This Rec League was sent in by Sue:
In a recent episode with Kirsty Greenwood (maybe it was the bonus episode?), Sarah mentioned that books where the heroine has lost EVERYTHING and has no friends can be irritating, even if they are useful for the book plot.
This is a personal pet peeve of mine too, and can keep me from recommending a book after I’ve finished it. Tessa Bailey is maybe the most guilty of this, and yet I read so many of her books. I’ll usually enjoy the hell out of the book while I’m reading it, but afterwards I’ll realize that the heroine had NO friends. I realize that maybe a lot of book series centers around female friend groups so maybe that’s why I don’t really notice it until it’s missing?
Anyway, what I mean is, I’d love to hear your recommendations for books where you felt like the heroine had a lot going for her and had a very supportive friend group.
Amanda: I’d mention the Hudson Valley series by Alice Clayton. If I recall, two out of the three heroines are doing well in their careers. The heroine of book one is running her mother’s diner and trying to figure out what’s next for her chef career. All three are great friends and their professional expertise is what puts them in the heroes’ orbits.
There are several scenes with all three women hanging out or on a group call/chat.
Sarah: There are lots of series that center around groups of friends or sisters + friends, but I’m trying to think of titles or series where I remember the friendship and the strength and depth of it as much as the romance.
“Friendship as sequel bait” is different in my mind than “romances that have a supportive friend group in them.”
Amanda: That’s a good distinction!
Sarah: Thank you. I’m trying to be specific about how I see the difference, but basically, populating a book with “friends” who show up mostly as foundational work for future books isn’t friendship so much as a plot mechanism. It’s similar to the Bechdel Test except it’s more than a conversation as a measurement.
For example, The Diablo Lake series by Lauren Dane, which is a rural paranormal world, has a lovely set of friends who support each other, alongside a lot of local ties into the town that are separate from the romantic pairings and make the setting and the community more vivid and memorable. The romantic relationship is not the only one with narrative investment.
What books would you recommend? Let us know in the comments!
Penny Reid’s KNITTING IN THE CITY series has a wonderful group of supportive friends. They do all get their own books, but the friendships themselves are definitely more than minor plot points. The premise is that they found each other through knitting and have regular knit nights at each other’s houses where they commiserate, drink, and engage in various fiber-based crafts.
I’m with SBSarah. Something I like about pretty much all of Lauren Dane’s books is the strong and prevalent friendships/friend groups. The MCs don’t have a friend, they have a whole friend groups. They do friend things: movie nights, brunch, after work drinks, hanging out at the pool. I love this about her books, and she excels at it.
Pamela Clare also manages to do friend circles pretty well. They start as work relationships, but last beyond someone’s employment (how often does that happen in real life?) giving the sense of a rock solid support system that welcomes newcomers.
Pippa Grant’s books feature strong (and often hilarious) friend circles. I recommend the Copper Valley Bro Code, 3 BFFs & a Wedding, and Copper Valley Fireballs series.
This was harder than I realized. Most of what I’ve seen is family as best friend/support system (Jackie Lau), or friend(s) gained. YA and college can be easier, like life. Most of these recs don’t have both preexisting friends and a lot going for FMC, presumably for more setup tension.
Maybe:
The Wedding Season (Birchall)
The Last Word (Birchall)
The Second Chance Year (Weisner)
By Any Other Name (Kate)
Written in the Stars (Bellefleur)
Story of My Life (Score)
Playing Flirty (Patel)
Maple Hills series (Grace)
Billionaire series (Annika Martin)
And:
https://www.reddit.com/r/RomanceBooks/comments/wtbw4h/books_with_female_friendships_as_well_as_romance/
Jenny Holiday’s two funny Regencies, Earls Trip and Manic Pixie Dream Earl, have at their core the friendship between three men–Archie, Effie, and Simon. They are BFFs, they support each other (I knew I was going to like the first book when Effie and Simon pay their respects to Archie’s mom, who is sundowning, with courtesy and compassion), and the Earls Trip is their annual trip to spend a few days hanging out together and reinforcing their bond. The romances in each book don’t take second place–each man talks about his feelings and concerns with his friends, and it’s made pretty clear to the FMCs that she if she gets her man, his two friends are kind of a package deal with him.
I really like Farrah Rochon’s Boyfriend Project series. The friendship between the women may be better than the romance but ymmv.
