After their last encounter ended in heartbreak, former best friends, Ren and Joni come face to face again after 2.5 years spent apart for a wedding. As Joni reflects back on their time spent as each others plus ones to past weddings, she begins to question if the decision she made to walk away from Ren was the right one after all.

I typically love second chance romances but ones that occur due to miscommunication like this one are just not my favorite. I also am not keen on when the FMC leads the MMC on for what feels like on eternity. It just felt like a case of "she can live without him until he is unavailable and then, all of a sudden she can’t live without him.”

The narrator was easy to listen to and did a great job juggling all the characters. There were times though when there was a long pause within the same sentence that I imagine was more due to editing than the actual narrator.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing and Harlequin Audio for the ARC and ALC.

Ren and Joni are so sweet, both then and now, and it was a joy to watch their relationship evolve over the years (except not so joyful for the past couple fraught years). I really enjoyed the dual timeline of weddings leading up to now, and this current wedding weekend of Joni’s sister.

I love the heartfelt moments, the families of each of our main characters, and the nostalgia and flashbacks interlaced throughout.

☀️Childhood best friends
☀️ Friends to lovers
☀️ Dual timelines
☀️ Forced proximity
☀️ Second chance
☀️ Slow burn
☀️ Some spice

Such an AMAZING debut from Sally Blakely, and I can’t wait to read what she writes next.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you HTP The Hive, HTP Books, and Canary Street Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Audio & Sally Blakely for the chance to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Second chance, forced proximity, families are besties (co-own a summer home together), so. many. weddings. (in the best possible way.) I really enjoyed this book- if you've loved Christina Lauren's Love and Other Words and Carley Fortune's Every Summer After this novel captures the years of love and friendship that those stories do. Their agreement to always being each other's plus ones to weddings is such a cool plot tool to go back to each wedding in the dual timeline to show how the friendship evolved and stayed together.. until it didn't.

Regarding narration- Since I didn't know of this author- I will be honest that my driving force to this book (besides a cute cover and good description) was that it is narrated by Patti Murin. Per absolute usual- she knocked this out of the park!

What a wonderfully written debut. I both listened to this on audio and read the e-book. Theyboth were incredible. I enjoyed the narrator and just getting lost in the book. The emotions were felt from page 1, not just between the FMC and MMC, but their families and friends. The love and support were apparent throughout the book and I truly enjoyed how real the relationships felt. I loved the chemistry, the banter and the growth. This story clearly portrayed the love felt between friends, a love that slowly becomes more. The fear of ruining a relationship, the impact felt from family and close friends. This book alternates between past and present and it was done flawlessly. I really enjoyed getting lost in the emotions of this book - just really well done and wonderful.

Thank you netgalley for my advanced reader copies.

This book is everything I want in a summer read: heartfelt, fun, and just the right amount of messy.

I loved this story! Joni and Ren’s relationship had me totally hooked from the first chapter. Their plus-one wedding pact is such a sweet and clever setup, and watching their friendship teeter into something more, while they try desperately (and hilariously) to keep it together, made for the perfect mix of tension, laughs, and emotion. I was cheering for these two the whole way through.

This was my first Sally Blakely book, but definitely not my last. I’ll be keeping an eye out for whatever she writes next.

A fabulous beach read. Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley for this advance audio copy. As this is an audiobook, I 'd like to include that the narrator was fantastic. As someone who listens to a lot of audiobooks, I think it is important to note when the narrator is fantastic, or not a great fit. Patti Murin is always fabulous.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ // Fun, flirty, and full of summer charm!

Friends to Lovers by Sally Blakely is exactly what I wanted in a feel-good, sunshine-soaked romcom. I’m a total sucker for the best friends to lovers trope, and this one delivered with swoony moments, playful banter, and the kind of chemistry that makes you cheer every time they’re in the same room.

The audiobook? Chef’s kiss. The narration brought these characters to life in such a fun way—I found myself smiling like an idiot anytime I was listening.

That said, the third-act conflict leaned a little too far into the miscommunication trope for me and felt a bit forced, which kept it from being a full five stars. But honestly? It didn’t take away from how much I enjoyed the ride.

If you enjoy Emily Henry, Christina Lauren, or the cozy chaos of a summer romance, this book will have you giggling, kicking your feet, and rooting hard for two besties finally figuring it out.

