If you’re not familiar with us, we started the Book Girls’ Guide as two friends, in different states, with a shared love of books. So, it only made sense for us to create a list of books about friendship!
Our own friendship started in 2014 at a conference for home decor bloggers because Angela also owns BlueiStyle.com and Melissa owns PolishedHabitat.com. Soon, we learned we’d both be at another conference later that year and agreed to be roommates. Before leaving the second trip, we had schemed up a visit to New York City with our spouses. Over the past 8 years, we’ve spent time in more than 10 different cities for both work and fun.
We’ve had unforgettable experiences along with way, from seeing the original cast of Hamilton on Broadway thanks to Angela’s wise husband to accidentally chatting with one of The Temptations in Beverly Hills.

So, it’s only appropriate that Book Girls’ Guide started on one of these trips. Angela flew from her home in Denver to Melissa’s house in Tulsa. Then, we started a road trip to a conference in Austin. Along the way, we stopped in Waco. While waiting on the patio of Magnolia Table, the idea of a shared book recommendation site was born. In the next few hours, as we had lunch and then drove to Austin, we never stopped brainstorming. By the time we reached our hotel, we had settled on the name, purchased the domain, and had set up the social media.
By the next day, we had a logo, the shell of the website, and a list of over 100 post ideas. It was fast and fabulous! We hoped people would enjoy the site and that it would be fun for us, but we underestimated how well you would respond to the Decades Challenge, Book Voyage Reading Challenge, Lifetime of Reading Challenge, and the Read with the Book Girls Facebook group. We wanted to have a kind community where readers who enjoy similar books could interact and each time we see that happening, all the work is worth it.
We’re looking forward to the day we can safely resume our trips together, but until then, we’re happy we have this joint project that we can share with all of you.
We hope this list of female friendship books (plus one can’t-miss male pick) will bring lots of good memories of someone that has been a good friend to you!
Books About Friendship for Adults

The Seven Day Switch
by Kelly Harms
Neighbors Celeste and Wendy are both moms - but as far as they can tell, that's the only thing they have in common - other than their mutual disdain for the other!
Celeste is a stay-at-home mom who spends her days volunteering and creating a Pinterest-worthy life that makes other moms despise her. Wendy is a career-driven working mom who lives by her minute-to-minute schedule as she balances her business and keeps things afloat at home.
Celeste and Wendy despise one another, but after a bit too much sangria at a softball potluck, they wake up in each other's bodies - Freaky Friday style. Soon everything they thought they knew about the other is turned upside down. Their messy lives are about to get a whole lot more complicated, but along the way, they'll discover they might not be so different after all.
So what is a book about enemies doing on our friendship list? This book is a heartwarming reminder - presented in a laugh-out-loud funny package - that we shouldn't be so quick to judge other women and that we're all better off when we have each other's backs!

The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes
by Ruth Hogan
Years after a tragic accident, Masha still hasn't returned to her spunky former self. She has only one companion - her dog Haizum.
Then, she meets Sally Red Shoes, a bag lady. The encounter launches Masha's return to life and opens her eyes to new possibilities. This unexpected relationship shows the enormous
power of friendship and the importance of being open to new friends.
Call Your Daughter Home
by Deb Spera
Set in 1924 South Carolina, Call Your Daughter Home follows three women who seem to have nothing in common. The unlikely trio consists of a slave, the matriarch of an influential family, and a mother of four. They join together to address injustices in their small town.
It's a story of motherhood, womanhood, and the undeniable force of women when they unite.
Eliza Starts a Rumor
by Jane L. Rosen
Eliza is a suburban wife secretly struggling with a new, intense fear of leaving her house. She forces herself to go to the store in preparation for a visit from her college-age children. While she is there, she hears younger moms talking about a new local online forum for women. Eliza has run a similar group for years, but these strangers are calling her group boring.
In a moment of desperation and weakness, Eliza starts a rumor about a new neighbor on her board to liven it up, and the rumor reaches further than she expected.
While Eliza is the title character in the book, this is a story of four women coming together to help each other through a variety of problems.

