So I read SLIP POINT by Karalynn Lee because it has, you know, a space pirate heroine! You would think that nothing would distract me from all of the space pirate derring-do in this sci-fi romance novella, but by golly, something did.
Even as the heroine, Shay, was pushing ahead on her mission, I started noticing how strong the friends-to-lovers/reunited lovers theme is in this story. It’s mentioned in the blurb, so I knew to expect it, but one can never tell how prominent an element will be until finishing a story. In SLIP POINT, that aspect turns out to play a significant role.
Shay and Jayce are friends and then lovers before the start of the story. In fact, they meet as kids. I thought the friends-to-lovers and reunited lovers aspects of the story were executed well. They had good chemistry and it made me think I wouldn’t mind reading more SFR stories with that kind of angle. It's an effective shortcut to developing the romance, particularly when a story has an external plot or detailed worldbuilding in the mix.
Then I began thinking it’d be nice to compile a list of science fiction romances that already feature friends-to-lovers or reunited lovers. There are also stories that involve heroes and heroines who knew each other previous to the story’s beginning, but weren’t a couple or friends. That's a slightly different category, but I included a few titles for the fun of it.
Here are the science fiction romance friends-to-lovers/reunited lovers stories that I know about, along with a few helpful tags so you can prioritize according to taste:
