If there’s a trope I love, it’s the friends to lovers one. Whether it’s childhood best friends, friends you haven’t seen for a while but that are coming back or strangers becoming friends before romance comes in… I LOVE the friends to lovers trope SO much and, obviously, I have read my share of books starring it.
If you ask me, I HAVEN’T read enough of them, but well.
Today, I thought I’d compile a little list of books where friends fall in love and it’s marshmallowy or complicated or just adorable okay. I’m here for it all. Romance isn’t always the main plot in the books I picked out, but it had my heart every time so… that’s why it’s right here.
I hope you’ll enjoy this list and will find some new books for your TBR!
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Books with the friends to lovers trope I recommend
You Asked for Perfect, Laura Silverman
Laura Silverman is a must-read contemporary author, if you ask me. If You Asked For Perfect IS perfect for anxiety representation, I also fell for the soft building romance, from acquaintances to friends to feelings slowly growing, I’m soft okay.
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Dating Makes Perfect, Pintip Dunn
In Dating Makes Perfect, the main character must practice-date with her former childhood best friend and, you know this is bound to be good. I loved the childhood best friends to fake dating to friendship to AH YES. This is making me feel all marshmallowy wonderful.
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Starfish, Akemi Dawn Bowman
Starfish is a stunning book that should still be mentioned now and every day, okay. I adored the social anxiety representation which was absolutely on point and this book has such a soft friendship to lovers that was adorably wonderful.
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Words in Deep Blue, Cath Crowley
If you’re a book lover, Words in Deep Blue is a book for you. It has a stunning secondhand bookshop setting and two former best friends slowly getting reacquainted. I adored their interactions and banter and feelings so much. This book is filled with feelings and it’s wonderful.
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With the Fire on High, Elizabeth Acevedo
This book made me happy okay and that’s the kind of story we all need. Emoni’s a teen mother and struggles with managing everything. With The Fire on High has food, family, a beautiful friends to lovers romance taking it slow and it’s so heartwarming it feels like a hug.
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Final Draft, Riley Redgate
You all need to talk about this book more okay. Final Draft is about a teen writer struggling with her writing and her art, going on adventures to find her inspiration and an absolutely stunning f/f friends to lovers romance. READ. THIS.
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Queens of Geek, Jen Wilde
I love all of Jen Wilde’s books so much and Queens of Geek is just so relatable. it’s about three friends going to a convention and it’s about fandom, being internet people and it has such a soft best friends since forever turning into something more romance that’s so adorable.
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Chasing Lucky, Jenn Bennett
Jenn Bennett writes some of my favorite contemporaries. Chasing Lucky was no exception. With Josie returning to her childhood hometown comes meeting her former best friend again, facing the past and how they both have grown and changed. It also has beautiful family vibes, I loved this.
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Miss Meteor, Tehlor Kay Mejia & Anna-Marie McLemore
I’m sorry, I just can’t stop screaming about Miss Meteor. Aside from the stunning writing, this book has two best friends getting reacquainted with each other to win a beauty pageant, excellent family and siblings dynamics and not one but TWO best friends to lovers to YEARN for. This book is the best.
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The Best Laid Plans, Cameron Lund
The Best Laid Plans was a fun, entertaining read about a junior in high school, finding out she might be just the last with her virginity intact in her class. One of my favorite parts was how the childhood best friends trope developed over time, the dynamics between the two characters being EXCELLENT.
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📌 Pin 10 YA books with the friends to lovers trope I enjoyed on Pinterest!
Did you read any of these books? Do you want to?
What are some books you’d recommend with the friends to lovers trope? Give me all the recommendations in comments!
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I never made the connection but Starfish and With the Fire on High are two of my favourite books. The friends to lovers trope may play a part in that!
