AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “THE FRIENDSHIP LIST is a must. Susan Mallery is at the top of her game.”–Fresh Fiction “Mallery beautifully illustrates the power of female friendship and the importance of reaching for one’s dreams. This irresistible, heartfelt story will appeal to romance readers and women’s fiction fans alike.”–Publishers Weekly “The Friendship List is a sassy, … Weekly
“The Friendship List is a sassy, sensuous tale about two women who discover their femininity for the first time.” –New York Journal of Books
“Best Book of August 2020.”–CNN.com
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.
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.
Single mom Ellen Fox couldn’t be more content–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.
Don’t miss The Summer Getaway by Susan Mallery where one woman discovers the beauty in chaos in a poignant and heartwarming story about the threads that hold family together.
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This book was not at all what I was expecting. Two women who have been friends forever, but are both frozen in time for different reasons. They each make a list of things to do that scare them and are going to try to come out of their shells….maybe? I really appreciated the relationship between the women as well as the talk about therapy and grieving.
This was a very entertaining book. The premise of the story was original, and the characters were engaging. The message was upbeat and the ending happy.
Susan Mallery does it again! She not only wrote my favorite series (Fool’s Gold), she writes exceptional stand a lone books, this being the latest. I love both the main characters, Unity and Ellen. Both have sadness in their backgrounds but they are determined to overcome them with lists they have made of things that are not what they would usually do. It’s such a fun book full of friendship, love and healing.
Perfect read for the beach…quick, engaging, easy to pick up and get lost in. I love friendship stories, the background, the dynamics. In that respect, I felt this was an honest look at two lifelong friends that grew up together and are more like sisters.
Ellen is a single Mom who got pregnant at 17 with son Coop. Unity is a widow, who was raised by Ellen’s parents after her own died. I enjoyed the friendship between the women, but separately, I found them both about annoying and somewhat immature, as they wallowed in self pity, blaming, basically, Ellen’s parents for everything. Both women are relatively young, early 30s, and closed off from the outside world looking for something more in a small area, refusing to look at the bigger picture.
Loved the idea of the list, each women challenging the other to try new experiences. This part of the story got lost somewhere around the middle of the book. I really expected to bond with and relate to the characters, But sadly couldn’t. I enjoyed all the other characters, especially Dagmar. I felt all the characters were more realistic than Ellen and Unity. I am no prude, but there were far too many graphic sex scenes, which seemed to dominate the middle of the book.
Thanks to Ms. Mallery, Harlequin and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.
Good read
I have read alot of this author’s books. And I have to say this is the best one yet! I love the characters , the growth they each gain from the journeys they take when checking off the items off the list they come up with to get out of the rut they find themselves in .I love that the characters are older , one is young windowed and one is single with a kid going off to college .They both need to find themselves and live life to the fullest .Perfect read would give more stars if could .
The two main characters in this book are each “stuck” emotionally and so decide to create a list of activities which will hopefully expand their horizons. There are so many hilarious moments that readers will find themselves laughing uproariously throughout the book as they predict how the adventures will turn out! All of us can identify with the struggles of the characters and cheer them on as they endeavor to make sense of their world. A great read!
A captivating story of two people that choose to start living their lives again after love and loss. This book put all of my emotions through the ringer, between tears of sorrow and laughter, my heart is inspired by these stories. Ellen has basically put her entire life on hold to raise her son since she was a teenager, and she’s determined to show him that she can have a life of her own if he goes away to college. Unity on the other hand…her story is so heart-breaking – being a widow at such a young age, never believing she can achieve any of her life goals now that she’s alone…I was torn between wanting to hug her or shake some life back into her. This is a book that will inspire you to take chances and live your life to the fullest, and for that I will be forever grateful!
I love Susan Mallery books but this one fell a little short for me. It wasn’t believable. I could believe the stage in life Unity and Ellen each found themselves in but I found their solutions to fixing their problems unbelievable. I disliked how the football coach talked to his teenage daughter and went through her things, putting her on and then checking her birth control pills, etc. even though she told him she wasn’t having sex. It was a little creepy to me. Poor girl. To me, this would just encourage her to act out. She kept telling her dad she wasn’t doing anything wrong. There was no trust there. I can’t imagine living under that kind of duress. The writing was exceptional as always, it was the plot I couldn’t quite grasp.
Another fantastic book by one of my favorite authors. Susan Mallery has written another gem with this story of personal growth. The two main characters, Ellen and Unity decided that they want to challenge themselves to make changes in their lives to try to make their futures happier, instead of settling on their small controlled lives. They make a Friendship List, which contains tasks that are scary, but hopefully will help them escape the safe borders they have built around themselves.
