Reader Recommendations – Our favorite books featuring childhood friends to adult lovers

CHILDHOOD FRIENDS TO ADULT LOVERS FAVORITES!! In the mood for ’em? We got ’em!!! 😀 Of course for me, “The Sweet Gum Tree” is my number one on this list!!

Leslie M: …do you have a list of “childhood friends to adult lovers” type list? Someone on GR was asking for recs and I absolutely LOVE books where the couple knew each other as children. I have a thing for books with flashbacks.

bev: childhood friends/sweetheart type? I love those!

Michelle: I love this list so much. Some of my favourites and lots of new ones to read. Thank you 😊

Amy: Yay! Can’t wait to check out some of these that I haven’t read yet.

Leslie M: …I adore stories where couple were childhood friends (or enemies). The flashbacks are always so fun. In fact, I am reading one now with childhood flashbacks. Come to Me Quietly by A.L. Jackson.

Autumn: Great list! The Sweet Gum Tree is an all-time fav of mine!

READER RECOMMENDATIONS:

Amy: The Sweet Gum Tree by Katherine Allred is one of my favorites!!

Michelle: I need to read Sweet Gum Tree now. thank you

R: I’m LOVING The Sweet Gum Tree. OMG you guys talked about awkward crushes on Josh Bennett (SoT), this is way worse!! Nick is going to break me. I can feel it.

Cheryl: Landslide makes me think of Sweet Gum Tree, A Second Chance in Paris and The Mason List; childhood friends who become more. Tissues anyone?

Kim: I just read Landslide. Oh my..what a book. The writing is incredibly beautiful and poetic and the story is angst and heartbreaking. ..and the twist?? Freaking fantastic

Samantha: Woah! Landslide was an excellent book. This is the worst book hangover I’ve had since Beautiful Disaster, Thoughtless, etc. This has one of the best written epilogues I’ve ever read and I needed tissues. The writing was great, plot was real feeling and the MC’s were both relatable. I laughed, cried and at times wanted to scream and slap someone. Perfect mix of romance, suspense, and gave me all the “feels’.

Tiffany: Wish You Were Mine: A heart-wrenching story about first loves and second chances by Tara Sivec is another great one! This is a great list!!

Cheryl: I started reading Up in the Treehouse. Reminiscent of The Sweet Gum Tree, The Mason List and another book I can’t remember the title to that is about male cousins? that grow up with a girl at a ?horse farm and she loves them both, but chooses one over the other. So far so good.

Jean: Just want to mention, I just finished My Skylar by Penelope Ward and loved it!!!! Childhood friends that become so much more and then bam!! That’s all I’m saying!

Dina: OMG “My Skylar ” is AMAZINGGGGGGGG I cant put it down! Ahhhhh READ IT 🙂

bev: I really liked Deborah Smith’s A Place to Call Home: A Novel. Older man/ younger woman meet when both kids. …They meet as children, love that trope. I do have to say if you are a fan of Sweet Gum Tree to try A Place to Call Home.

Amy: I’ve read some books on Bev’s recommendation, and they were GREAT! A Place to Call Home …Bev recommended it to me a while back when I was craving something with a Sweet Gum Tree feel. 😉

Tracy: A Place To Call Home is one of my all time favorite reads! I just loved that book. So I guess I’ll be one clicking Sweet Gum Tree. …it was wonderful, warm and sweet. A great book.

Cher: “A Place to Call Home” by Deborah Smith, one of my all time favorite romance novels ever. Hands down. And Sweet Gum was very, very similar to Place… it breaks off in a few places but the “reveal” is even reminiscent of Place to call. Place to call came out in the late 90’s…. I picked it up as an advance hardback back in my bookstore mgt days not knowing a thing about it. I took it home that night and I couldn’t put it down. Read it cover to cover that night and then I read it again. Over the years I have come back to the story every few years — I’ve loved the leading character Roanie. I think one of the most wonderful things about Place — besides the story which is a tear jerker from hell (like Sweet Gum) — is the Smith (a former newspaper editor) writes with such presence. You are there IN that book.

Lisa: I love the “knew each other as kids and meet again as adults”, like Danika Dark’s Seven Years (Seven Series Book 1). I think it’s Danika…..

Laura: seven years by dannika dark loved it!!!!

Jan: Yes Lisa. I really liked the Seven series too.

Danielle: A Love Letter to Whiskey by Kandi Steiner (they meet as teens) and Teófila’s Guide to Saving the Sun by Cynthia A Rodriguez

Nay: A Love Letter to Whiskey by Kandi Steiner. …about missed opportunities spanning the years with lots of yummy angst!! It’s another where bad timing of a long-term relationship comes into play with super high angst.

Hibby: Definitely Teófila’s Guide To Saving Sun by Cynthia A Rodriguez Such a beautiful story

Daniele: Oh this one!!!!

Katelyn: I have read a lot of friends to lover books, but these two are my all time favorites, hands down. No questions. If you can take a look at them, you won’t be disappointed.

• Teófila’s Guide to Saving the Sun by Cynthia A Rodriguez
• The Truth about Heartbreak by Barbara Celeste

Robin:

• Unveiling Ghosts (Unveiling Series, Book 3) by Jeannine Allison,
• Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren,
• A Really Bad Idea by Jeannine Colette

Michelle: CARNAGE: Book #1 The Story Of Us And this one!! He was her brother’s best friend and band mate. They loved each other to the very end.

