There is a photo, one of the canonical sapphic photos of the internet. It shows one woman lying down on her back, staring up at another woman’s face as she is straddled and the latter does her makeup. It’s an incredible photo and basically every queer woman I know wants that moment for themselves. Girlfriend Material by Katia Rose makes a book out of it and honestly, people should keep doing it it’s wonderful.
Allison is the proverbial golden retriever nerd girl who is a hopeless romantic that badly wants a girlfriend before the end of university. Kate is her best friend, the hurricane bisexual who won’t let anyone see her trauma and only lets her facade down around Allison. They have been friends for years, and now Kate offers to help Allison with tips on how to pick up girls in ways that doesn’t involve never talking to them and trying not to stare during class. This naturally leads to Kate realizing that she has fallen for her best friend and starts to panic as to what to do with this situation as she does not see herself as the titular girlfriend material after a traumatic experience during high school.
I had a realization after reading this, my fourth Katia Rose book in five reads (I am aware I am scattershot and behind on my CBR writing). Rose has developed a trend over the past couple of years of writing protagonists who have long standing pre-existing relationships of various kinds falling in love. Rival, friends, teammates, coming to realize that the bond they have with the other person has bloomed into something more. Her books are not one for meet cutes, not one for whirlwind discoveries and flash romances. There is usually a little side of unresolved trauma on one or more parties. I’ve found myself really drawn into this format, both here and in the fic I’ve been reading recently that I swear I will get around to figuring out what to review soon. Something about turning around and realizing that those close to you mean more to you than you realized, that they truly can see you for who you are and accept those parts of you that you felt the need to close off really speaks to me. It’s the trust too, the belief that this person cannot and will not hurt me, even if they don’t believe that for themselves yet.
Now if any of my friends or acquaintances want to either recreate the photo with me or make a blanket fort and rewatch The Fellowship of the Ring with me, let me know.