You know what adds 180 years to my life? Books that focus on FRIENDSHIPS.
It clears my skin, I can see the seventh dimension, the suns burn brighter, cake is magical, the wraiths stay in the shadows, the ships come home from war. It’s incredible really. Who knew the power of friendships in books. Who knew.
I’ve been reading some utterly incredible friendship books this year that have done ALL OF THIS and has got me thinking…
Do YA books focus on friendship enough??
Because I feel we generally get a romance to take front-and-centre stage in books instead of friendship. And like, don’t get me wrong: I’m not digging at romance! I actually like romance in books and will ship all the ships. (I’m currently reading Autoboyography and frEAKIngggg out how much I LOVE that ship.) But I feel like friendships capture my imagination more and aren’t done enough???
- I’m kind of obsessed with intensely deep friendships in books because I LOVE IT.
- And also I’m really bad at making friends myself, so let me live vicariously through books lol lol.
- I think romances should START with friendship anyway?!
- The dynamics are much much different to a romance and I enjoy reading them.
- Friendships are meaningful and complex and if they’re written well like that, then they can be so entrancing and emotional.
- They’re not LESS than romance.
- As a non-romantic person myself, I just…feel like friendships can affect and change your life so much and SQUAD GOALS are just the best.
- I just basically pretty much want my own raven boys gang. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
So now I’m totally going to subject you to a list of some of my favourite bookish friendships!
While going through my reads to pick out 10 friendship books I love…well yeah. It wasn’t the first 10 books on my read list. Excellent, dynamic, and epic friendships aren’t that common. (But maybe I don’t pick the right books?!)
I also understand that romance is (a) something publishers push for, and (b) something a LOT of teens are exploring for the first time. So it’s important too! And also books often feature outcasts and the lonely. So it’s needed to talk about them. (I was also the shy teen who went: books > people. EVERY TIME. So part of me LIKES reading about antisocial people too, okay?!)
Sometimes you don’t need a LOT of friends. Some people do way better with just one or two.
But I think friendship should be as flailed over and common to read about as romances!
SO.
Let me hit you with some favourites.
1. THE RAVEN CYCLE BY MAGGIE STIEFVATER
Because. of. course.
Seriously if someday I don’t mention them, assume it is because I have been kidnapped aND AM CALLING FOR SUBTLE HELP OR SOMETHING OMG. Blue and I are both in love with all those Raven Boys. I mean they do all slowly fall romantically in love with each other as well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But it’s all how they’ll do anything for each other. They share quests and dreams and really super dark secrets and thEY DIG UP DEAD WELSH KINGS TOGETHER.
What do your friends do on the weekend??? Anything else is probably so fake.
2. LETTERS TO THE LOST BY BRIGID KEMMERER
I just finished reading this for the 2nd time and ajfdksald it is Declan and Rev who HAVE MY HEART. They’ve both had awful pasts and they’re just there for each other. Childhood friends. They rely on each other. Rev tells Declan to check is temper. Declan is there for Rev when he has PTSD moments. They have a “them against the world” attitude and I just love love love them.
3. PACIFICA BY KRISTEN SIMMONS
Why doesn’t anyone talk about this?!? HOLY WOW IT’S SO GOOD. Ross and Adam are the rich vs poor friend who basically wOULD DIE for each other. Seriously Adam goes missing and Ross practically tears apart the entire sea to find him. It’s so freaking good. I LOVE THIS BOOK.
4. EXIT, PURSUED BY A BEAR BY E.K. JOHNSTON
Ohhhh wow this one has some seriously tough/dark subject matter with being all about sexual assault. But you know what I can’t get over?! Hermione and Polly’s incredible friendship. I was just sitting here waiting for it to get catty and awful — and what does that say about books that this is generally what happens?! Ffsfsfhsfh. But it stayed PRECIOUS. I freaking adore these girls and how close they were. Like nothing could cut them apart ahhhhhhhhh.
(ALSO HER NAME IS HERMIONE AND IT’S NOT HARRY POTTER?!)
5. INK AND BONE BY RACHEL CAINE
It’s my BOOKNERD SQUAAAAD. Ok but the thing i most love about this lot (Jess, Khalila, Dario, Thomas, Glain, and Morgan) is that they started off as competitive enemies and just ended up going: “SCREW THE SYSTEM. WE MAKE A SENSATIONAL TEAM.” Also this series is about BOOKS. Jess’ opinion is still “books > people” and I respect that too.
Except for Jess and Dario. There is a 97% chance one would push the other off a cliff and just stand back and laugh and laugh and laugh and then claim it was an accident. But that’s also friendship pfffft, don’t tell me otherwise.
6. AUTOBOYOGRAPHY BY CHRISTINE LAUREN
Didn’t I already mention this??? Will I just continue mentioning it because it makes me wANT TO SCREAM WITH LOVE???? Yes. Very yes.
Apart from having the cutest romance ever (that brOKE me)…it also has a really fantastic friendship between Tanner and Autumn! Okay they have issues. Like so many. Um, so they did some really dumb stuff at the end that nearly ruined everything. But like just how they’re comfortable with each other and total nerds together. Autumn is basically Hermione with sticky-notes and highlighters and 3498 school subjects. Tanner is like the cute dumb puppy you adore but also sigh at. I love them??? So much????
