Hello lovelies! How are you? Female friendships are one of my favorite things, both on the page and in real life. I just love seeing strong, supportive friendships between girls and women, it always fills my heart with so much joy. Over the last few weeks I’ve been reading all of Emma Mills’ books and I’ve fallen in love with the way she writes about friendship. When I read Foolish Heart, my favorite of all her books, I was amazed by how much the main friendship reminded me of my OTP BFFs Rory Gilmore and Paris Gellar. I immediately wanted to push this book into the hands of every Gilmore Girls fan I know. Since I stan a long list of BFFs and girl gangs I thought it would be fun to match a few of them with books that remind me of their friendships. So here’s some book recommendations based on your favorite famous female friendships, starting with the one that inspired this post!
- Like Rory and Paris, Foolish Hearts’ Claudia and Iris meet at their fancy prep school. As a scholarship kid who’s social life happens mostly outside of the school environment, Claudia (like Rory) feels like a bit of an outsider among her super rich classmates.
- Iris and Paris are basically the same person: Intelligent ✔️ Driven ✔️ Kind of scary ✔️ Severely lacking in people skills ✔️
- Claudia and Iris’s friendship has a pretty rocky start. But just like Rory and Paris go from bitter rivals to true BFF’s over the season, Paige and Claudia relationships comes a long way from Iris threatening to end Claudia in a bathroom.
- Concert bonding moment!
- PSA: If you love Gilmore Girls you just really need to read Emma Mills. She’s got the small town vibes, hilarious dialogue and quirky cast down.
- Cher and Dionne are the queen bee’s of their California high school, but they’re never demonized for their popularity. In Only Love Can Break Your Heart Katherine Webber makes a queen bee her main character and explores the dynamics behind the mean girl stereotype.
- Just like Cher and Dionne, Reiko and Andrea always have each other’s backs, even when they don’t approve of each other’s choices.
- And like Dee, Andrea is 100% here to sass Reiko when needed. (It’s needed)
- All the high school parties, dances and getting ready with the girls scenes gave me big Clueless vibes.
- Reiko and Cher both have complete faith that the right outfit can fix anything.
- Over 4 seasons of Skam, the show and the girls explore a lot of real issues. Nina is Not Okay explores a lot of the same ones, such as like sexual assault, slut shaming, victim blaming, eating disorders and alcohol, in a similarly honest and non judgmental way.
- If you’re favorite girl gang member is Nora, you’ll love Nina’s BFF Beth. She’s the voice of reason in their girl gang and always ready to drop some feminist truth on Nina when she needs it.
- While Nina’s other best friend Zoe’s arc definitley feels like it could’ve happened to Vilde, especially if she hadn’t had strong, female friends in her life.
- Both Skam and Nina is Not Okay are really unflinchingly honest portrayals of teenage girls. They show how strong and brave and loyal they can be, but also how they mess up, make bad decisions or say hurtful things sometimes.
- Maybe it’s the final season of Game of Thrones getting to me, but when I think about female friendship – the first people I think of are Maisie and Sophie. Ok, so maybe it’s my Buzzfeed addiciton that’s getting to me. But either way, their friendship seems fun, supportive and positive – and so is the friendship in Queens of Geek.
- Did I mentioned Queens of Geek is literally about a con? I’m pretty sure Maisie and Sophie’s been to a con together.
- One of the MC’s is an actress!
- Both Sophie and Maisie have been open about their mental health and Queens of Geek has really good mental health rep. (For anxiety)
- SPOILER (For Buffy): So the protagonist of Undead Girl Gang is a teenage witch who literally bring her best friend (and these two other girls) back from the grave. Does that remind you of anyone???
- Speaking of those two other girls, they’re the popular, mean girls the protagonist hates. But just like on Buffy – the popular girl stereotype is dismantled perfectly.
- Just like Buffy and Willow, Mila and Riley are very different – but love each other fiercely and will do anything to keep each other safe.
- Undead Girl Gang’s tone is a perfect mix of Halloween aesthetics, dark humor, sassy girls and creepy moments. Sounds pretty Buffy-esque to me.
- Teenage girls fighting evil? Feminist AF.
Ahhhh I love this post so much, it’s so cute!! I love Maisie and Sophie, they’re honestly the best!
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Aw, thank you so much! I’m so happy you enjoyed it ❤️ Their friendship is so beautiful!
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I love this post! Like seriously, it’s genius. I’m hoping to read some Emma Mills this Summer, so I’m excited to see that she has strong female friendships in her books!
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Aw, thank you so much! I’m so happy you think so ❤️ Emma Mills’ books will be perfect summer reads, I hope you’ll love them as much as I did 😊
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Thanks! Her covers are all so gorgeous too, so I’m excited!
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Omg, yes – they’re all so beautiful 😍
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This is such a fun post! I really want to read Undead Girl Gang and I also really want to watch Buffy because, to my shame, I’ve never watched it.
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Thank you so much! They’re both so much fun and so full of powerful teen girls kicking ass – I hope you’ll enjoy them 💕
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Oh I love that you included Sophie and Maisie, so timely! They are adorable. Queens of Geek is definitely on my radar too.
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Thank you! They’re the cutest and so is Queens of Geek 💕
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This is a super cool concept, you always come up with really unique recommendations! ❤️
Small town vibes are my favourite so I’ll definitely be checking out Emma Mills now!
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Thank you so much! That’s so sweet of you to say ❤️
Yay, I hope you’ll love her books as much as I do!
