Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

Mine tend toward the gay couples:  Jordan and Patrick in Matthew Haldeman-Time’s Off the Record (now available as e-book!).  Patrick fucked up and Jordan forgives him in a completely natural, normal way that is the definition of a romantic relationship.  Stunning writing.  And I just finished Jules Jones’ Lord and Master which is veddy veddy British and has nothing to do with BDSM and is just a gentle love story about two men who are attracted to each other, have sex, and fall in love, no angst, no pain, just gentle love.  Mark and Stephen are precious and wonderful and I loved them.

Hrm, then there’s Mack and Violet in Joey Hill’s Natural Law:  two stunning examples of humanity and the hottest femdom story I EVER read.

My favorite is:

Cameron Quinn and Anna Spinelli from Sea Swept by Nora Roberts. He’s all bad ass and danger-guy and she takes absolutely no crap from him. Plus, I love when he finally sees her not dressed for work and nearly swallows his tongue.

I just re-read the series and God I love it, but a big part of it is that we get to spend time with Cam and Anna all the way through. And then in Seth’s story we get to see them years later. It’s all most satisfactory!

Whenever pairings come up I can never seem to come up with ones from romance books - I instantly think of Mal/Zoe, Dean/Sam, Scott/Logan, House/Wilson, Jamie/LJG, etc - but those aren’t romantic couples, exactly (or from books, except Jamie/LJG). 

I’m noticing that I have a tendency to care more for non-romantic pairings in a friends-for-life, slightly (or overly) codependent type way (though I’m not necessarily adverse to it turning into a romantic relationship, depending on the couple) than the main/official couples.  Not that I have anything against them, usually, but they’re not as memorable or sometimes interesting to me. 

It’s usually because of the overall writing that I fall in love with a book, and not so much because I fall in love with the pairing(s)—although I suppose that would be part of it, as it’s an important element of the story, but I can’t think of which ones would top my lists.  There are many that I like, but all at about the same level, and none that really stand out, at least right now.

Julia Quinn excels at great couples, but my favorite are Susannah Ballister and David Mann-Formsby from “36 Valentines,” which I may have to reread tonight.

I also love Tabitha Devereaux and Valerius Magnus from Sherrilyn Kenyon’s “Seize the Night,” which actually surprised me since Tabitha highly annoyed me in “Night Pleasures.”

I love, love, love Grace and Ethan from Nora’s “Rising Tides.”

And my most recent favorite is Josephine Essex anf Garret Langham from Eloisa Jame’s “Pleasure for Pleasure.” They’re such a great couple that I’m willing to overlook the fact that Garret was 34 for four years, according to the timeline of the series.

My most recent romantic pairing:

Captain Will Lawrence and Temeraire, from Naomi Novik’s dragon series.  Eeewww, you’re thinking, a man and his dragon, the love that dares not speak its name.  (Sorry, couldn’t resist.) Their relationship is totally platonic; the only sex (off screen) in the series is with members of the opposite sex of their own respective species.  But the most romantic thing (to me) is way that they love each other and take care of each other and make huge sacrificies for each other.

And I’ve just finished Jules Jones’ Lord & Master, so I’ll second SarahF’s vote there.

I can’t think of a third couple right now.  I’m sure that I’ll think of one the instant I click “submit.”

I can’t name the second party in one of my favorite relationships because it’s in a series, and part of the coolness comes from the length of time the romance takes to develop and overcome the various other possible matches.  But y’all have seen me pimp Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles before, and though I can’t say just who Lymond ends up with (there’s at least half a dozen possibilities along the way), I wanted to give it props.  The characters suffer so very very much, a good deal of it because they are trying to spare each other suffering, and while I want to smack both of them on numerous occasions, it’s never unjustified angst for the sake of angst.

Aral & Cordelia (Bujold, Shards of Honor, etc.)

Derek & Bev (Ellen Emerson White, Life Without Friends).  I’ve just got a thing for Derek.

Rian & Maskelle (Martha Wells, Wheel of the Infinite).

There are lots more, but these sprang to mind.  I’ve got to second Marie Brennan on the Lymond series.