4 stars⭐️

This is such a sweet childhood friends to lovers story. I am a SUCKER for friends to lovers so this was right up my alley.

Jonie and Ren are childhood friends who grew up together. After an event that resulted in no contact between them for a couple of years, they are forced back together at their childhood vacation home for a family wedding.

It’s a journey of vulnerability for Jonie and discusses her relationship with not only Ren, but her work, her family, and herself.

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narration. It is a single POV book, but the female narrator did a great job with narrating male voices as well as the female characters.

A big thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Harlequin Audio for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for early copy for review*

I listened to the audiobook for this. I liked the narrator for this, but it would have been so much better with a narrator for the male main character. Of course the author would have also written some chapters in his pov as well. There was times I was confused at what time the audiobook was in past vs present.

This has some tropes I really love and while I understand the reasons the main female character did what she did in the past, I hate bad communication. Also even by the end I was afraid she wasn't taking her anxiety seriously enough and putting a bandaid on the problem. This one was hard to rate, because for everything I liked I had other problem as well. I do think the audiobook brought it down for me to a 3 in the end.

A great happy-ever-after beach read. This is one you’ll want to pick up!

I love a romance that develops from friendship, and it’s even sweeter when it starts as kids! I do struggle a bit with a mis-communication trope though. And can we talk about interfering moms?!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Friends to Lovers is a sweet romance book about two childhood best friends who are trying to avoid their desire to take their friendship to the next level. What happens when you are in love with your best friend but scared to admit. Their love for one another. So scared that after an event that draws them near leads to them not speaking for years. After a number of relationships and distance the friends meet up in Portland for Joni’s sisters wedding
Joni at times drove me crazy with her indecisiveness, but I was glad the way the story ended. I highly recommend this book for lovers of friends to lovers romances and loves of happily ever afters. Did I mention I am a lover of happily ever afters and boy oh boy did I love this one.
Thank you Net-galley and Harlequin audio for the chance to review this arc.

Joni and Ren have been best friends since childhood. After Joni moved to New York, they made a pact to always be each other's plus one, until they crossed a line and their friendship was ruined. But being back in the same place for Joni’s sister’s wedding forces them to confront their true feelings and decide whether their bond is just friendship or something more.

I loved it! It gave me serious Happy Place vibes.
I’ve been really into the friends to lovers trope lately, and this one absolutely delivered!
I started with both the ebook and audiobook, but ended up mostly listening. Patti Murin did an amazing job narrating! She made the story so fun and easy to listen to.
I loved the friendship, the setting - honestly, everything about it. It’s hard to believe this is a debut, it was so good!

Thank you so much NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing and Harlequin Audio for the advanced copies!!

The absolute perfect summer read for any friends to lovers fan. I needed this ooey gooey love that starts as two best friends that turned sour…. For whatever reason? We were left wondering what the heckkkk happened to these two for the longest time. I was dyinngggg to figure out what happened the 2 1/2 years prior to Stevie and Leo’s wedding. It kept me hooked til the very end. The flashbacks to their previous weddings as “plus ones” was SO much fun to see them grow up as they graduated and came into themselves as adults.

If you love an EmHen, this is the read for you. It’s so deep, it covers so much emotion and growth and focuses so highly on how Joni is feeling. The way Joni and Ren had the entire book together was so special, even if we flipped back n forth from past to present.


I think so many can relate to a person who’s throws themselves into their job, bc they have nothing else. I also think so many can relate to pretending all is fine so their parents don’t worry about them. Overall, it hit me in all my feels about friends, about family, sisters, close family friends and about personal experience in the workplace and how one feels their self worth is reliant on their career.

If you love Emily Henry, especially People We Meet on Vacation, you don’t want to miss Sally Blakely’s debut! 💕

Joni and Ren have been best friends since childhood, in a relationship so close they have matching tattoos. As life takes them on separate paths, they promise at least to be each other’s plus-ones for weddings. We join them at Joni’s sister’s wedding, with flashbacks to several other years. Through this format, we see drama and sadness including unspoken feelings, other relationships, and timing that just doesn’t line up. Fortunately it’s clear to just about everyone that they are barreling down a path to happily ever after 💗💗💗

Patti Murin is a perfect narrator for characters like Joni with messy over-thinker inner monologues, sounding believable along the spectrum from anxious to swooning.

