If you love to read romance novels, you must be familiar with the several romance tropes that authors spin their stories around. One such trope is the “friends to lovers” trope, which is very popular in the romance genre, and for good reason.
I have already made a list of the best enemies to lovers books, so it was time to tackle a related topic. That’s why I have created this list featuring the best friends to lovers books to read this year!
One of the defining characteristics of best friends to lovers books is the slow burn. Unlike other romance tropes, where the attraction is immediate and intense, the friends-to-lovers trope is characterized by a gradual build-up of romantic tension. The characters start as friends, and over time, they begin to see each other in a different light.
Another common characteristic of the friends to lovers books is the emphasis on emotional intimacy. Because the characters start as friends, they often deeply understand each other’s hopes, dreams, and fears. This emotional connection draws them together and makes their eventual romantic relationship all the more meaningful.
If you are intrigued by this trope and want to read books focusing on it but don’t know where to start, we’ve got you covered! In this article, I have prepared a curated list of some of the most popular romance novels focusing on the friends to lovers trope you should read as soon as possible!
Best Friends to Lovers Books of 2024
1. The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams
My name is Bree Camden, and I’m hopelessly in love with my best friend and star quarterback, Nathan Donelson (so is half of America, judging by the tabloids and how much the guy dates). The first step is admitting, right? Except, I can never admit it to him because he doesn’t see me that way, and the last thing I want is for things to get weird between us.
Nothing but good old-fashioned, no-touching-the-sexiest-man-alive, platonic friendship for us! Everything is exactly how I like it!
Our friendship was going swimmingly until I accidentally spilled my beans to a reporter over too much tequila, and now the world seems to think that Nathan and I belong together. Oh, and we have to date publicly for three weeks until after the Super Bowl because we signed a contract with… oops, I forgot, I can’t tell anyone about that!
The bottom line is that now my best friend is smudging all the lines and acting very unplatonic, and I’m just trying to keep my body from bursting into flames every time he touches me!
2. Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren
Hazel Camille Bradford knows she’s a lot to take—and most men aren’t up to the challenge. If her army of pets and thrill for the absurd don’t send them running, her lack of filter means she’ll say exactly the wrong thing in a delicate moment. Their loss. She’s a good soul in search of honest fun.
Since college, Josh Im has known Hazel, whose zany playfulness proved completely incompatible with his mellow restraint. From the first night they met—when she gracelessly threw up on his shoes—to when she sent him an unintelligible email while in a post-surgical haze, Josh has always thought of Hazel more as a spectacle than a peer.
But now, ten years later, after a cheating girlfriend has turned his life upside down, going out with Hazel is a breath of fresh air.
Not that Josh and Hazel date. At least not each other. Because setting each other up on progressively terrible double blind dates means there’s nothing between them… right?
3. Funny Feelings by Tarah DeWitt
Farley Jones is a loud, chaotic, and hilariously clever standup comedian on the way to stardom. The only thing she loves more than the rush to tell jokes in front of a revved-up audience is her hot older manager, Meyer, though he doesn’t know.
Keeping her feelings hidden from him is agony, but Meyer has been Farley’s closest and most treasured friend, not to mention vital to her career trajectory. She can’t risk ruining their relationship by telling him how she truly feels. After all, who else would have the patience to put up with a hot mess like her?
A former standup star himself, single father Meyer Harrigan left the stage years ago to focus on raising his deaf daughter Hazel. Farley has been everything to them since she came into their lives three years ago. Despite his grumpiness, his protectiveness over Hazel, and his disdain for public attention, Meyer will do anything to make her standup dreams come true.
When the biggest opportunity of Farley’s career comes along and forces the pair to fake date to stir up publicity, it doesn’t take long for their act to bring all those other funny feelings out into the open.
4. Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
Everyone knows that Colin Bridgerton is the most charming man in London. Penelope Featherington has secretly adored her best friend’s brother for… well, it feels like forever. After half a lifetime of watching Colin from afar, she thinks she knows everything about him until she stumbles across his deepest secret… and fears she doesn’t know him at all.
Colin Bridgerton is tired of being thought nothing but an empty-headed charmer, tired of everyone’s preoccupation with the notorious gossip columnist Lady Whistledown, who can’t seem to publish an edition without mentioning him in the first paragraph.
But when Colin returns to London from a trip abroad, he discovers that nothing in his life is quite the same – especially Penelope Featherington! The girl is haunting his dreams. But when he discovers that Penelope has secrets of her own, this elusive bachelor must decide… is she his biggest threat or his promise of a happy ending?
5. Wasted Words by Staci Hart
Some universal truths refuse to be ignored. Peanut butter and jelly are a match made in heaven. Spaghetti and meatballs are best friends forever. And guys like Tyler Knight don’t go for girls like Cam Emerson.
She knew from the second she met him that he didn’t belong on her bookshelf, the six-foot-six ex-tight end with a face so all-American it could have sold apple pie. So she shelved him next to the supermodels and rock stars and took her place on her shelf—the one with the flannel-clad, pasty-faced comic book nerds.
