Book Couples Countdown – The Bookish Pearl

Concluding Book Couples Countdown

February 14, 2018 , Wed | Book Couples Countdown | 0 or add you thoughts!

Happy Valentine’s Day, book lovers! And thank you for joining me as I counted down my favorite book couples! I wanted to do this last post to wrap up my list of couples and close out the series! I had such a blast with this, and I think I may try to think up fun series more often.

So in case you missed it, these were my picks!

Day 1: Beauty & the Beast

Day 2: Inej & Kaz

Day 3: Penelope & Odysseus

Day 4: Rachel & Gabriel

Day 5: Annabeth & Percy

Day 6: Agnieszka & Sarkan

Day 7: Nesta & Cassian

Writing the posts for this series added such a lovely dimension to this time of the year. It was difficult to choose them all, and even more difficult to put them in some kind of order, but I’ve ended up loving what I settled on! I had so much fun, and I hope you enjoyed reading about these duos and viewing all that magnificent fan art!

If you’ve stumbled across my blog without having heard about it through Instagram, I also posted a photo with a quote for each couple! read more

BOOK COUPLES COUNTDOWN | Day 7: Nesta & Cassian

February 13, 2018 , Tue | Book Couples Countdown | 0 or add you thoughts!

Welcome to Day 7 of Book Couples Countdown!! I chose Nesta and Cassian for this illustrious final spot, because I can never stop obsessing over them. Also, since I love basically every single romance Sarah J. Maas has created, it felt right for one of hers to be my ultimate pick!

Art by Monolime.

Okay, so I’m just going to start by saying that I can never get enough of these two. I read fan fiction, I’ve got fan art framed on my wall, and I am unreasonably excited for their story to continue in the next part of this series. Is it May yet?!

They hit every note for me when it comes to my personal preferences for a great romance. I love a good slow burn. I love witty banter. I love tough, sometimes unkind, exteriors masking a depth of emotion. I love badass characters who are also reserved and have a strength of presence. I think you can see how I’m a total Nessian fangirl!

Art by Salome Totladze.

That said, one thing I’m excited for is their softening of each other. I feel like this might have to happen a little bit, because they both carry some emotional baggage and deal with it through behaviors that can be damaging at times, especially in regard to how they relate to each other. Cassian leans on physical dominance and humor, while Nesta is oh so cold and distant. I think that as they try (hopefully) to define their relationship, they’ll help each other to grow past these crutches. read more

BOOK COUPLES COUNTDOWN | Day 6: Agnieszka & Sarkan

February 12, 2018 , Mon | Book Couples Countdown | 0 or add you thoughts!

Day 6 of Book Couples Countdown has arrived, and my chosen pair for today are new, but absolute, favorites. If you haven’t read Uprooted by Naomi Novik, I recommend it with my whole heart! Seriously I love this book so much that I could start raving about all its beautiful themes and dynamic characters and stunning prose, but I’ve already written a full review on it, and today, we’re talking about the main couple within it: Agnieszka and Sarkan!

Art by Gabriela Aguilar Ortega.

A characteristic I think distinguishes this from most book romances is how slowly, and believably, the love builds. I don’t know if you can tell from the fact that I’m writing a weeklong series dedicated to the topic, but I live for a good love story. So naturally, I’m always on the lookout for a budding romance. I’d also heard that this was a Beauty and the Beast retelling, so I was fully expecting an epic love story. What I got was better than what I expected. After they spent some time together, it really seemed to me that Sarkan and Agnieszka wouldn’t end up together. I adored them each as individual characters and enjoyed the unspoken connection they were building through magic. Then—oh wait—that is the romance. The magic. Novik begins to tell the love story through their magic wielding. It’s subtle and exquisite, and I’m obsessed with it. read more

BOOK COUPLES COUNTDOWN | Day 5: Annabeth & Percy

February 11, 2018 , Sun | Book Couples Countdown | 0 or add you thoughts!

For Day 5 of Book Couples Countdown, I’ll be gushing about Seaweed Brain and Wise Girl! I actually didn’t read these books until I was in college, and I ADORED them. Although I love a few of the couples from Riordan’s world (Leo and Calypso are another of my fav pairs), Percy and Annabeth got me from the very beginning!

Art by Viria.

Their loyalty to each other, at a young age, is one of the things I love about “Percabeth.” I don’t want to spoil much, just in case, but there are two particular scenes I can never get over. One at the end of The Last Olympian, and one at the end of The Mark of Athena. Also all of The House of Hades. If you’ve read them, you’ll know exactly which ones I’m referring to! I love these moments for a variety of reasons, but they all demonstrate Percy and Annabeth’s undying (literally) dedication to each other.

Their story spans multiple series, and even still we’re getting little tidbits through the newest books! And I’m so glad, because this is one of those book couples I just can’t get enough of! read more

BOOK COUPLES COUNTDOWN | Day 4: Rachel & Gabriel

February 10, 2018 , Sat | Book Couples Countdown | 0 or add you thoughts!

Today is Day 4 of Book Couples Countdown, and I’ll be writing about one of my newer favorite couples: Rachel and Gabriel from Archangel by Sharon Shinn! Really I could have talked about all of the couples from this series. Equal parts romance, science fiction, and fantasy, Shinn’s Samaria is fantastic! So far I’ve also read Angelica, and I’m currently reading Jovah’s Angel. While existing in the same universe, they skip around in time and each book can stand on its own. Each one also includes a central romance, and on that note, let’s get back to my favorite of them!