Thinking of SF romance put Gaaron and Susanna from _Angelica_ by Sharon Shinn at the top of my list.

Sam-Alyssa (Sara Brockmann); Jamie-Claire (Diane Gabaldon) & Eve-St. Vincent (Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas)stand out (even w/ my non-ginkgo biloba assisted memory i.e. worse than crap:)). They made sense as a couple as they all had these issues that made sense to the person they were paired with and they kinda stood the reality test (stupid/ insecure enough actions in the book that could have happened in real life). Plus more importantly, they look like even after the drama that brought them together is over, they’ll still be standing and their story will still rock.  I usually envision so many of the couples crashing and burning if only the book were 30 pages longer and/ or had a second epilogue.

Wait, wait… maybe it was Dani and what’s hisname from the future scrolls (Fern Michaels)… I kid, I jest

Of course I meant Suzanne Brockmann- not Sara

I agree with Marie about the Lymond Chronicles.  Two others I would add to the list:

Eve Dallas and Roarke, from J.D. Robb

Merlin and Ransom from Kinsale’s Midsummer Moon.

Oooh! Great topic!

Joe Vanringham/Jane Abbot, P G Wodehouse’s “Summer Moonshine”, admittedly not marketed as a romance, but such a romantic read. The last line is enough to send me into uncontrollable squees everytime I read it.

Max Ravenscar/Deborah Grantham, Georgette Heyer’s “Faro’s Daughter”. Gorgeous. I like this pairing because it COULD have gone wrong, but Heyer avoids that. Heyer’s super-manly, super-scarred heroes can be annoying sometimes, but Ravenscar isn’t scarred—he’s just kind of bad-tempered. In a sexy way of course. Deb has no annoying angst going on about her lower social position; she’s too smart for that. She’s sexy and cheerful and confident and doesn’t take sh*t from anybody, let alone Max.

I’m a big, old goober for Georgette Heyer, and these three couples in particular:

Prudence Merriot and Sir Anthony Fanshawe, The Masqueraders

Kitty Charing and Freddy Standen in Cotillion (I adore how love sneaks up on both of them.)

And my alltime favorites:

Mary Challoner and Dominic Alastair in Devil’s Cub, with the gorgeous, gorgeous cameos by his parents, a fantastic couple in their own right, the Duke and Duchess of Avon.

My favourite couple is Eve Dallas and Roarke from the In Death series.  Two people who overcome major odds and keep working at staying together.  Sigh.

If you want science fictional romance, I highly, highly recommend Sharon Lee and Steve Miller’s Liaden Universe books.Local Custom and Scout’s Progress (both in the Pilot’s Choice anthology) could almost be written by Georgette Heyer, and the Agent of Change series is also wonderful: solid SF/adventure with strong romantic relationships seamlessly woven through. I’d say they’re as good as Lois McMaster Bujold - and if you’re not reading Bujold, why not?

Fantasy: Silver and Jane from “Silver Metal Lover” (Tanith Lee). Starhawk and Sunwolf, from “Ladies of Mandrigyn” (Barbara Hambly).

Romance: Leonie and her duke, from “These Old Shades” (Georgette Heyer).  Prue Sarn and Kester Woodseaves, from “Precious Bane”.

Crime: Sarah and Jake Blakeney from “The Scold’s Bridle” by Minette Walters.  Rae Newborn and Alan from “Folly” by Laurie King.

What most of these pairings have in common is the element of healing in the relationship, after fairly scarring events.  And a lack of TSTL moments, or strained coincidences to keep them apart.

I do the whole online fandom thing, where life is about nothing but pairings, but these are a few of my favorites:

Manga: Tohru/Kyo (Fruits Basket), Makoto/Miura (W Juliet), and Fai/Kurogane (Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle).

Sci-fi/fantasy: Tiger/Del (Sword Dancer books), Dref/Eliste (Paula Volsky’s Illusion), Han/Leia (Star Wars), and Frodo/Sam (Lord of the Rings).