7. ELIZA AND HER MONSTERS BY FRANCESCA ZAPPIA
Hey hey hey!!! Online friends represent! I LOVE BOOKS WITH GOOD ONLINE FRIENDS. I find usually they’re cast in like this “omg they’re a 67 year old axe murderer” line…but this one features (a) really epic and loving online friendship that aren’t diminished, and (b) no one is an axe murderer!! i mean the bar is low but yay!!
8. LADY MIDNIGHT BY CASSANDRA CLARE
I mean ALL the Shadowhunter books have good friendships!? I can’t even choose though. Lady Midnight always gets featured however because I freaking adore Mark and just need to tell you that 398 x per day. But also:
- Will and Jem (kinda ship them tho…Tessa was so boring. I’M SORRY)
- Clary and Simon
- Emma and Cristina
- Ty and Livvy (even tho they’re twins but pfft)
- Magnus and literally anyone he comes across…give it 5 mins and they’ll be best friends
9. ACE OF SHADES BY AMANDA FOODY
Levi and Enne have this potential for romance?!? And I 500% think they’ll get there eventually. BUT! In this book, they’re pretty solidly friends. And they start off with Levi going: “Can I use her tho.” And Enne going: “Is this mere street rat helpful to me.” And then both accidentally realising they are a GOOD TEAM.
(Also this is full of like con artists and viciously vibrant cities and I am so so in love with it I can only shriiiiiek.)
10. SIX OF CROWS BY LEIGH BARDUGO
I set out to write this list going: “I will do lots of underrated books and not so many famous ones.” AND NOW LOOK AT ME.
I CAN’T NOT MENTION MY DREGS SQUAD.
Yes they all pair off — pfft let’s not focus on that — BUT they are such incredible friends?! They trust each other with their LIVES (once they’ve finished nearly murdering each other) and their friendship is all equal parts soft and stab. I love them. I loooove them. Kaz loves them too, although he might also murder them all at some point in case he shows too much emotion and loses his reputation.
Bless you Kaz, you’re doing great.
When i saw “Exit pursued by bear” on the list i thought you are referring to book #4 from the Spud series with the same title.
In any case, that would be a perfect fit here as well: it’s about a bunch of boys who live in a boarding school and become best friends despite being kinda different in the beginning.
Awesome list <3
I haven’t heard of that series hahah. But YAY for all the supportive friend groups!
am i really disappointed radio silence didnt make onto this list because Aled and France’s friendship is on the purest things alve AM I DISAPPOINTED. well, yes. But look! SIX OF CROWS. my children!! i love them all so much fhjsdhf and THE RAVEN BOYS yes yes obviously, im wildly in love with Blue, oops. BUT LIKE, friendships in books are so IMPORTANT and I just want more non-romantic relationships in books EJHFhdf.
I’M SO ASHAMED RIGHT NOW😫😫😫😫 I MEANT TO PUT THEM ON TOO?! I can’t even with me omg. And I just finished reading I Was Born For This so I have SO many feels about Alice Oseman books right now and I wanna reread Radio Silence so badly right now ahhhhhhh.
Friendships are SO important omg.
Ahhh I love friendships in books! And I totally agree they should be featured more. As a teen, I feel like friendships are so much more important than romantic relationships in my life. And I’m always craving realistic representation of friendships in books because friendships are not perfect!! It is not always that I can relate to books with friendships because they are all so perfect and nobody fights and friends are always by your side. It takes time to find those people and there is drama/problems in friendships like in romantic relationships.
I don’t know if that makes sense. 😂I will definetly check out some of the books on this list I didn’t read yet. 😉
My favourite friendships in books have to be August and Kate from This Savage Song (can you call them friends?? Idk but they definetly care about each other even if they don’t call each other friends.) Helene and Elias from Ember in the Ashes (even though their relationship is very messed up now 😂)
And the Raven Boys and Blue are the best squad ever. That’s a fact! They all have thier own problems and different backgrounds but they come together and ahhh! I love them so much.
Also Shadowhunters! Yess! I ADORE Magnus so much. He is so charming, I totally understand why everybody is friends with him. I’m currently reading Clockwork Angel and OMG now I’m shipping Jem and Will so much!
And what is a friendship appreciation post without Six of Crows. I mean, Nina and Inej are my favourite bffs.
I so so love well written bookish friendships! The kinds that feature fights and disagreements too?! But then they LAST. That’s so special and I think reading about it just makes me all squishy with good feels. 😍
And YES I love August and Kate a lot too!! They were such unlikely friends tbh, but it worked so so well and fjdkald to them in Our Dark Duet *cries for years with feels*
THE RAVEN BOYS AND BLUE ARE LIFE THOUGH. THEY ARE EVERYTHING.
When I was reading your intro, I immediately knew you’ll choose TRC in number 1 AND I DON’T BLAME YOU. Their friendship is pure as my new super white shirt.
And I thought you weren’t gonna include the Dregs and I was supposed to wage war but I’m glad you gave them a spot! They’re 101% squad goals. The bickering and threats of death just make them more lovable.
I also love the friendship of Karou and Zuzana in Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Zuzana actually followed Karou through hell and back and they supported each other despite of supernatural barriers.
I really think there should be more friendship in books! A friendship bond is just as important as a romantic one.
