Susan Mallery, #1 New York Times bestselling author of California Girls and Sisters by Choice, has delivered the perfect escape about the power of female friendship and the importance of making your dreams come true.

A witty, heartfelt and irresistible story about two best friends determined to help one another shake things up and live life to the fullest in a summer that will change them forever.

Single mom Ellen Fox couldn’t be more conten–until she overhears her son saying he can’t go to his dream college because she needs him too much. If she wants him to live his best life, she has to convince him she’s living hers.

So Unity Leandre, her best friend since forever, creates a list of challenges to push Ellen out of her comfort zone. Unity will complete the list, too, but not because she needs to change. What’s wrong with a thirtysomething widow still sleeping in her late husband’s childhood bed?

The Friendship List begins as a way to make others believe they’re just fine. But somewhere between “wear three-inch heels” and “have sex with a gorgeous guy,” Ellen and Unity discover that life is meant to be lived with joy and abandon, in a story filled with humor, heartache and regrettable tattoos.

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Fly Girl’s Review

This is a true 2 for 1 romance novel. We get not one, but two delightful romances in this book and both are well done. Each of these girls has their own issues to overcome so the romances are different–one is a friends to lovers and one is a rebound or I might call it a meet cute. For those who pick it up after this review, or those who’ve read it already I’d love to hear your take on the 2nd romance trope.

Ellen and Unity have been friends since forever and have always had each other’s back, in good and tough times. So the time has finally come for them to both realize some hard facts about their current situations and work together to make changes that will hopefully let them live their best lives. Neither is really looking for romance through this list, but both are looking for a little sex. What neither realizes is that this crazy list they come up with will propel them into their better halves while opening their eyes to how much better things could be.

Ellen discovers she can have room for more than just her son and that she deserves more than to be defined by her teen pregnancy and that some mistakes are the best things in life whether others agree or not. She discovers love with a very close friend who is also a single parent and understands the demands of her job and her son in life and is willing to love her all the same. They both suddenly realize being out of the friendzone and lovers instead is so much better. They both have a lot of baggage to work through on their journey to everlasting love, but they put in the work.

Unity literally has love thrown at her, but she doesn’t recognize it because she is so attached to the life she lost when her husband was killed on active duty. She is awkward, lonely and just existing when the next best thing to happen in her life is thrown at her by another friend who wants her to see she can still love her first love and have a new person fill her heart too. She doesn’t need to live in the shadow of the life she had with her dead husband. She grieves through the whole list process, but discovers a friend in Thaddeus. Thaddeus discovers he has room for more than just company takeovers and his best friends. He just has to convince Unity he’s worth taking a chance and patience is his best friend in all of this.

Finally, Susan creates an amazing community of educators, kids and elderly in this book which gives it a hometown feel and you hardly realize you are reading two separate stories, but feel like it is all part of the overall picture of this little town. She gives so much depth to her characters you can feel the emotion and the struggle, the joy and the laughter with them as if you’re there. I honestly love books like that. It’s like I’m on a movie set seeing it being made.

You really must pick this one up. Although the love stories are slow burn, the build up scenes are very entertaining and you never feel like it is moving too slow. Susan gets us to the HEA in her own way which I loved. I’m giving this a 5 of 5 propellers because honestly I don’t have anything bad to say and after a couple weeks, it has stayed with me. Perhaps this will be on the Top 10 list for 2020. We’ll all have to wait and see.

5 of 5 Propellers

 

Connect with Susan Mallery

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SUSAN MALLERY is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of novels about the relationships that define women’s lives–family, friendship, romance. Library Journal says, “Mallery is the master of blending emotionally believable characters in realistic situations,” and readers seem to agree–40 million copies of her books have sold worldwide. Her warm, humorous stories make the world a happier place to live.

Susan grew up in California and now lives in Seattle with her husband. She’s passionate about animal welfare, especially that of the two ragdoll cats and adorable poodle who think of her as mom.