I usually can't get enough of reading rom-com stories, but books about friendships are love stories all on their own that deserve the spotlight too! TBH, I probably should've read more stories about friends to anticipate the changes, growth, outgrowth, and beyond that comes with the bonds we share with others. So whether you're looking to read something hilarious and heartfelt, or shocking and scandalous that's friendship breakup-worthy, there's something for everyone. So keep scrolling because these books will make you take a good look at the bond you have with your best friend.
Books About Friendship To Read Right Now:
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
Frances and Bobbi's friendship is one that's powered by their incredible differences. They've always accepted each other and aren't surprised by the lives they lead. So when they meet a prolific photographer and begin opening their circle to include her, Frances finds herself intrigued by the photographer's husband. He's charismatic and attractive, two things that drawn Frances in.
Before she knows it, Frances can't stop herself for hurtling towards a dangerous affair that shocks everyone around.
The Things We Do to Our Friends by Heather Darwent
Living in Edinburgh, Scotland seems like the best thing to Clare, a young woman who wants nothing more than to start over where no one knows her. As she gets settled in at the university she's attending, she meets and befriends another enchanting young woman named Tabitha. They begin building their friendship and Clare eventually meets other people from Tabitha's world.
The more Clare finds her life intertwined with Tabitha, the more the lines become blurred between their friendship and deep level of intimacy. It's only when she's in too deep that she realizes there's so much more to Tabitha and her group of friends than she thought.
The Friendship List by Susan Mallery
Ellen Fox thinks she's doing a great job at living her life until she realizes her son is willing to place his future on hold to make sure she's actually okay. This prompts her best friend Unity Leandre to create a bucket list that's supposed to help her do things she normally wouldn't.
By the time they near the end of the list, both Ellen and Unity find out things about themselves that they didn't notice before. Perhaps the best part about The Friendship List is realizing how much creating memories with our friends helps give us permission to move towards a different future.
The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
Books about friendships can be hilarious or they can move you to tears. The best ones often have both abilities! In The Friend, a woman inherits the dog of the best friend she's recently lost to death and it just about sends her over the edge. The dog's relentless commitment to being silent seems to intensify the grief she's feeling, but what the woman doesn't know is that its dealing with its own form of pain.
On the brink of losing the last remnants of her sanity, the woman and the dog begin to understand each other in ways they weren't expecting. They come to realize that friendships can be born as a result of heartbreaking situations and it helps bind them together in touching ways.
Faking Friends by Jane Fallon
Amy is confused about how she's unable to connect with her fiancé Jack or her best friend Melissa because they're the two people who are supposed to know her best. She's supposed to know them too, but understands this isn't the case when she finds evidence that her best friend and fiancé have been having an affair behind her back.
It's painful to lose your best friend and love of your life to each other, but it unlocks something in Amy she didn't even know was there.
The Celebrants by Steve Rowley
The Celebrants is a highly celebrated book that's featured on Jenna Bush Hager's book club list and revolves around a friendship that began in college.
Jordan Vargas hasn't seen his college buddies in a while even though they've known each other for almost three decades. Each of them — Jordan, Jordy, Naomi, Craig, and Marielle — are faced with the knowledge that they feel like they're merely cosplaying as adults. Things are still confusing even though the purpose of their pact has been to remind each other that life can still be a wonderful mystery — except this reunion may undo all the ways they've tried to celebrate each other.
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue
Rachel and James meet while she's working at a bookstore, though their attraction isn't sexual. They're naturally drawn to each other which is why they soon become roommates. Their friendship is full of laughs in the face of impending disaster and it seems to get them through tough times.
But Rachel decides she has the hots for her very married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, James decides to be a good friend by helping her plot to catch Dr. Byrne's attention. Thus begins a wicked dance that involves the three of them and Dr. Byrne's notable wife.
Us Three by Ruth Jones
Sometimes books about friendships highlight the heartaches that come with building a bond with someone like Us Three.
Lana, Judith, and Catrin are best friends who've always been sure that nothing could upend their friendship. Blood couldn't make them any closer and it's easy to see why. Honestly, there's no mistaking that they have something special.
Just when they thought they couldn't get closer, they embark on a trip that further deepens their bond. Things go well until something occurs that's shocking enough to shake what used to feel unshakable. In place of their assuredness is the uneasy feeling that maybe they won't always be in each other's lives.
And Then There Was Me by Sadeqa Jackson
Bea and Awilda's bond has also been super strong ever since they were teenagers. Awilda was the one who helped Bea come out of her shell and increased her confidence over time. She also play matchmaker and introduced Bea to her husband Lonnie. Isn't that what good friends are for?
The problem is that Lonnie isn't a very faithful husband and this slowly but surely shatters Bea's esteem over time. It leads her to develop a habit that no one is privy to, but that's still not the worst of her troubles. With no choice but to stay in the marriage as she prepares for their third child to be born, Bea moves with Lonnie to New Jersey and tries to act like everything is peachy keene.
She'll soon discover that she has to stop pretending and face reality, especially when betrayal is closer than she thought.
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
Taylor Greer may be feisty and determined to leave rural Kentucky behind, but she's left learning a series of lessons about life when she becomes a reluctant adopted mother of young Native American toddler. With no information about the little girl, Taylor decides to uneasily take her under her wings and finds herself surround by the best friends she didn't know she was looking for — Mattie who owns the Jesus is Lord Used Tires shop and Lou-Ann, her new roommate.
They fill Taylor and her daughter 'Turtle' with so much love that she has no choice but to reexamine what she thought she knew about herself and life.
We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza
Jen and Riley's lifelong friendship has seen them through a series of events, but nothing has been able to tear them apart. Jen is living the life of a married woman who's finally pregnant while Riley has chosen to pursue her career goal of becoming a success Black news anchor.
Things change when racial tension enters the picture due to Jen's husband being at the center of a tragedy that involves a young black boy. She and Riley find themselves on opposite sides of the fence for different reasons, and it feels like there's no silver lining in sight for the friendship that's stood the test of time. It could be that this is the one test that finally unravels the thread of their bond.
Rebecca, Not Becky by Catherine Wigginton Greene
De'Andrea Whitman and her family move to Rolling Hills, Virginia, a wealthy neighborhood, to live in a better environment, but she's wildly uncomfortable once they're there. To be fair, she'd rather be back in Atlanta, but life has called for them to leave the city behind. Talking to her therapist about her concerns about being a black family in a primarily white neighborhood, she's encouraged to make a friend in her neighborhood.
At the same time Rebecca Myland, chair of the Parent Diversity Committee at her daughter's school, is thrilled when she learns the Whitmans have moved into Rolling Hills. Nothing could be better to her than when her daughter befriends the Whitmans' daughter. It feels like fate that she's supposed to befriend D'Andrea.
They eventually meet when De'Andrea joins the Parent Diversity Committee and tentatively begins a friendship with Rebecca. But soon the tension in their neighborhood brings them close and they realize they're not that different from each other.
Looking for more amazing book recs? Check out our store front for all our fave reads!
Brit + Co. may at times use affiliate links to promote products sold by others, but always offers genuine editorial recommendations.
Images via Amazon