Julie: Carnage! Childhood friends and he turns into a famous singer. The series is one I will never forget.

Michele G: I’ve read some great old school reads lately…tortured my poor heart with Carnage by Lesley Jones last week and loved every tear-soaked minute of it.

Tiffany: I didn’t see Carnage in here. That series was a rough one to read but MAN I loved it!!!! It has definitely stayed with me over the years.

Kim: I would have to say Carnage gave me a WHAT moment and has stuck with me for years.

Michelle: The Paper Swan <— And this one, I loved their childhood backstory.

Grey: Just finished The Paper Swan…wow. That’s really all I can say…wow.

Linh: Oh Em Gee. The Paper Swan is simply magnificent!

Linda: For you or anyone who hasn’t read it Paper Swan was another of my reads over holiday and still have hangover!!

Rebecca: The Paper Swan by Leylah Attar is brilliant on audible.

Robyn: Jillian Dodd’s That Boy series!❤️

Cheryl: The That Boy series is 3 books that follow childhood friends up through college and after. I mainly listened to the first two books; I think the narrator’s voice made it that much more funny and enjoyable. Book 3-That Baby threw me for a loop and had me crying like a baby.

Melinda: That Boy/That wedding. It is just the best book I have read in ages and my family think I have gone mad as I keep on laughing all the way through the second book that wedding. It’s hysterical. I can’t recommend it enough. There’s jokes all the way through…

Jane: That Boy and That Wedding was really AWESOME!!! i love that there’s no love triangle ‘coz, i dunno…love triangles are becoming a bit boring?? lol

Amie: When You Became Mine <— This is one of my favorite childhood friends to lovers romances!

Candace: The Best Man

Candace: Broken Knight

M.M.: The Mason List: A Coming of Age Love Story by Stacy Hendrickson

Maryse: I was thinking that one, too!! YES!!

Cheryl: …The Mason List. It is a beautifully written book about second chances and I promise it won’t kill you with the angst.

Amy: Leslie, I loved The Mason List. …emotional with some intense moments from what I remember. Especially in the “present” scenes when you don’t know what’s going on exactly. SUCH a great read.

Michelle: Plight <— I loved this one!!!! They got engaged when they were kids and promised to marry when they were thirty. He grew up to be a lawyer and came back to tell her their contract was binding. He then told there mums they were engaged for real. It was so funny.

Ramie: The Evolve Series by SE Hall 😍😍

Karen: I loved the Evolve series

Tonya: Having a spin off series featuring thd children of the adults in the Evolve series was awesome. I was in love all over again.

S.E Hall.: Stiffed by Joanne Schwehm

Shannon:

• Rewrite by Stephanie Rose
• Undeniable: A Cloverleigh Farms Standalone by Melanie Harlow
• Waiting for Autumn by J.A. DeRouen

Rae: Check out Melanie Harlow’s Cloverleigh Farm Series. Both available in UK on KU.

JR: Love Melanie Harlow.

Laura: Without Warning by Dee Lagasse was a good ‘un!

Shire: second this!

Haley: Without Warning by Danielle Lagasse!!!!

Devin: And 5,331 Miles by Willow Aster!

K. Leigh: The Steps to Us by M.M. Clem

Jan: For anyone looking for this trope in a historical romance, one I really enjoyed was Loretta Chase’s Don’t Tempt Me. The H and h were childhood friends but then the h was kidnapped when traveling with her parents and kept captive for years in a harem. When she escapes and gets back to England she’s all grown up and they fall in love with each other. It’s a lovely story, actually – really well written IMO.

Katie: Lisa Kleypas Sugar Daddy: A Novel (Travis Book 1): This kinda fits the mold. They knew each other and were friends as teens and they became estranged for a period of time. Then became friends after meeting. Such a good book. A must read.

Anne18: Don’t Let Go by Sharla Lovelace. Anytime anyone mentions The Sweet Gum Tree, I always think of this book.

Mary Ann: I recommend Broken Knight by LJ Shen. There is the feel of unrequited love, the hero is a major jerk, heroine has SaaS and angsty.

Tessa: Bully (The Fall Away Series Book 1) by Penelope Douglas! That’s what made it do heartbreaking is they were best friends as children.

Maryse: OH YESSSS!!!! TRUE!! Perfect!!

Sarah: The Silent Waters by Brittainy Cherry!

Lisa B: Brittainy Cherry is a QUEEN!!!!

Leslie M: I love this list!!!! 🥰 I absolutely adore books that flashback to the H & h meeting when they were kids. I recently read and FLOVED Becoming Calder/Finding Eden by Mia Sheridan and hoped to find more like it.

Some others I enjoyed are:

• To Love Jason Thorn by Ella Maise
• RoomHate by Penelope Ward
• Cuffed by K Bromberg
• Beautiful Mistake by Vi Keeland
• What about It Ends with Us: A Novel? Those journal entries??

I know I have read more but cant remember.

Lisa B: The best one I’ve ever read was Carian Cole, Torn (All Torn Up Book 1) with Tor and Kenzie, OMG!!!!!

Any favorites to recommend?