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This was such a cool post and a brilliant idea 😀 thanks for sharing your recommendations (Queens of Geek is one of my favourite ever contemporaries, so I definitely agree with you pairing it with Maisie and Sophie’s friendship 😀 ❤
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Aw, thank you so much! I’m so happy you think so 😊 Queens of Geek is the cutest and so is Maisie and Sophie’s friendship 💕
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This is SUCH a fun post idea! I love female friendships too, and celebrating them on and off the pages of books is right up my alley 😀 Clearly I need to read Foolish Hearts immediately, since I love Rory and Paris’ friendship. And I never watched Buffy, but from what I know of that show, it has so much in common with the friendships in Undead Girl Gang!
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Aw, thank you so much! I’m so glad you enjoyed it 😊 I loved watching Rory and Paris’ friendship evolve, so I was so excited to discover that Foolish Hearts has a similar plot. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did!
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This post is amazing! Yay for Undead Girl Gang. I love that one so much. One of my favorite female friendship novels is Maurene Goo’s The Way You Make Me Feel because we get to see a friendship start and bloom and when do we ever get to see that?
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Thank you so much! Yay for spreading the Undead Girl Gang love, it’s so underrated. The Way You Make Me Feel is one of my favorites too and you’re absolutely right. I wish we got to see more friendships form in YA, cause finding your people’s just as important and exciting as falling in love 😊
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i love this post and format!!! i knew exactly which books interested me based on the comparisons 😂
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Aw, thank you so much! That makes me so happy, cause it’s exactly what I wanted to achieve 💕
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Last night I just started watching The Gilmore Girls again! ❤ I watched it when I was little and it was on TV here but I haven't seen all the episodes. Oh, and Buffy? I've seen it like 4-5 times :)) Loved the post idea! I will definitely check out those books!
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Yay, that’s so fun! I actually haven’t watched Buffy since it was on TV here, but I’ve watched Gilmore Girls 4-5 times 😊 Maybe it’s time for a Buffy rewatch! Thank you so much, I’m so glad you enjoyed the post ❤️
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Love this post and recommendations! I need to check them all out. I’ve been eyeing Foolish Hearts for awhile now though. I really want to get my hands on a copy.
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Thank you so much! Foolish Hearts is a wonderful read, I hope you’ll enjoy it 😊
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I love this post! I’m trying to think of my favorite female friendships in fiction and it’s tricky! But Derry Girls obviously comes to mind.
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Thank you so much! I love that, the Derry Girls are just wonderful ❤️
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This was such a fun post! I absolutely love Paris and Rory’s friendship so I will definitely be looking into Foolish Hearts.
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Thank you so much! So do I, it was so fun to watch their friendship grow. I hope you’ll enjoy Foolish Hearts 😊
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AHH YES! Now that I think about it, your recommendation with Paris and Rory is ON POINT I love it SO much ahhhh. I never thought about it while reading Foolish Hearts, but now that I do, it’s cristal clear. I love it and I loved the friendship in the show and in the book 😀 I really want to give Undead Girls Gang a try as well, it sounds really cool 😀
Wonderful list! 😀
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Thank you so much! I’m so happy you agree, especially since you’re a fellow Gilmore Girls and Emma Mills fan ❤️ Undead Girl Gang is such a fun, but emotional read. And the girl gang really is THE BEST! I think you’d enjoy it 😊
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I love this idea!! Your choice of girl friendships are excellent. I may have to check out Foolish Hearts now!
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Thank you so much! I’m so happy you think so 😊 I hope you enjoy Foolish Hearts if you pick it up!
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Queen of Geeks has been on my TBR for a while! But not it has just got moved up! I love this post ❤ Great idea!
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Thank you so much ❤️ I hope you’ll enjoy Queens of Geek, it’s such a fun read!
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It makes me so happy to see the Skam Girl squad in this post ahh! I love them so much! Definitely going to go and check out Nina is Not OKay on Goodreads now!
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This comment made me so happy! I love the Skam girl squad so much too, they’re the best ❤️ I hope you’ll enjoy Nina is Not Okay if you pick it up!
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I love this post! Undead Girl Gang is already on my radar, but the Buffy & Willow comparison just sold me!
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Thank you so much! That makes me so happy, I hope you’ll love it as much as I do 😊
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Love these posts and I love reading about female friendships!
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Thank you so much! 😊💕
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ooh I love willow and Buffy, so I’m really keen for undead girl gang!
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It’s such a fun read, I hope you’ll enjoy it! 😊
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I loved this post! It’s so unique. Cher & Dionne + Rory & Paris are my faves!
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Aw, thank you so much! They’re my favorites too 💕
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AHHHH this is such a cool idea!I I LOVE Skam but never heard of Nina is Not Okay before, but it sounds fantastic. ❤ Speaking of honest portrayal of teens, I watched Elite on Netflix recently and I feel like European shows do a much better job of showing teens as messy and *real* than the North American ones. I wish the latter would take a few notes! And I'm so so sorry I've been absent for our Female Friendships post! I'm the worst procrastinator when it comes to drafting posts. My goal is to get my side done by the end of next week and hand it off to you!
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THANK YOU! I’m so happy you think so ❤️ I thought maybe I find Scandinavian teen shows more honest and authentic since I’m Norwegian and they mirror my experience more, but I’ve felt the same way about Skam remakes from other European countries (I couldn’t get into the US one). So it’s really interesting that you feel the same way! I haven’t watched Elite yet, but now I’ll definitley add it to my watchlist! If you’re the worst procrastinator, I’m definitley the second worst. So please don’t be sorry! I look forward to it 😊
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Oh I love how you did the recommendations!! Such a unique format including some friendships to recommend books 😍 Queens of Geek really owns my heart, I love this book so much! 💗
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Aw, thank you so much Caro 💕 I’m so glad you think so! I love Queens of Geek too, it’s the perfect mix of soft friendships and cute romance 😊
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