My Favorite Kind of Literary Romance

I’m a sucker for romance. I really am. I love the development of a sweet bond between two characters and I giggle and kick my feet and squeal. But in all my years of reading, I’ve found that I am drawn to a very specific type of romance. It’s what I love to read and, coincidentally, what I love to write. And there are certain pillars to “my kind of romance.”

I like my romance as a subplot in a larger genre. Romantasy through and through. I’m not a fan of straight-up romance books. I prefer a larger plot, because that’s how we live life. There’s always plenty of things happening besides romance. I just happen to enjoy it most when it’s dragons and swords and whatnot. 

That’s the first pillar of my kind of romance. A subplot. 

The second is friends to lovers. HEAR ME OUT! If this isn’t your cup of tea, just give me a second to explain! I don’t need them to be life-long friends. I don’t need best friends to lovers. But I love love love when two people go from strangers to pals. They start building from the bottom to make sure they can make it to the top. 

Honestly, this is probably because I’m a firm Christian. I think the end goal of dating should be marriage. And there are actually studies out there that a marriage lasts longer if the couple can slowly shift from a romantic kind of love to a softer, more amicable kind of love. So I give my characters a headstart by making that the beginning as well as the end. 

Friends to lovers is my favorite kind of romance to write as well as read for a variety of reasons. For example, Jason and Lily. At the beginning of Tiger Lily, they represent two facets of the same jewel. Two different reflections in the same mirror. And as they are brought into contact with each other, they clash. For a while, actually. I like to try to flip tropes around whenever I can, so instead of Lily being the “one good thing for a tortured boy,” he’s the one good thing for her. She’s the one who’s angry and he’s the one who’s sad. As Tiger Lily draws to a close, it’s a tentative friendship on the beginning of blooming. 

At the start of book two, it’s a weary, pain-battered relationship. Jason and Lily have grown to depend on each other. Their friendship becomes something to rely on for both of them, and they don’t realize they are “catching feelings” until it’s too late. It gets to the point where they have a chance to give up everything for each other. They don’t know what to call it, for various reasons, but Jason and Lily are given a chance to realize that they love each other. 

And since I’m a complete romantic, they have an epilogue. 🤭 

When tentative embraces turn into longer hugs, when high fives turn into holding hands, when glances turn into longer, heavier gazes, that’s when I get excited. When two characters who’ve lived and breathed as nothing but friends realize that they are, in fact, something more, I start giggling and kicking my feet. 

There’s something so wholesome about two friends becoming best friends forever. I like relationships that are built to last, and I think once two people have proved that they can be friends, that they can stand by each other without romance entering the picture, they have one of the best foundations a relationship can have. 

Plus then I get to write about all the sweet little gestures that come when people start crossing lines without jumping straight to kisses in the rain. The aforementioned hand-holding and hugs. 

The third pillar of my kind of romance is wholesomeness. I confess, I have read enemies to lovers. I have read intense relationships that I haven’t hated. But I always come back to a sweet, innocent kind of love. None of these toxic, fight-filled relationships. 

I want a relationship where they are willing to sacrifice everything for each other. Where they lay down their own wants, their own desires, their own demands for what the other person needs. I really don’t like relationships where secrets are kept between the characters because they’re more worried about how they’ll look when it’s in the open than they are concerned about their partner.  

Take Percy and Annabeth from Percy Jackson. They don’t keep secrets from each other. They were friends first. They know each other’s needs and dreams and support them. All in all, it makes since that they’re one of my favorite literary couples. 

In the end, I don’t want my characters to have a toxic kind of love. I don’t want them to jump in too soon and skip the foundation. This is not me saying that all other kinds of romance are awful and they must be friends first. But for me, this is my favorite kind of romance.