Favorite Couples In Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

I have now automatically forgotten every single pairing ever. Such is how being asked questions goes, sometimes. These are... just some of my favourite romantic relationships in books that I now recall...

1. Puck & Sean from The Scorpio Races
Which is, okay, possibly because I do very much love the book, and the characters are individually. I just really like the dynamic, I guess? They're both independent, stubborn, kind of difficult people and it was great watching them come together.

2. Holly & Angela from The Lynburn Legacy
They kind of snuck up on me? Again, I like them both individually (so much), and think I really like how Holly's relationship with Angela plays into Holly's arc, and it's just... really lovely. There are a couple of really stand-out quotes that I really like about them. I also adore that they both also have really great friendships with others in their group of friends! Kami & Jared are also a favourite of mine but I am restricting myself to one couple per book/series.

3. Cinder & Kai from The Lunar Chronicles
I just really like how they both learn from each other and both grow through that, while still remaining really distinct people. Also I like that they both find the other person funny and miss being able to make jokes specific to one another's sense of humour when they're separated.

4. Fire & Brigan from Fire
 I like that a not insignificant part of their relationship is just that they sit on the roof of the palace in companionable insomnia talking about how worried they are about things. Which is a lot of things. They're both... very old young people, I think, because of everything they've gone through, and they both understand that and navigate it.

5. Wolfe & Santi from The Great Library series
 Okay, they're kind of a background couple but they're the best couple in the series. You can quote me on that one. There's just something I really like about them. They've been through A LOT, both individually and as a relationship, and they're complicated. They're dealing with being adults unexpectedly responsible for a bunch of rebellious teens hellbent on overthrowing the current world-order (when, back in the day, they were also both teens hellbent on overthrowing the world-order, it didn't work out so well). I've very concerned for both of them in the last book. I hope they'll be okay. Very very much. It's fine. I'm not panicking.

6. Inej & Kaz from Six of Crows & Crooked Kingdom 
I really like their arc! They've both got a lot to work through, and it was fantastic to see them both working toward something. I also really appreciated how Inej wasn't willing to sacrifice her own personal growth or well-being in favour of a relationship that wouldn't have been healthy at the time. I also appreciate that despite how all-out amoral Kaz can be at times (most times let's be real. At least 80% of all times, approximately), he always shows respect for her personal agency, which is something she's been deprived of in the past.

7. Blue & Gansey from The Raven Cycle
I really like relationships that are built on friendship, and the way their relationship was built was fantastic! Also they're both pretty strange people that are able to continue being strange together in a way that works, which is always a plus in relationships for me. One of my favourite scenes is when they have a midnight phone call and discuss facts about ducks and make objectively unfunny jokes about fax machines and calling Congress.

8. Matt & Kate from Airborn
I feel like they were one of the first romantic relationships that I ever read and I just... like that they're kind of brought together by both being very determined people who are going in roughly similar directions, initially. And then sort of taking turns towing each other along on adventures. (Okay it's mostly Kate doing the towing along. She's... reckless. She is a catalyst of adventure.) And then it's just them being a team who definitely argue and have conflicting personalities, but are also work well in a crisis, and are able to depend on each other during said crisis no matter what they've got going on inter-personally.

9. Tana & Gavriel from The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
They're both such strange people and their dynamic is really interesting to me? I think it's really interesting to see these two characters meet and have the weird realization that, on a certain level, they just get each other? In a really strange way because it's a super messy situation.

10. Miel & Sam from When the Moon was Ours
They're just a quiet and lovely pair who lift each other up? And that they can define themselves in relation to each other and support each other without being unhealthily dependent? And also I love that Sam paints moons and hangs them up places, I'm just saying that is objectively a great trait for someone to have.

I feel like there are a couple of obvious common denominators with a lot of these... make of that what you will.