Screwing with Perfect, Her Wildest Dreams, Her Best Friend’s Lover and Seducing Simon all have a theme in common… friends becoming lovers.
This is one of my faves because, well, hmmmm….
What is it about friends becoming lovers?
click me…
SCULLY: Well, it seems to me that the best relationships– the ones that last– are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship. You know, one day you look at the person and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is… suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with.
Love that quote! And I agree. A true friendship is an amazing thing. The trust. The bond. The knowledge. The understanding. The caring.
You have this person who is there for you, you can turn to and you can count on.
If you add in attraction and great sex, isn’t that the perfect relationship?
MULDER: It should be right here. The entire tape is blank.
SCULLY: You know, an electrical surge in the outlet the storm may have degaussed everything, erasing the entire tape. You still have nothing.
MULDER: I may not have the X-Files, Scully, but I still have my work. And I’ve still got you. And I still have myself.
With two characters who begin as friends, the reader generally doesn’t have to worry about the whole, I hate you/lets have sex/I hate you scenario(s). I find the push pull grows old quickly.
They already like each other. It is grand to read about two people who respect each other and want to see the other person happy.
Mulder: “Scully, I was like you once. I didn’t know who to trust. And I chose another path. Another life, another fate where I found my sister. The end of my world was unrecognisable and upside down. There was one thing that remained the same. You were my friend and you told me the truth. Even when the world was falling apart you were my constant; my touchstone.”
And friends KNOW each other, the good, the bad and the ugly, and it doesn’t matter. There is a acceptance and trust a true friends brings to a relationship you don’t get with two people who don’t have a friendship foundation to build on. And it can make for some explosive sex.
They already knows the real you, the dirty secrets you hide away from the rest of the world. The horrible things you have done. The wild, wicked and wonderful adventures you have taken, hell he/she might have done them with you.
That level of openness is a pretty powerful thing. The whole ‘getting to know you’ bullshit is not needed. There is no phase where one person is at their best trying to wow the other person with who they are really aren’t.
HOLMAN: I’ve been envious of men like you my whole life. Based on your physical bearing, I’d assumed you were… More experienced. I mean… You spend every day with Agent Scully a beautiful, enchanting woman. And you two never, uh…? I… confess I find that shocking. I… I’ve seen how you two gaze at one another.
MULDER: This is about you, Holman. I’m here to help you. I’m perfectly happy with my relationship with Agent Scully.
HOLMAN: So according to your theory I walk in there, tell her I love her and the drought will end?
MULDER: Just tell her how you feel. And Holman. I do not gaze at Scully.
Then there is the risk factor and fear involved. Do you risk fucking up a grand friendship? Will sex bring you closer or tear you apart? What if the sex is bad? Can two people be perfect together in every way but the physical?
What happens then? Can the friendship survive? Can sex ruin a great relationship? Is it worth the risk?
oh sweet, sweet angst…
MULDER: All right, fire away, Poorboy. Ooh! That’s good. All right, what you may find is you concentrate on hitting that little ball… The rest of the world just fades away– all your everyday, nagging concerns.
The ticking of your biological clock.
How you probably couldn’t afford that nice, new suede coat on a G-Woman’s salary.
How you threw away a promising career in medicine… to hunt aliens with a crackpot, albeit brilliant, partner.
Getting into the heart of a global conspiracy. Your obscenely overdue triple-X bill. Oh, I… I’m sorry, Scully. Those last two problems are mine, not yours.
SCULLY: Shut up, Mulder. I’m playing baseball.
Friendship merging into loves seems like the perfect idea. And it is believable two people with a history can find their way to happy ever after.
And really isn’t that what romance is all about? (hee sorry cece 🙂 )
SCULLY: Mulder, the case is over. There’s no more evidence to be gathered. There’s only my hope that you’ll be able to see past this delusion.
MULDER: You have to be willing to see.
SCULLY: I wish it were that simple.
MULDER: Scully, you have to believe me. Nobody else on this whole damn planet does or ever will. You’re my one in… five billion.
Do you enjoy a good friends to lovers tale? Do you hate it with a burning passion?
What are your favorite books to fit the theme? Or if you are not a friends to lovers reader, what theme(s) do you enjoy?
