SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About TLT
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
    • A to Z Book Lists
    • Book Review Policy
  • Teen Issues
  • Middle Grade Mondays
  • Programs
    • TPiB
    • Tech Talk
  • Professional
    • Teen Services 101
    • Things We Didn’t Learn in Library School
  • MakerSpace
  • Projects
    • #SVYALit
    • #FSYALit
    • #MHYALit
    • #Poverty in YA Lit

February 12, 2018 by Karen Jensen, MLS

YA A to Z: Best Frenemies to Lovers in YA, a guest post by author Molly E. Lee

February 12, 2018 by Karen Jensen, MLS   Leave a Comment

This YA A to Z post on Best Frenemies, is a little bit late for the letter B (I missed some letters, sorry), but it’s the perfect pre-Valentine’s day post.

The 2018 TLT Project: YA A to Z

yaatoz

Best Frenemies to Lovers in YA

I’m so excited to be here at the Teen Librarian Toolbox talking about Best Frenemies to Lovers!

lovebetweenenemies
Grad Night #2

My latest release, Love Between Enemies, focuses on two main character Zoey and Gordon.

Gordon comes from a humble background and is incredibly smart and dedicated to his future.

Zoey comes from a ridiculously wealthy, business-oriented family, but she’s just as smart and dedicated as Gordon.

The pair have come against each other in academic battles since grade school. The fact that they were always fighting for the same things throughout school always kept them from being close friends. They were rivals from day one, and as they got older, the academic stakes only got higher. The heightened stakes—like a desperately needed scholarship, for instance—only made the stress between them even more heavy. It was all these factors that forced a rift to remain between them, but once graduation happened and they no longer had anything left to fight over…that’s when the real emotion happened. Especially when at least one of them realizes that they could’ve probably been best friends if they weren’t so busy being friendly enemies, or best frenemies, all along.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

I find this to be super relatable…the fact that when you let go of all the outside noise, the should and should not, and really take a second to witness another person and what they’re really like and what they’re really going through…you will be surprised. You’ll discover something new. Something that maybe you didn’t know you were missing.

Grad Night #1
Grad Night #1

The drama and noise and stakes often keep us from seeing the heart of someone, and that was definitely the case with Gordon and Zoey. They both were desperate for the same goal, and that blinded them to how perfect they were for each other.

Zoey’s sharpness compliments Gordon’s humble nature. His calm approach only helps slow her fast reactions down. And when they actually decide to work together? They become an unstoppable team with undeniable chemistry.

It was such a fun dynamic to explore and there were plenty of moments where I had to stop writing and simply…breathe. Thinking about how many times we’re faced with situations where we may miss truly seeing someone because we’re blinded by the noise produced from the modern day life is overwhelming. It took Zoey and Gordon years of fighting for the same goal to realize they could achieve it and so much more if they stopped and breathed and took a second to understand each other. And finding love beneath all that noise? That made all the hurt and battles before it worth it. Because without it, they would’ve never realized how extremely lucky they were to have had the other pushing them throughout the years to be better.

That is something I never get tired of seeing in frenemies to lovers stories—the realization, the epiphany, the sky clearing moment when the character realizes the person they’ve been fighting all this time happens to be the one best matched for them. It makes the love ten times more authentic because after everything they’ve been through…to find love at the end of it…is something totally magical! And that is what will keep me coming back to the frenemies to lovers trope again and again!

Thank you so much for having me! I loved chatting with you all!

About Love Between Enemies:

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Zoey Handler is ready to put an end to her decade-long rivalry with Gordon Meyers. They’ve traded top spot between valedictorian and salutatorian for years, but all that’s over now. Right? But after a crazy graduation speech prank gets out of hand, suddenly their rivalry turns into all-out war. Time to make peace with a little friendly payback.

Step one? Make him believe they’re now friends.

Step two? Show him the time of his life at an epic graduation party.

Step three? Don’t fall for his tricks.

Step four? Absolutely, positively, do not kiss him again.

