Ranking Book Couples | 2021

However, some of the parts that were Pride and Prejudice were like so good because there were some scenes that were adapted like so well to this like modern setting but it wasn't slow burn enough for Pride and Prejudice and that's a huge bummer and there were some things that were changed like some of the plot points were similar but like things were changed like they knew what the other one was doing a little bit too much.

I know, but like the actual plot of the story like whatever. but it's a fantasy romance so you're supposed to be there for the romance anyway.

But according to my notes, it was very insta-lovey and my notes did say that they meet once and then both of them are sort of talking about like giving up everything for each other and potentially giving up their quests and like stuff about their family like for each other. so yeah, definitely very insta-lovey.

This iteration of Persephone is really frustrating and the whole story relies on miscommunication and her just like believing the worst in him all the time.

These are two characters who are both on the autism spectrum, and so that made their communication so much like deeper because they both had a more blunt communication style, and so that really worked for them. There was less of that sort of like miscommunication happening.

But, they both acted a bit immature in a way that made me be like, "These people are acting like people in their 20s. So, like why even bother putting them in their 30s?"

But, the way that he's tied to her because of her powers, cuz she has sort of like these necromantic abilities, I kind of dig that. So, ultimately, I enjoyed like all of these couples, and they're all in angst factory. Like nothing is completely happy here.

You get no build up of their relationship. It's a it's a lot of ick just like that book was in general.

And then my favorite couple of the year is Noel and Sam from Eight Perfect Hours by Lea Louis, which is a book that I've mentioned as one of my favorite books. This is a realistic fated lovers scenario. Super swoony.

This is I believe the last of the Sarah Morgenthaler books that I'm going to read because I've read now three of them and they're all really, really far too long, have no spice in them for a book that is so long, and then the characters get together way too soon. And so any of the conflict feels just very contrived.

What I really liked is it was like really cute and very supportive of each other like both of their goals and things they got to know each other and it was like very sort of slow in the build-up. But any tension they have is after they confess their love to each other, like literally their love to each other.

And I just really liked them. Like it was really cute to see her being the more skeptical one, but not in a way that was annoying and him being like the hopeless romantic, but also not in a way that was annoying. I really like their dynamic.

I just feel like I had to put it on there as like I do ship it, it's very up there, but like what is this?

And then the second couple is just like a little side couple, and it's just two really sweet beans that get together. Like he's a very noble knight, and she's a former servant that got elevated to nobility. And they're sweet.

They get together too quickly for this like slow burn thing and then the miscommunication in the third act was just like overdone and it was unnecessary because they kind of had already had a miscommunication and then there was almost like a second one that didn't need to happen.

But the bachelor setting made it so that they also really didn't get to spend much time together. so it was one of those situations of like why do they even like each other?

But we don't get to see a lot of them to make it actually believable and it's a lot of telling instead of showing.

And it's really beautifully done. It's a nice like sort of fairy tale-esque story.

I love a good love triangle, and this is good because there are some circumstances that make it much more like believable and interesting and compelling. So, yeah. I'm into it.

this is surprising that it's actually in the middle of the list because the book itself is awful but was my only one-star read of the year. But like so much of the book, this just had no depth.

This is a cute little bisexual sapphic romance between two witches. I loved it.

I still pulled for them even though their miscommunication at times was like really dumb. a lot This book could have really one of those books that could have been solved by the two characters just talking, but they don't. but I still pulled for them.

I liked this book more than the first book in the series and I liked Nikolai and Zoya more as a couple. I kind of like got some time to adjust to them as a couple.

There's nothing inherently wrong with it, but this whole book was just like so forgettable and so mediocre to me. And the romance was the same and it was just again like they have this history so it wasn't the worst like they were dating before the book started, but their romance had absolutely no depth to it at all.

This was a sapphic romance, but I felt really neutral about their like growing feelings for each other and I found them really forgettable again.

With this, there's just really like no real connection to any of her lovers and I again, it's not really the point. The point wasn't really the relationships here. but I was hoping for like a little bit more depth in the connections to the characters and things in this retelling cuz you don't really get that with Gatsby either, like the original. but you just didn't get that.

So I'm just kind of like there's really like no depth to that and it's really hard to pull for them when he's only really interested in that.

This is a lovely, sweet, supportive hookup to something more because they originally meet because she goes on like a Tinder or something after her boyfriend says he wants to be in an open relationship.

Like the amount of excuses sort of he makes for her as a someone that he doesn't know, when she's a complete stranger, just doesn't make sense and was not believable. And so I couldn't really connect to them or like pull for them cuz I was just like, why do you like her?

But with this like is when I realized that I really need my characters to be interacting at some point.

But, this is slow burn fake dating within the STEM field that was super sweet, but it was slightly over the top at the end. Like the end conflict was a little bit much for me and like a little bit too much of like not being sure about their feelings to be like so sure about their feelings. It was like a little bit over the top.

This is a wonderful sapphic romance between two really strong women who are stronger together but also strong as individuals. And it's the guard and the royal trope. And I love the guard and the royal trope.

So this is a second chance romance where I'm kind of like you shouldn't have gotten back together, really, but I still sort of pulled for it and I just like love second chance, so I guess it's It's a thing for me.

Both of these characters are bisexual and they're just cute disaster bisexuals and I love them and they're all overcoming like trauma together and whatever. So I really like that.

So I liked that it wasn't like idealizing love and would show like very realistic sides of like all of that but ultimately with both couples you didn't really get to see a lot of them together. So it was hard for me to like truly ship it.

It's really forgettable, but it was super cute when I read it.

It said a lot of things that were cute, but ultimately was pretty disappointing to me because I've been shipping this couple since they were mentioned in the first book, and then like this one was a bit of a disappointment.

But they are both walking red flags for each other. In addition to that, all of the barriers kind of in their lives are a little bit just like contrived.

So, for one, we did not have enough Aeduan and Iseult content in this for me to put this higher because they are my favorite couple, but we got like hardly any of them. There's a couple other couples like teased a little bit, but nothing that I can really like talk about with a lot of substance. But, there's a lot of angst between one sapphic couple, Viviane and Vannes, that I really liked.