Worst Book Love Interests

[Mabinogia]

5 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Okay, back the here off, old man! Juli has been a pain in Bryce's ash for years, and regardless of how wonderful a person she may be, Bryce is under no obligation to like her. People like who they like, and they can't help it. You can't make yourself like someone, and you wouldn't want to!

Ack! I hate the trope of "if you are persistent enough, your love interest will finally give in and love you" just as much as I hate the "once person A finally stops obsessing over person B, person B suddenly realizes they love person A and now the tables are turned. 

Neither of these situations are romantic. They are just signs that the relationship is doomed. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

The thing is, Bryce is a shallow douche, but even if Juli was the reincarnation of Mother Teresa, that doesn't mean Bryce has to love her! I can think a character is a jerk and still not want them to be hounded by someone they're not interested in!

The turnaround didn't feel organic or warranted to me, It felt more like narrative imperative than anything else. I mean, yeah, it is a narrative imperative in love stories for two characters to wind up together, but it has to feel reasonably natural, otherwise you're just going through the motions.

[Spartan Girl]

I'm sure Edward Cullen was mentioned on this thread but with Midnight Sun inexplicably selling out all over the nation, proving once again that Twihards have very low standards when it comes to romance, I'm bringing him up again. I only read a couple sample pages, but it did nothing to change the opinion I formed when I attempted to listen to the first book on audio years back: Edward Cullen is a creeper with the personality of dry toast.

And not to get graphic, but there's no way I'd ever want to have sex with a vampire if he's that cold. Just the thought of it makes me want to wear a chastity belt.

[Ohiopirate02]

2 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I'm sure Edward Cullen was mentioned on this thread but with Midnight Sun inexplicably selling out all over the nation, proving once again that Twihards have very low standards when it comes to romance, I'm bringing him up again. I only read a couple sample pages, but it did nothing to change the opinion I formed when I attempted to listen to the first book on audio years back: Edward Cullen is a creeper with the personality of dry toast.

And not to get graphic, but there's no way I'd ever want to have sex with a vampire if he's that cold. Just the thought of it makes me want to wear a chastity belt.

I have never understood the appeal of a guy who breaks into a girl's house to watch her sleep.  Stalking has not, is not, and will never be romantic.  Just no.

Also, the whole Bella must fundamentally change who she is in order to be with Edward is wrong on so many levels.  

[peacheslatour]

4 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I have never understood the appeal of a guy who breaks into a girl's house to watch her sleep.  Stalking has not, is not, and will never be romantic.  Just no.

Also, the whole Bella must fundamentally change who she is in order to be with Edward is wrong on so many levels.  

She didn't just change who she was, she changed species. She was such a boring idiot. She had no redeeming qualities at all.

[katha]

Daphne Bridgerton in Julia Quinn's "The Duke and I." I like other books in the Bridgerton series but I noped out of that one and couldn't finish it. Look, Simon is no prince, but coercing and manipulating him as she does in their marriage is just wrong. And don't even get me started on the squicky lack of consent in that sex scene. He comes from an abusive background anyway. And their marriage just read like an extension of that emotional abuse she dished out "for his own good." This is a case where total dysfunction sold as "romantic" really squicked me out. To the point that I have to skip past any scenes with Daphne in the following books because she bothers me so much.

Edited August 19, 2020 by katha

[Cobalt Stargazer]

On 8/17/2020 at 8:33 AM, Spartan Girl said:

I'm sure Edward Cullen was mentioned on this thread but with Midnight Sun inexplicably selling out all over the nation, proving once again that Twihards have very low standards when it comes to romance, I'm bringing him up again. I only read a couple sample pages, but it did nothing to change the opinion I formed when I attempted to listen to the first book on audio years back: Edward Cullen is a creeper with the personality of dry toast.

And not to get graphic, but there's no way I'd ever want to have sex with a vampire if he's that cold. Just the thought of it makes me want to wear a chastity belt.

Proof that literature isn't dead:

https://ew.com/books/midnight-sun-review-twilight/?did=552822-20200823&utm_campaign=entertainment-weekly_newsletter&utm_source=ew.com&utm_medium=email&utm_content=082320&cid=552822&mid=39414606548

[peacheslatour]

8 hours ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

Proof that literature isn't dead:

https://ew.com/books/midnight-sun-review-twilight/?did=552822-20200823&utm_campaign=entertainment-weekly_newsletter&utm_source=ew.com&utm_medium=email&utm_content=082320&cid=552822&mid=39414606548

Literature might be but literary criticism sure isn't. 

[dubbel zout]

Eh, there's always crap being written. The Twilight series is not going to end literature. Much worse will come along.

[truthaboutluv]

On 10/31/2016 at 9:47 PM, Athena said:

Having not read biographies or being a Bronteologist, but I'm inclined to think for Emily and Charlotte, Heathcliff and Rochester were suppose to be good love interests. I think Emily had overly romanticized and naive view of men and romance. I hated everyone in Wuthering Heights though.

Wuthering Heights is one of my all time favorite novels and I always like to say that my summation of it is that it was about the "love story" of two toxic, selfish assholes. Point being, I disagree that Emily intended Heathcliff to be a good love interest. I guess good in the sense that he was good for Catherine. But again that's only because she was just as toxic and selfish and awful as he was. So they were perfect for each other. 

I never got the sense that the book was written to where readers were meant to truly like those two characters. That instead it was more so a cautionary tale about obsession and the line between passion and self-destruction. The "good" I felt in the story was the ending of Cathy and Hareton, which hinted at hope and a sort of do-over of the Catherine and Heathcliff story without the toxic personalities, selfishness and hate. 