Art by Weelcheetza on DeviantArt.

A key element in the evolution of Rachel and Gabriel’s relationship is their conflicting natures. They want different things, and they possess colliding perspectives and opinions. Yet there’s an undeniable attraction, and factors outside of their control have made their union nonnegotiable. They engage in wonderfully biting banter, and their love grows slowly, which I tend to love. And Shinn is skilled at striking the right level of drama, so we get all of this angst with none of the overdone feel romance novels often succumb to! read more

BOOK COUPLES COUNTDOWN | Day 3: Penelope & Odysseus

February 9, 2018 , Fri | Book Couples Countdown | 0 or add you thoughts!

Day 3 of Book Couples Countdown is here, and our pair for today is classic, in every sense of the word! Mythology, especially that of the ancient Greeks and Romans, is something I’m passionate about. I still hope to someday return to school, earn a doctorate, and teach classical studies at the college level. But we’ll see if that ever happens! For now, I can just continue to obsess over it in my spare time, and by now I hope you’ve realized that a beautiful romance tends to fuel my love for a work like little else! There are many love stories within classical mythology, but Penelope and Odysseus are my favorite by far.

Art by Soni Alcorn-Hender.

After the events of The Iliad, Odysseus becomes lost at sea, and his epic journey home presents a variety of temptations, from immortal life to beautiful women. He declines them all, refusing to accept several offers of a comfortable life. Instead, he continues on in his strenuous attempts to get home. Why? Because he has every intention of returning to his true love, Penelope. read more

BOOK COUPLES COUNTDOWN | Day 2: Inej & Kaz

February 8, 2018 , Thu | Book Couples Countdown | 0 or add you thoughts!

It’s Day 2 of Book Couples Countdown, and our lovebirds for the day are a pair of thieving legends! Oh how I love the infamous Dirtyhands and his Wraith.

Art by Kevin Wada. These are two of the illustrations included on the inside of the dust jacket for Target’s exclusive edition of Crooked Kingdom.

One of the things that immediately interested me about these two is that they aren’t total opposites. It seems like a lot of books, especially YA ones, feature couples with two very different personalities, in one way or another. I think this is often done because it creates great romantic tension. Conflict is a key ingredient in dramatic romances, and let’s face it, that’s what we all want out of a book romance, right? Nina and Matthias are actually an example of this! Nina is outspoken. Matthias is particularly reserved. This makes for some comical and endearing scenes between the two. Jesper and Wylan are also pretty different in core personality, although I think they are less of a stark contrast than Nina and Matthias. Inej and Kaz have a good bit in common, and I could see another writer struggling to make this work in a way that maintains interest. Kaz and Inej are both damaged, quiet, introspective, and driven. That last characteristic brings me to the next thing I adore about this pair. They let one another be who they are and do what they want. Even when the other’s choice is uncomfortable or difficult for them, they work to help each other attain their goals. read more

BOOK COUPLES COUNTDOWN | Day 1: Beauty & the Beast

February 7, 2018 , Wed | Book Couples Countdown | 0 or add you thoughts!

Welcome to Day 1 of Book Couples Countdown! My first pick is Beauty and the Beast. I decided to make them the Day 1 pair because I’ve loved them since childhood, and their relationship has therefore remained somewhat simplistic to me.

Art by MinaLima. This is a page from Harper Design’s 2017 edition of Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve’s original story.

But last year I finally read Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve’s original version (La Belle et la Bête, which was translated to English by J.R. Planché), and it only furthered my love for them!

Art by Walter Crane. This illustration acts as the cover for Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s version.

The faith Beauty has in the Beast despite his appearance is, of course, the very essence of this story. It’s something I never seem to tire of, and I know I’m not the only one, as the tale has been told and retold for centuries. The story as we know it was first written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve in 1740. She is believed to have been inspired by the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche, and that influence came full circle in 1956, when C.S. Lewis published Till We Have Faces. This, a retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth, is often thought to be a Beauty and the Beast story. It’s possible that Lewis was influenced by the evolution of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale as an extension, of sorts, of the original myth. In between Villeneuve and Lewis, countless retellings of the fairy tale have been put out into the world. Notably, Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (whom many mistakingly believe to be the original author) and Andrew Lang (a master of fairy tales) have versions to their names. A tale as old as time? Almost! read more

Introducing Book Couples Countdown

February 6, 2018 , Tue | Book Couples Countdown | 0 or add you thoughts!

In honor of the month of love, I’ve decided to do a weeklong series here on my blog and over on Instagram! Titled Book Couples Countdown, it will entail me sharing one of my favorite bookish couples every day for the week leading up to Valentine’s Day! The series will start tomorrow, and before it does, I want to share a little info about how I chose these lovely pairs.

Selecting just seven favorites was difficult. Putting them in some kind of countdown order was nearly impossible! They could probably still be reordered a bit, but I think I’ve done pretty well! That being said, I can confidently say that my Day 7 pick truly is the book romance I’m currently the most obsessed with. I read fan fiction. I pine for the next book. I have framed fan art of them (that could be a hint if you’re a longtime Instagram follower, or if you do some serious digging on my feed).

So stay tuned, and join me in a celebration of the love stories I (and I’m willing to bet many of you) love most! read more

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