If happy place and people we meet on vacation had a baby it would be this! I truly LOVED this book!! I couldn’t even explain to you why it was so captivating besides the chemistry and love between the two leads being so well done. I think friends to lovers can be hard to get right as a trope but this had great pacing and believability! The audio book was so good and the narrator was really fun to listen to.

Friends to Lovers was fine. I'll recommend it, but I won't exhaust myself enthusing over it. In all honesty, I kept thinking, "Didn't Emily Henry publish a fantastic version of this story in her 2021's People We Meet on Vacation"??? Joni and Ren were best friends throughout their entire lives, and it takes until more than half-way into the story for the revelation of what went wrong to come out. Sadly, the big collapse is one that could probably have been fixed relatively quickly (not almost three years later, as in the book) with an honest conversation. Ren comes across as more sympathetic and devoted than Joni, whose level of navel gazing and self-doubt grew a bit tiresome. So while I don't regret the hours spent listening, I'm not going to add this to my keeper shelf. Patti Murin's narration was good, as always, but there were strange pauses in odd places throughout the audiobook. I will not be sharing this review on social media.

I adored this story! It was heartfelt and introspective in all the best ways!

Joni and Ren are great characters that are so relatable. I loved the flashbacks to show their friendship and the love they carried for each other. I was on the edge of my seat trying to understand why they weren’t friends anymore at the beginning of this. And while I predicted a piece of that storyline, I was pleasantly surprised by the twist to it.

The tension between Joni and Ren was PALPABLE. This is a perfect summer read, or a winter one when you need a pick me up to remember warmer days.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a free ALC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an ok read. It is just as the title states a friend's to lovers story and the friendship between Joni and Ren is very sweet. I like that the story did switch from past to present, though sometimes it seemed a little confusing. The third act conflict was a little frustrating, but overall, it ended on a positive note. It is not the romance book to sweep you off your feet, but it was a decent read, and definitely give it a try if you're interested.

Perfect for fans of Carley Fortune or Emily Henry. This gave me the same sort of feelings I had reading People We Meet on Vacation or Every Summer After. I could not put it down and became so emotionally invested in the characters.

Joni and Ren are back for their families joint vacation together on the Oregon coast. But things are different this time, they haven’t talked in two years and no one knows, or knows why.

The duel timeline fills in the blanks about this backstory that kept them apart while the current timeline reveals the tension that is constantly pulling them together despite their past.

It’s a satisfying slow burn where you can’t help but want the two of them to end up together.

I was blown away by this book and immediately went to check if Sally Blakely had other books I could read, and discovered it was a debut novel! She will definitely be on my radar in the future as this just jumped up onto the list of one of my favorite summer reads!

Thankfully I was able to receive a copy of the audiobook as well, which just fed my obsession since I could listen where I left off when I suddenly had to drive kids somewhere and COULD NOT just wait to read when I got home. The narration was wonderful and added to that dreamy summer vacation feeling, really encapsulating the mood and the characters and bringing them to life.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing and Harlequin Audio for providing me with copies of this book. All options are my own.

Friends to Lovers by Sally Blakely is exactly what the title promises and so much more. I absolutely loved this book! It’s funny, heartfelt, and refreshingly real in all the best ways.

Ren and Joni were a joy to read. Their chemistry felt natural and electric from the very start, and I was totally rooting for them. The structure, flashing back to different weddings—was such a fun and clever way to show their evolving relationship and personal growth, especially Joni’s. I really appreciated how layered her character became as the story unfolded.

The family dynamics added depth and emotion without ever feeling heavy-handed, and Blakely nailed that balance of humor and heart that keeps you hooked.

This was a total win for me-a solid friends-to-lovers romance that felt modern, grounded, and full of charm. Definitely one for your next book haul!

A romance where the trope is right there in the title!

Childhood best friends Joni & Ren are worried about staying in touch when Joni is leaving for college on the other side of the country. So, they decide to always be each other’s plus one to future weddings, no matter where or when they take place. And it’s all going fine until a line is crossed and they worry their friendship is over. Fast forward to them having to be together at their families’ summer beach house for her sister’s wedding. Will they be able to patch their friendship & maybe become something more?

This was a debut and I liked it enough that I will check out her next book, but I didn't love it. It has the same vibes as People We Meet on Vacation. Which makes sense since thats my least favorite Emily Henry book. The narration was fantastic as always by one of my fav narrators, Patti Murin.

Thank you to Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for providing the ARC for my honest review!