Happy friendship day, y’all! (Yes, I posted A Thing earlier, but it’s a little experimental and I know it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea — and that’s totally okay! No hard feelings at all if you don’t read/like it 😜)
Returning to our regularly scheduled but procrastinated until posting day bookish content, I was tagged by Soph @ Bookwyrming Thoughts to do this post.💕 (I don’t remember if I ever said whether I was going to hoard the tag, but I DO WHAT I WANT.)
Also, looking over my answers one last time, I was struck by the appalling lack of diversity in my go-to ships. My only explanation is that I answered based on ships I have a longish reading history with (i.e., read in middle/high school and still think of fondly), but with all the QPOC representation in our books today, there’s no excuse. I solemnly promise to do better in the future.
So with that fun bit out of the way, let’s get started!
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Rules:
- Link back to the blog that tagged you!
- Answer the 10 anti-Valentine’s Day questions provided.
- Come up with your own 10 anti-Valentine’s questions for blogs you tag.
- Tag ten other bloggers to do the tag!
Name a cute romance in which you will go down with the ship.
There are many pairings that I ship but would not go down with, and possibly equally many that I would physically fight for, but I’m going to go with Maximum Ride & Fang (Fax) as a tribute to my teenage self and because I never seem to talk about them anymore. Also because their relationship really tested my patience for angst and unnecessary contrived drama. At this point we’re ride or die, pun intended.
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What’s one underhyped romance you want everyone to read?
Grace and Sam from Wolves of Mercy Falls! It’s a werewolf-shaped YA series by the inimitable Maggie Stiefvater, but it’s not like other paranormal romances (but for real, though, based on the few paranormal romances I actually have read). They’re soft and sweet and there’s no real love triangle/romantic drama that I can remember, please forgive me if I’m wrong.
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Name a relationship in which you’d rather toss into the fuck it bucket than go down with it.
Anything involving Severus Snape. *shudders* Look, I am all for “ship and let ship,” but the HP corner of fanfic sites is a dark, dark place. Also Christian and Ana — yes, that Christian and Ana — because abuse and dubious-consent is not romantic.
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Name a book in which the romance overpowered the plot but you actually enjoyed.
Don’t Judge a Girl by Her Cover, aka the third Gallagher Girls book — for the first book the romance is the plot and in the second book it’s pretty tame or at least it is in my memory, but book three is both where the plot arc that connects the entire series kicks in and where it gets really shippy. #Zammie
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What book features an ideal date you would like to go on with your partner/potential partner one day?
I had to think about this one for a while, but honestly basically all of Meggie and Farid’s adventure in Inkspell is kind of my dream date? Minus all the violence and the possibility of dying a gruesome graphic death, of course.
But if we’re talking about realistically plausible dates, I’d be pretty happy with Jace and Clary’s greenhouse date. Simple + spontaneous + staying in? Yes please.
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A book that had no romance but you wanted to have romance?
I actually can’t think of a single example; it’s usually the opposite. In fact, please drop me recs for books that don’t have romance, because I legitimately can’t remember the last one I read (excluding children’s books).
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Who’s your favorite stabbing character, one who would wield a weapon in a heartbeat?
(In case you didn’t know, I adore the stabby characters.) Delilah Bard may be a bit of an obvious answer, given that she’s a notorious lover of sharp and shiny objects, but I love my genderfluid pirate thief to pieces so much.
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A ship that never happened but you want to squish those characters together and WANT to happen.
Oh geez, this is a hard pick. Just by seniority (i.e., the oldest noncanon ship as far as I can remember), this one goes to Jo March and Theodore “Laurie” Laurence. Give me ALL the best friends to lovers setups, please and thank you.
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A love interest you hated so much you would rather be squished by your TBR than fall in love with them.
Hm. I think I usually find them boring instead of despicable … oh wait. Angel Clare and Alec D’Urberville — I. HATE. YOUUUUUUUU.
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A fictional crush you would murder to get out of a sticky situation.
Soph is a sadist just saying. I’ll go with Eli Ever, for minor spoiler-y reasons that you can probably guess if you’ve read the Villains duology. (Oh hey wait, that’s a book without romance, mostly! Though I don’t wish it had romance; I like it how it is.)
Hopefully this was fun for you to read! Again, I do apologize that so many of these center around white (or white-default) heterosexual characters, and in the future I will make every effort to diversify both my reading and my lists. (If you have favorite pairings/books that you think I should start with, recommendations are appreciated!)
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Tagging: Michelle Likes Things • Clo @ Book Dragons • Ruby’s Books • Jayati @ It’s Just a Coffee Addicted Bibliophile • DB’s Guide to the Galaxy • Kristina @ Books and Dachshunds • Haley @ The Caffeinated Reader • Olivia’s Catastrophe • Erin @ Bluestocking Bookworm • Emma’s Books • and, as always, anyone else who wants to do it!
Here are your questions:
- A book where the non-romantic — i.e. friendship and/or family — relationships are given at least as much importance as the romance?