I just read a Kristen Ashley book, Night’s Fall, that had a strong friend group. I seem to recall that Lisa Kleypas’ Wallflowers had get togethers beyond time spent in ballrooms.
LOVING Scarlett Peckham’s Society of Sirens series – great friendships rooted in a common cause and similarly scandalous reputations.
Sarina Bowen has some friend groups in the college hockey books, and the Vermont romances. Cathy Yardley’s Ponto Beach series has a friend group with people reconnecting after time apart.
I think many of Bryce Oakley’s F/F novels provide good examples of friendships, especially in the 3-book “Latitude and Longing” series that features a group of 37-year-olds who have known each other since college. The friend group that surrounds the central MCs in each book plays a significant role in the story, and I liked that these women aren’t perfectly good friends all of the time– the interactions and relationships among the friends include some bad times as well as better times, and even when strained, the friendships seemed authentic to me.
In m/m, Alex’s Hall’s London Calling series has a hilarious (orientation-switched homage to Bridget Jones’s) circle of friends supporting the hapless POV character. They’re great.
Sarah MacLean’s Hell’s Belles Novels would fit. There is a general trend of the hero’s working towards becoming accomplices of the heroine’s friend’s group and their endeavors. I’d second Lisa Kleypas’ Wallflowers series. Nalini Singh’s Rock Addiction and Rock Hard may fit since the two heroine’s are best friends and that is a prominent plot line throughout the books.
The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber might fit, though my memory is that it is more women’s fiction with a romantic subplot than straight romance. It follows the lives of four women with very different lives who bond while taking a knitting class.
Any of Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling books with significant sections set in the changeling packs work for this, and it’s not just the women — she spends a lot of time showing how supportive and responsive the well-run packs are to their members mental and physical health. I’d specifically say Branded by Fire (romance between characters in 2 neighboring packs) or Silver Silence (psy holes up for safety in a bear den) would be good for this.
Jennifer Crusie is very good at portraying supportive female friendships. FAST WOMEN is one of the best in this regard, but there are lots of other examples in her books.
Older series: Fool’s Gold by Susan Mallery
Liz Alden has an enjoyable series called AGED LIKE FINE WINE, that features 4 women in their early 40’s who became close friends several years ago. When one of the women gets a year long assignment in Madrid, the other three (all of whom are single due to breakups or divorce) decide to figure out a way to go to Europe for a year also. They end up in Portugal, Germany, Spain and Italy and in addition to the individual romance in each book, they meet regularly throughout the books in various European cities for fun girls weekends and provide lots of support to each through a long-running group text. The author wrote the first three books 3 yrs ago then struggled with the final story, CAVA WITH MY COLLEAGUE, but it’s finally being released next week.
I’d also recommend three paranormal women’s fiction series written by Elizabeth Hunter. The series are GLIMMER LAKE, set in a small town in the Sierra Nevadas, MOONSTONE COVE set on the Central CA coast, and VISTA DE LIRIO, set in Palm Springs. In Glimmer Lake, the three women at the heart of the series are already close friends when they suddenly gain psychic powers. In the other two series, the three women don’t know each other but gain psychic powers through the same event, then meet, and become close friends over the course of the series. There’s a a featured romance in every book but these are more women’s fiction than romance. I loved all three series.
I was going to say Crusie too.
Nora Roberts is good on friendship – the Bride Quartet, starting with Vision in White, for instance (and the heroines meet the other criterion of having a lot going for them). The friends do generally have sequels of their own, though.
Ilona Andrews is so good at this, as Nalini Singh as someone already mentioned. I also think Rachel Reid writes friend banter really well, especially in Tough Guy and The Shots You Take. A more recent discovery, Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon by Annie Mare has incredible depth to the friendships, it was one of the things I loved most about it.
Circling back to add that ROSE WITH MY FAKE FIANCE by Liz Alden, which is the start of her Aged Like Fine Wine series, featuring a supportive friend group of women in their 40’s who move to Europe and rejuvenate their lives, is FREE today as part of the Stuff Your E-Reader one day promotion.
Kate Canterbary’s Friendship, Rhode Island series has a very solid girl-group friendship.
Lish McBride’s two biggest series feature strong mixed-gender friend groups. She’s funny and slightly absurd and overall upbeat, although some elements can get dark (I would call her cozy-adjacent). The adult contemporary fantasy romance series starts with “A Little Too Familiar” and her some-heat YA fantasy series starts with “Hold Me Closer, Necromancer.”