I do have a lot of friends and now I have more since I signed up on Twitter. ONLINE FRIENDS ARE REAL FRIENDS. I really really believe that.
I’M SO PREDICTABLE AREN’T I?!😂 And nooo regrets ahhh. I love my Dregs too though. Can’t forget them! And honestly the way they basically roll their eyes and are like “yeah if you died I wouldn’t even care” and then they RISK THEIR LIVES FOR EACH OTHER…precious. Utterly precious.
Omg yes to Karou and Zuzana too! Zuzana was the best firecracker ever.😂
I love friendships in books and will always push for more of it, because we need it! So many books put romance ahead of friendship and it’s like, actually that boy you were completely obsessed over at 16? 9 times out of 10 he’s not gonna be there for the rest of your life. The friends you had when you were 16-much greater chance that they will still be there, my current friendship group (aside from my Uni friends) is three girls that I have been friends with since I was 14! I’ve never really been one for lots of friends, I have a grand total of six close friends and I’m quite happy with that, as I’ve never really been a big friendship group kinda girl, I prefer having fewer, closer friendships. Friendships should absolutely feature more! I know that first romance is important but there are a lot of teens, including teen me, who don’t have their first romances at 16-I didn’t go on my first date until a couple of years ago and I think YA books have a tendency to overemphasise the romance aspect and underemphasise the fact that most of the drama in your teen years is drama in your friendship group! As for favourite friendships, I do love The Gangsey and Jess’ gang and of course The Dregs. I also love Maddie and Julie in Code Name Verity, Percy & Grover in Percy Jackson, Magnus and Samira in Magnus Chase, Skulduggery and Val in Skulduggery Pleasant, Tibby, Lena, Carmen and Bridget from The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants, Shazad and Amani in Rebel of The Sands, there are so many really great ones, YA friendships are really overlooked sometimes!
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I’m so glad you’ve had long lasting friendships there! Most of the people I knew at 14 I’m not in contact with anymore tbh, but it’s special when a relationship can last a long time right??
And yes agreed! I think most teens would actually have more friendship-focused lives than romance ones. But at the same time I get that people like living vicariously through books so there’s probably a lot of teens who do really want to jsut read romance.😂
YES to Code Name Verity! But I do think they were in love.😂
Thanks! I mean the same is true for me, I’m not in contact with most of the people I knew at school, but the people I really couldn’t live with out I have made sure that I stayed in touch with. One of them is my bookish partner in crime, so obviously that friendship was always destined to last, our other friend is someone we met through sixth form and we just have a very similar sense of humour and love spending time together and my other friend again we bonded over a shared sense of humour-it turns out books and a shared sense of humour are the perfect combinations for friendships! It is definitely special to have long lasting friendships 🙂 Oh yeah totally get the wanting to live vicariously through books thing, and I think I am in a relative minority being a romance scrooge!
Ha ha I could definitely see that!
I LOVE reading about close friendships! I’m more of a close-friendships-with-a-few type person, and I feel like in the “social media age” so many “friendships” are superficial. Like…can we catch up and talk without you having to take 30495309486 photos of your food and check your phone every 2.5 seconds?
Anyway. One friendship I really enjoyed semi-recently was Tiny Cooper and Will Grayson (the straight one) from Will Grayson, Will Grayson. They had basically nothing in common, but were still so supportive of each other? I want to write more strong friendships in my WIPs but they always seem to end up falling in love instead haha. Whoops!
I really like just a few close friendships myself…says me whose only IRL friends are my sisters BUT IT STILL COUNTS. 😂 And oh oh I do love Will and Tiny so much too! They were so sweet. Honestly John Green writes really good friendships ahhh!
YES YES YES YES, yes to friendships in books, we need more of them and definitely more stories focusing on them – friendships are amazing. I really love your choices here, I love the Raven Boys and the Six of Crows squad so much, they’re adorable together and I just love them together ahhhhhhhh <3 I also very much loved the internet friendship in Eliza & Her Monsters, we need more of these too, because they're realistic and valid and can be oh, so incredible <3 Also…you're making me wonder what the hell I am doing with my life NOT reading Ink & Bone. I need to soon haha 🙂
Lovely post! <3 <3
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Yes, they should focus on friendship more! Because romance is great, but friendship is too. I like it best when books have some characters pair off and some not, because then they explore all kinds of relationships and don’t make out that you have to have a romance to have a life (which some YA books do).
The friendships in Six of Crows were really interesting. I haven’t read any of the other books you mentioned, though. I’ll have to check them out, because I haven’t read a book with a good friendship for a while.
i haven’t even read the post yet and i already agree with the title; yes, yes they should.
I LOVE good, solid friendship in YA but there’s so little! We definitely need more. I’m not against romance but there’s so much and I’ve not ever experienced a romance, so I want more friendships! In fact, I’m finding it hard to think of a YA book that I’ve read that has a good friendship, except maybe Marissa Meyer’s books. Its almost like YA authors think friendship is INFERIOR to romance???
Which it is not.
So more friendship, please and thank you.
