Hi friends, happy Wednesday! I’m back again today with another recommendation post, as I’m having a ton of fun thinking about these and drafting these, so I can only hope you have a great time reading them, too… fingers crossed!
Reading about friendships just make me so, so happy. There’s nothing like a great, soft, or a complicated friendship to make me happy in my books. We get so many romances, so many books where romance is the sole focus and… what about friendship? Isn’t it such an integrant part of our lives as well or even more than romance? I say it is. There’s a reason the show The Bold Type is just that awesome okay.
So today I reunited a couple books highlighting, featuring, having great, complex, sad, incredible friendship storylines. I hope you’ll enjoy my recommendations!
You can click on the covers to get to the goodreads page of the book!
YA Contemporary Books with great friendships
Foolish Hearts, Emma Mills
Why I recommend it ? I feel like I could have mentioned all of Emma Mills’ books -well, the ones I’ve read-, because she is the queen of writing great, genuine, realistic and amazing friendship groups. I’m recommending Foolish Hearts today though, because the unlikely friendship blooming there made me so happy.
? read my review
Am I Normal Yet?, Holly Bourne
Why I recommend it ?I already recommended this book recently, but.. I can’t help and do so again, because when it comes to amazing female friendships and girl power overall, Holly Bourne totally nailed it in this wonderful, wonderful book I 200% recommend.
? read my review
A Quiet Kind of Thunder, Sara Barnard
Why I recommend it ? I feel like Sara Barnard deserves WAY more hype and love, especially A Quiet Kind of Thunder, which is one of these quiet books I adored with all my heart. The friendship between the main character and her best friend made me so happy, because it wasn’t without its fights and flaws, but it was overall, so, so awesome.
? read my review
Radio Silence, Alice Oseman
Why I recommend it ? If you’re a little familiar with my bookish taste, you’ll know by now that I’m complete trash for everything Alice Oseman writes. Radio Silence is one incredible book and, one of my favorite things about it was without a doubt the wonderful m/f friendship which made my heart bloom.
? read my review
This Is What It Feels Like, Rebecca Barrow
Why I recommend it ? Another book that shoud get all the hype in the world, if you ask me, This Is What It Feels Like is one of these little gems I fell in love with. At its heart is the friendship between the three main characters, a broken friendship, one that’s building up again, it’s complicated and flawed and it’s so, so, so good to read too. I loved this book.
? read my review
The Unexpected Everything, Morgan Matson
Why I recommend it ? I think I could have mentioned a couple of Morgan Matson’s books, but I’m really thinking right now of The Unexpected Everything when it comes to friendships…. well, just because I loved that little group so, so very much. Also Morgan Matson does write the best contemporaries and I can only recommend them.
? read my review
Since You’ve Been Gone, Morgan Matson
Why I recommend it ? Okay, you know what? I’m going to mention the two Morgan Matson books anyway, because why not? Since You’ve Been Gone is more focused on finding a best friend back than actually present-time friendship and fun, but I adored that quest all the same and seeing the importance of friendship through this book, too.
Our Year Of Maybe, Rachel Lynn Solomon
Why I recommend it ? This is one of my favorite books of all times and, friends, it deserves all of the praise and love. It deals with two childhood friends in an all-consuming friendship and I adored it with all my heart okay I don’t know how to express myself I LOVE THIS.
? read my review
YA Fantasy Books with great friendships
Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling
Why I recommend it ?I kind of need to mention Harry Potter in a blog post about friendship, right? I think it’s also one one of the best books out there showcasting the importance of friendship because let’s be honest: without Hermione and Ron (especially Hermione, let’s face it), Harry would not have survived for two days okay.
Cinder, Marissa Meyer
Why I recommend it ? This is one of my favorite fantasy series that I discovered thanks to book blogging and one of the things that make me the happiest about it is… well, the fact that this group of friends is amazing. I especially love Iko and Cinder’s friendship SO much.
The Raven Boys, Maggie Stievfater
Why I recommend it ?This book has been praised enough for its amazing friendships and…. well I can only agree, because the dynamics between this group of main characters are some of my favorites, EVER.
? read my review
Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo
Why I recommend it ? I feel like I kind of have to mention this one, because this cast of characters, these misfits, these people just fit together so well and let’s just say there is a reason this book is so popular and… when I see the cast, I see just why.