Ahh yay! I love these so much 😍
I love the romance in You Asked for Perfect, it’s just so soft in the middle of all academic anxiety <3
Yes completely agree! It’s the perfect soft romance in the middle of it all 😍😍
I absolutely loved Words in Deep Blue! 😍
AHH YES me too! It’s such an underrated, lovely book <3
Yesss! I love the friends to lovers trope and I feel it is slightly underrated compared to enemies to lovers. Thank you for all the amazing book recs!
200% agree. I love this trope so much and how the friendship turns into something more. It always makes me 😍 thank you! I’m so happy you enjoyed this post!
Final Draft sounds really good, and I had no idea it had a friends-to-lovers romance. I loved the two romances in Miss Meteor, they made me so happy!
Ah I hope you’ll read and will love it, it’s such a beautiful read <3 and yeees! Miss Meteor is one of my favorites, I adore the romances, the characters, everything!! 😍😍
I love this trope, and have only read With The Fire on High on this list! So definietly adding the others to my TBR! Especially Starfish sounds really good to me!
(www.evelynreads.com)
Ah yay! I hope you’ll love all of the other books😍😍
I adore this post just as much as I adore friends to lovers romance. I’ll admit, I’ve not read a single book on this list *hides* but Words in Deep Blue is on my tbr since I’ve seen so much praise for the book. I mean what more could you want with a secondhand bookshop setting and good banter!!
Ahh I hope you’ll read ALL of these, Lois, they’re fantastic! I adore Words in Deep Blue, the setting and relationships were so wonderful <3
With the Fire on High, Queens of Geek and Starfish are on my TBR! I can’t wait to read them!
Ah I hope you’ll love them!! 😍
These are such great recs! I’m a total sucker for a friends-to-lovers story so I’ll definitely keep a bookmark of this post 😀
Oh yay! I’m so happy you enjoyed it 🥰 thank you!! 🥰
I love With the Fire on High so much!! I can’t wait to check out some of the books on this list, great post💜
Ahh thank you so much!! 🥰
I absolutely adore this trope, i think finding love in a friend is a wonderful thing, thanks for the recommendations!
Ahh you’re so welcome, thank you for your sweet comment! 🥰
Okay, so friends to lovers has to be one of my favorite tropes ever, so this post was PURE GOLD! Thanks so much for sharing it! I definitely saved it so that I can come back to it later and it has made me push some books up onto my high priority TBR!
AH Kat thank you so much, you’re so sweet 🥺🥺🥺 I hope you’ll read and will love some of these books 🥺
Great post Marie! I really enjoyed Starfish, but this has reminded me how much I need to read Dating Makes Perfect and You asked for Perfect! Also, so many people seem to like The Best Laid Plans, so I’m wondering if I should give that one a go?
Ahh thank you so much Kate! I hope you’ll get to read all of these! <3 If you enjoy a good best friends relationship, I'd definitely recommend The Best Laid Plans :D
Ahhh!!! Starfish!!! And Queens of Geek!! I love both of these books so much! And I love friends to lovers, it can be such a beautiful, angsty trope! I also loved Jen Wilde’s The Brightsiders that also has friends to lovers 🙂 And I’d also definitely recommend Heartbreak Boys by Simon James Green 🙂
Ahh yay me too! I so agree with you, it’s such a lovely trope 😍 Oh I didn’t think of that one but yes! Jen Wilde’s books are always hits for me. And thank you! I don’t know Heartbreak Boys, I’ll have to check it out 😍
I STILL haven’t read Miss Meteor, though I really, really want to 😭 And With The Fire on High is also a book on my TBR!! Thank you so much for the recommendations, it makes me even more excited to pick them up!