- A pairing whose dynamic you’d love to have with a future partner?
- Kiss/Marry/Kill: a popular love triangle of your choosing. (Some ideas: Gale/Katniss/Peeta, Jacob/Bella/Edward, Jem/Tessa/Will, Lexa/Clarke/Bellamy, Josh/Lara Jean/Peter Kavinsky, etc.)
- A romance trope that you’d like to see more of in commercial fiction?
- Turn one of your favorite pairings into an OT3/thruple with another character. (They can be from the same book/series or a different one, totally up to you as long as they’re not an established love triangle.)
- Make the case for a romcom movie/TV show being better than the original book.
- Your favorite “opposites attract” pairing?
- The book that gets the closest to your ideal meet-cute? (Also describe the scene, obviously!)
- A love triangle where you wish the protagonist had ended up with neither?
- Pick a fictional love interest to steal for your own Valentine’s date.
Ooo I love this tag! For a book that doesn’t have romance, I would suggest Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman. There’s some discussion of romance, but not necessarily with the main character. 🙂
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ooooh, I think I’ve seen Summer Bird Blue kind of floating around rec lists. I’ll check it out, thanks!
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Oooh yess I forgot the Green House date!!
I had more the “travelling bookshops” from All our bright days in mind (though not technically a date..)
oooh thoses questions are hard, but so well thought!
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travelling bookshops sound awesome too! and I mean, I picked a whole book (Inkspell) as my first choice for that one so what are rules 😜
glad you like the questions! 💖
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OMG this is amazing!! Also, Grace and Sam are perfect (and there is no weird love triangle nonsense, just Grace’s parents being dicks) x
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that’s what I thought, but it’s been a while so I wasn’t sure 😅 thanks for the confirmation, and yes they are so perfect!
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Great post! I love the questions you’ve chosen so I think I’m gonna go do it right now.
Also, omg, the greenhouse date was just so perfect and cute. If only there was a guy who’d do all that for me…
Why are real-life boys so annoying?!
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thanks Jayati! hope you have fun coming up with answers 😉
and that’s such a mood. like, the bar isn’t even that high — look at Levi from Fangirl! he’s just sweet and considerate, why is that so rare???
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Yeah, I mean you just have to pay a little attention and show that you care. I don’t want grand gestures- I just want to know that you love me and that I can rely on you!
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Omg, I was devastated when Jo turned down Theo!!! 😭 I shipped them when I saw the movie in my teens!! Can’t blve someone else agrees 😄
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yes those scenes break my heart every time!!! I still haven’t seen any version of the movie because I just adore the book so much, but will probably make an effort to see the new one with Emma Watson? 😅
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The ’94 version was pretty good! It was also the only version I’ve watched 😛 sigh They kept true to the story. Gosh, I had to watch Winona Ryder turn down Christian Bale :'(((
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adaptations that stay true to the book are the best! and dangggg, that does sound heartbreaking 💔
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I just realized that the remake is most likely going to take place in modern times! That puts an interesting spin on it! And makes me wanna watch it. I can also imagine them making Jo gay…you heard here first 😛
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omg that never occurred to me, but I am so here for it!!
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This was so cute!! Clary and Jace’s greenhouse date was cute!!
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Such depth. Much cute.
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this tag is so fun! even though it’s saturday, i’ll probably do this as my weekend post! (reading slump is not fun) 😀
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oof reading slumps are indeed not fun. but I look forward to seeing your answers! 💕
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This was so fun to read!
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I read this earlier and forgot because I was like ‘whoops no can’t look at her questions or I might copy’ so I fled. But! I so very much agree with you on Snape being shipped. Just…like..he redeemed himself enough to not be a complete waste, but, come on now, he was not a healthy functioning adult, Lily was not his to mourn like that, though my heart can go out to him on it a bit.
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yes exactly!! unrequited love sucks, but it doesn’t make you entitled to someone else’s love.
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RIGHT? Can we talk about that photo tho?!!!! I’ll just tear off the people I don’t like and keep Lily to myself! ooookay, creeper
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I could totally get you on the non-violent Inkspell date or the greenhouse date as well 🙂 I would love that! I read Shiver but I hated it so I can’t count them as a ship of mine >.> Also, This Savage Song is a good no romance book, by V.E. Schawb. But I haven’t read the sequel yet and I have my suspicions that a romance does go down
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oooooh I have read both books in This Savage Song and actually didn’t really like it; it’s been a while, but from what I recall you’re right about the romance unfortunately.
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I do agree with you, Soph is definitely out to get us with that last question smh. I refused to answer it properly on principle. lol. AND ZAMMIE WAS THE CUTEST THING TO MY MIDDLE SCHOOL/FRESHMAN SOUL! I craved Zammie like Hamilton craved a legacy.
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lol I was tempted to refuse to answer too 😂 and ikrrrrrr Zammie is adorable, pre/teen me was HELPLESS for that OTP 😉
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