I don’t believe in love at first sight. I do believe in lust at first sight. I do believe that people will do many silly, insipid, romantic, and crazy things for the latter. And I do believe that people will lay their heart and sometimes lives on the line for the former.

This is all a very roundabout way to explain my love of the ‘in love with my brother’s best friend ‘or ‘in love with my sister’s best friend’ plotline. My characters are not meeting for the first time and experiencing these overwhelming feelings for each other. Yes, I believe lust is a very strong emotion, and that some of us confuse, at the beginning, lust for love. But a good romance for me has to convince me that the feelings the characters feel are REAL not some imitation of the real thing.

Being infatuated with your brother’s handsome and charming best friend is almost inevitable for any young girl. He’s older. He’s usually very kind to you. He may come by your house frequently. You get a glimpse into his life that you don’t with your own male counterparts. Did I mention he’s gorgeous? J The thing about this plotline is that a reader can easily see it happening to them and that what entices them every time even if they’ve read it time and time before, as each author will apply their own fresh twist on this very tried and true storyline.

So the story starts with a familiarity between the characters, and the change of feelings from infatuation to full-blown love has either already occurred or will occur right before your eyes. And it seems natural. The things the hero or heroine will do for the want and love of the other doesn’t appear as far-fetched as if they’d met the week or even month before. Years have passed and still their feelings persist. Lust alone doesn’t last that long. It can disappear as quickly as it begins. So if the hero or heroine’s feelings were based on lust, those feelings wouldn’t have endured the passing of time. And in romance novels, as we know, love endures.

And then of course there is the forbidden aspect of that relationship, which makes conflict inevitable. Brothers don’t usually think any of their friends are good enough for their sisters. These are men who hang out together, get rowdy together, drink together, and talk women together. Good gracious no, not the likes of you for my saintly sister! Who doesn’t love a good conflict with so much at stake, (long held friendships, family relationships, honor) and your best friend impeding the progress of a relationship with the woman you want so badly? As a reader, this set-up has always worked for me, and as a writer it was the plotline that called out to me to tackle first. And I’m so glad it did because that in essence is my debut, SINFUL SURRENDER.

What about you, what is your favourite plotline? The one that will ALWAYS pique your interest?

All commenters will be entered into a draw for one of two copies of Beverley’s book, SINFUL SURRENDER!