So what if he’s cute? (Okay, hot.) So what if he’s charming? (Heaven help her, tempting.) So what if he apologizes? (That has to be fake.) She knows the real Gordon. And no matter how much her heart begs her to stop, there’s no turning back.

Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains one epic party, complete with every high-schoolers-gone-bad shenanigan, and two rivals who discover maybe they could be something much more…if only they’d stop fighting long enough to notice it.

Buylinks: https://entangledpublishing.com/love-between-enemies.html

About Molly E. Lee:

mollylee

 

Molly E. Lee is an author best known for her romance novels, the Grad Night series and the Love on the Edge series. Molly writes Adult and Young Adult contemporary featuring strong female heroines who are unafraid to challenge their male counterparts, yet still vulnerable enough to have love sneak up on them. In addition to being a military spouse and mother of two + one stubborn English Bulldog, Molly loves watching storms from her back porch at her Midwest home, and digging for treasures in antique stores.

Author Links:

Author Website: mollyelee.com

Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/MollyELee

Author Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MollyElizabethLeeAuthor/

Author Street Team/Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/434107490133398/

Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mollyelizabethlee/

Author Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mollyelee/

Author Snapchat:  mollyeleeauthor

Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14975678.Molly_E_Lee

Newsletter Link: http://bit.ly/2pKqfMa

Filed under: #YAAtoZ

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments
Best FriendsMolly E. LeeRomance

About Karen Jensen, MLS

Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

October 2018

YA A to Z: R is for Classic Retellings, a list curated by Natalie Korsavidis

by Karen Jensen, MLS

September 2018

The American Opioid Crisis in YA Literature

by Karen Jensen, MLS

August 2018

YA A to Z: Peace and Quiet - Recharging Your Battery After Summer Reading, a guest post by librarian Lisa Krok

by Karen Jensen, MLS

July 2018

YA A to Z: F is for Female Friendship

by Karen Jensen, MLS

July 2018

YA A to Z: O is for Outsider, a guest post by author Kirstin Cronn-Mills

by Karen Jensen, MLS

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

A Podcast Experiment: SPEED ROUND w/ Marla Frazee, Dan Santat, Doug Salati, and Amina Luqman-Dawson.

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Review of the Day: There Was a Party for Langston, King of Letters by Jason Reynolds, ill. Jerome and Jarrett Pumphrey

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Spider-Man Fake Red | Review

by Esther Keller

Heavy Medal

And now there are 38: May Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Suggestions

by Emily Mroczek-Bayci

Teen Librarian Toolbox

Not the Mermaid or Monster You Knew, a guest post by author Robin Alvarez

by Karen Jensen, MLS

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

Trying Something New: SPEED ROUND w/ Marla Frazee, Doug Salati, Dan Santat, and Amina Luqman-Dawson

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

Three Dystopian Novels for Teens Watching Chaos Walking

"Period Power": 11 YA and Middle Grade Titles That Destigmatize Menstruation

2020 All-Star Read-Alikes: Three Teen Rom-Coms for Fans of 'Never Have I Ever' on Netflix

YA Anthologies Offer Necessary Representation | Great Books

16 YA Novels That Keep It Real | Summer Reading 2021

Commenting for all posts is disabled after 30 days.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Follow This Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News & Features
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • School Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • Age Level
  • Ideas
  • Blogs
  • Classroom
  • Diversity
  • People
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Book Lists
  • Best Books
  • Media
  • Reference
  • Series Made Simple
  • Tech
  • Review for SLJ
  • Review Submissions

SLJ Blog Network

  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal
  • Neverending Search
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn

Resources

  • 2022 Youth Media Awards
  • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
  • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
  • Summer Reading 2021
  • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
  • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
  • Summer Programming Survey
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies
  • School Librarian of the Year
  • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
  • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

Events & PD

  • In-Person Events
  • Online Courses
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Content Submissions
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Diversity Policy
  • Careers at MSI


COPYRIGHT © 2023


COPYRIGHT © 2023