February may be the month of romance, but I like to celebrate my girlfriends during the second month of the year.
Girlfriends. If we are very lucky, we are surrounded by a few who are there for us through thick and thin. If we are even more fortunate, we have sisters or cousins who become our best friends.
I was married for seventeen years, but I remained friends with a wonderful group of women, single, married, with and without children throughout my wedded bliss—and also when bliss gave way to growing apart, arguing, separation and finally, divorce.
And then these women did something amazing. They threw me a divorce party! Like a bridal shower, it helped me stock my post-divorce condominium with pots, pans, sheets and towels, but more importantly it helped me celebrate and embrace my newly acquired single state.
The Role of the Trusty Friend
If you read romance novels, or watch romcoms and hallmark movies, you know there is always the trusty girlfriend, mother or sister for our protagonist to confide in. It’s an author or screenwriter’s tool for allowing the reader and audience to learn what the protagonist is thinking and feeling.
But I think the role of friends should be stronger than sidekick, and I pay homage to the women who threw me that party in my All’s Crazy in Love series because I love these women and because they make a better story.
I admit, when I set out to write my first series, The Beguiling Bachelor’s, I was using the four friends as a tool just as other author’s will. But somewhere along the way, their friendship became as important to the stories as the love stories did. After all, if you grow up with the same group of friends, they can’t help but impact who you are. Right?
So, the friends in my series do more than listen, they give unsolicited advice, they pop in unexpectedly, they meddle—boy do they meddle—and they propose dares that send seven women scrambling for a date.
Sorry if you’ve Already Heard the Story
I have lived all over the country and left wonderful women friends in each of these places. I miss them, especially after I spend time with them. Annually I travel to North Carolina for a fabulous long weekend at the beach, ten women laughing and sharing stories together.
A few years ago, I was so miserable on the return trip, missing these women, that I concocted an entire story line that would allow me to bring them along for the ride. And so, All’s Crazy in Love was born. This is an eight-book romance series where I get to insert a line, a mannerism, a tale or a quirk that reminds me of these women. It brings them a little closer, so that they live in my heart and on the page.
I want you to get to know them all, fictionalized though they may be, and fall in love with them as I have. But I also want you to find ways in your daily life to pay homage to the friends who keep you going when times are rough, who help you celebrate when you’re on top, who offer a shoulder when you know one to lean on. Perhaps a phone call to the woman who keeps your deepest darkest secrets, or a quick text to the girlfriend you turn to for advice? Maybe you can drop an email to a cousin or sister to say that you love them even though they are family, like a friend, by choice.
Or send a Valentine’s card, a message of love during this month of romance, a virtual hug to let these special people know you appreciate having them in your life.
February Friend Valentines Could be a Book!
Do you have a favorite novel where the friendships are key to the story, or especially poignant? Think Penny Reid’s Knitting in the City series. Maybe Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, or Joy Luck Club. Send a book to a friend with a thank you for being there for you. You could even send them the prequel to my All’s Crazy in Love series. Crazy to Wed is FREE to download but also available on Amazon for a mere 99¢. Book two in the series, Crazy to Believe comes out later this month, cause for me February is about Friendship.