Top Ten Literary Couples I Fell in Love With Even Though I’m Not a Fan of Romance
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Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is Love Freebie (Romances, swoons, OTPs, kisses, sexy scenes, etc.). I have to admit that I almost skipped this week’s topic since I don’t typically read romance novels and didn’t know if I would be able to come up with anything to share. The more I thought about it though, the more I decided it would be fun to share some literary couples that I do love in spite of my aversion to romance novels.
I’m not up on all of the various tropes that are romance-related, but I think based on my list that romance fan or not, I am a HUGE fan of the HATE-TO-LOVE trope. I’m all about two people being super snarky with one another and the sparks are just flying and then boom, all of the sudden they realize perhaps what they feel isn’t hate at all. My other favorite trope is FRIENDS-TO-LOVERS. I just love watching a relationship naturally grow beyond just a wonderful friendship into so much more. I’m not much of a romantic, but those two tropes just really get to me.
That said, below are some of my favorite literary couples and I think it’s safe to say that all of them fall under one of these two tropes.
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Top Ten Literary Couples I Fell in Love With Even Though I’m Not a Fan of Romance
BENEDICK & BEATRICE from Speak Easy, Speak Love by McKelle George (and from MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING by William Shakespeare)
MR. DARCY & ELIZABETH BENNETT from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
NINA & MATTHIAS from Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
LILAC & TARVER from THESE BROKEN STARS by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
CELIA & MARCO from The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern
FEYRE & RHYS from A COURT OF MIST AND FURY
SIMON & BLUE from Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
RON & HERMIONE from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
ELEANOR & PARK from Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
LOUISA & WILL from Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
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Oh you have some great couples!! Simon & Blue, Ron & Hermione, Louisa & Will and Celia & Marco are all ones I enjoyed. Great list!!
Thanks!
I’m not really a fan of romance, either, but this is a great list! Celia & Marco and Ron & Hermione are some of my favorites, too!
Thanks! I loved Celia and Marco so much. I really want to re-read that book this year if I can make time for it.
While I was hoping to see Harry and Hermione end up together in the end, it was pretty amusing to watch Hermione and Ron’s relationship develop over the years. They definitely gave each other a lot of opportunities to grow as people. I can see how that would make them a great couple. 🙂
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
I agree, and although I adored them together, I think I would have been cool if Hermione had ended up with Harry instead.
I am a big fan of ‘friend to lover’ type relationship too. Probably because my husband was my very good friend before we started dating as teens. And we’ve been married almost 38 years. He’s still my best friend. This was why I rooted for Ron and Hermione. 😉
38 years? Wow, that is wonderful!
So much yes for Louisa and Will, and Simon and Blue. And Ron and Hermione. I actually like them together, though I know a lot of people don’t.
I read more m/m romance than anything – otherwise, I don’t really read a ton of it. I DO really like friends to lovers and hate to love tropes too though. 🙂
-Lauren
I need to read more m/m romance. I’ve not read much of it, but have loved all of the books I have read.
Six of Crows – YES! Mist and Fury, YES! I need to read The Night Circus still.
I have to admit – I’m still not sold on Ron and Hermione *ducks and runs!*
LOL! That’s okay. I know lots of people who weren’t sold on them either.
I’m a big fan of the friends to lovers trope too, there’s something so beautiful about seeing a great friendship blossom into romance (though I do wish we could see some more platonic m/f friendships).
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2018/02/13/top-ten-tuesday-146/
I agree with you on wishing for more platonic m/f relationships in books.
I like what you did with the topic this week, the tropes you mention are two of my favorites too. Great couples and I just love Darcy and Elizabeth from P&P. Austen’s couples were so good, Knightly and Emma from Emma were cute too, friends to lovers. Happy Valentine’s Day!
I agree. I enjoy all of Austen’s couples, although Darcy and Elizabeth are my favorites.
Benedick and Beatrice was such a pair, I just adored them. Same with Tom and Heromoine.
Benedick and Beatrice are the best. I never get tired of reading their banter, lol.
Darcy and Bennett are awesome, obviously, but I’m intrigued by the Night Circus, and I need to read Eleanor & Park!
The Night Circus is very cool, especially since the two characters who fall in love are supposed to be in a fight to the death.
Lilac and Tarver took me by major surprise; I didn’t think I was going to like Lilac but I LOVEEEDDDD their story. And don’t get me started on Rhys and Feyre, I think I’m going to reread some passages from that tonight.
I was the same way about Lilac but ended up loving their story as well.
I’m so with you on the hate-to-love and the friends-to-lovers tropes! I could read them all day. Love so many of your favorite couples: Simon and Blue, Ron and Hermione, Nina and Matthias, Feyre and Rhys <3
I could too. They’re just so, so good!
What a wonderful list; makes me want to reconsider mine lol. I had such a hard time narrowing it down to just ten 🙂
My Top Ten
Same here! I just looked at your list and wish I had included a couple of those on mine as well.
Some really strong couples there – I’m with you regarding Ron and Hermione and Darcy and Lizzy. But one of my favourite couples has to be Miles Vorkosigan and Ekaterin from Lois McMaster Bujold and her long-running sci fi series that throws in most other genres along the way. Their romance is wonderful – the other couple I love is Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriot Vane…
That does sound like a wonderful romance!
Ron and Hermione must be one of the first ships back when I didn’t even know what that meant LOL.
LOL!
I love romance, so I like all forms. However, I love the enemies to lovers tropes because there’s just so much emotion in them. I love seeing that switch flip from dislike to love.
Yes! Even though I’m not a big romance reader, I’ll admit that I could read book after book after book that features that flip.
I read 7/10 of these books, and the answer is yes. They ware wonderful couples, who are so, so shippable, but I may have shed a tear when I saw Nina and Matthias on your list. Forget that, I am almost crying now.
OMG, I know! I was trying not to cry when I put them on the list. I even started to leave them off the list at first, but I just loved them so much even though I ended up with a broken heart.
The fact that they were so good together is what amplified the pain.
Definitely!
Great list! I’m not a romance fan, either, but I loved Simon & Blue and Eleanor & Park. Such perfect couples.
Thanks! Yeah, Simon and Blue is definitely one of the best couples I’ve come across recently. I look forward to seeing the Simon movie too.
What a fantastic post idea! I’m not a huge fan of romance myself, but I do love quite a few couples from books. Nina & Matthias and Ron & Hermione are definitely some of my favorites as well. They are so perfect.
They sure are 🙂
Great list! I don’t usually read romance but I have read three of these books and I really liked Will and Louisa, so much that I decided not to read the sequels to Me Before You because I knew they wouldn’t be the same without Will.
I have a copy of Elanor and Park on my shelf. I really need to get to it soon.
I haven’t read the sequels yet either, for the same reason. I might read them at some point but I just have such mixed feelings about them going in.
Totally with you on Elizabeth and Mr Darcy, Suzanne! But my list has Harry and Hermoine LOL!
LOL! I think I would have been okay with Harry and Hermione as well.
NINA AND MATTHIAS! <3 They seem to be the least popular couple from the series, which saddens me a lot. D: And HECK YES to Simon and Blue!
Yes! Most of the time I feel like I’m the only one who adored Nina and Matthias. I shipped all of the pairings in that series but those two just really got to me the most.
Simon and Blue are so much love. Nina and Mathias also fit so well together, though I do admit that I have more of a preference towards the other couples. 🙂
I think I shipped pretty much everyone in Six of Crows, but for some reason, Nina and Matthias just got to me the most, lol.
Great list! I love Nina and Matthias and Celia and Marco!!
Thanks!