Title: Friends to Lovers
Author: Sally Blakely
Publication: July 22, 2025
Publisher: Canary Street Press
Genre: Romance
Pages: 352

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SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)

Best friends Joni and Ren have been inseparable since childhood. So when Joni moves across the country for her job, the two devise a creative way to stay in touch: they’ll be each other’s plus-ones every year for wedding season, no matter what else is happening in their lives.

It’s a tradition that works, until a line is crossed and the friendship they once thought was forever is ruined.

Now Joni is back at their families’ shared summer home for her sister’s wedding, and she’s determined to make the week perfect, even if it means faking a friendship with Ren—and avoiding the truth of why they have to fake it in the first place. How hard can it be to pretend to be friends with the person who once knew you best?

But as sunny beach days together turn into starry nights, Joni begins to question what her life is without Ren in it. And when the wedding arrives, bringing past heartaches to the surface, she’ll be forced to decide if loving Ren means letting him go, or if theirs is a love story worth fighting for.

REVIEW:

**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Friends to Lovers is one of my favorite tropes to read and so a book with that title makes me excited from the jump. I was excited to see how the story played out.

I tried to read this twice. The first time, I struggled to get into it. I just couldn’t get hooked. Instead of giving up fully, I set it aside for a while and then came back to it. The next time I tried, I was able to read it through. The story was cute, yet predictable, but I feel like that is pretty normal for this type of book. I enjoyed the story, as it was fun to read and the characters were likable. Jone was cute, if not a little neurotic. Ren was like a cute golden retreaver you just wanted to take home.

While the story was cute enough and the characters were fun, there was nothing really special about this story. I like a little interesting twist or something to spice it up a little more. But for the most part this story was good. I’d definitely read another Sally Blakely book. You should definitely check it out to see what you think!