I’ve really missed doing Friday Favorites, and since no one was currently hosting it, Cait @ Functionally Fictional decided to jump into the gap. Each week, she provides a prompt, and I get to talk about my favorite books that fit the topic. Feel free to join in – the more the merrier!

I’m definitely a sucker for the found family trope, and it is one of my all-time favorite tropes. There’s just something so heartwarming about finding a group of people who are so close that they become your family, whether you already have family and they’re absorbed into it, or if you don’t and you find a whole new family that you get to pick for yourself. Here are some of my favorite books that feature found family:

1. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. Did you think this one wasn’t going to appear on this list? I love this little circle of weird misfits who would literally kill anyone who threatened one of their group.
2. The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso. The found family group in this series doesn’t exactly mesh well at the beginning, but I love how they all come together and become such a close little group that has each other’s back.
3. The Bladed Faith by David Dalglish. Nothing brings a group of people together like plotting a revolution against an oppressive religious regime, right? Well, that’s exactly what happens in this book, and I was all about this little family.
4. Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian. The main character in this book went from being a social outcast with one friend, to someone with a group of people on her side that have her back no matter what, and turn into friends that are more like family. It was beautiful to see how much she changes with her found family.
5. On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel. This one is a bit dark, centering around twin sisters who are heroin-addicted prostitutes, but they have a little found family group of women like them who just get each other at a deep level.
6. The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter. As a young man in the military with no family left, Tau finds a new found family with a group of men in his unit who don’t take any smack from him, and understand him almost as well as he understands himself.
7. A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik. As someone in a boarding school who isn’t exactly friendly and approachable, El manages to find a little core group of friends who have her back no matter what.
8. When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sascha Lamb. Uriel and Little Ash are the cutest mismatched pair I’ve ever seen, since one is an angel and one is a demon, but when they cross the ocean from their shtetl into America, their duo expands and they absorb some new people into their family unit.
9. The Unbroken by C.L. Clark. Touraine was taken from her home as a child and was raised in military training, forming a close bond with a few other military cadets. Seeing them interact together reminded me of how my siblings and I relate to each other sometimes.
10. The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri. Despite having no family connections, Priya has some people that she grew up with and maintains connections with that she views as her family.

What are some books that you love with found family relationships?