Most of her boyfriends have existed between the pages of books, but rather than worrying over her own lacking love life, she puts all her energy into playing Cupid, using her job at the book bar, Wasted Words, as her stomping ground.
Tyler Knight always looks on the bright side. His career-ending injury turned into a job as a sports agent. A horrible breakup led him to Cam, his quirky, smart roommate, who is far more beautiful than she realizes. She’s made it perfectly clear she’s not interested in him—not like that, at least—but if she ever changes her mind, he won’t hesitate!
6. Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey
King crab fisherman Fox Thornton has a reputation as a sexy, carefree flirt. Everyone knows he’s a guaranteed good time—in bed and out—and that’s exactly how he prefers it until he meets Hannah Bellinger.
She’s immune to his charm and looks, but she seems to enjoy his… personality? And wants to be friends? Bizarre. But he likes her too much to risk a fling, so platonic pals it is.
Now, Hannah’s in town for work, crashing in Fox’s spare bedroom. She knows he’s a notorious ladies’ man, but they’re just friends. In fact, she’s nursing a hopeless crush on a colleague, and Fox is the only person who can help with her lackluster love life.
Armed with a few tips from Westport’s resident Casanova, Hannah sets out to catch her coworker’s eye… yet the more time she spends with Fox, the more she wants him instead. As the line between friendship and flirtation begins to blur, Hannah can’t deny she loves everything about Fox, but she refuses to be another notch on his bedpost.
7. A Long Time Coming by Meghan Quinn
Have you ever heard of a man-in-waiting? Yeah, neither has my best friend’s soon-to-be monster-in-law. Ooo, sorry, I meant mother-in-law. Nor has she heard of the term, what the bride wants, the bride gets.
With wedding planning underway and a short timeline, my best friend, Lia, has recruited me to help her battle the snarly beast that is Mrs. Beaver. Not scared at all, I accept the challenge as her man-in-waiting—aka, the man of honor—and take matters into my own hands.
The only problem is that as we draw closer to the wedding, I’m starting to see my best girl in a different light.
She’s always been beautiful to me, but now… I find myself staring a touch too long. And before I know what’s happening, it hits me like a ton of bricks. I’m in love with my best friend. Not just in love, but infatuated.
This means that there’s only one thing left for me to do. Prove to Lia I’m the one she should be with instead. But with the pressure of her engagement, the stress from her soon-to-be mother-in-law, and the breath-stealing nerves running through me, I’m finding it much harder to claim the girl than I would like to admit.
8. Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison
A pasture of dead trees. A hostile takeover of the Santa barn by a family of raccoons. And shipments that have mysteriously gone missing. Lovelight Farms is not the magical winter wonderland of Stella Bloom’s dreams.
To save the Christmas tree farm she’s loved since she was a kid, Stella enters a contest with Instagram-famous influencer Evelyn St. James. With the added publicity and the $100,000 cash prize, Stella might just be able to save the farm from its financial woes.
There’s just one problem. To make the farm seem like a romantic holiday destination, she lied on her application and said she owns Lovelight Farms with her boyfriend. Only… there is no boyfriend.
Enter best friend Luka Peters. He just stopped by for some hot chocolate and somehow got a farm and a serious girlfriend in the process. But fake dating his best friend might be the best Christmas present he’s ever received.
9. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
Poppy and Alex have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car shared home from college many years ago, they are the best of friends.
For most of the year, they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.
Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven’t spoken since.
Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.
Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she could get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?
Also Read: All Emily Henry Books in Order
10. Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
Danika Brown knows what she wants: professional success, academic renown, and an occasional roll in the hay to relieve all that career-driven tension. But romance? Been there, done that, burned the T-shirt.
Romantic partners, whatever their gender, are a distraction at best and a drain at worst. So Dani asks the universe for the perfect friend-with-benefits—someone who knows the score and knows their way around the bedroom.
When brooding security guard Zafir Ansari rescues Dani from a workplace fire drill gone wrong, it’s an obvious sign: PhD student Dani and ex-rugby player Zaf are destined to sleep together. But before she can explain that fact, a video of the heroic rescue goes viral.
Now half the internet is shipping #DrRugbae—and Zaf is begging Dani to play along. It turns out that his sports charity for kids could really use the publicity. Lying to help children? Who on earth would refuse?
Dani’s plan is simple: fake a relationship in public and seduce Zaf behind the scenes. The trouble is, grumpy Zaf’s secretly a hopeless romantic—and he’s determined to corrupt Dani’s stone-cold realism. Before long, he’s tackling her fears into the dirt. But the former sports star has issues of his own, and the walls around his heart are as thick as his… um, thighs.
11. If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales & Cale Dietrich
Eighteen-year-olds Ruben Montez and Zach Knight are two members of the boy band Saturday, one of the biggest acts in America. Along with their bandmates, Angel Phan and Jon Braxton, the four are teen heartbreakers in front of the cameras and best friends backstage.
