First look: Friend Request by Susan Mallery
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much to everyone who rushed out to grab Otherwise Engaged when it came out in paperback last week. Those sprayed edges are even prettier in person, aren’t they??? I squealed when I first saw them.
This is a limited edition, so if you haven’t picked it up yet, you shouldn’t put it off. I was kind of shocked by how quickly The Bookstore Diaries’ limited edition sold out of the warehouse. That meant that even if bookstores wanted more copies, they couldn’t get them. So I am really not exaggerating when I say that if you want Otherwise Engaged with the pretty painted pages, you should get it now.
That said, the paperback and hardcover without painted edges will continue to be available indefinitely—and it’s the same wonderful, juicy, can’t-put-it-down mix of romance, friendship, and family. It’s one of those books where you climb right inside the characters’ hearts and feel every tug of emotion that they do. I think you’ll love it! ❤
Order your deluxe trade paperback edition with gorgeous sprayed edges, available for a limited time.
Secrets, lies, and betrayals fly faster than a tossed bouquet when two sets of mothers and daughters visit a wedding venue from #1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery.
When Shannon gets engaged, her beloved mom, Cindy, is the first person she wants to tell—and the last. Cindy’s engaged, too, and has already hinted at a double wedding. The image of a synchronized bouquet toss with her mom fills Shannon with horror. She’ll keep her engagement a secret until Cindy’s I-dos are done.
Victoria has never been proper enough for her mother, Ava, so she stopped trying. She lives on her own terms and amuses herself by pushing Ava’s buttons. Ava loves but doesn’t understand her stuntwoman daughter. When a movie-set mishap brings Victoria home, Ava longs to finally connect.
Chance brings the four women together at a wedding venue, where a shocking secret comes tumbling out. Twenty-four years ago, desperate teenager Cindy chose wealthy Ava to adopt her baby—then changed her mind at the very last second. The loss rocked Ava’s world, leaving her unable to open her heart to the daughter she did adopt, Victoria. As Shannon and Victoria deal with the fallout from the decisions their mothers made, they wrestle with whether who they are is different than who they might have become.
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FIRST LOOK: FRIEND REQUEST
In about six months, my next book will be released: Friend Request. Lily, Anne, and Maya met in boarding school and bonded instantly over being only children—sort of. Anne once had a brother who died along with their parents in a tragic accident. She was all alone in the world, so when her best friends suggested that their group, the Onlys, should make a pact to be each other’s family the rest of their lives, aunties to each other’s children, Anne was thrilled.
But in their twenties, Anne and Lily fell in love with the same guy, and Anne married him. The Onlys imploded. Lily was heartbroken and furious, while Maya was caught in the middle between the two friends she still loved.
The story starts about fifteen years later. Maya, determined to bring the Onlys back together, sets Lily and Anne on a series of quests. For reasons that will be revealed in the book, they can’t say no.
Friend Request is my favorite kind of story—the story of genuinely good but imperfect people finding away to forgive one another to earn the happiness we all deserve. I think you’re going to love it.
Childhood friends (re)discover one another after a shocking request reunites them in this exhilarating, tender, and witty story from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Bookstore Diaries.
Some friend requests can’t be denied…
Through high school and college, only children Lily, Anne, and Maya vowed to be each other’s family. The Onlys became as close as sisters…until Anne married the man Lily loved. And it tore them apart.
Now Maya has a plan to reunite the Onlys. Using the ultimate guilt trip, she coerces her besties into a series of quests to recreate memories they should have made together. Somewhere between the girls’ trip to Vegas and the too-hot-for-turkey Fakesgiving, Lily and Anne begin to understand each other, their complicated past—and their beloved friend—in a whole new way.
If they can forgive their younger selves, maybe those old wounds can finally heal, and the Onlys can step into the future with a stronger bond than ever.
PREORDER THE HARDBACK: Amazon | B&N | Books a Million | Bookshop | Target | Walmart
PREORDER THE EBOOK: Kindle | Nook | Apple Books | Google Play | Kobo
Happy reading!