[Spartan Girl]

Dylan in Tease by Amanda Maciel was a douchebag who strung along both Emma and Sara at the same time. And instead of seeing what a douche he is, Sara winds up participating in online bullying that unintentionally leads to Emma's suicide. Towards the end of the novel, Sara -- who has gone through a long character arc about recognizing and feeling remorse for her actions -- asks Dylan if he ever even liked her, and the dick has the nerve to deflect and go, "What kind of a question is that, not everything is about you..."

Uh, Dylan, not that this condones anything Sara did, but considering your role in the whole mess, I think you owe her a simple answer. Not that this condones anything Sara did in any way, but it just kind of bugs me how Dylan never really owns up to any of his actions.

[Spartan Girl]

I don’t understand why any reader would root for Sarah and Warren in the new novel Leaving by Roxana Robinson. Sarah dumps Warren back in college for a stupid reason. They meet up again nearly 40 years later when Sarah is divorced and Warren is married. After exactly one dinner together they start an affair. And Sarah, for all her talk, has zero qualms about sleeping with a married man because Warren claims he’s unhappy and as she puts it: “I’m not starting a new relationship, I’m continuing an old one.” Which basically translates to Rory Gilmore whining “He was MY boyfriend first!”

Warren definitely is the worse one for not only cheating on his wife. He’s also a pretentious douchebag for looking down on his wife for not being on the same intellectual level as her. His excuse for not getting a divorce sooner was because of their daughter and he didn’t want to deal with custody issues, but now that she’s an adult, he thinks it’ll be smooth sailing to dump his wife and go live happily ever after with Sarah.

But then he’s shocked—shocked!—that his daughter is so mad at him when he leaves his wife that she’s willing to cut him out of her life. And here the novel cops out into making his daughter the villain of the story by having her emotionally blackmail him into breaking it off with Sarah so that he the cheating couple can be the designated victims. Instead of doing the sensible thing by accepting the consequences of his actions and moving on with his life, Warren dumps Sarah and goes back to his wife…but the damage with his daughter is already done, so it’s ultimately for nothing. 

Maybe I’m cold hearted, but I couldn’t feel sorry for either Warren or Sarah not even 

Spoiler

When he kills himself at the end. Because apparently life with the wife for all her faults did try to make it work was just soooo hard. Spare me.

 

[Wiendish Fitch]

6 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I don’t understand why any reader would root for Sarah and Warren in the new novel Leaving by Roxana Robinson. Sarah dumps Warren back in college for a stupid reason. They meet up again nearly 40 years later when Sarah is divorced and Warren is married. After exactly one dinner together they start an affair. And Sarah, for all her talk, has zero qualms about sleeping with a married man because Warren claims he’s unhappy and as she puts it: “I’m not starting a new relationship, I’m continuing an old one.” Which basically translates to Rory Gilmore whining “He was MY boyfriend first!”

Bolded mine, and, to quote one of my favorite YouTubers Todd in the Shadows,

"Who cares who had him first?! It's who has him last that wins!"

[andromeda331]

5 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Bolded mine, and, to quote one of my favorite YouTubers Todd in the Shadows,

"Who cares who had him first?! It's who has him last that wins!"

That's a good one. I usually go with Lorelai's response to Rory when she said that. "You dumped him, you rejected him. You chose someone else." Which in this case the first part fits Sarah and the last part Warren. 

I still don't understand running into your ex forty years later and having an affair or ditching your wife for. Why? And if Warren wanted to divorce his wife he would have done so by now. He didn't. 

Edited March 5 by andromeda331

[Spartan Girl]

6 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

I still don't understand running into your ex forty years later and having an affair or ditching your wife for. Why? And if Warren wanted to divorce his wife he would have done so by now. He didn't.

His excuse was he’d gone too far to back out, especially after their daughter was born. But that excuse didn’t stop him from having a few flings on the side throughout their marriage. It was only when he met up with Sarah again after all those years that he finally got the incentive for a divorce—which is a red flag if you ask me, because how do you know that he would’ve eventually gotten bored with Sarah after some time too?

Edited March 5 by Spartan Girl

[andromeda331]

12 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

His excuse was he’d gone too far to back out, especially after their daughter was born. But that excuse didn’t stop him from having a few flings on the side throughout their marriage. It was only when he met up with Sarah again after all those years that he finally got the incentive for a divorce—which is a red flag if you ask me, because how do you know that he would’ve eventually gotten bored with Sarah after some time too?

Good point and he probably will.

[Spartan Girl]

And in case I didn’t make it clear before, I REALLY hate how Warren self-martyrs himself by breaking up with Sarah so that he’ll be allowed go to his daughter’s wedding. If it wasn’t such a plot contrivance to make the daughter the villain, I’d be thrilled that his daughter still doesn’t forgive him in the end. If it weren’t for her ultimatum, readers would have just shrugged and said, “Well, what do you expect?” But alas, the author’s cheap plot contrivance worked, because most of the Goodreads/Amazon reviews are “Oh, poor Warren, oh dare that spoiled brat control his life and refuse to forgive him no matter how much he atones?”

Uh, no, he didn’t atone for shit. He just took the coward’s way out. And even if he caved to his daughter’s demand and even if it was unfair, it’s more than understandable that she’ll find it hard to see him the same way from then on.

Edited March 6 by Spartan Girl