Other: Mike/Rebecca (Zack Emerson’s Echo Company), House/Wilson (House), Robin Hood/Maid Marian (Any number of versions, but I’ll go with Robin McKinley’s Outlaws of Sherwood).

I’m into sweet and unconditional love, preferably the kind where they figure it out early on in the book and the rest of the conflict comes not from irrational jealousy or misunderstandings but murder mysteries or ancient curses or revolutions or whatever, with occasional sides of “I hate you, so why do I want to do you so much?” I blame Pride and Prejudice.

In no particular order:
Cal/Min from Jenny Crusie’s Bet Me
Seth/Dru in Nora’s Chesapeake Blue
Gabe/Rachel from SEP’s Dream a Little Dream
Max/Gina from Suzanne Brockmann
Derek/Sara in Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas
Wulfric/Christine from Slightly Dangerous by Mary Balogh
Constantine/Sunshine in Sunshine by Robin McKinley

Looking back over this list, apparently I like my heros with a touch of tormented. Huh.

Oh, I love Heyer’s The Masqueraders--it doesn’t get mentioned nearly often enough.

Sort of in the theme of this commentary, we’re in the process of buying an old hotel in Boonsboro, MD. Needs a complete rehab, and we’ll do that styling it into a B&B with six suites. I wanted to name the rooms for literary lovers--with happy endings. My current picks:

Elizabeth and Darcy--Pride and Prejudice
Jane and Rochester--Jane Eyre
Marguerite and Percy--Scarlet Pimpernel
Titian and Oberon--Midsummer’s Night Dream
Nick and Nora--The Thin Man
And because it’s my hotel, and I can: Eve and Roarke.

I really like that idea Nora, I’d totally go someplace like that.

I second Constantine and Sunshine.  There’s nothing like a vampire that understands you.  I was addicted to him throughout the whole book.

I loved Bree and Tom from Three Wishes.  I adored their relationship, it was strong and tender.  Spoiler/Disclaimer This book does not have a HEA!  They aren’t kidding when they say tearjerker.

I also have to mention Jaine and Sam from Mr. Perfect.  It was the first romance I ever read and will always hold a special place on my bookshelf.  I was totally surprised that they weren’t overly romantic simpering losers and it prompted me to pick up other romances.  They were hilarious together.  Also, stubborn as shit and it’s a good thing they got together because nobody else would have had them.  heh

Oh, and I have to mention, since I watched this at work with the kids yeterday: Meg and Hercules from the Disney version.  It’s a movie not a book but I loved that the moment she fell in love with him she backed into a statue of cupid.  Too funny.  And, the little song number right after was adorable.

Hmm, picking from different genres off the top of my head, here…

Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey from Dorothy L Sayers would have to take my top prize for a literary couple. They’re both great characters on their own, but its their love story that really kills me.

Marian Keyes’ Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married has an awesome “friends turned lovers” thing with Lucy and Daniel

Laurence and Temeraire from Naomi Novik’s books are a perfect non-romantic pairing.

Lately I am also obsessed with Harper and Tolliver from Charlaine Harris’ Grave series. So wrong, but oh so right!

“If Romancelandia gets in a furor over the possibility of two guys getting it on, what would they make of Pie’oh’Pah?”

True story there. I recently reviewed Clive Barker’s IMAJICA, one of my all-time faves. I think Gentle and Pie should be REQUIRED READING for authors melding horror and romance.

Another dark horse favorite: Morn Highland and Angus Thermopyle from THE GAP series by Stephen Donaldson. It makes my feminist heart blush with shame, but oh my nobody does the reformed rapist as well as Angus. Plus, he calls another character Captain Sheepfucker.

The romance between Brandin the sorceror tyrant and his harem captive Dianora in Guy Gavriel Kay’s TIGANA—it remains the single most heartwrenchly romantic bit of modern fiction on my shelf. All ya gotta do is say “ring dive” and I choke up.

Interesting that in romance, I would shy away from reformed rapists and harem captive plots. But in speculative fiction, it doesn’t bother me so much. Wonder why that is?