? read my review
☂️ You might also be interested in: 10 instant-want kind of books (ft. favorite tropes and recs)
Did you read any of these books? What are some books with awesome friendships you would recommend?
Let me know in comments!
Twitter ☂️ Goodreads ☂️ Bloglovin ‘☂️ Support the blog
I just finished A Quiet Kind of Thunder and I could not more agree with you Marie!!! The Unexpected Everything and Harry Potter are also two wonderful examples!
Ahh I’m so happy you enjoyed it, it’s such a great, underrated book <3 <3
Thank you so much Sophie! <3
Great post! I love strong friendships in YA. Six of Crows is so great because of the characters and how they each have a different relationship with one another.
Thank you, Kristin! Agree, it’s so great to see all of their different dynamics, I loved that so much 😀
Great post, Marie! Love the book recommendations. Quite a few I still need to read and hoping to read at some point this year. Like Morgan Matsons books! I loved the characters and friendships in Six of Crows. I am happy that I finally read the books.
Thank you, Ashley! I really can’t wait for you to get to Morgan Matson’s books, I adore all of them SO MUCH <3 <3
Don’t worry–I love reading these recommendation posts!! I’ve never read anything by Emma Mills before, but I’ve heard such fabulous things about them. Is there one you would recommend specifically to start with?
Ahh this makes me so, very happy, Holly, thank you! 😀
Hmm I haven’t read al of Emma Mills’ books just yet, but out of the ones I’ve read (First and Then, Foolish Hearts and Famous in a Small Town), I loved Foolish Hearts the most so I’d recommend that one 😀
Awesome! I’ll add Foolish Hearts to my list then!
YAY! I hope you’ll love it 🙂
YES! I’ve read a few of these, and a few are on my TBR list. YA needs more strong friendships. I think the books get too romance-focused at times.
Agree! Romance is good and I’m always here for a good one, but we definitely MISS a lot more friendship in books. It’s SO important <3
Thank you so much for your comment 😀
I love the friendship in Harry Potter and The Raven Cycle! I also love the friendship between Kenji and Juliette, they’re honest and protective with each other, and they also ground each other in the face of loss and war 🙂
OH YES such a great choice, I can’t believe I didn’t think of them before. I LOVE Kenji so much ahh and his dynamic with Juliette is amazing 😀
Thank you so much! 😀
Ahh im happy to see some Sara Barnard in there ! Fierce Fragile Hearts is the only one of hers i’ve read, but OMG the friendship in that !!
Some of your recs is on my tbr, while others is new to me – so thank you for them ! xx
I NEED to read Fierce Fragile Hearts, it sounds incredible and I want to read more from the author for sure 🙂
Thank you so much for your sweet comment, Kristina! 😀
I totally agree with Six of Crows! I just read it (finally) and loved everything about it, but especially all the friendships!
Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much and the friendships and the dynamic between this little gang was just so good 😀
Thank you so much for your comment! 😀
Six of Crows is honestly squad goals. Love the friendships in Morgan Matson books and lunar chronicles too ❤️
Ahhh yay, I’m so glad you agree on these <3 Thank you so much!! <3
I love this post!!! Friendships really are so important, and I feel like they tend to get overlooked in YA books. But when I think about the books I’ve loved, the friendships between the characters really drive my love for these books. Growing up and even into my 20s, a lot of my friendships were complicated and sometimes even toxic, and I wish there were more books that showed this. Friendships can be just as life-changing and even devastating as romantic relationships, but we don’t really have a space to deal with that kind of trauma… which is pretty much partially what my WIP is about ? thank you for sharing these recommendations! ???
Agree! I feel like we need more books really focusing on friendships, they’re such an important part of our lives and we need more central friendships plots in books, I 200% agree with that.
And aerm CHRISTINE WHAT IS THAT WIP I NEED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT IT RIGHT NOW. If you’re ever looking for a beta reader, hello I’m right here 😀
Thank you so, so much for your sweet comment <3
Awww I would love for you to read my WIP! As of now I only have about 6,000 words… I’m trying to apply for MFA programs in creative writing… this is an entire post I’ve been putting off writing because I’m afraid if I talk about it I won’t get in ?
