Jaci's lucky winners are: Christy and Leni!!
Female Friendships In Romance by Jaci Burton
Romance novels typically focus on the relationship between the Hero and the Heroine. But oftentimes there are other dynamics at play. Familial relationships run in the background, mixing in and sometimes causing problems with the relationship between the hero and heroine, and often there are friendships that will either help or hinder the hero and heroine’s road to happily ever after. I love exploring the friendship angle. My heroes will often have friends. So will my heroines. People have friends in real life. Why shouldn’t my characters?
One of the things I’ve enjoyed exploring in some of my books is female friendships. In fact, in two of my contemporary erotic romances—Wild Wicked & Wanton, as well as Bound Branded & Brazen, which released this week, female friendships are at the core of the story. What do female friendships have to do with erotic romances? Well, in my world of erotic romance, it’s not always about the sex.
In Wild Wicked & Wanton, there are three stories about three very good friends—Abby, Blair and Callie. The book centers on these best friends and their journeys. And yes, they are sexual journeys, but I also focus on the friendships of these good friends. How they’re there to support each other through triumphs and sadness, and how sometimes it’s your best friends who will tell you when it’s time to pull up your big girl panties and make some needed changes in your love life. Abby, Blair and Callie are there for each other during the pivotal moments in each other’s lives, which only tightens the bonds of friendship among the three women.
In my newest book, Bound, Branded & Brazen, Valerie, Brea and Jolene McMasters are sisters, 
but they’re also friends. And as sisters they can be catty and mean to each other. There’s the typical sibling rivalry, but they also have each other’s backs during the worst times in each other’s lives. And isn’t that what friendship is all about? My sister and I can fight like cats and dogs, but always know we can go to each other when things are bad and we’re always there for each other. And no matter who goes wrong in the sisters’ love lives, the three will always stick together. No man will ever tear them apart, and none of them will ever let a man break their sisters’ hearts. But then again, these sisters aren’t above playing a little Cupid, either. They want each other to be happy. That’s what friendship between women is all about, isn’t it? Seeing your best friends getting their happily ever after?
So yes, in a romance the pivotal story is always the hero and heroine, but I love exploring the friendships between females, because after all, where would we be without our best friends to dish about books and clothes and men and everything else that’s on our minds? Friendship, like love, is forever.
** RomCon Readers: Jaci is giving away two copies of Bound, Branded and Brazen! So, tell us about your BFFs and your fave friendship stories.
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