A book I currently have on the tbr pile seems to fit really well and after reading Julia Quinn’s take on Friendship in Romance Novels, I think I will need to make time to read Minx soon.
others I have read that come to mind I liked are:
Fire and Rain by Elizabeth Lowell
The Romantic by Madeline Hunter
One Wish by Linda Lael Miller
Standing in the Shadows by Shannon Mckenna
Casey by Lori Foster
As You Desire by Connie Brockway
The Devil You Know by Liz Carlyle
Too Much Temptation by Lori Foster
more than half of Diana Palmer could fit here… Fit for a King, Lawless, Friends and Lovers…
Sandra Brown has some
Only Mine by Elizabeth Lowell
The Last Man in Town by Susan Kay Law
hmmm at least I think those fit, damn I will have to go check 😉
so throw some more rec’s at me…
Anyone know the names of the episodes the quotes come from *g*
MULDER: As difficult and as frustrating as it’s been sometimes, your goddamned strict rationalism and science have saved me a thousand times over!
You’ve kept me honest… you’ve made me a whole person. I owe you everything… Scully, and you owe me nothing.
I don’t know if I wanna do this alone… I don’t even know if I can… and if I quit now, they win.
I came for Alison’s contest but now you’ve got me thinking about friends becoming lovers.
Why, if so many of us like the idea do we so seldom use that in a story?
I’m here for Alison’s contest too, but I read your blog every day too and enjoy it. 🙂 I LOVE the “friends turned lovers” theme myself.
I love the whole theme of it, but I may be projecting just a little here. The stronger relationships I’ve had have started on a friendship basis. I think a couple can get to know one another on a more honest level because you’re just friends and not trying to impress the other person. I’d love to see more of it in books. I’ll have to check out the list given – like I don’t already have an out of control to be read pile.
i am here for Alison’s contest. I really like the idea of friends turning into lovers. i will have to check out your blog more in the future.
Cherie Japp
enjoying this website and blog. just great. Alison’s contest.
love this blog. really cool. alison’s contest entry.
great website. really cool stuff.
I am here for Alison’s contest. I like the “friends turned lovers” theme and I have read a couple of books that have this theme.
Alison’s Kent’s competition entry.
Not a huge friends to lovers fan although Sandra Canfield did a fab one ~ Voices On The Wind. A keeper for me.
Wow you have a nice blog. Great Quotes. I am also here for Alison’s Contest. I am glad she had did this cause I came across some really nice looking blogs and they are all on my Favorite’s 🙂 Thanxs Alison for the workout *G*
I will be visiting this blog more often Thanxs :):)
HUGSSSS
Linda.H.
I came for Alison’s contest and would like to enter!
I love the friends-to-lovers theme! It is one of my faves!
::sigh:: Oh, Mulder…
I adore the friends to lovers theme. One of my most enjoyable writing experiences was exploring that relationship. In fact, in some ways I’ve explored that theme in several books.
I’m here for Alison’s contest. I love to read about friends becoming lovers! I like your site. Looks good!
Friends becoming lovers -um no – but what do I know I’ve read secret baby books I thought were great – it’s all in the execution.
Great quotes! Loved the chemistry between Mulder and Scully. But I haven’t read that many friends-become-lovers themed books.
Hi,
This is a first time stop for me …came for Alison’s contest! Love the quotes too. Let’s see friends to lovers…I know I’ve read some but titles escape me right now. Here’s a stretch… Beauty and the Beast, Man from Snowy River and the Lion King.
Alison sent me 😉
RWR this month has an article about how authors have a core story, a theme they return to over and over. i haven’t found my core…but I find friends -> lovers stories harder to write. Why are they together now when they never saw it as a possibility before?
I like friends to lovers stories. There’s just something about the plotline that I adore.
I love books like that. I also like coworkers and second chance at love books.
I came over for Alison’s contest.
You have a great site! I adore friends to lovers stories.
I also enjoy the friends turned lovers story. I think because there is such history and that makes the feelings so much deeper. I read a good one recently called SLEEPING WITH BEAUTY by Donna Kauffman
I love that kind of story… but I hate it in real life. Most of the relationships I’ve been in has been that kind… and they hurt one hell of a lot more then tbe Meet Him – Date Him – Break Up kind. And it’s ten times the hell when you find out they’re scum…
I read any and all romance novels. Friends becoming lovers is one of my personal faves though, cuz it’s what happened to me. 😀 I’ve read too many to count, but you did mention a few that I love. Shannon McKenna and Lori Foster. But Let’s not forget Alsion Kent too. Her girl-gear series has a couple of friends turn lovers in it too.
LOL Yesy Rubi, you know I didn’t name any kent or harlq. books thinking people visiting would have titles…
I am shocked, shocked I tell ya no one has mentioned my fave Four Men and a Lady yet.
The winners are Shawna and Rachael!