I would love to see books with strong friendships become more common! They give me warm feels and friendships goals for real life! I’m so glad to hear that the Ink and Bone books have strong friendships!! Makes me want to read it even more! 😄
My favorite book friends are probably: •Augustus Waters and Isaac (TFiOS)
•Julie and Maddy (Code Name Verity)
•Aza and Daisy (Turtles all the Way Down)
•The Baudelaires and the Quagmires (ASoUE)
•Marlee and Liz (The Lions of Little Rock)
•The Penderwicks and Jeffrey (The Penderwicks)
I own Autoboyography and Elize and Her Monsters and NEED to read those ASAP. I totally agree about Blue and the gang though in The Raven Cycle. I love books that really focus on friendship. I don’t mind romance in books either, but I wasn’t focused on that in high school – and not really focused on it much now – so it’s nice to see YA books show that it’s okay to just have amazing friends. I’m still really good friends with people from high school and college, so yeah. And Harry Potter def. has great friendships…but you said not to mention it SO FINE!! 😉
-Lauren
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FREAKING RAVEN CYCLE AND SIX OF CROWS HAS RUINED ALL OTHER FRIENDSHIPS FOR ME. THEY’RE SO GOOD.
I mean, any friend group that would bury a dead body for you or break into a prison with you is bound to be a rad one.
I love friendships in books! I’d honestly rather read about those than a romance. I haven’t read any of the books on your list, but a lot of them are on my TBR. I actually own Eliza and Her Monsters. Now I just need to read it. (That’ll happen sometime in the next thousand years.)
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I *love* friendships in books. But my favourite friendships are definitely the really complicated ones, where people properly argue and there are some huge problems and then, in the end, they learn to still be friends and their friendship has evolved into something even deeper. Those stories are relatable and important and I think for a lot of young people those are very important things to learn (for their own friendships and just generally for how to treat people) so I wish more books had stories like those.
Many of my close friends I’ve had for a long time, one of my best friends I’ve been friends with for 16 years or so (I’m nearly 20). Over those years my friendships with her and others changed a lot, with that particular friend I went from being normal friends to best friends to barely speaking to each other to proper friends again and that took some work and time to process things and to think about what a friendship actually means and what we actually want from each other. I think complex relationships are the best ones, but it would be great to see more representation of that in media because it’s not always easy to navigate something so complicated and long.
Some of my favourite book friendships you already mentioned (such as Lady Midnight, Six of Crows and The Raven Cycle), but I also really love the friendships in Turtles All The Way Down, Leah On The Offbeat and I Was Born For This!
YAAAZZ THE RAVEN CYCLE! The Gangsey is adorable <333 I love Will and Jem, they are THE BEST friendship out there, no one can beat them. I also love Shazi and Despina's friendship in The Wrath and The Dawn, they stay together through thick and thin!
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Book friendships are the best! I’m all for them featuring more (and this is not only because I’m not the biggest fan of romance). I feel that book friendships, especially like the ones in The Raven Cycle and Six of Crows, are so much fun to read what with the witty banter, camaraderie, and having each others backs no matter what.
YES TO ALL THE FRIENDSHIP IN YA!!!! I WOULD BE PERFECTLY HAPPY IF LIKE HALF OF ALL ROMANCES WOULD JUST VANISH AND DISAPPEAR AND BE REPLACED BY FRIENDSHIPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My unfortunately short list of best books with friendship is
-Eliza and Her Monsters, the online friends actually remind me a lot of a group chat i have with some people online and I consider them my closest friends so I just really connecting with this book on a spiritual level (also if people discovered by online secret identity had a web comic that was hugely popular I would also pass out at lunch and skip school for several weeks)
-The Lunar Chronicles, even though all pair up I feel like there’s a big emphasis on their friendship on a spaceship
-Six of Crows, nuf said
-Magnus Chase, the fact that the main male and female protagonist of a series have a platonic relationship gives me life and it’s said that MC and Harry Potter are the only books I can think of that do that
-Geekerella, anyone is lucky to have a friend like Sage.
-my book, I used the room I would’ve used for romance for platonic friendships and murder (SERIOUSLY by the end only three characters are alive, I have no self control)
Book friendships can destroy the heart just as much as romance can??? Especially those really good friendships. Like I want a book where the Main Character is like the chosen one or something, and their Best Friend is all “What do you mean you’re going to another realm to fight monsters and ride dragons? But further more, what do you mean you’re leaVING ME BEHIND???????” and then they both go and kick butt and live happily ever after, and grow into old ladies together, cackling in rocking chairs. That would be great.
I’m so much more social now, while book blogging and stuff, than I ever was. I think I need to engage more with people on like twitter and stuff, but I have the bravery of a broken twig so I don’t.
I think friendshipssss are so important and our friendships definitely shape who we are as people! I love reading bookish friendships, sometimes romantic relationships in books can feel quite forced, especially if they DON’T start off with a friendship – reading slow-burning romances when they were friends first is soooo much better!
ALSO OH MY I just finished A Thousand Perfect Notes and I’m soooo shook I finished it a few hours ago on a plane home from a holiday in Italy and I literally started crying half-way through the flight! I was happy-crying and sad-crying all at the same time! I’ll definitely be putting a full review on my blog and goodreads soon but aaaargh Cait please publish a hundred more books right now your writing is incredible and so beautiful!!! 🙂
Grace Louise || http://www.gracelouiseofficial.blogspot.co.uk/
Yes yes! Totally agree. I love me a good romance, but I wish we had more books that centered non-romantic relationships. I’ve had some interesting convos recently about the friendships in Red Queen–the fandom tends to focus on the romances, for good reason, they’re interesting and novel and schmexy! But a couple friendships (I’m thinking Mare and Farley, Cal and Evangeline, the sibling relationships) are so interesting and root-for-able.