I enjoyed this book and it definitely is a must read for all fans of emotional Women’s Fiction.
The chick lit book to read if you’re ever in a rut! It was cute and funny- just what I needed as a quarantine read. No war, murder, politics- just fun romance. Susan Mallery never disappoints in providing a great read that can be shared with friends.
I loved this book. I enjoy stories that draw me in and make me feel what the characters are feeling, like this one does. A happy ending is also a plus.
Ellen and Unity were made to be friends. The characters and storyline kept me engaged from the beginning. It was heartwarming, laugh out loud and a beautiful ending. Thanks again to Susan Mallery for not disappointing with this book.
This is a story of two friends with different baggage in their pasts that aren’t living their presents and are blocking their futures. One night, after a little too much wine they come up with lists to take them out of their comfort zones with a prize of a spa trip. Both Ellen and Unity begin to check items of their lists, their healing begins. Only life it not so easy and the struggle is real.
This is a wonderful story of friendship and the pain and challenges of moving on and forward.
As usual, Susan Mallery has delivered an intriguing and thought provoking story as well as an enjoyable read. The story has many threads but they are combined by a master weaver. Susan Mallery is the kind of author where you notice different things each time you read the book. The characters are likable and complex.
I voluntarily offered to review this book with no obligations and my opinions are honest
It was a great book!
This book was about personal + emotional growth.
Ellen is a single mom living for her son.
Unity is a widow afraid to let go.
Now, they are trying to learn that there is so much more to life.
They start with a list as a challenge to themselves.
Along the way, the list turned to something more.
The characters + storytelling were very captivating
It has all the ingredients that you need for an awesome book!
It is a totally must read.
I love Susan Mallery books and this one was no different. Great book and cover for reading on the beach (which i did). This book was about love as much as it was about friendship. I kinda liked the love mode. I loved how we got few points from all 4 main characters. So two couples stories interweave with friendship, love and loss. Only reason it’s not 5 stars because it was a little long with some of the same issues over and over but not enough that I didn’t enjoy reading. I wanted more of the epilogue. Great read.
I had forgotten how great Susan Mallory was at introducing and growing characters. This books storyline was perfect for this skill. Upon finishing this book I quickly looked to see if there were any more of Mallory’s books that I had missed. If only she could write and publish books as fast as I can read them. Guess I’ll have to wait for her pre-publication books to arrive on my Kindle.
I enjoyed Susan Mallery’s “The Friendship List” primarily because of its unique mix of romance and women’s fiction. A lot of time was spent developing two central romances, the first between single parents Ellen and Keith and the second between widow Unity and wealthy bachelor Thaddeus. However, to me the most important relationship in the book was the lifelong friendship between female leads Unity and Ellen. I really loved the way they always supported each other and that they acted like sisters as much as best friends. They rarely fought, but when they did, they missed each other so much that they couldn’t even go a full day without making up.
Unfortunately, when the story began Ellen and Unity’s strong friendship actually seemed to be holding them back from moving forward with their lives. Neither was willing to push the other out of the rut they’d fallen into, and as a result, Unity remained mired in grief over her husband Stuart’s death three years earlier and Ellen hadn’t dated since her teenage son, Cooper, was born. It wasn’t until Ellen accidentally overheard Cooper making plans to give up his dream of going away to college to stay home with her that she realized something had to change. The Friendship List was born out of Unity’s determination to help her friend figure out a way to convince Cooper that she could make it on her own, and the story really took off from there.
Unity and Ellen’s competition to complete the items on the list was a lot of fun, and it was a great motivation for each of them to finally get of their comfort zone. Not all of the challenges were easy, however, and Unity really struggled with anything that meant letting go of her old life with Stuart. Fortunately, her love interest, Thaddeus, was very patient with her as she worked through her grief, and after a few false starts, Unity finally realized that she was ready to take a risk on love again. Ellen and Keith also had to overcome several obstacles as they transitioned from friends to lovers, but I enjoyed their banter and it was very easy for me to cheer them on to their HEA.
Overall, “The Friendship List” was an enjoyable read and I recommend it for all fans of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. I look forward to seeing what Susan Mallery writes next!
*ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.
I loved this book. Very good characters.
This was a good book.. I enjoyed reading it and got thru it quickly. It’s more of a mid life crisis kind of book and you read how Ellen and Unity move out and on with their lives. Ellen decides to show her son shes okay on her own and he can go off to college. It was interesting to see what was included on their bucket list and seeing how they finally were able to move on with their lives. Definitely recommend as a feel good book.