Skip to main content

Favorite Love Stories

I love romance.  I freely admit it, there is no shame.  I do not like shallow romance however.  I enjoy reading love stories that have depth and are complex (if not downright complicated).  This is probably because I prefer character driven stories so the characters whose stories I love are complex people.  I prefer for the love stories I read to end well but if tragedy is necessary, I can deal with that too.  It being Valentine's Day and all I decided, today of all days, it was okay to be a little cutesy and do a new favorites list, this time focusing on my favorite love stories


I said I liked complicated.  These two are the very definition of complicated.  They are also the very definition of wonderful.  I love that their relationship isn't easy and it is obvious they work hard for it.  I love the way they flirt with each other and how everyone else is oblivious as to what they are doing.  I love how absolutely perfectly matched they are in intellect and skill.  I love how they do not fit into any  romantic trope ever written.  Their love story is unique and it beautifully rendered.

Peter and Harriet 
Again, complicated.  Complicated characters make for complicated entanglements.  Peter and Harriet are well matched too.  They are both intellectual, curious, interested in mysteries and insecure in different ways.  If they had  met any other way it might have been easy, or as easy as something involving   Peter could be, but they met in a prison where she was awaiting her second murder trial.  He had to rescue her by finding the real murderer making things awkward and well, complicated.  I adore the way their story unfolds, from that prison meeting (hilariously awkward proposal and all) in Strong Poison to the uncomfortable realities in Have His Carcase to the further uncomfortable realities and swoon worthy revelations in Gaudy Night to the complicated happily ever after in Busman's Honeymoon.

Ron and Hermione
I can't help this.  There is just sooooo much of me and my husband in Hermione and Ron that I can't help but love them (it's actually kind of scary how many similarities there are).  They just balance each other well.  His lazy intelligence is a great foil for her hyper over achiever tendencies.   They way they admire those things about each other but are equally annoyed by them is amusing to watch.  I do have to say I would have liked to have seen the resolution of them play out differently than it did in the books, but  it is them together in the end so I'm satisfied.

Elizabeth and Darcy
I don't really think I need to explain myself here.

Ella and Char
Ella Enchanted is my favorite fairy tale retelling.  Besides providing answers for all those annoying little questions brought up in Cinderella it has Ella and  Char.  I love reading as their story unfolds and I love how most of their relationship is conducted via correspondence.  The concluding glass slipper/proposal scene of the book is just so wonderful.  Reading this always makes me happy.

Those are the top 5, but you can find more that I love here.

How about you?  What love stories are your favorites?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Serafina and the Black Cloak

Serafina and the Black Cloak  by Robert Beatty is a thrilling tale of mystery and adventure set at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC in 1899. Having lived in Asheville and visited the house several times, there was no way I was going to pass up a chance to read this. (Also it's MG fantasy, always a bonus for me.) Serafina lives in secret in the basement of the Vanderbilt's spacious vacation home. She has lived there most of her life. Her father worked on the house as it was being built and is the mechanic who runs the massive generator and keeps the electricity going. Serafina is the chief rat catcher, slipping through the halls of her massive home secretly and quietly. She is light on her feet, sees well in the dark, and is quick enough to catch the vermin and keep them out. Serafina knows she if different and strange. Her father insists she stay hidden. But all that changes when one night Serafina witnesses a horrible crime. A little girl, a guest in the house, is fleein

Shorter Musings MG Fantasy

Here are some shorter musings on recent MG fantasy reads. Anya and the Dragon   by Sofiya Pasternack This book is fun. It is a book full of adventure, an obvious bad guy, some more complicated morally gray area characters, and a strong, brave heroine. It is also a book about friendships, community, and fighting for what is right. All things that usually work for me really well. While I enjoyed this, I did feel it was a little overlong and there were certain plot points at the end I didn't love. However, there were things I thought were done really well, such as Anya's Jewish faith and the idea that power needs to be challenged. In the end it was a middle of the road read for me, but it is one I will certainly be recommending to dragon and fantasy adventure lovers I know! R is for Rebel   by J. Anderson Coats This is tough because I usually really like Coats's books. I had such a hard time with this one though on so many levels. It's difficult to get into because t

Favorite Kissing Scenes

When thinking of a favorite things post I could do for February I decided it would have to be kissing. I've already done couples and I was feeling in the mood to do something fluffy and Valentine's related. So kisses it is. I read more MG than YA, and the YA I read tends to not focus on romance so this was actually harder than I expected it to be though a few jumped into my head right away. (And one of my choices does actually come from a MG book. One is adult. Gasp!) The actual scene from the book is quoted followed by my thoughts. The king lifted a hand to her cheek and kissed her. It was not a kiss between strangers, not even a kiss between a bride and a groom. It was a kiss between a man and his wife, and when it was over, the king closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the hollow of the queen's shoulder, like a man seeking respite, like a man reaching home at the end of the day . - The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner Turner doesn't write the

Shadowshaper

Shadowshaper  by Daniel José Older is everywhere. Best of lists. Award buzz. Blogs everywhere. It's one of those books everyone is reading and talking about. I had it on my TBR but decided I definitely needed to read it before the year was out just so I could weigh in on one of the most talked about books of 2015 if asked. It is deserving of every good thing said about it. Every. One. Sierra was looking forward to a relaxing summer break. Her plans involved hanging out with her friends and painting. They did not involve being chased by zombie like creatures and threatened by a magical power connected to her family's heritage she has never heard of. When murals begin fading all over her Brooklyn neighborhood, Sierra is perplexed. When her grandfather, who had a stroke, begins to apologize and starts repeating strange phases and insisting Sierra get the help of a boy she barely knows to help her finish her mural, Sierra is concerned but mostly about her grandfather. Then at a

The Field Guide to the North American Teeanager

The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe is a book I picked up on a whim at the bookstore when it first came out. I liked the cover. I thought it had an engaging premise. I went into it with a healthy does of trepidation because the execution could have gone so terribly wrong. Fortunately, Philippe is an excellent character writer, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent reading about Norris's adventures in Texas and high school. High school junior Norris Kaplan's life is ruined by his mother when she takes a job that requires them to leave the only home he has ever known in Montreal, Quebec. Moving is always hard, but Norris knows for him it will be harder than it's ever been for anyone else. Norris is moving to Texas. He will be a Canadian living in Texas. Not just a Canadian. A French Canadian who speaks fluent French. And not just your average run-of-the-mill French Canadian. A black son of Haitian immigrant parents French Canadian. If Norris has