Will and Horace from the ranger’s apprentice are one of my fav friendships outside of HP and pjo, lol. The series starts with them fighting all the time, but by the end of the series it’s like “DUDE I’M IN TROUBLE I’M IN A FARAWAY COUNTRY AND I NEED BACKUP” “I’M COMING BRO, OK HERE I AM WHO NEEDS TO BE KILLED” what a friend. And of course it’s a lot better than i made it sound. And there is Eragon and Orik, Eragon and Sapphira, Magnus and Sam, Blitz and Hearth, Percy and Grover, Ginny and Hermione…..oops I’m leaking. WHY ARE THERE SO MANY GOOD FRIENDS IN HP AND PJO. And of course there is Astrid, the mc in my current wip, and her smol friend Mira who she would literally die for. Why can’t I work out the kinks in my outline so I can WRITE THIS BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP. 😭
Most crazily, ~Olive
I definitely love living vicariously through books since i’m anti-social as well. I’d love to see more friendships in books! I had…a couple friends in high school? But really one close friend.And besides Harry Potter it’s really hard to think of friendships in books o_o, at least in depth ones. I need to fix this and read more friendships!
Aoidjflakdjf YES to Eliza and Her Monsters (which I could relate to so hard with blogging and online roleplaying) and Six of Crows. Even if there was romance between the friends, I feel like the friendship took priority? I would never in a million years classify that duology as a romance.
I’m such a huge fan of the slow burn romance anyway that when I do write romances, usually my love interests are best friends first for a good chunk of the story, so it’s kind of a combination of both. Sometimes I enjoy writing the friend stuff more than the romantic parts. Aristotle and Dante, for example, is one of my favorite friendship books, even if there is romance later on.
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I mean obviously the raven boys and the dregs. They are amazingly lovingly together <3
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I love bookish friendships!! I feel like YA is so focused on romance and it becomes so cliché and overdone. I’ll take a fluffy friendship any day! 🙂
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Super-strong book friendships are SO SPECIAL AND WAY TOO RARE. Completely agree with that. And I love your examples here!!! (Maggie Stiefvater for the win!!! :D)
I juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust finished reading Summer of Salt, on your recommendation–and I really thought Georgina and Vira’s friendship was EVERYTHING GOALS. It was so intense but like so comfortable at the same time??? They would literally die for each other and they trust each other in everything and they’re just super “at home” and chill and relaxed whenever they’re together and . . . gaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Need more of this. Immediately. *nods many times*
(p.s. this is still me, Jessica Prescott, except I decided to use my real name, Katie Hanna . . . I do hope that is not too confusing *laughs nervously*) (also I have a blog now??) (what is this crazy nonsense)
I am a huge fan of romances in books BUT I do think we need more amazing friendships, especially, friendships between girls because like you said so many times in books there are girls that start out as friends and then it gets catty and awful and it’s so sad that it happens in so many books and that we don’t get the incredible female friendships that we deserve. Also, like you, I’m really bad at making friends and I live vicariously through books, so I would love to be able to experience more bookish friendships. From your list, I really love the friendships in The Raven Boys and in Six of Crows.
YES TO BOOK FRIENDSHIPS. This is 1000% why my heart belongs to Robin Hood and his Merry Men*. Yeah, thieving and archery, too, but THE SQUAD. THE BROMANCE. HERE FOR IT.
*(The Raven Cycle too, obviously. Long live the Gangsey. And the Gaang from Avatar: The Last Airbender. And the Fellowship of the Ring. And the Avengers when they’re not breaking up the band with their fists–)
Also heyyy, maybe if super-close friendships full of emotional intimacy were more of a thing in books, my BFF and I could live life without everyone thinking we’re literally married? Who knows???
I feel like Jess and Dario’s friendship is like “so we both have our moments of moral reprehensibility so… I guess that makes us friends?” It’s a weird bond but *shrugs*
I’m super-crazy about friendship in books! There are so many fantastic dynamics to be explored and I love seeing those get carried out (BRING ME ALL OF THE SQUADS. ALL OF THEM.)
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I love this post!! Friendships definitely need to feature more. Especially girl friendships that don’t turn into jealous cat fights and whatever other overused stereotype there is.
Some of my favourite friendships are in Holly Bourne’s series. I can’t remember the name of it (sorry) but the first one is Am I Normal Yet? and it’s incredible. They all are really!
I’ll definitely be checking out some of your recommendations. I read the raven cycle recently and my heart still hasn’t recovered so thanks very much 😂 great post!
I definitely think that friendships are underrated in books! And wow, I feel personally attacked right now, coming down here to say Hermione and Harry’s friendship is my fave 😂😂 Ok SO setting aside the obvious series….I also really love Will and Lyra in His Dark Materials (plus it turns into a totally heartbreaking romance!), the Phoenix Riders in Warcross/Wildcard, and Katniss and Finnick in The Hunger Games. I feel like all my fave friendships are actually kind of minor relationships in their respective books though? Which probably just supports your point, really! And even though it isn’t technically YA, I really like Vasya and Solovey’s banter in the Winternight books too 🙂
This post is so lovely! I’m screaming because I just started The Raven Boys for the first time yesterday and I already love it sO MUCH.😍I adore Blue and I’m sort of wary about Gansey? But also kind of love him already. AND ADAM IS MY FAVORITE. Please tell me he gets a happy ending because I already love him dearly.