AH YEs you do, I adore Miss Meteor with ALL my heart ahhh 😍😍😍
I didn’t use to be a big fan of friends to lovers, but I’ve read so many amazing books with that trope in the past years, that I’ve head to reconsider 😄 You Asked for Perfect was amazing, I definitely have to do a reread! And Jen Wilde honestly writes the best friends to lovers romances ❤ Also, Words in Deep Blue has been on my TBR for ages, I might have to finally read it 😊
Ahh yes, I’m so happy you’re loving that trope now, it really is wonderful. I hope you’ll get a chance to read Words in Deep Blue, I love that one so much!! <3 Thank you, Caro! <3
I really-really need to read Meteor Girls! I’ve seen you mention it multiple times, and it sounds fantastic. (Also, I do love a good best friends to lovers romance, so two sounds even better.) Queens of Geek was so adorable! I really loved that book. Great list! 🙂
AH YES I adore Miss Meteor, it’s a stunning read and I can’t wait for you to read it 😍😍 thank you so, so much, Veronika!
i absolutely love friends-to-lovers romances as well, and this post was so much fun to read!! i read dating makes perfect this month and i really enjoyed the romance too, it was so adorable 😭😭 and ahh with the fire on high was also really heartwarming and powerful! also yes, i loved the fact that there were two friends-to-lovers romances in miss meteor 🥺 i really need to read the rest of these, thank you this amazing post! 💕
Ahh thank you Ash! I hope you’ll find new favorites here!! 😍
I am truly never going to get over Felix Ever After for A LOT of reasons, but one of the top ones is definitely the friends to lovers in it. Literally just thinking about it right now is making me weepy, and I cannot wait to reread it this month.
Ooooh! That’s so, so good to know. I’ve heard incredible things about this book from everyone, I need to read it as soon as I can 😍
I adored With the Fire on High!
From this list, Starfish and Miss Meteor are high on my tbr, but I might pick up Final Draft too!
Ah I loved it so much as well! And this makes me so happy. I love these books with all my heart, Final Draft is a stunning, way too underrated read. I hope you’ll love them all 🙂
And thank you so much for your sweet comment <3
You know, I don’t think I have read many/enough friends-to-lovers books! I guess I am more drawn to the enemies-to-loves trope, so I have neglected books with this one. Having said that, I absolutely loved both Starfish and With the Fire On High! The main characters in both those books were incredible.
Also, I really want to read both You Asked For Perfect and Final Draft so I am glad to see you recommending them 😀
Oh thank you Sabrina! I have a soft spot for my friends to lovers ahah, I can’t help screaming about this trope. I hope you’ll love these books 😍
Great book recs! I actually have so many of these on my TBR and I finally need to get around to reading them this year. <3
Ahh thank you Ashley! I hope you’ll love them <3
aahhhh this is such a wonderful post Marie!! i LOVE the friends to lovers trope too hehe, it’s always so heartwarming and adorable and never fails to make me smile 🥺 my heart can’t take it :’) <3 i really enjoyed the romance in You Asked for Perfect too, i'm happy you mentioned that one! thank you for these great recommendations 😊
Oh thank you so much!! I love this trope with all of my heart as well. I’m glad I could give you some recommendations! <3
Ughh WordPress deleted my comment again but it’s hit me recently that I really do not read enough friends-to-lovers and I need to because it’s such an amazing trope; there are so many books on this list that I need to read, so thank you for the recommendations! <3 And I actually have Starfish right now so I better read it before I need to return it!
Ah yes yes yes you should! It is a stunning trope and it always makes me SO happy. I hope you’ll give these books a try! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Starfish, I love that one SO much <3
I haven’t read any of these. More for my TBR. I love this trope too!
Ah yay! It’s one of my favorites, it always makes me so happy and ahh 🥺
Great recommendations list, Marie! I have so many of these on my TBR and I need to read them ASAP! <3
Ahh thank you so much, Ashley <3 I hope you'll love them! :D
Marie ah you may not even see this comment because I’m so late with blog posts. But this is such a lovely list and I’m so excited to read all of them. I’ve only read Starfish off of it and unfortunately wasn’t a fan of the romance. But so pumped to read WTFOH and Anna-Marie McLemore <3<3
Okay but I read and check out all comments and you’re so, so so very sweet, thank you so much for reading this list! I hpoe you’ll love these books!! <3