Friends to lovers only works if you believe two things: that the friendship was real, and that risking it was worth it. These are the books (and a few screen favorites) that earn both — organized by which part of the GAMBLE they nail hardest.
And listen to the full episode where we break down the Friends to Lovers trope.
Want the full framework behind this list? Here’s The Friendship GAMBLE breakdown — Groundwork, Awakening, Martyrdom, Barrier, Leap, Endgame.
Table of Contents
Childhood Friends to Lovers
To Catch a Firefly by Emmy Sanders (also MM)
One of Meg’s favorite books ever. (And not just because she has a kiddo with a communication disorder…)
Childhood best friends — Lucky is an openly gay photographer who travels the world, but never forgets about Ellis Back home.
Ellis has has never left home… and never forgotten about Lucky. He’s neurodivergent, has selective mutism, and is coded as asexual, until he realizes that his feelings are specifically, only for his best friend.
Hear Meg’s full gushing rave review when she gave it a 2025 Tingly award.
Mr Blue Sky by Isla Olsen
Jackson & Skyler have been besties since childhood and roommates as adults, and everything is going perfectly…Until Skyler realizes he has Feelings for Jackson. And Jackson is ace, so he doesn’t have those kinds of feelings for Skyler, or men, or anybody.
Nikki loves this one not only for the story, but for the found family of the entire friendship group. She especially loves a scene where the friend-group calls each other out for disappearing into new relationships — that common complaint of, “on the weekends, you have me.”
One of those co-dependent best friends stories where maybe they’ve been in love the whole time and didn’t realize it.
Powerless by Elsie Silver
Sloane and Jasper were childhood best friends… until he got drafted as a hockey star and she got engaged to someone her father chose.When she chooses to leave her fiance at the altar, Jasper’s the one who carries her out.
They end up on a road trip through the Canadian mountains, during which time they can no longer avoid the conversation about exactly how much their “friendship” means to each of them.
If you love the Chestnut Springs series, check out our Heartless episode.
When Shay inherits her grandmother’s tulip farm; she’s forced to move from Boston back to the small town of Friendship, RI … and oh, did the will mention that she has to be married within a year to actually inherit it?
Noah, her high school best friend who still lives next door (and, obvious to everyone but Shay, has been in love with her the whole time). And now he’s the guardian for a (incredibly quirky and crass) niece, who totally steals the whole books with all of her pirate references.
Bonus: you’ll fall in love with Shay’s farm and her friends, who will continue to delight you in In a Second and In a Rush.
Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Playwright by Bailey Seaborn
When Kate shows up desperate in his Hollywood Hills mansion, Nick offers her a deal: Pretend seven years of silence didn’t change things. Go back to being just friends.
Just friends. Friends who take road trips. And kiss good night. And maybe go skinny dipping…
Friends who definitely aren’t falling back in love…
But is it really falling back in love if you never fell out of it?
Gay Friends-to-Lovers
This was Nikki’s #1 book in the 2025 Tingly Awards! (But as we all know, Nikki loves pining and longing…!)
Such an emotionally gripping book — one bandmate has loved his straight, oblivious best friend for years and leaves the country to get over him. The reveal scene brought her to tears when Blake finally tracked down Luke to tell him that they were basically one soul in two bodies. Completely wrecked her.
Listen to our full episode about the entire Atrous series and our rock star rmance book recs!
The Weight of It All by N.R. Walker
A story that’s explicitly working through how to write weight loss in romance without it curdling into fat-phobia — a harder needle to thread than most books in this genre even attempt.
Meg flagged this as “women’s fiction by with male characters’ because it’s less about the romance and more about Henry’s journey to loving himself, and realizing that he is lovable, through a relationship with Reid that starts as a personal training engagement, develops into a friendship, and eventually blooms into romance.
Listen to our full episode about The Weight of It All by N.R. Walker.
After an unexpected divorce, Nick is starting over his life and moves into a duplex, living alone for the first time in his life… next door to Bryce. He’s trying to figure out how to be single — especially since he was with his ex-wife since they were seventeen — so Bryce takes him out as his wingman…
And while they’re at the bar, they both realize they’d rather spend time with each other. Hmm. That’s interesting.
A slow-burn, double bi-awakening friendsto-lovers that you’ll love.
Meg once joked that Tal Bauer is 38% of the reason that the podcast exists (because Nikki’s first recommendation was her first Tal Bauer, which set the tone for the friendship).
So it’s no surprise to see Tal on this list with a single dad, bi-awakening romance. This one stars Luke, a recently divorced single dad, and Landon, the president of the football booster club who takes Luke under his wing. The two of them develop a friendship that eventually, beautifully, turns into more.
Arlo’s loved his brother’s best friend Jack since he was a teenager; Jack finally clocks it after one honest, drunk conversation in Amsterdam. Nikki’s read: “I like it when it is usually involving alcohol and someone saying something very true and unfiltered.”
