You’re reading a romance novel or one with a major romantic subplot and then the designated love interest of the female (or male) protagonist does something that hurts the protagonist and you hate them for it, and wish they didn’t end up together… but sure, they end up together.
Due to the nature of this discussion, spoilers from the books are included.
Example of how to write:
Gideon de Villiers from The Ruby Red Trilogy.
>!spoiler here!
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Mildred in “Of Human Bondage” by W. Somerset Maugham
I read it very young so with a child’s perspective: Amy in Little Women. I couldn’t comprehend either how Laurie could end up marrying the sister of the girl he professed his love for, or why Amy would want him afterwards.
This is exactly what I came here to write, so thank you for saying it!
LITERALLY SAME.
It just sort of rubbed me the wrong way. It felt like Amy was plan b instead of being the one he truly loved.
This is also my least favorite, but Jo and Bhaer remains my favorite literary love story.
So much so that I can’t recommend the series to anyone knowing where it is headed, even though up until book 5 I fairly enjoyed it.
The Farseer trilogy. I hated Molly when I was a teen, but when I reread as an adult I totally saw it from her PoV, my bad.
Same!!! I just reread those books last year and had the exact same switch in perspective. Her relationship with >!Burrich!< feels much more substantial and true.
Controversial opinion maybe but I always despised Ginny and Harry as a couple 😂 Ginny is uh… fine i guess.
I don’t recall really vehemently hating a love interest for quite a while, more like “these two characters don’t fit together at all” which is most in Harry Potter.
Conversely I couldn’t stand the drug out scenes with Harry and Cho, especially the fixation on how wet the kisses were. All of that relationship felt like it was written by an adult dumbing shit down for younger readers, not an adult writing like she remembered how that first kiss felt. Was 13 when I had mine, wasn’t in love with the girl but was completely enamored with her. I remember so much about it: my heart stopping after pounding so hard I could feel my pulse in my neck, the smell of lavender on her skin because she used this scented lotion her mom bought her, her long hair brushing my cheeks as it fell over my face. All those memories and nowhere in there is that “wet” BS Rowling was so fixated on.
Blech. I haven’t read that book in 15 years now and it still makes me shudder how badly Harry and Cho were written and how it brought the momentum of the book to a grinding halt.
Oh, believe me, Harry and Cho were not my faves either, but it was so obviously meant to be baby’s first relationship/crush so I didn’t really mind it that much. I don’t even remember anymore why I didn’t like Harry with Ginny or her as a character, but I guess it was the same as almost all HP couples: pretty much all of them were predictable and boring and straight. 😂
If there is one girl Harry had the most interesting dynamic with, it was Luna tbf. Hermione never felt more than his best friend to me.
lol @ “baby’s first relationship.” Nice.
And I agree too about Hermione. I like her a lot but never saw her as a romantic match for Harry. People burned a lot of calories being mad that those two never became a thing and I never understood where they were coming from.
Harry and Luna were a better match, IMO. I would have put Ginny with Victor Krum. I like to think of her having an international career and he would have gotten along with many of her brothers, I think, after some initial posturing.
Krum was 17 and ginny was 13 when they would have been together in the 4th book. Haven’t read them in a while, but I don’t remember too many other opportunities for them to meet up. Was already a creepy enough age difference with Hermione.
Rowan from TOG. He slaps the main character for saying something hurtful and is complete ass at the beginning. I couldn’t get pass it the way others seem to
what tf is TOG bro
I googled it and looks like Throne Of Glass, which I don’t think I’ve ever heard of before
The Abandoned Empress. I hate hate HATE Ruve. I wish he was dead so Tia didn’t have to end up with him. I don’t care what anyone says, he literally r*ped her, tortured her and made her life a living hell. The ending almost made me want to kill myself from frustration.
I hated it at first too, but then *time travel*.
Still! I really don’t know how she didn’t get ptsd after all that he did to her. Carsien was so much better for her.
Granuailie or however you spell it from the Iron Druid series. She in an unbearable holier than thou backstabbing atrocity of a person that caused the whole series to go downhill and crash and burn in the final book. So much so that I can’t recommend the series to anyone knowing where it is headed, even though up until book 5 I fairly enjoyed it.
There is a good chance that she was written by Ben Bova. His attitude about female love interests leaves much to be desired.
Ben Bova?
Google is your friend.
I generally hate reading these “romances” where the protagonist (writer) is grooming some teenage girl who just happens to be og so in love with this old balding middle aged man for some Gosh gee inconceivable reason.
Salems lot was a great book but the romance i. There was of this caliber, and I recently couldnt finish The Cat That Walks Through Walls by Heinlein because his main character spends waaaay too much time justifying why he should sleep with a 12 year old (although its just satire! Right? Right?)
But those decrepit hags of the same vintage just don’t understand poor sensitive writers! They definitely need a nubile old soul, not a rigid old nag /j
Daine and Numair in the Tamora Pierce Immortals series. As a child, I was like “ew, he is an old man” (he is 30) and as an adult I am like “EW HE IS HER TEACHER” lol
I reread the Immortals series last year as a comfort read. It was my favorite series as a kid, but reading it as an adult? I can never go back. It is SO gross. Numair is 30 and in love with a SIXTEEN YEAR OLD CHILD who is also HIS STUDENT??? As a teacher and woman in her 30s, I am both disgusted and horrified.
As a kid I liked their vibe and it didn’t really click how problematic it was - rereading it as an adult was ROUGH.
Listen. I’m not saying that gideon isn’t a huge red flag and if he existed irl i would bpepperspray him without remorse but i genuinely don’t remember him cheating on her??
I’m not saying he was unfaithful to her, I’m saying that, although he truly loved her, he manipulated her to control her.
Angel Clare in Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Screw Angel Clare. I’m still mad at him 30+ years after reading that book.
He deserved a lifetime of nothing but regret and pale imitations of memories after how he messed up with Tess.
This is the best answer.
Ethan from The Unhoneymooners.
I mean probably the classic Twilight… Both of them tbh… Edward for being a creepy stalker… Bella for being a dumb fake feminist and total twat to her friends. I like how her friends were perfectly nice to her but she went on about them being fake and not liking her, to the point where the author had to write a whole new version of the story where Edward reads their minds and finds out oh they are fake.
I was going to say Edward as well. Both the first time I read it as a kid and on my recent reread I disliked him. He left her in the second book, and just when she starts to be happy with Jacob she breaks his heart to go save Edward’s life. Then Edward is super controlling throughout the third book and causes her relationship with her dad to crumble when her dad is just trying to protect her from the guy that literally made her want to die when he left. Edward sucks.
Mercedes from Count de Montecristo