Deconstructed
by Liz Talley
Cricket's life takes a huge turn when she confirms her husband has been having an affair. She's not going to walk away from her marriage without making him pay. Soon, she has a lawyer, investigator, and a plan!
Her new shop assistant, Ruby, has had a troubled past, but is also ready for a fresh start. In addition to pursuing her dreams in fashion, she becomes fast friends with Cricket and is ready to go all-in on helping her get a bit of revenge.
Together, the unlikely duo gets themselves into some hilarious situations as amateur sleuths.
This book is included with Kindle Unlimited as of Feb 2022.
Firefly Lane
by Kristin Hannah
Kristin Hannah blows us away with her emotional historical fiction books like The Nightingale, The Great Alone, and Winter Garden. In Firefly Lane, she uses her descriptive talent to share the story of three decades between friends.
From 8th grade, Kate and Tully cycle through the highs and lows of long-term friendships as they try to figure out what they want from the world and what they need from each other.
The Last Bathing Beauty
by Amy Sue Nathan
This pleasant read tells the story of Betty Stern, aka "Boop." Alternating between 18-year-old Betty in 1951 and present-day Betty in her 80s, you'll see how one fateful summer impacted the rest of her life.
The present-day portions of the story are told with the help of the same great friends featured in the 1951 portion. They deal with their aging bodies together and help Betty come to terms with both her own past and her granddaughter's present circumstances.
This book is included with Kindle Unlimited as of Feb 2022.

Wahala
by Nikki May
This contemporary drama focuses on a close group of Anglo-Nigerian best friends living in London. One dreams of the perfect family and hopes her boyfriend is the one, one has a great husband and family but has lost herself, and the third has the perfect life from the outside but feels like an imposter on the inside.
When a fourth person, Isabel, joins the friend group, everything starts out great. She's improving each person's life in different ways. But, the more she's around, the more the group begins to fracture. Can the original friendships survive?
Circle of Friends
by Maeve Binchy
Life-long friends Benny and Eve grew up in the village of Knockglen, Ireland. Together they head to university in Dublin, where their circle of friends expands to include beautiful Nan and handsome Jack. But heartbreak and betrayal result when their worlds of Knockglen and Dublin collide, and long-hidden lies emerge that will test the bonds of their friendship.
Angela read this book in high school, and it still stands out in her mind as one of her all-time favorites! It's a simple story of friendship that is heart-warming and beautifully told from the first page to the last. Her most vivid memory of this book is the warm feeling it left her with.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
It all starts with a pair of jeans purchased at a thrift shop. Four friends gather the night before they each go their separate ways for the summer of their 15th year, and they each decide to try on the jeans to see who they fit best. Somehow the jeans fit everyone perfectly, so the friends decide to form the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
Throughout the summer, the pants see all and keep the friends connected as they each experience the most memorable summer of their lives.
Neither of us read this book when it was first popular, but we were of the mistaken impression that this was a fluffy YA book. We were surprised to read review after review that describes this book as "deeper than you expect" and "all the feels."
The Giver of Stars
by Jojo Moyes
When English Alice Wright marries an American, she looks forward to moving to the US. But life in Kentucky comes with an overbearing father-in-law, so Alice takes an opportunity to join Eleanor Roosevelt's team of traveling packhorse librarians.
Alice bans together with Margery and three other women to become the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky. They must rely on friendship, courage, and perseverance in this beautiful story about making a difference.

