Tropes in Reality- Friends to Lovers

         One of the biggest sub-genres in romance has become friends to lovers. Could it be that there is someone in all of our lives that at one point we imagined them as being more than friends? Or has everyone only had platonic relationships with everyone in their lives that wasn't a significant other? I think that there is a vast majority of people out there who probably have had some strong feelings for someone in their lives who they never ended up getting with but considered to be a friend. So the fact that this genre has gained so much popularity over the years shouldn't come as a surprise to most. It has definitely been noted that some people are just meant to be while others are just meant to stay friends. Sometimes you won't know until you've crossed that line and then it can be hard to turn back and be just friends or for some it just easily flows. Though for the most part, I think it can definitely lead to some awkward moments afterwards. I'm interested in seeing how these relationships progress from "oh we're the best of friends" to "hey wanna give this thing a try". I know that some people will toe the line for the rest of their lives for fear of losing that friend. While some live at on the edge and would prefer to let it all hang out and then come what may. 

    When it comes to the majority of these books that fall into this category for romance, both people usually have always had a thing for the other person but just didn't know what to say. Then of course there is some kind of event that causes them to throw precaution to the wind and let the other person know how they really feel about them. In most cases this works out but I wonder if there is a book out there where this doesn't work out for one of the people in the book so instead they end up with someone else and decide to keep the friend in the picture. Do you think that you could remain friends with someone that you want to date knowing that they are still really close with their ex? The Ex who just so happens to also be their best friend? If you are the person in who is still friends with an ex that you dated and you're moving into a new relationship do you let that person know that the best friend that is always around, you also used to date? I feel like it would take a certain kind of person to accept this and still be with the person. If anyone has any recs for a book like this please let me know! I'm so interested in reading this type of thing. How does the author pull it off? It would take a strong love interest to ensure that they are comfy with the situation.

    If these people are in a friend group how does that pan out if things go awry? I know that if things work out then it's just going to be business as usual. It'll just probably have everyone else saying "whew finally". So for the ones where things get messy, that's what I want to see. How do things get worked out. Does all the friends agree that one person was in the wrong or are they able to be impartial and tell each person how they really feel about what happened to cause the break up? I'd hope that if something like that happened to me in a friend group that the person that I'm involved with would come out and tell me what I happened to have to done wrong in the situation. Friends should definitely not be a group of yes people who don't tell you how things actually are. Any recs for a book like this? Where there was someone in the friend group who caused a break up of the friends and the new SO comes in and is able to either rectify things with the friend or adopt the person into a new friend group?

    Now for the more personal part, have I ever dated someone who was a friend. Not really, I mean there were people who became my friends and then like a little later I dated them. Definitely not someone who was like a friend that I'd have for many years type deal. It definitely made things weird when we decided to break up and then we still had a bunch of mutual friends. I just decided to not get them involved in the situation because they still deserved to have a friendship with both me and the other person regardless of how the two of us felt about each other. So I always think that it's best to not always involve your close friends when it comes to relationship issues because when you do the lines get blurred very easily and sometimes it's hard for the other friends who know you both to remain friends. Then people have to pick sides and things just get messy all around. Have you tried being in a relationship with a friend? How did it work out? Was this a friend that you'd known for years or someone who was relatively new to you. Let me know in the comments!!