It’s funny because your post about friendship reminded me why I want to write this story. Growing up, I was surrounded by narratives about heartbreak between romantic partners, but I never once read a book about friendship heartbreak—so I thought I was just being dramatic, that what I was going through wasn’t that bad. And it carried on up into my twenties until I finally realized that the toxicity of my relationship with this particular friend was eating away at me. So I want to write about that…but also just the fact that friendships aren’t always meant to last forever. Sure, we think they are, but in order to last, those friendships have to grow and change just like we do as individuals. I haven’t seen a lot of narratives that navigate that reality.
Oh I get the superstitious feeling so much! Don’t worry about it at all and focus on your writing, you can do this. And I’d LOVE to read your WIP someday if you want to share it <3
I so, so love what you're saying and completely agree with it all. Friendship breakups are so complicated and so, so hurtful just as well and this is something I'd love to find more in books, it's s important to talk about these things, too. <3
Yes friendships are just as important as romantic relationships so I love seeing them in books. ?
I heard about how well Emma Wills writes friendship and I really want to read her work because I think friendship can be quite hard to write as they cover so many things.
And I really want to read more Holly Bourne books so I am glad you loved that one!!
And I absolutely love all the fantasy friendships you have mentioned– Harry has a great relationship with Ron and Hermione and he definitely needed them!! ?
And the Lunar Chronicles has a really nice friendship dynamic where they all helped each other. It was really fun to read about and Iko is great!!
And of course the raven boys and six of crows have some of my favourite friendships!!
Great list!! ?
I really hope you’ll give Emma Mills’ books a try, Sophie! She writes fantastic friendships, I especially LOVED Foolish Hearts for that <3
I'm so, so happy you enjoyed so many of these books, yay! Thank you so, so much for your sweet comment <3 <3 <3
Great list Marie! I’ve only read one book on this whole list but I need to read more books like this 🙂
Thank you so much!! I hope you’ll want to give some of these books a try 😀
Eleanor & Park, Zlatka and Fania (Paper Hearts), Liesel and Max (Book Thief)….. I love an inspiring friendship theme in YA stories! Great post! ??
Ahh yay, thank you for the recommendations! Friendship stories are so great <3 <3
This is such a lovely post! Since You’ve Been Gone, Morgan Matson is one of my favorite YA books, mostly because of the friendship at the center!
Oh thank you so much! I loved this book so, so very much for that, we need more stories like this one <3
Ahhh, I love everything about this post so much! The friendships, the books, The Bold Type gif ❤️ This is such a wonderful list of recommendations, I’m going to add all the ones I haven’t read yet to my TBR. I’m always here for more books about friendships ?
I’ve read all of Emma Mills’ books over the last few weeks and can 10/10 confirm that ALL her books have soft, beautiful, hilarious friendship groups and it’s the best.
Ohh thank you so much!! <3 The Bold Type is such a great show <3
I can't wait to read This Adventure Ends, it's the last Emma Mills' book I need to read and I can't wait ahhhh 😀
The friendship in Radio Silence is just *chef kiss* perfect. And I love the group dynamics in the raven cycle so much!! ? I feel like I’ve been hearing a lot lately about the strong friendship in Foolish Hearts, which is clearly a sign that I need to read it soon ?
Agree, I love the friendship SO much and ahh Alice Oseman is wonderful <3
And yeees you need to read Foolish Hearts, the friendship is AMAZING I loved it so much <3
Thank you so, so much for your sweet comment <3
Oh the Bold Type! Love that show. I adore friendships in books and agree with so many up there. Some new ones to check out too. Great post!!
Ahh thank you so much Grace, so happy you like my recommendations, thank you so much 🙂
The one thing you can count on in an Emma Mills book is an incredible friend group. I always want to be part of the squad in her books. I was a huge fan of the friendship in This Is How It Feels, and Kaz’s crew was phenomenal. Our Year of Maybe was such a tough book for me. I may be crying right now (That is what Rachel Solomon does to me)
Oh same, I always wish I could be part of the friends group, I love them all so much ahah 🙂
I cried while reading Our Year of Maybe as well. It was too emotional and ahh, I can’t wait to read more from her <3
Thank you so much for your comment <3
Yasss, I love that Emma Mills was first in this post! Her books immediately came to mind when I saw your post title!
Emma Mills writes such great friendships, I love her so much for that 😀
Thank you so much for your comment! <3 <3
I really need to get a wiggle on and read six of crows!
Ahh I hope you will, it’s such a great book 🙂
thank you so much for your comment! <3
I recently read Six of Crows, and the characters’ friendships are definitely unique! ♥ One of the best friendship I’ve read about was the one between Safi & Iseult in The Witchlands series by Susan Dennard! I know I never shut up about these books but I love them so much. Friendships are super important to me, and I loved reading your post Marie!
