Relationships Beyond Romance: Friendships

It seems that now a days, YA books are more focused on the romance aspect of relationships, and while that's fine, I know there are a lot of readers that prefer things like family, friendship and brotherhoods. They are not hard to come by, though sometimes one has to look more closely.

Humans are inherently social creatures and while romances are amazing they can only be shared with a few but friendships are limitless.

Mari

The first friendship that comes to mind is an unconventional one. It's between an old, retired army veteran, George, and a teenage girl, Quinn, who volunteers at the retirement home in If I Lie by Corrine Jackson.

“You're not one of those cranky old people who uses their age as an excuse to be a prick, are you?” 

“I don’t care about the rumors. I know about the type of person you are, and I still love you.”

This whole book from its core was about friendship and it is a rare commodity. Despite the problems that faced them, the two manage to bond over their common love for photography and their friendship grows to really skip generations making George the person Quinn relies on to guide her. I found it to so beautiful. 

Now, I'll leave our favourite friendship trio for P.E. to expand on but who can possibly leave out, Harry Ron and Hermione?

P.E.

Mari feels bad for me because I struggled so much to pick a family to highlight, so she thought that giving me Harry Potter this time would be fair. Except, Harry Potter wasn't even my first thought! When I think of friendships, I think of Rose and Lissa from Vampire Academy. These two girls are best friends and are willing to do anything to protect each other. They have their issues and arguments, but they try their best to move on. 

Another pretty awesome series for friendships is literally anything Rick Riordan writes. More specifically, Percy, Grover, and Annabeth. They are friends despite such different personalities. Percy and Grover initially bond, and slowly Annabeth becomes integrated into their group. Their friendship is so strong that it could be Percy's downfall, because he's so incredibly loyal to his friends. Also, they've gone through so much together and you can really tell they can face anything together. I'll be starting The House of Hades soon, and I've been through an incredibly slow reread of The Lightning Thief, so this is a series that is on my mind. 

I'm sure there are many more friendships I'm missing, but these are two that I think stand out. Obviously, Harry Potter would also make my list too. 

Who Are Your Favourite Literary Friends!

-MARI & P.E.