Friends to Lovers by Sally Blakely

 

Friends to Lovers is the story of Joni and Ren.  Their mothers are best friends - have been forever.  Joni and Ren grew up together.  The two have always been best friends.  When Joni moves to the East coast leaving Ren in Portland their friendship is at risk but they make a point to always be the others plus one at weddings ensuring they see each other once a year at least.  

Here begins the slow transition from friendship to lovers. Told in alternating chapters between present day and weddings past the story of their friendship unravels.  There is two and a half years when they don't even talk to each other.  But now at Joni's sister's wedding it's time to talk things through and face tough subjects.  Say the things that have been unsaid.

At times I found this story a little too dragged out but ultimately I did enjoy the novel.  I enjoyed all the characters.  There's a musical theme to the story as well and at the end I found a playlist that I will give a listen to.  All in all I would say this is a great romance novel and recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading the friends to lovers trope.  Friends to Lovers would make a great beach read as most of the story line takes place at a cabin in Portland on the water.

The Retirement Plan by Sue Hincenbergs

 

The Retirement Plan is hilarious!  I'm pretty stingy with my five stars and this one got ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.  It fits with my cozy mystery vibe that I've been on and it made me laugh out loud.  I absolutely loved it!  

There are four couple friends that have all been best friends for over 30 years.  A few years ago one of the guys led the others to invest all their retirement money and lost it all and life hasn't been the same since.  This isn't what any of them envisioned retirement to be.  They all had pretty good marriages before they lost the retirement money but now the guys feel bad and the girls can barely look at their husbands.

But the husbands have a plan that will more than make up for the missing retirement money and win their wives back.  The wives also have a plan to make some money that definitely doesn't include their husbands.

This whole week I haven't stopped talking to people about The Retirement Plan.  This is the first novel for Sue Hincenbergs but after listening to her chat at a local library there are more books in the works.  This is definitely my favourite read so far this year - and I've read some great books.  Indigo has it on sale right now for 30% off because it's one of their best sellers.  I highly recommend you pick it up and read it this summer.