One friendship I LOVE is the friendship between Adam and Julian in A List of Cages! They’re practically brothers, and I will never stop talking about how much I love that book and how much I love them.
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Books with good friendships are SO IMPORTANT, and make me incredibly happy. All your picks that I know I 10000% approve of, ESPECIALLY Six of Crows. I love how Kaz is fighting so hard to not friendly, but they all know he loves them. 😂 I love how the characters stand up for each other, though – there was the scene where Nina wanted to help the Grisha get out of Ketterdam, Kaz thought it was too risky and unimportant, but then EVERYONE took Nina’s side immediately, and ASAWJLKJDW I love them so much.
The friendships in A List of Cages are super-precious, imo, and oh, there’s one I really love! In The Steep and Thorny Way by Cat Winters the heroine and another character start out as enemies then become allies and then friends, and they are lovely and supportive of each other. There are probably a lot more but I’m blanking here. Oh wait, I’ve just finished Good Omens and Crowley and Aziraphale were a fantastic duo – I need another book, now one that concentrates on just them, because, tbh, I didn’t care about any of the other characters. 😭😂
Fantastic post!
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Gah, THIS POST is FREAKIN’ AWESOME. Because sometimes friendships are so underrated, but they are so important and just because they are different than romances doesn’t mean they are lesser. And I totally agree that romances should START with friendships. I am much more likely to become interested in a romance if the characters are friends before, instead of seeing them and instantly having this untamable attraction??? Being friends is actually a really important part of being in a romantic relationship! (Says the girl who has never been in one and never desires such a thing haha, I’m clearly an expert.)
In short, friendships are IMPORTANT, so thank you for bringing this up.
A few of my favorite friendships include: Reynie, Sticky, Kate and Constance from They Mysterious Benedict Society (love them to death)
Jack and Joseph from Orbiting Jupiter (cries for a million years, okay I’m better now)
Pip and Herbert from Great Expectations (everyone needs a Herbert, just saying)
Merry and Pippin and Frodo and Sam from The Lord of the Rings (how can this not be my goal in life)
and Rob and Sistine from The Tiger Rising (I don’t know how Kate DiCamillo does these things to my heart but she does).
When it comes to my own Actual Life I have a lot of sibling/cousin friends, and aside from that I could count my friends on one hand (probably). I don’t think the number of friends is nearly as important as how close you are. Making friends is HARD and I haven’t made a real friend in over six years.
In some books the friendships just seem superficial and I don’t like it? It kind of makes me sad?
Again, splendid post. 🙂
The Story Sponge recently posted…10 Characters That Are Too Good For This World
hi 🙂
Oh my god, I need more focus on friendships! I mean, that’s what kept me going when I was a teen. I mean yeah, all that boy stuff was kinda important but where would I be without my friends? They’re family. And I hate when there’s a best friend in a book who has like two scenes and then dies or something. Good, healthy friendships! Gimme!
And I love Frances & Aled in Radio Silence, as well as Charlie & Taylor from Queens of Geek. Also Sevro & Darrow from Red Rising or Juliette & Kenji from Shatter Me 🙂
I had two friends as a teen: an actual human being and my bookshelf. Then my actual-human-friend moved away, and we became internet friends. We still meet up every other year for coffee and cake.
This is such an important topic! I feel like friendship doesn’t get enough attention. Overall, I don’t tend to care about romance, but I’m 200% there for friendship! I particularly like the Julie and Maddie from Code Name Verity and Carver, Mars, Eli, and Blake from Goodbye Days.
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The Mother Daughter Book Club series by Heather Vogel Frederick has great friendships. 🙂 It might be a little cheesy, but I still LOVE all the characters! XD
AND YES YES YES YEEEEEEES ALL THE YES!!!!!!!!! Friendships ARE just as important as romance! We have SO MUCH romance in YA books ;we don’t need any more! We should definitely have more about friendships! 🙂 They deserve to be written! 😀
And no, I definitely did NOT have many friends as a teen. XD Maybe just a small handful, but only a couple I was actually kind of close to. And now all of my friends are in other parts of the country going to college and and my last friend that I have left that went to college at home is starting a semester abroad type thing at the end of September for 5 months in New Zealand! D: D: D: D: D: So I’ll be left alone with my books again. Oh well. XD
Heather @ The Frozen Book Blog recently posted…July Wrap Up and August Goals!
Books absolutely need to focus on friendships more, and I want to see more of all types of friendship. Female friends are important and featured quite a lot (and are brilliant when they don’t turn catty) but I’d also like to see more combinations of all genders. Let’s see some male friendships, male/female friendships and LGBT people having friends of the same gender!
Some of my favourites are The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (my teenage self’s summer read) and Beautiful Broken Things!
I had a large circle of friends as a teen, but in that circle there were only a few I really cared about. I’ve always been a less is more person with friendships!
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Okay but I ACTUALLY DID A BLOG POST ON THIS LAST WEEK. O-o Jinx.
