The Friendship List: A Novel

4.5 stars. The Friendship List by Susan Mallery is a warm and inviting novel of friendship, new beginnings and love. Thirty-four year old Ellen Fox and Unity Leandre are lifelong best friends who support each other in good times and bad. But sometimes that support can contribute to clinging to unhealthy habits and decisions. Ellen gets a wake-up call from an overhead discussion between her seventeen year old son Cooper and one of his friends. So, the women put their heads together and devise a series of challenges that will force them out of their regular routines. But will Ellen and Unity overcome the habits that are keeping them from living life to its fullest? Ellen is a single mom and teaches at the local high school. She and Cooper have a fantastic relationship but she is stunned and worried that her son believes she cannot live without him nearby. Ellen surprisingly jumps into checking the challenges off her list. But little does she realize how much one of those items on the list is going to change her life. Three years ago, Unity moved back to her home town following her husband Stuart’s death. She moved into her husband’s childhood home and she is surrounded by memories of him. Unity also begins working her way through the items on her list. However, she quickly discovers how reluctant she is to deal with some of the issues that are preventing her from moving forward. With a lot on the line for her, Unity must decide whether or not she will take the necessary steps that will allow her to make peace with her past. With wry humor and realistic issues, The Friendship List is an uplifting and entertaining novel. Ellen and Unity are vibrantly drawn characters who are charming yet occasionally frustrating. They find themselves in relationships with wonderful men but both women tend to self-sabotage their respective romances. Susan Mallery brings this charming novel to a heartfelt, happy conclusion. I highly recommend this beautifully written story to readers of contemporary fiction. I received a complimentary copy for review.

As with every Susan Mallery book I have been lucky enough to stumble upon, The Friendship List was better than an all-day all-you-can-eat and carryout trip to Willy Wonka’s. It was good fun with several cleverly written, witty, and highly entertaining storylines that held something for everyone. I adore and covet Susan Mallery’s writing style, she is a master storyteller and I quickly fall into her smoothly scrolling tales that seem to be populated with oddly endearing characters who are delightfully easy to know while realistically flawed and endeavoring for improvement. Her dialogues and observant narratives are crisp and lively yet comfortable and a pleasure to navigate. Of course, my favorite character in this tale was the all-wise and lovely Dagmar, a woman I am sure was crafted by the use of hidden cameras following me! While I didn’t have one thing in common with the main characters I enjoyed them anyway. Unity was a grieving young widow who was stagnant and unable to move on even after three years, and Ellen was a single mom of a teen who had not been on a date since becoming pregnant as a teen herself. Their friendship and sassy banter sparkled with delightful humor and were a welcome reprieve and absolute joy after a reading a slate of tense thrillers. I have decided I need a regular infusion of Susan Mallery in my life for good balance.

The Friendship List by Susan Mallery Ellen Fox and Unity Leandre are the best friends and who the book is about. Ellen and Unity are best friends who support each other but decide that they both need a change and that the best way to make the changes is to make lists and see who gets the most done on the list and they will treat the other to a weekend at a spa. Ellen is raising her 17 year old son Cooper on her own and has been friends with Keith Kinne who is raising his 17 year old daughter Lissa. They go on 10 day college tour and one thing leads to another and they are making love and hiding it from the kids. When they get back home he says everything has changed and that he wants a real relationship love and marriage they have issues to work through to get to their happily ever after. Unity is grieving the lost of her husband three years ago and needs to move on with her life. She meets Thaddeus Roake while at her friend Dagmar's house and they start dating. He asks her out and she starts dating him but is still in love with her dead husband and she has lots of issues to work through but she does work through them and makes changes in her life. They work their problems out and have a happily ever after. I really enjoyed this book that showed a bunch of things about relationships and friendship. Hope that anyone who reads it enjoys it as much as i did.