7 of the Best Friends to Lovers Romances in YA
It takes a serious amount of bravery to make the jump from friends to more-than-friends. If things don’t work out, you might lose the other half of all your inside jokes. If they do, you get the comfort of being in a relationship with someone who already gets your weird sense of humor. Or you might wind up in the rare third category, where you decide you’re better off as friends and everything continues as normal. Whether you’re already pining for a friend or just like the idea that you could, here are six novels that rock the friends falling in love.
Top Ten, by Katie Cotugno
On paper, Ryan and Gabby shouldn’t be friends. He’s an extroverted hockey player; she’s an anxious introvert. Somehow the pair hit it off freshman year, and now that it’s graduation night, they can’t imagine life without each other. But should they be something more? Ryan has left a string of short-term girlfriends behind him, and bisexual Gabby has only ever seriously dated one girl. With everything changing, they start seriously considering their relationship status by doing what they always do: making a top-ten list, this time of the best moments in their friendship so far.
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, by Mackenzi Lee
Monty isn’t quite ready to follow in his father’s harsh, lordly footsteps, which is why he’s planning to party his way through Europe with his best friend, Percy, first. Accompanied by his strict chaperone and his serious sister Felicity, Monty is determined to flirt his way into forgetting his doomed crush on Percy—Percy, who’s unavailable mostly because he probably doesn’t return Monty’s feelings, but also because he’s a man, and a biracial one at that. But when a thoughtless mistake leads to an international manhunt and a high-speed chase across the continent, Monty starts to realize that he might not know as much about his best friend as he thought.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, by Jenny Han
Lara Jean Song has written a letter to every boy she’s ever loved, but she’s never sent them. She’s over all the boys, except the most inconvenient: her older sister’s ex-boyfriend Josh. When the letters accidentally get sent, Lara Jean saves face by fake-dating Peter, one of the other letter-recipients. Getting to know each other quickly turns Lara Jean and Peter into friends, but when things start feeling real, their mutually beneficial faux-lationship becomes complicated. (And if you dig this, check out Han’s stellar The Summer I Turned Pretty, in which she explores a friends-to-love triangle!)
Dante and Aristotle Discover the Secrets of the Universe, by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
With the shadow of his incarcerated brother hanging over his family, Ari prefers to be alone. Dante, on the other hand, is warm and outgoing, and so is his family. When the two meet at a pool, they quickly become friends despite their differences. They spend the summer exploring their hometown, meeting each other’s families, and bonding. As their friendship gradually grows deeper, several incidents have Dante and Ari questioning the nature of their relationship. Dante realizes he’s falling in love with Ari. But will Ari feel—or let himself feel—the same?
Wicked Like a Wildfire, by Lana Popovic
Like all the women in their family, twin sisters Iris and Malina have the “gleam.” They can manipulate the beauty of the world around them—Iris through fractals, and Malina through music. And they’ve always been warned about falling in love. This is easy for Iris, whose difficult relationship with their mother means she keeps her armor up at all times, even around her best friend. Then their mother is attacked, and the sisters are left distraught and confused. As they set to work uncovering the mystery, it’s hard to tell if they’ll be drawn closer to each other and their friends or pushed further apart. This book features not one but two friends-to-more plotlines, plus a hefty dose of dark magic that’ll leave you longing for the sequel.
Queens of Geek, by Jen Wilde
Best friends Charlie, Taylor, and Jaime, are headed to SupaCon, where actress/vlogger Charlie is determined to show the world that her breakup with her co-star is behind her. It helps that she gets to meet finally meet her long-time crush, Alyssa, who just might be crushing back. Meanwhile, Taylor is struggling just attending SupaCon, something her Asperger’s and anxiety would normally stop her from doing. She can’t even fathom turning her friendship with Jaime into something more—not until a fan contest breaks her out of her comfort zone, and suddenly anything seems possible.