Cozy Up With These Friends to Lovers Books

In a world of tropes, friends-to-lovers is the sweetest, the coziest, the most fulfilling – so why not curl up with these heartwarming friends-to-lovers debuts this holiday season?

​DRIZZLE, DREAMS, AND LOVESTRUCK THINGS by Maya Prasad, out now from Disney-Hyperion 
The Singh sisters grew up helping their father navigate the bustle of the Songbird Inn. Nestled on dreamy and drizzly Orcas Island in the Pacific Northwest, the inn's always been warm and cozy and filled with interesting guests—the perfect home. But things are about to heat up now that the Songbird has been named the Most Romantic Inn in America. Nidhi has everything planned out—until a storm brings a wayward tree crashing into her life one autumn . . . and along with it, an intriguing construction worker and a yearning for her motherland. Suddenly, she's questioning everything she thought she wanted. Avani can't sit still. If she does, her grief for Pop, their dad's late husband, will overwhelm her. So she keeps moving as much as she can, planning an elaborate Winter Ball in Pop's memory. Until a blizzard traps her in a barn with the boy she accidentally stood up and has been actively avoiding ever since. Sirisha loves seeing the world through her camera, but her shyness prevents her from stepping out from behind the lens. Talking to girls is such a struggle! When a pretty actress comes to the Songbird with her theater troupe, spring has sprung for Sirisha—if only she can find the words. Rani is a hopeless romantic through and through. After gently nudging her sisters to open their hearts, she is convinced it's finally her turn to find love. When two potential suitors float in on a summer breeze, Rani is swept up in grandeur to match her wildest Bollywood dreams. But which boy is the one she's meant to be with? Ultimately, the magic of the Songbird Inn leads the tight-knit Singh sisters to new passions and breathtaking kisses—and to unearth the truest versions of themselves. 

JAGUARS AND OTHER GAME by Brynn Barineau, out now from Orange Blossom Publishing 
1808 Rio de Janeiro. The Portuguese Court flees Napoleon to Brazil. For the first and only time in history, a European royal family transfers its capital to an American colony. Maria Azevedo has spent years transporting gold through the jungle to Rio’s port. Together with her childhood friend, Mateus, she runs a mule train, dispatching jaguars and smugglers with a crack of her whip. With an iron grip on her team and her feelings, she’s never lost a man on the trail, but the Prince Regent’s efforts to civilize the city have her looking over her shoulder. More soldiers. New laws. Full stocks. Then Mateus is wrongly imprisoned for murder. Maria knows the only hope a Brazilian has for justice in the Court’s Rio is if someone drops the real murderer on the palace steps. With his execution date set, Maria recruits her sister and a friend in service to Mad Queen Maria. Together they begin hunting a murderer through a city teeming with corruption. The women soon uncover a conspiracy that reaches the heart of the Portuguese court. To save Mateus from execution, Maria will have to decide what she’s willing to risk for justice and, possibly, love. 

BAD GIRLS DRINK BLOOD by SL Choi, out now from City Owl Press 
There is only one hybrid fae in existence, and that dishonor goes to Lane Callaghan. After a life spent dodging slurs, threats, and assassination attempts, Lane gave her past the one finger salute and ditched her former fae home for good. The detective agency she and her sisters run on the edge of Las Vegas continues to limp along, with Lane doing more debt collecting and intimidating than investigating, but anything to pay the bills. Between working for low-lifes to bring down even lower-lifes, eating cheesy poofs by the bucket, and flirting with the criminally attractive bartender where she conducts business, life is good. That ends when a routine job goes sideways, leaving Lane with a sack full of stolen sun shards—the source of sun fae power. Without the shards, the sun fae face giving up their magic completely, or risk death if they use their power. Considering they would rather see her dead, good riddance, as far as Lane’s concerned—except her father and adopted sister are sun fae. Lane must choose—return home to save the fae bastards that almost killed her, or let them burn.

THE LOVE MATCH by Priyanka Taslim, coming January 2023 from Simon & Schuster/Salaam Reads 
​Zahra Khan is basically Bangladeshi royalty, but being a princess doesn’t pay the bills in Paterson, New Jersey. While Zahra’s plans for financial security involve working long hours at Chai Ho and saving up to study writing in college, Amma is convinced that all Zahra needs is a “good match,” Jane Austen-style. Enter Harun Emon, who’s wealthy, devastatingly handsome, and…aloof. As soon as Zahra meets Harun’s stuck-up gaze, she knows it’s a bad match. It’s nothing like the connection she has with Nayim Aktar, the new dishwasher at the tea shop, who just gets Zahra in a way no one has before. So when Zahra finds out that Harun is just as uninterested in this match as she is, they devise a plan to slowly sabotage their parents’ scheme over the course of the summer. And for once in Zahra’s life, she can have her rossomalai and eat it too: develop real feelings for Nayim while “dating” Harun and keeping Amma happy. But love—and boys—are more complicated in real life than the stories Zahra writes. With the end of the summer looming, and her feelings growing more and more tangled, what was meant to be a simple scheme could cost Zahra’s dreams and her family’s future—or leave her with a broken heart. Sometimes, being a good Bengali kid can be a royal pain. 

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Curated by Liz Bowery
Posted by Emi Watanabe Cohen