Featured pick
A second Emmy Sanders book on this list, and it takes the Featured Pick because it is, for all intents and purposes, the perfect childhood-friends-to-lovers, bi-awakening book.
Wyatt has been in love with his straight best friend Easton since they were kids… and the day after Easton’s wedding, Wyatt leaves town, unable to handle seeing Easton’s happiness without him.
But when Easton’s wife dies in childbirth and he’s left alone with a newborn son, Wyatt moves home in a heartbeat. Together, they co-arent their son… and Wyatt never, ever shares his feelings for Easton.
FOR LIKE FIFTEEN YEARS THIS GOES ON. (Nikki is loving the yearning. Meg is dying and yelling at the book to just freaking tell him. Her ADHD does not have the patience for slow burns.)
But don’t worry, it all works out #BecauseRomance, and the way that it comes together is so hopelessly romantic that even Meg can wait it out.
And if you get to the end and think, “OMG that was so good, how willl I ever find another childhood best friends to lovers, bi-awakening, single dad cowboy romance?” Good news → Emmy Sanders also wrote Saddle to Sunup. You’re welcome.
Historical Friends to Lovers
Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
Even though Meg would primarily file this on her preferred shelf of “best friend’s brother” (basically her catnip), she also loves the epistelary friendship that happens prior to the start of this book — Penelope writing letters to Colin as he travels the continent.
Nikki’s angle for loving this one is jealousy, not romance — Colin realizes Penelope built a whole secret identity and life he never saw, and it needles him that she outgrew him first.
The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan
An unlikely pairing of a black cat, golden retriever who are childhood best friends and next door neighbors who secretly have a path between their gardens so they can spend every night together… doing botany (bet you didn’t expect that twist, huh?)
In the previous Brothers Sinister books, Sebastian earns a scandalous reputation as a genetist — which means (gasp!) giving giving lectures about sexual reproduction in plants and mammals. (Told you — scandal!)
But it turns out, he’s only the mouhtpiece — the true scientist is is childhood best friend Violet, a widowed countess who tried to get her research published and couldn’t, because she’s a woman. What happens when Sebastian refuses to keep presenting her work?
A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall (Transgender Heroine)
Justin’s childhood best friend died at the Battle of Waterloo … but not the way he thinks.
When Viola was presumed dead on the battlefield, she took the opportunity to truly live as herself … until she reconnects with her former best friend, who reciprocates feelings that she’s always had, that have always been impossible.
Meg’s sticking pretty close to the official blurb for this one for fear of spoilers, because it’s just too good and you don’t was us to give away any of the juicy reveals. Just trust us — this one’s worth it.
We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian
A 1950s newsroom brings together reporter Nick and future newspaper owner Andy. Nick is… well, not openly gay, because that wasn’t a thing in the 50s (although the rumblings were starting to make their way to The Village Voice), but he was actively gay. Bisexual Andy was unaware of his feelings for Nick until he was jilted… and then their friendship slowly begins to turn into more.
Friends to Lovers Honorable Mentions
We did a book readalong of The Deal before the Off-Campus series came out, and we don’t need to tell you how freaking cute Hannah and Garrett are as a couple. Nikki’s favorite part is just how unexpectedly hard Garrett falls for Hannah — and how he becomes a better version of himself when he’s with her.
Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren
Meg’s first-ever romance novel, read while recovering from gallbladder surgery, that opened the floodgates because she loved how Hazel was so wildly quirkly and didn’t tamp down her weirdness, but also didn’t fall into ‘manic pixie dream girl’ territory.
Hazel is the best friend that you want to do tequila shots with. Josh is the guy who cleans up the mess. Somehow, after multiple double dates of trying to help them meet other people, they realize they work. .
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
We saved this one for last because you really can’t have a ‘friends to lovers’ roundup without People We Meet on Vacation … but honestly? It’s not our favorite.
The travel scenes are delightful. It triggered NIkki’s fond memories of New Orleans so strongly that Meg almost bought a plane ticket.
But Poppy is just a mess. We think she’s supposed to read as cute-and-quirky (a la Josh & Hazel) but on the page she just comes off as indecisive and emotionally unavailable.
Read it if you’re a fan of the Love on Vacation trope, but not if you’re looking for a satisfying friends to lovers. (For more hot takes, check out our full rant about the Netflix adaptation.)
Want More Friends to Lovers vibes?
Check out our movie watch alongs:
Set It Up: The Workplace Friends-to-Lovers Rom Com We Deserve – If you, like Nikki, love everything that Zooey Deutsch touches, you’ll love this Parent Trap-style workplace rom com where two overworked assistants try to set up their bosses so that they can get some time off… and end up falling for each other instead.
Always Be My Maybe: Slow Burn, Old flames, and Keanu Reeves – A sweet story of childhood best friends/neighbors who had a falling out, then meet back up years later and have to decide whether to give their friendship another chance.
Plus? Keanu Reeves. You can’t lose!