For my part, I want to talk about one of my favorite romantic plots of all time: the best friends who realize they love each other. I am such a sucker for this storyline. It might all date back to kindergarten when my best friend was an adorable blond Dutch boy named Wauter. Secretly, I still wonder whether we're still meant to be....
Anyway, I adore books and movies about best friends (or childhood friends) who all of a sudden wake up to the fact that the perfect person has been right next to them all along. I think it's all about getting to that moment, that instant where one of them realizes the truth of their feelings. The duality of being thrilled to find love and terrified that the other friend won't feel the same way and that confessing might end the friendship all together. How will it all work out?
One of the first complete stories I ever wrote was about a pair of best friends/roomies who realize they're meant to be together after an April Fool's joke forces them to start thinking about each other differently. Hmmm, might have to go dig that story out....
This theme is one of the reasons I love The Hunger Games. There's obviously something under the surface between Gale and Katniss, I mean he almost said he loved her in Catching Fire, right? And when Mockingjay comes out in two months (TWO MONTHS!!!) I fully expect a little best friends romance.
I'm a sucker for best friends turning into lovers in the movies, too. One of my all-time favorite movies is Drive Me Crazy, starring Melissa Joan Hart and Adrian Grenier. The pair were best friends in elementary school, but had drifted apart by the time high school rolled around. But a basketball mishap and a breach of dance date protocol brings them back together as pretend boyfriend-girlfriend. It's only a matter of time before the pretend part disappears.
Now I'm looking for recommendations. To be entered to win a copy of LIFTED, tell me about your favorite best-friends-fall-in-love book or movie. And if the boy has secretly loved the girl all along, then all the better!
Hugs,
TLC
Oh. My. Gods. and Goddess Boot Camp (Greek gods are more than myth.)
FORGIVE MY FINS (What happens when a mermaid kisses a human?)
Posts
28 comments:
I don't have a book or movie recommendation for you, but I've always had a soft spot for the "friends who realize they love each other" theme too -- it happened to me in real life (and we got married and had two kids, happily ever after).
Oh, I'm going to grab this one before someone else does: When Harry Met Sally! : ) So cute. So funny. So re-watchable (again & again & again...)
Thanks for the giveaway!
ambience.of.rain {at} gmail.com
I would have to say mine would be A lot Like Love.. I LOVE this movie!!!
lovestoread0708 AT yahoo.com
For TV shows, I loved Joey and Pacey on Dawson's Creek :)
Movie: Whatever it Takes starring Shane West in boxers and a cowboy hat :)
This is kind of embarrassing, but I'm going to point to my own book, HOW TO HOOK A HOTTIE, with heroine Kate and hero Dal, who are just best friends now, 'k???
Oh my gosh! I was so thinking of Drive Me Crazy when I started reading your post - I loved that movie. ;)
I love that plot idea, too.
Heather
Sam and Kent from Before I Fall. aAthough they were childhood best friends but now aren't. Does that count?
The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting has a nice bestfriend to love transition.
Congrats Wendy!!!!! Just finished reading Lifted--and totally loved it!!!!
I was totally going to say when Harry Met Sally! :)
Keeping the Faith, is a love triangle where Edward Norton (a priest) and Ben Stiller (a Rabi), fall in love with their best friend growing up--Jenna Elfman.
also Made of Honor and My Best Friend's Wedding
Save The Last Dance (the first one)
Sarah and Derek..
Ron & Hermione of Harry Potter fame! :)
City of Bones/ City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments trilogy) by Cassandra Clare, Simon fell in love with Clary. Turns out he was in love with her forever, but she didn't feel the same. Maybe this isn't the same as both friends falling in love, but at least one friend did.
Another example I can think of is the Lizzie McGuire Movie (and the show, but you see them kiss and really fall in love in the movie).
I know I know other examples, but they aren't coming to me!! Oh well, this will have to do. :)
Tera...you HAVE to watch 13 GOING ON 30 if you haven't already seen it. Best of the best friends falling in love movies, I think.
= )
Hmm, I say "My Girl". You can tell Vada and Thomas J. had something special. A special type of love. One of my favorite movies of alllll time.
Movie: Circle of Friends
Book: Rosie Dunn by Cecelia Ahern
Some Kind of Wonderful is great.
Thanks for all the great recommendations! Some I've read/seen, some are new to me. Yay!
@Tina Oh my gosh, I didn't even think of Hottie because it's packed away, but ... YES!
@Heather I'm doing a teen lit festival next year with Todd Strasser (author of the book that became Drive Me Crazy) and I am SO excited!
I know I'm late, but here's a great book --- Roses for Mama by Janette Oke. I can't tell you the number of times I have read it.
@ylime1981-- you're never too late to add a good book!--I've never heard of that one, but it sounds really good, thanks!
Made of Honor with Patrick Dempsey was cute. It had just enough humor that the hubby didn’t gag while watching it with me ;) He isn’t a chick flick fan. Just Friends with Ryan Reynolds was hilarious but did contain some crude humor.
Adrienne and Denn from Forbidden Sea by Sheila A. Nielson which is releaseing in July. They start out as best friends and fall in love in the end.
I just read Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok. Kim and Matt are friends from childhood. They each have other romantic interests, but in a moment of crisis they turn to each other and learn they have loved each other from afar.
Movie: Just Friends (with Ryan Reynolds :) )
Book: Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, not my fav book in the world but an interesting read non-the-less.
Happy Reading/Movie watching!
~Aliya
I am pretty sure that Ron and Hermione have to be my favorite. And of course Congrats!!
sports[dot]erikalynn[at]gmail[dot]com
The ultimate would be When harry Met Sally :D
Post a Comment