A Season for Second Chances
by Jenny Bayliss
When Annie's 26-year marriage ends, she needs a fresh start. When she takes a temporary position as a winter guardian of a historic home in the small seaside community of Willow Bay, the decision turns out to be even more impactful than she expected.
While this is largely a book about finding herself, it only happens through her relationships with her new friends in town. There is a romance thread as she heals, but you'll find a significant focus on the friendships.
The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell
by Robert Dugoni
Born with ocular albinism, Sam Hill is a young boy whose rare red eyes cause him problems from the moment he enrolls at Our Lady of Mercy.
Labeled "Hell Boy," he is bullied by not only his classmates but also given a hard time by the nun who is the principal at his elementary school. Eventually, Sam finds the new best friend he desperately needs in Ernie Cantwell, the only African American boy in his class, and years later in a fiercely individual girl named Mickie.
Years later, Sam is a respected ophthalmologist still moving through life with Ernie and Mickie by his side. His world is about to be upturned when he's unexpectedly reunited with the biggest school-yard bully from his past.
The Help
by Kathryn Stockett
Skeeter has returned home from college to her family's cotton plantation, where she seems to disappoint her mother constantly despite trying to act like a proper Southern lady. Her true ambition, however, is to be a writer. Unfortunately, the only job she can find is one she is entirely unqualified for - writing a housekeeping advice column for the local paper. Having virtually no experience with housekeeping, Skeeter turns her friend's maid, the very poised Aibileen, for help.
As she gets to know Aibileen and Aibileen's friend, the very sassy Minny, more intimately, Skeeter is inspired to help tell their stories, and she pitches the idea to write the narratives of 12 Black maids – a very risky project for all of them. It's an unlikely friendship, but this group of friends shows that true friendship comes in many forms.
Maybe in Another Life
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
In concurrent storylines, 29-year-old Hannah lives out the effects of two different decisions. Should she leave a party with her best friend or with the high school boyfriend she just ran into again? Will either decision help her feel content after a decade of moving from city to city for meaningless jobs?
In both timelines, the one thing that remains consistent is the strength of the friendship between the two women as they help each other through life’s challenges.
The Beantown Girls
by Jane Healey
The friends in The Beantown Girls are entrenched closer to the action than most women in World War II. This historical fiction novel is based on the real-life Red Cross Clubmobile girls, who delivered donuts, coffee, and often mail to the troops near the front lines.
Fiona had plans to marry her fiance when he returned from WWII and settle down in the Boston suburbs. But when he is reported missing after being shot down in Germany, her plans are shattered. Determined to learn his fate, Fiona volunteers as a Red Cross Clubmobile girl, and convinces her two best friends to join her.
This excellent book is not as intense as other WW2 reads, and follows the trio from training throughout their service in the war. You'll fall in love with them and many of the soldiers they encounter.
Valentine
by Elizabeth Wetmore
Valentine tells the story of a terrible event in a small west Texas town, and how one event can ripple through many lives.
Melissa was concerned going into this book based on other reviews stating there were too many disconnected characters. She didn't find that and thought the author made all the proper connections between them. However, it is a book you have to pay full attention to to catch everything.
That said, she really enjoyed each woman's story and loved how they intertwined as friendships developed. While some thought it was depressing, Melissa found it a tale of friendship and survival in terrible circumstances and how we often have to rely on each other. Each character was saved by others in different ways. It's a heavy read, but worth it.
Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close
By Aminatou Sow & Ann Friedman
While the rest of the books on this list are novels, Big Friendship is a joint memoir about the friendship between the co-authors. They share both the positive stories and the messy moments from their lives and explore how each impacted their friendship with each other.
Throughout the book, they talk to other friends and experts in an effort to understand what makes friendships successful. It's a great reminder that we have to actively choose friendships and not take them for granted.

PS: There are also many great children’s books from picture books, like the animal friends in A Sick Day for Amos McGee, to early readers, like the Ivy & Bean series that help teach the value of friendship. They’re sweet books to help your child make fast friends when they head off to school or daycare for the first time.
Cynthia
Friday 1st of April 2022
The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood stands out to me as one of the best books ever written on female friendship. So fun to read about life in the South and in a simpler time. One of my all time favorites!
Decades Reading Challenge - Book Girls' Guide
Monday 24th of January 2022
[…] other readers. You can read more about how this site started and who we are at the beginning of our books about friendship […]
How to Get Back Into Reading - Book Girls' Guide
Thursday 30th of December 2021
[…] contemporary Rom Com we’ve recommended back to back, try a historical fiction or contemporary book about friendship […]
Beth Ferguson
Thursday 3rd of December 2020
Thank you so much for starting this reading challenge! What a wonderful idea you both came up with. I read books that I was not familiar with and books that I would have never picked up and loved them all. I was awakened to events that happened that I was unaware of (Radium Girls) and loved reading about the different time periods. I am looking forward to seeing the 2021 reading challenge!
Melissa George
Thursday 3rd of December 2020
We're thrilled that you enjoyed it and learned some new things this year through the challenge. Radium Girls was an eye-opening book for us as well. We can't wait to share the plan for 2021 along with the first list!