekend after a falling out several years ago. There’s a dual timeline that goes back in chronological order leading up to us finding out what caused their fallout. There is so much love and yearning in this book, and it is a slow burn in the best way. I often don’t love the friends to lovers trope because there is too much inner dialogue, but I didn’t feel this way with this book at all. My only small complaint was once they are finally together, we get to see so little of them at the end.

This was an epic friends to lovers, second chance romance told through flashbacks that has two best friends and vowed plus ones for weddings reunited for yet another wedding involving both their families. I loved the anxiety rep in this book, the narration by Patti Murin and the perfect People we meet on vacation vibes (one of my fav Emily Henry books)!! Fans of this trope won't want to miss this stellar debut. My only complaint was that miscommunication/deception was involved in the initial breakup/falling out and I am never a fan of that. Overall a solid debut and I look forward to seeing what Sally Blakely writes next! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

4⭐️ Ren and Joni 🫶🏻

Childhood best friends turned lovers and I loved it! Ren had some banger lines, like the way this man talks omg!!! Joni struggles with anxiety and I was slightly anxious about what was happening in certain parts of the book, because of what was happening but overall loved the character growth!

I also enjoyed the family and friend dynamic, it was so fun. It made me want to buy a beach house with my best friends. Let’s never forget “Fratty Chicken!”

The audiobook was good, there were a few hiccups where it would pause or skip but it could have been the app. The narrator was great!

If I had to recommend a book that just ~feels~ like summer, sitting on a beach with your toes buried in the sand and listening to the waves come in it and out, it would 100% be Friends to Lovers.

I was looking for a book that feels like summer, and gave me the same lovey, giddy feelings that Happy Place by Emily Henry did and this one fit the bill.

I absolutely loved seeing our two MC’s grow up with the flashbacks to what happened and also seeing who they are in present day. The family dynamic in the book was phenomenal, and make me wish I wasn’t an only child so I could have a sister like Stevie.

I was laughing out loud at point, cussing out characters at other moments, and genuinely just couldn’t put this book down. For a debut novel it was absolutely amazing, and I am adding Sally Blakey to my list of authors I need to read again!


Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and author for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own!

I just finished this book and I can’t stop thinking about it. The story is a true best friends to lovers story. I absolutely loved the audio version and breezed through this book in two days. Highly recommend this author and book!

AHHHHHHH!!! yessss! my favorite part from friends to lovers is when the friends forget they are friends and become loversssssss!!!!
I have to admit I got a bit lost in between all the weddings and the drama but I LOOOOVED IT!!

it was very fun and I do recommend it, very cute, not spicy, just barely but not really.

Single POVs are not my cup of tea but this narrator did an outstanding job and I barely missed anyone else, her voice really suited Joni and was very engaging. I don't know how she did it but she really made me distinguish between each character when there was a conversation between several people, and there were several of those, she really did an AMAZING job!!

Thank you so much to Netgalley & Harlequin Audio for this ALC!

What a cute summer romance to read! This moving and emotionally rich summer romance was a great edition to the start of my summer. This is a slow-burning love story with a back-and-forth timeline that kept me engaged. this debut was just so well done, i could feel the angst and tension off the pages and kept wanting to listen to the story. There was a dash of miscommunication trope, but it was done in a way that I enjoyed it. Very well done- can't wait to read more from this author!

This audiobook was narrated by Patti Murin and she did and amazing job. She brought the emotion as well as the romance. She did such a good job keeping me engaged the entire time. WELL DONE!

Thank you NetGalley for this ALC in exchange for my honest review.

I’d rate this 3.5. Over all it was a cute, friends to lovers, slow burn romance featuring childhood best friends. I really enjoyed the setting at their families vacation house and everything involving getting families together for a wedding. My dislikes are that this was a slow slow slow burn that left me losing interest in the middle, especially because it took SO long to reveal why they quit talking for 2 years. When it was revealed it was a little underwhelming. I also never really connected with Joni, the female main character.

The audio was good however it was difficult to know when the story was switching from present day to the
Past.

I would first like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this audiobook copy to read and review.

I just want to say that this book was super cute, even cuter than the description made it sound. I was certain that the book would be interesting, but it ended up being even cuter than I was expecting. For me, when it comes to romance novels, sometimes it can feel like they have too much drama and not enough actual details of what is happening with others and also emotionally in the main characters. However, I feel like the author had great use of proper angst and past and present details to make the book actual work out dramatically for the better.

I think part of this was the fact that there were cute romance scenes (some from the past) mixed into the normal parts of the plot making it all work together to feel less like drama for no reason and more like actual story with real rounded characters. Part of it, I think was the narrator. I feel like the narrator not only did good at pacing as the story was read but also of doing the voices of the characters. To the point that I sometimes forgot it was one person reading the story. I was just all in and totally invested. The spicy rating was also a level 2.

Overall, I would rate this story a 5 out of 5 star rating. I actually enjoyed it and thought it was super cute and wouldn’t mind reading another one by this author.

I will start this review with the fact that the friends to lovers trope is my favorite trope. So when i saw this book I knew i needed to read it. Sally Blakely, if this is your debut novel, you knocked it out of the park!!!! Joni and Ren are two close friends that grew up together. They have an amazing arrangement that they are each other's wedding date. So they would get together once or twice a year and have a blast. What they did not realize was they were both having romantic feelings for each other. When a misunderstanding puts a few years of distance between them, how will things go when Joni and Ren have to come back together for Joni's sister's wedding? Can they find their way back to each other or will their friendship remain strong enough to be enough?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5

I’m such a sucker for a friends-to-lovers story, and this one totally delivered. The slow-burn romance had me hooked, and I found myself rooting for the characters from the very beginning. Their connection felt genuine—sweet, messy, and relatable in all the best ways. I especially loved how the emotional layers were handled without feeling overdone. It struck the perfect balance of heart and humor, and celebrates the magic of knowing someone deeply and falling for them anyway.

The narrator brought the characters to life beautifully, adding warmth and personality to each voice and making the emotional moments hit even harder. It really enhanced the whole experience! She made it very easy to distinguish between the characters without losing parts of the story.

Huge thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing | Canary Street Press and NetGalley for the ARC—I had so much fun reading this one!

What a compelling story!

I sometimes find dual timelines to be frustrating as it can delay the progression of the story in some senses when swapping from one timeline to another. However in this story that was far from the truth, I was eager to see what would unfold next and what piece of their woven historical tapestry would unravel next. It was intriguing to see how Ren and Joanie’s childhood friendship evolved as they matured through school, college life into adulthood as the two take jobs on opposite coasts of the country. The only time they spend time together in person for the next several years is at family weddings as each other’s plus ones. Each flashback to a different wedding links another part of why each of them are the way they are and how it has led to the dynamic their relationship has in the present as they meet once again, this time for her sister’s wedding.

I enjoyed this forced proximity, childhood friends to lovers and second chance romance story! The audiobook narrator did a great job. Many thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

this was honestly not enjoyable for me whatsoever :( it reminded me heavily of people we meet on vacation by emily henry and i think in that case what worked well was not accomplished here. the mc’s don’t get together or have a real conversation about their two year break until the 70% mark, so how was i supposed to root for them until then? AND the reason felt so villainous i was genuinely upset with joni and her actions after!! i wanted to love this so bad as i read it in the summertime but i do think if you’re a fan of emily, maybe you’d have better luck with this book!

the narrator contrarily was excellent and i enjoyed listening to her narration!!