Oooh, favorite romance couples…

Okay, Jervaulx and Maddie have to go on the list (from Kinsale’s FFTS)

And I really like Miles and Ekaterin from Bujold’s Vorkosigan books. I loved the way their romance built.

And while I love the Sam/Alyssa romance and the Max/Gina romance of Brockmann’s books, the one that really stayed with me was Jericho and Kate from her early book HEART THROB. Loved that one.

That’s more than three, but I have to add Kenzie and Raine from MJ Putney’s The Spiral Path. I just loved this book, and I loved these characters.

Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane from Dorothy Sayers.
Eve and Roarke of course.
Seregil and Alec from the Nightrunner series

Joyce said:

Interesting that in romance, I would shy away from reformed rapists and harem captive plots. But in speculative fiction, it doesn’t bother me so much. Wonder why that is?

My guess would be that, since the romance plot isn’t expected to be the central plot of a spec-fic novel, there’s more Other Stuff balancing those motifs out and giving them context.  (Kind of like, I won’t eat gorgonzola straight, but a small amount of it on my pizza is tasty?) But I can’t say for sure, since Donaldson has never been my cup of tea, for reasons having to do with those reformed rapists and his treatment of gender and relationships in general.

Speaking of ‘Pairings’, Seventh Sanctum has a series of great random idea/name/drink/spell/race generators, my favorite of which is the “Brain-Hurting Fanfic Pairer”, which does exactly what you’d imagine with a name like that. Examples:

Dory (Finding Nemo)/Tom Hanson (21 Jump Street)

or

Marianne Dashwood (Sense & Sensibility)/Antonin Scalia (US Supreme Court)

Ouch!

I adore Wimsey/Vane and the Lymond series.

Venetia/Dameral are my favorite Heyer couple-- Venetia for much the same reason as was stated about Deb from Faro’s Daughter, Dameral because he was believably “ruined” socially.

Morgaine/Vanye from C. J. Cherryh’s gate series.  How I wish DAW would pay her to write more in that series.  I liked the fact that Morgaine was older, more cynical, and powerful while Vanye was essentially coming of age.  I also like her Brin/Jago pairing in her Foreigner series.  I’m looking happily at the latest volume now.

word:  high93

Thought of some more…

Banky/Holden, “Chasing Amy”
Vimes/Sybil, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books. I love the realism of their married life, how they’re both incredibly tender towards each other but not in a way that jars with her jolly good sense or his cynicism. And I love the scene in “Guards! Guards!” where she closes the door behind him and he stands in the middle of the path to the gate, “feeling very, very angry, as though he had just been robbed”.
Gabriel Oak/Bathsheba Everdene, Hardy’s “Far From the Madding Crowd”
Enjolras/Grantaire, Hugo’s “Les Miserables”
Richard/Francis, Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History”
...and to my own shame, Alec/Tess, Hardy’s “Tess of the D’Urbervilles”. Alec is the best sort of villain, an interesting one, and he’s got this great passion about him, which Angel freakin’ Clare emphatically does not. He brings out Tess’s own ferocity, which I like; I hate Tess around Angel, when she’s all subservient and broken. And at least he’s concerned about Tess’s wellbeing, again unlike Clare, although of course, being Alec, he is quick to turn this to his own advantage. This doesn’t mean what Alec does is okay...it just means that Hardy is great at writing characters who you can’t easily dismiss as “good” or “bad”.

Wow, I’ll shut up now!

Oh yes! How could I have forgotten Vimes and Sybil? They’re such a fantastic pair of lost souls who aren’t any more because they found each other. I love their relationship.

Is anyone else having problems linking to the gather.com article? I can’t even get to gather.com.

I wanna join in

Romances: Derek/Sara (Lisa Kleypas),
Gabriel/Beatrice (Candice Hern), Ramiel/Elizabeth (Robin Schone), Pepper/Walker (Katie MacAllister), Passion/Mark (Lisa Valdez)

Sci-Fi: John Crichton/Aeryn Sun (Farscape), Gabriel/Rachel (Sharon Shinn), Lois/Clark (Lois and Clark), Piper/Leo (Charmed), Rodney MaKay/Samantha Carter (Stargate series)