But yess. Friendships in YA are the best because…so often they’re romance and don’t actually have a nice good friend relationship. And romance is alright, but friendships are also cool and way too often overlooked.
One of my favourite friendships is Carswell Thorne and…basically every single other character in the Lunar Chronicles. XD His personality is so catchy and it’s so fun watching him interact with other people. Him and Iko never fail to make me snicker.
YES HOLY SNICKERDOODLES YES. Preach, woman!
I love the title “Exit, Pursued by a Bear”. I know it’s from Shakespeare, but it makes a great book title too.
Ace of Shades was a pretty good friendship book. I still have to read the others.
Now I’m pretty happy that I haven’t rushed to publish the rest of my novella that I wrote last month. I decided that I wanted to strengthen the friendships between the characters. Which means I have to work on it some more and add more scenes. But it’s better to take longer and have a better finished product than to rush it out. 🙂
Brooke Lorren recently posted…Alternate Universes for Books (Top Ten Tuesday)
Yes!!! Friendships need to be represented so much more in YA!!! And in books in general. My favorite literary friendship of all time is Fezzik and Inigo’s from The Princess Bride. I love how they both need each other and comfort one another and rhyme together.
I love friendship in books so much 🙂 One of my favorite things. I love Tanner and Autumn, but I agree. They did some dumb stuff in the end. But I really love their friendship <3 I love the friendship in the raven cycle series too <3 They are all so sweet. Will and Jem is one of my favorite friendships ever. I love them so much. I love Tessa, but if I had to choose. I would have chosen Will and Jem together instead <3<3 Other favorites is Simon and his friends in Simon vs the homo sapiens agenda and the friendship in Rick Riordan's books. All the series he has written has amazing friendship 🙂
First of all “let me live vicariously through books” 100% relate and “I pretty much want my own raven boys gang” definitely.
I love friendships in books too and really appreciate reading them. Love comes in many different forms and they all deserved to be showcased.
I really like the friendship in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer and the Raven Boys obviously and six of crows 😂
Your post has given me so many more books to read so thank you. My tbr is nearly at 10,000 😂 I’m joking it past 10,000 years ago 😂😂
I love your photos as well there are magical!! 😍
Yes, bring me all the friendships. I am usually so evil and anti-social that books with great friendships do me a lot of good because they sort of slap me with the realisation that I’m missing out and encourage me to be a better friend. And in many ways, I find relationships between friends can be just as entertaining and emotional to read about as romantic relationships. It’s still about two people choosing to be together, struggling to make things work when they have differing points of views and goals and whatnot. I feel like in some ways it can be even more complicated because there’s no guarantee of relationship. Like when dating someone, you know you’re a couple so you know both ends are (ideally) trying to make things work until the relationship ends. In a friendship, there is no clear beginning or end. So navigating the different journeys of friendships and sorting out the good and the bad can be really deep! I think it would’ve done me more good to read about them growing up than the romantic stuff because I’ve always been mostly clueless social wise.
I am glad you mentioned Six of Crows though in your list of friendships. That little rag tag bunch definitely tugged my heart strings. And of course the Raven Boys are a given. I’m also going to say, just because it’s fresh in my mind, I enjoyed the different dimensions of friednships in the Red Rising series. A lot of friendships went horribly wrong and none were ever easy, but I appreciated that. I think by the final book the MC really came to learn the value of friendships and it felt good to do the same!
So yes, all the friendships! Any book now that highlights a close-knit group of friends definitely catches my interest, more so than a romantic relationship. I want them all.
Oh, all these friendships make me so happy! I love the friendships in Six of Crows, Eliza and Her Monsters, Ace of Shades, and the Raven Cycle!!! I love writing friendships because I LOVE my friends and they mean so much in my life.
I’m so happy that Exit, Pursued by a Bear made your list. I LOVED the friendship in that one!
I also think that Nina LaCour writes really great friendships, especially in Everything Leads To You and We Are Okay. ❤❤
Emily @ Mixed Margins recently posted…10 favorite novellas + short stories
I AGREE!!! I LOVE IT WHEN ROMANCES START OUT AS FRIENDSHIPS FIRST!!!!!! <33333 I'm a sucker for those. :') Also; could not agree more that the Shadowhunter books have epic friendships. REMEMBER WHEN MAGNUS, ALEC, IZZY, AND SIMON WERE ALL IN A CAR AND ALEC WAS TELLING THEM HOW HE CAME OUT TO HIS DAD AND HIS DAD ASKED "what turned you gay" AND THEY WERE LIKE "he got bit by a really gay spider" AND THEN MAGNUS REFERRED TO HIMSELF AS A FREEWHEELING BISEXUAL. (That made NO sense but hopefully you remember which scene I'm talking about.)
Ah, good times. Good times. I agree books should focus on friendships more. Whenever there's an awesome squad, I always end up liking the book a lot better. <3
xx Kenzie | http://www.paperpizzablog.com
p.s. I ship Jem and Will too.
As an aroace person, let me just say that I do not only want more YA books with friendship, but I also NEED them. Like don’t get me wrong, I am always down for a good well-build romance (slow-burn are the only ones I find relatable, it’s a problem), but I hate when the mainplot depends on the romantic subplot (Yes, I am looking at you Legend and The Iron Fey series.), especially when I like everything else. Besides, variation is nice!
