Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating

Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating centers around the friends-to-lovers trope, a popular and enduring narrative convention in romance fiction. In this structure, two characters begin as platonic friends and gradually develop romantic feelings, with the plot focusing on the tension and eventual resolution of their shifting relationship. The trope’s appeal is present across the romance genre, including popular novels like Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation (2021), Tessa Bailey’s Hook, Line, and Sinker (2022), and Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis (2021). Its effectiveness often lies in its psychological resonance; it reflects the real-world phenomenon of attraction growing from familiarity and trust, a concept related to the “mere exposure effect” in social psychology, which suggests that people tend to prefer things they are familiar with. (Cherry, Kendra. “Mere Exposure Effect: How Familiarity Breeds Attraction.” Verywell Mind, 17 Mar. 2023). A romance with someone familiar, especially a friend, can be a balm to the potential apprehension of starting a new relationship.

Friendship, with its established emotional intimacy and shared history between the characters, provides a strong foundation for a believable and satisfying romantic partnership.