But privately, cracks are starting to form: their once-easy rapport is straining under the pressures of fame, and Ruben confides in Zach that he’s feeling smothered by management’s pressure to stay in the closet.
On a whirlwind tour through Europe, with both an unrelenting schedule and minimal supervision, Ruben and Zach come to rely on each other more and more, and their already close friendship evolves into a romance.
But when they decide they’re ready to tell their fans and live freely, Zach and Ruben realize that their management will never support them. How can they hold tight to each other when the whole world wants to come between them?
12. The Summer Girl by Elle Kennedy
College student Cassie Soul hasn’t spent an entire summer in Avalon Bay in years, not since her parents divorced and her mother spitefully whisked her away to Boston. Now that her grandmother is selling the boardwalk hotel that’s been in their family for five decades, Cassie returns to the quaint beach town to spend time with family, ring in her twenty-first birthday… and maybe find herself a summer fling.
On her first night in town, she finds the perfect candidate: Tate Bartlett, Avalon Bay’s fun-loving golden boy.
Tate, a sailing instructor and lovable player, is no stranger to flings. He’s always down for a good time, but when he meets Cassie, he knows she’s not the girl you play games with. Cassie is gorgeous, hilarious, and the coolest person he’s ever met. The last thing he wants to do is risk breaking her heart, so he reluctantly puts her in the friend zone… only to realize he made a huge mistake.
Soon, his attraction to Cassie becomes impossible to ignore. He wants that fling now. Big-time. And maybe even something more!
13. Not So Nice Guy by R.S. Grey
“Oh my god. Who is that?” I get asked this question a lot.
“Oh, him?” I reply. “That’s just Ian.”
Just Ian is the biggest understatement of the century. Just the Mona Lisa. Just the Taj Mahal. Just Ian, with his boring ol’ washboard abs and dime-a-dozen dimpled smile.
Just Ian is… just my best friend. We’re incredibly close, stuck so deep inside a Jim-and-Pam-style friendzone everyone at work assumes we’re a couple—that is until one day, word spreads through the teacher’s lounge that he’s single.
Suddenly, it’s open season for Ian. He should be reveling in all the newfound attention, but to our mutual surprise, the only attention he seems to want is mine. He’s turning our formerly innocent nightly chats into X-rated phone calls. Our playful banter sports a new, dangerous edge. I want to assume he’s playing a prank on me, just pushing my buttons like always—but when Ian lifts me onto the desk in my classroom and slides his hands up my skirt, he doesn’t leave much room for confusion.
I’m a little scared of things going south, of losing my best friend because I can’t keep my hands to myself. So, I’m just going to back away and not return this earth-shattering kiss—oh, who am I kidding?! Goodbye Ian, ol’ buddy, ol’ pal!
14. Him by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy
Jamie Canning has never figured out how he lost his closest friend. Four years ago, his tattooed, wise-cracking, rule-breaking roommate cut him off without an explanation. So what if things got a little weird on the last night of hockey camp the summer they were eighteen? It was just a little drunken foolishness. Nobody died.
Ryan Wesley’s biggest regret is coaxing his very straight friend into a bet that pushed the boundaries of their relationship. With their college teams set to face off at the national championship, he’ll finally get a chance to apologize. But all it takes is one look at his longtime crush, and the ache is stronger than ever.
Jamie has waited a long time for answers but walks away with only more questions—can one night of sex ruin a friendship? If not, how about six more weeks of it? When Wesley turns up to coach alongside Jamie for one more hot summer at camp, Jamie has a few things to discover about his old friend… and a big one to learn about himself.
15. Addicted to You by Krista Ritchie & Becca Ritchie
No one would suspect shy Lily Calloway’s biggest secret. While everyone is dancing at college bars, Lily stays in the bathroom. To get laid. Her compulsion leads her to one-night stands, steamy hookups, and events she shamefully regrets. The only person who knows her secret happens to have one of his own.
Loren Hale’s best friend is his bottle of bourbon, and Lily is a close second. For three years, they’ve pretended to be in a real relationship, hiding their addictions from their families. They’ve mastered the art of concealing flasks and random guys who filter in and out of their apartment.
But as they sink beneath the weight of their addictions, they cling harder to their destructive relationship and wonder if a life together, for real, is better than a lie. Strangers and family begin to infiltrate their guarded lives, and with new challenges, they realize they may not just be addicted to alcohol and sex. Their real vice may be each other!
Conclusion
You’ve now been introduced to some of the best friends to lovers books out there, and hopefully, you’ve found something that piques your interest.
Remember, these books aren’t just about romance; they’re about the power of friendship and the journey to discover what you truly want. If what you truly want happens to be your best friend, these books will become your guide and something that you cherish for a long time.
So, grab a copy of one of these best friends to lovers books, curl up on the couch with a cozy blanket and a cup of tea, and enjoy the ride. And don’t forget to share your thoughts with your friends!
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