Thursday, February 12, 2009

Great Couples

In keeping with our Valentine's Day theme, today's topic is about your favorite fictional couples. Think back on all the books you've read, which blossoming romances were your favorites? And why?

Maybe they were reluctant, and at first claimed to hate one another. Maybe they were funny. Or sweet. Or they beat all the odds. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that they had amazing chemistry and you rooted for them throughout the entire book. You laughed during their highs and cried during their lows. And maybe even fell a litle in love yourself.

Here are just some of my favorite couples from books:

Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

Well, if that single man is the Mr. Darcy , you can bet that the readers will root for that wife to be the most worthy heroine of all.

Like many girls, I totally want to be Lizzy Bennet. She's so witty and smart and rather unconventional for her era. And Mr. Darcy? *swoon* Put off by her mother's vulgarity and the ditzy behavior of her youngest sisters, at first he's unable to see Lizzy's worth. But in time, he falls in love and his struggle to suppress those feelings, eventually ending in not one, but two, proposals is the stuff of magic.

Maddie Springer and Jack Ramirez


Adorably ditzy Maddie is a shoe designer with a penchant for stumbling across dead bodies. Ramirez is the sexy, tough detective assigned to investigate the crimes. Gemma Halliday writes fantastic sexual tension and you find yourself just as frustrated as Maddie when Ramirez keeps getting to the crime scene in the second book just as they're about to get romantic in this series. And add in a potential love triangle when tabloid reported Felix keeps snooping around and you've got the makings of a deliciously fun romantic comedy.

Lady Julia Grey and Nicholas Brisbane
The most conventional of her very eccentric family, wealthy young widow Lady Julia Grey is extremely unconventional for her time. She's smart and sassy, and holds opinions that would shock most of her set. So it's not surprising that when she discovers that her husband did not die of natural causes, she decides to find the murderer. Enter the sexy and enigmatic Nicholas Brisbane, a private enquiry agent who her late husband had engaged to find who was threatening him. Is he the right man to make her consider a second chance at love? But this is the Victorian era, after all, so their relationship progresses at a maddeningly slow pace...but the tension is smoldering hot.

Amy "Bugaboo" Haskell and Jamie "Poe" Orcutt
In the first two "Secret Society Girl" books, Amy Haskell's nemesis in Rose & Grave was a senior (and later, recent graduate) codenamed Poe. He was sullen, moody, and incredibly disagreeable. Not even worth Amy's acknowledgement, particularly when there are so many other hot guys around, like the delectable George. But author Diana Peterfreund was a literature major at Yale, and an avowed Jane Austen fan, so "the sudden, startling transformation of a mysterious Rose & Grave patriarch from sheerly evil to utterly...appealing" is not exactly terribly shocking. But it's still really fun to read!



Amanda Brice and Mr. Brice



Oh, wait...they're not fictional. ;)


So those are a few of mine. Who are yours?

17 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:16 AM

    Edward and Bella from Twilight. I am soooo addicted to the series. LOL I love Elizabeth and Darcy too. :)

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  2. Such a cute pic of you and Mr. Brice!

    Lizzie and Darcy, *sigh*.

    I also love Sam and Alyssa from Suzanne Brockmann's "Gone Too Far."

    Oh, and Belle and Rome from Gena Showalter's "Playing With Fire."

    And...I could go on forever, so I'll leave it at that. :-)

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  3. Anonymous12:26 PM

    I'm gonna have to go with Legolas and Gimli. The tension between them was awesome, throwing little barbs bck and forth to each other, neither accepting each other's backgrounds until they were forced to ride a horse together.... and became um, friends. Yeah.

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  4. Anonymous12:41 PM

    Hmmm, wow, so many. Jo March and Professor Fritz Bhaer from Little Women. Though damn, I was rooting for her and Laurie at first. Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara. Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. I know there are more

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  5. Anonymous1:30 PM

    Yeah, definitely Rhett and Scarlett. Good call, Margie.

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  6. Here's one you will scoff at, unless you've read it too:

    Roland and Susan in Stephen King's "Wizard and Glass". Such sweet tension that builds and builds and then... My heart swells whenever I think about them. Tragic and romantic all at once, it was a love story that gave my hubby the courage to "Do or Die" when it came to love. Lucky for me! :)

    Another undersung romance is that between Ave Maria and Jack Mack in Adriana Trigiani's "Big Stone Gap" series. Oh, so sweet, so passionate, and so heartbreakingly real...

    Or maybe that's just me? *shrugs*

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  7. ROFL Cinde!!!

    I like your suggestions, Amanda. I like the hero/heroine from Poison Study, too. :D

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  8. Anonymous2:42 PM

    One of these days, I hope someone will say "Julie Florence and Ben Wentworth and PARTY LIKE IT'S 1899."

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  9. Eve and Roarke from J. D. Robb (Nora Roberts) In Death series. They're just about my favorite fictional couple ever.

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  10. My favorite fictional couple? Peter Parker and Mary Jane.

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  11. Anonymous5:38 PM

    Among my favorite literary couples . . .

    Rhett & Scarlett (Gone With the Wind)
    Gatsby & Daisy (The Great Gatsby)
    Emma & Mr. Knightley (Emma

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  12. My faves include:

    Jess & Rob in Meg Cabot's 1-800 series
    Lizzy and Darcy in Austen's P&P
    Cordelia & Aral in Lois McMaster Bujold's VORKOSIGAN books
    Rose and Mac in Alcott's EIGHT COUSINS & ROSE IN BLOOM

    Okay, that makes a nice start...

    Cara

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  13. Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables.

    Meg Murry and Calvin O'Keefe from a Wrinkle in Time

    Diana Holland and Harry Schoonmaker from The Luxe (no spoilers please, haven't read Envy yet)

    Moira and Cian from The Circle Trilogy from Nora Roberts

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  14. Anonymous6:25 PM

    What?!?!? I can't believe no one's mentioned Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre! Le sigh... :D

    Great List!

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  15. OMG good call on Rochester/Eyre...*swoon* I looooove him--so moody and dramatic and bossy. My kinda guy. hahaha

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  16. Anonymous8:47 AM

    Good call on Diana Holland adn Henry Schoonmaker, Gwen.

    I didn't like "Jane Eyre" so to be honest, I can't remember anything about their relationship. LOL!

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  17. Anonymous5:03 PM

    OMG. I just finished reading The Rites of Spring Break and I have been following that book around now (I have finished the first 2) and I would say that I am smitten by the Amy and Jamie love story! Who would have thought that they would make my heart flutter and skip a beat! Genius! ♥♥♥

    And i was so desperate I wanted to talk to someone about it, but my sister still has not finished the first book and I googled their names, LOL :D and i found you!

    -genna

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