Top Ten Tuesday: Platonic relationships in books

Of all the Top Ten Tuesday posts I’ve done, this one might have been the most difficult. The thing is, I’ve been meaning to write a big discussion post about the lack of platonic friendships in YA books, but I haven’t really gotten anywhere with it since there are so few examples. I had a lot of trouble coming up with books where the characters actually stay friends without getting together (or at least pining from afar).

Friends-to-lovers is one of my favorite tropes of all time, but even I can recognize that it’s a problem that platonic friendships are so uncommon in books. I was able to come up with five YA books that feature healthy platonic relationships (plus one adult book that does friendship well). The last four books on my list feature unhealthy relationships that shouldn’t have happened. Sometimes characters really should just stay friends.

Six books that did platonic relationships well:

• Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
• Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
• The Raging Ones by Krista & Becca Ritchie

• You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour & David Levithan
• The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry
• Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

And four books that should have set aside the romance and let the characters stay friends:

• Kissing Max Holden by Katy Upperman
• All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
  
• Lucas by Jay McLean (Lucas & Laney)
• Chasing Beautiful by Pamela Ann

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Did you do your own Top Ten Tuesday post today? Feel free to leave your link in the comments and I’ll check it out! What are your favorite platonic friendships? Are there any characters you think would have been better as friends? Let’s talk in the comments!