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Inside the mind of hit romance writer @lost-blueberries

What makes a brother's best friend romance impossible to put down? lost-blueberries knows the recipe: built-in history, forbidden feelings, and enough slow-burn tension to make you scream at the page.

So, we asked her to break down why this classic romance trope gets us every single time:

Everybody knows the set-up.

He's your brother's best friend. He's been around forever. He's seen you in your really awkward phase (that we shouldn't talk about, thank you). He's usually the first in line at the family barbeque.

He's the one person you absolutely, definitely, under no circumstances, should fall in love with, and yet...

It's a tale as old as time. Readers continue to come back to this trope because it's entirely irresistible. Who doesn't love a forbidden, close-proximity, drama-filled romance that's teeming with that feeling of going against every sensible thought in your head to be with the one person you know you have to stay away from?

Unlike the classic meet-cute, the brother's best friend trope comes with a history already built in. He knows your family. I mean, he's practically family himself. He probably remembers a version of you before you knew exactly who you wanted to be. He's seen everything. There's an intimacy there before the romance even begins, and maybe that's the reason readers keep eating it up.

Because there's nothing more romantic than a person seeing you, all of you, the good, the bad, the ugly, and loving you anyway.

Not loving the polished, fictional version of you who goes on a first date and is on their very best behaviour, but the real you: the annoying you, the messy you, the family-dinner you.

And then there's my favourite part: the tension. Oh, the delicious tension. The more tension, the better.

Your brother would lose his mind. The fallout would be monumental, and you know it. Maybe he's always treated you like a little sister. Maybe neither of you want to risk the friendship, or the family dynamic, or face whatever may happen after everything changes.

One of you says we shouldn't do this, and the other replies I know.

But suddenly, something snaps. There's an invisible string tying you together, and no matter how hard you try to keep it platonic, the string only pulls you in tighter.

A look lasts a few seconds too long. A conversation feels different. Your hands brush under the dinner table. And approximately thirty-seven chapters later, we all collectively lose our minds when the kiss finally happens.

We all know the recipe: history. Familiarity. The pure agony of wanting something you know you can't have.

They're going to fight it. Someone will inevitably make a terrible decision. There'll be drama, jealousy, stolen glances and at least one moment where we're screaming just kiss already at the page.

And we know that, eventually, we'll get our happily ever after. We know the (very irresistible) recipe of the trope. We're going to keep ordering it anyway.

But wait, there's more... 👀

We've got an exclusive first look at what @lost-blueberries is working on now. Read an unreleased excerpt from an upcoming chapter of Deadly Little Thing before it drops.

---

I gesture to the dinner, the candlelight, the classical music playing on vinyl in the corner of the room.

"This...was what? A ploy?"

Nikolai's eyes flash. "As opposed to something I did out of the kindness of my heart?" he asks, swirling the wine in his glass. "I'm a gangster, Arabella. I do nothing out of the kindness of my heart."

My teeth press together.

He leans back into the sofa, widening his legs.

I stand up, shaking my head. "How many times are you going to ask me the same questions before you realise that I. Can't. Answer. Them. I don't know where my father is. I have no idea who's still running things. I want no part of his life, and certainly no part of yours, either."

He hums, practically dismissing me.

My blood boils and I scoff before I can stop myself.

My gaze falls to the gun sticking out of his waistband.

Violence answers to violence, he had said. Alright then.

Before I can second-guess myself, I snatch it up and throw a leg over him until I'm straddling his lap, pressing the muzzle under his jaw.

He blinks slowly, lazily.

"We've been here before," he breathes out in a whisper.

---

Okay, your turn: what romance trope gets you every time? The one you see in a description and immediately add to your Library. Drop it in the comments and lost-blueberries might just weigh in on your pick.

Already planning your next binge? Follow @lost-blueberries for steamy romance, broody MMCs, and whatever she has planned next.