text: In The Pages of a Good Book, One Year Anniversary Friendship Blog Hop | Mia Kerick
  In The Pages of a Good Book, One Year Anniversary Friendship Blog Hop
  How fine is the line between love and friendship?
  Hi. I'm author Mia Kerick, and I have published 8 books (as of the fall of 2014 it will be nine, and I have more signed for 2015), but who's counting? LOL. I write contemporary gay romance, both YA and adult, and the concept of friendship plays into many of my novels. In fact, it is very often the place where love in my stories begins.
  In Beggars and Choosers, my first adult novel, Brett and Cory start out as friends, and remain so for much of the story. Each of these young men believe that their friendship is imbalanced. Cory feel that he relies too heavily on Brett for the necessities of life, and Brett feels he relies too much on Cory for providing him a simple reason to live. The deep regard that these two men experience for one another provides a strong basis for their relationship, yet at the same time makes them incredibly nervous to jeopardize their friendship by officially moving it into the realm of romance. And with Brett and Cory, the intimacy, when they finally allow themselves to push through all of their reservations and experience it, is incredibly intense. They know each other exceedingly well, better than anyone in the world knows the other, in all ways except this one. The expectations are high for their first moments of sexual closeness, the need to please the other overwhelming—providing almost an almost religious experience when they come together.
  Another of my novels, Not Broken, Just Bent, a YA gay romance novel, also starts with the long term friendship of Timmy and Ben. Having met at eight years old in a playground behind a trailer park, Ben took Timmy home for dinner and he just kept on coming home with him. Best friends for nearly the next ten years, they find themselves attracted to one another in their high school years. These two boys have never held back a thing from one another, and with their sexual attraction, at least, they do not hold back. However, as the intimacy progresses, and the public denial of that intimacy becomes the rule, their communication suffers. When this love story ends, as many romantic relationships do, Timmy and Ben suffer profoundly, as they have so long depended upon each other for stability and friendship.
  A fascinating aspect of friendship between men and women is dealt with in my adult novel, A Package Deal. In fact, the longstanding and deep friendship of two of the three main characters, Tristan and Savannah, led many of my usual readers to incorrectly believe that this novel was not a M/M romance novel, but a M/F/M romance novel of three people. I will leave you to read A Package Deal to find out the details, but in regard to Robby, he receives the best package deal he could ever hope for in the form of these two best friends who come to him in love and friendship, and provide him with a family. The novel examines the strong bond of friendship; a bond that is as permanent and meaningful as that of love.
  My YA novel Us Three is another novel in which friendship, this time of three teenage boys, is propelled into love. It is a hard book to read in some ways, as the plot revolves around the severe bullying of 16-year-old Casey. In Us Three, three boys of very different social status in their high school must join together to complete a French group project. As they work together, each sees life through the others' eyes, and at first, a slow respect for people for whom they originally had no use, develops. From that respect comes understanding, and soon friendship evolves. The friendship then turns into love. The relationship these boys build actually provides them with the purpose and strength necessary to survive life's ordeals.
  Have I ever fallen in love with a friend? Since I met most men I dated when I was specifically looking for men to date, often in clubs and bars, I would say no. However, I have been married for 22 years to one man and the strongest bond, the one that allows us to keep going on the tough days and push through the challenges, is the friendship we have developed.
  Friendship—in my novels is a springboard to love, and in my life, friendship and love are a package deal.