Oh I haven’t read this series at all, but I’ve heard a lot about it – I really need to give it a try! Thank you so much, Noémie 😀
Friendship is everything, yet it can me underrated in books 🙁 I agree about The Raven Boys! My all-time choice for friendship is Harry Potter, of course!
It is SO underrated, we need them way more in books! 🙂
Thank you so much my sweechie <3
A Huge Yes for Six Of Crows! Thank you for sharing this list! I would recommend The Start Of Me And You By Emery Lord.
Ohh I need to read some of Emery Lord’s work, I’ve head a lot of great things about it 🙂
Thank you so much!! 😀
I am seriously behind on these YA contemporary books with great friendships! I’ve only read the Morgan Matson ones but I do have Alice Oseman’s books on my summer TBR list (I can’t wait to get started, I’ve heard so many amazing things about her stories). The friendship between Emily and Sloane was one of my favourite parts of Since You’ve Been Gone, it was so important to the story and you could definitely see the bond between them even though Sloane wasn’t in the book herself much at all. 🙂
I’ve read all the fantasy books you included (of course) and you’ve featured some of the best and some of my very very favourite friendships! Blue and the Raven Boys have an incredible dynamic, and you can’t really have a post about friendships without including Harry Potter can you?
Great post Marie. 🙂 <3
Ahhh Beth I can’t wait for you to read Alice Oseman’s books, keep me updated when you do! I love all of her stories SO much <3
Oh yes, Blue and the boys were amazing, I loved their friendships so much. And agree, I couldn't NOT mention Harry Potter ahah 😀
Thank you! <3 <3
I definitely will, she’s on my Summer TBR list so I’m thinking I’ll probably get around to her books in July maybe.
That’s all right. 🙂 ❤️
The Unexpected Everything and Am I Normal Yet? have amazing friendship groups!
Right? I loved them SO much! 😀
Thank you, Kyra! 🙂
I’ve seen Foolish Hearts recommended by several people lately, which is odd since it’s not like it’s a new release. It must really stick with people–the sign of a fantastic book!
Yes! I feel like it really sticks with people, I’ve heard so much about this book even recently. I hope you’ll pick it up sometime 😀
Thank you, Nicole! 🙂
Every time I am here I am adding new books to my TBR. So btw I loved Radiosilence and Quiet kind of thunder, which were your recommendations. But I didn’t enjoy The Unexpected Everything as much, even though I loved the friendships in there. Great list!
Ahh this warms my heart so, so much, really. I’m so happy I can help you add new books to your TBR 😀 Thank you so much!! 🙂
I love friendships in YA books, because I feel like they have more chance to last than the romantic relationships. And Morgan Matson is the queen of contemporary books! It’s obvious I’m a contemporary reader, because all of those books are either on my TBR-list or already read 😀
I really like this post, I might even try out some of the fantasy books!
Ahhh yes she’s a queen of contemporary books, I adore them all SO much 😀
Thank you so, so much for your sweet comment! I hope you’ll love the books you decide to try out 😀 <3
Ahhh I agree to all of those!!! I haven’t read like three or four books in that list, but I do agree anyway!
I adore reading about friendship and friend groups so much. Sometimes they make the book so special, just like in the Raven Cycle!
Agree! A great group of friends or a great friendship in a book really makes the book special and stand out, too. I love it <3
Thank you so much Clara! <3
Amazing recommendations as always! ?
I *loved* the friendship in Radio Silence, as you probably know since it was you that totally converted me to an Alice Oseman fan ? I also cannot believe that I haven’t read a Quiet Kind of Thunder yet, it looks fantastic!
AHHH this, right here, this is my proudest moment ever haha, so happy that you love Alice Oseman’s books now ahh <3
I hope you'll love A Quiet Kind of Thunder, it's such an underrated read. I love it so much <3
Thank you for your sweet comment, Chana! 🙂
What a lovely list Marie–Its wonderful to see there’s so many great YA books with friendships ^_^? I’m hoping to get to Rebecca Barrow’s book–it sounds like such a wonderful YA Contemporary!
Oh thank you so much! I hope you’ll get to read Rebecca Barrow’s book, I loved it SO much and it deserves all of the hype <3