Also Ink and Bone just flew to the top of my mental tbr-list. Rebels and awesome friendships?? Count me in.
The thought just occurred to me. One of the best books with friendship in it is definitely John Flanagan’s Brotherband. Not only is it really well-written, but the strong relationships in it is #squadgoals
Yes, love a book with a good friendship. Lockwood & CO has that in spades, the character’s relationships are so well done. I don’t think anything can top Raven Boys in that department.
I’m in love with all the Raven Boys too!
You know, I KNEW (because I’m psychic!) that The Raven Cycle would be on this list, but I sort of didn’t expect it to be front and center as the first one? You should make us work for it. Leave it for number 10, so we start to squirm and question and doubt ourselves. xD
I’m reading Ink and Bone … I dunno, this week or next? Before my library hunts me down and wants it back for some reason? So I’m looking forward to seeing that friendship play out. 😀
I actually think friendships in books are the best, because finding romance in everything is unrealistic. I mean, it’s not that easy to find in the real world, and some people just don’t want it, period. There’s more to life than love! Says the woman who was married at 18. (Shhh, this isn’t about me. It’s about the fictional characters, and they don’t always need a romantic love.)
My favorite friendship is the pilot and the Little Prince! Which may be weird? That always tops my list because it hurts my heart. The other one that pops in my head is Miss. Flitworth and Death in Terry Pratchett’s Reaper Man. Does that count? Because it’s adorable and was totally unexpected, and I want to hug Death.
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This post is so great and HERK YAS we need more friendships in books. Friendships are just so important and FUN and nuanced and you can have that with romance but yes it is its own thing. Loved your choices (even though I need to read like more than half of them lol but I know I’ll love these crews).
Some of my fave book friendships:
The Outsiders (all my boys HALP)
Merry and Pipping, Frodo and Sam (LoTR, I just want to go to a dinner party with these four)
Amanda and her new HS friends as well as her support group friends (If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo, they are there for her through so much)
Sabriel and Mogget, Lirael and the Disreputable Dog (UH YES you can be friends with bound gods, it’s just gonna happen!)
And that’s all I can think of at the moment lol at the airport and I should run to the loo before having to board.
WOOOOOOOOT Friendship!!!! haha
I’m kind of on the fence about whether YA books should focus on friendship more because I love both friend books and romance books equal parts, I just wish it would be made more clear which is which because nothing bugs me more than when it looks like I’m being promised a book with no romance and then BOOM UNANNOUNCED ROMANCE. Why, book, why.
But ALL THE YESES TO THE RAVEN BOYS!!!! I love seeing really close-knit friendships like theirs in books because I’m so terrible at keeping in touch with my own friends oops 😅
So I just got a gift card to maybe buy like 20 books and the first one I’m using it to buy is Autoboyography!
I think friendships in YA are so important!!! I mean – like you said Friendship and Romance are not above each other but friendships are really what are the best part of romances.
Also, I finished reading A Thousand Perfect Notes and I adore Beck! He’s such a great protagonist and I loved the overall writing style <3 Read it in two days!!!!
Can't wait to read The Boy Who Steals Houses!
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I think friendships in YA books are often a bit forgotten. It feels like friendships too often go lost or are just a bridge to a relationship. Nothing wrong with both those things, but I think the YA world could use more books that focus more on friendship. 😊👍
Great post!
I agree that friendships should play a larger role in books!! A good romance is great, but it’s not all there is in life. So is a friend that talks about more than boys. My friends and I RARELY talk about boys in comparison to everything else we have to share in life.
I agree with ELIZA AND HER MONSTERS and LETTERS TO THE LOST. I’m reading SIX OF CROWS and loving it, and INK AND BONE is on my TBR list.
OMG I think Gathering Blue would have to be my favorite, though it is not a central theme, Matt and Kira’s friendship is sooo adorable. Also, new subscriber here, and I love your articles! keep up the good work!
Being a huge YA fan, I don’t even know why I haven’t read ANY of these. Now I really want to though, because I love friendship in books, especially since they usually focus on romance. Font get me wrong, I love romance, but friendship is AMAZING.
I have met Maggie (The Raven Boys), and she was really sweet. I also have met Kristen (Kristin?) whom wrote Pacifica, and she was nice as well. I may not comment all the time, but you are always expanding my TBR!. Haha 🙂
YES I love a book with strong friendships! SO much. I mean- when I was a teen, friendships were my ONLY relationships hah. Actually, not much has changed 😂 But I really valued my friends (and still do!) so I don’t ever get why friends aren’t a bigger focus in a story, unless it suits the character’s personality or they’re on a deserted island or something ha.
Some of my favorites… definitely Six of Crows. Emmy & Oliver. Under the Never Sky. The 100! The show, not the books. but still. I mean, the books DO have friendships but not like the show does. Conclusion: just watch The 100, people sacrifice their actual lives for their friends. #TheMoreYouKnow
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ALL of the Nephilim friendship love though! Plus Eliza and Her Monsters, holy cow I loved those texts! <3
I think my favorite series featuring friends has to be Giant Days (John Allison), but Neverworld Wake (Marisha Pessl) and Smart Girls Like Me (Diana Keeler) have faceted depictions of friendship as well.
The Raven Cycle, Six of Crows, Shadowhunter Chronicles, and the Great Library series are all squad goals!
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