My Top Ten OTPs

Posted July 10, 2018 in BOOKS, Uncategorized / 11 Comments

Badge for Top Ten Tuesday memeIt’s time for Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme originally created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Every week there is a new topic or theme to base your top ten list on. You can find more details about it and see the list of topics here.

This week’s prompt is “Best Books I’ve Read In 2018”; however, I confess I have only read 10 books so far this year so a top ten would be pointless. Shame on me.

 

Septa Unella from Game of Thrones ringing a bell and saying 'Shame' as she accompanies Cersei Lannister on her walk of attonement.

 

So, I’ve decided to do a Top Ten Tuesday throwback, which is what the prompt was originally going to be anyway. The prompt I’ve picked is: “Love Freebie (Romances, swoons, OTPs, kisses, sexy scenes, etc.)”

Those of you who have followed this blog for a while will know that I am not an avid romance reader. Sci-fi, fantasy and dystopian are my genres of choice and while I do enjoy a romantic subplot, I generally lose interest if the romance supercedes the action. Love-triangles, insta-love and other YA clichés usually cause my eyes to roll back so far in my head that I can see my brain.

However, there have been rare occasions when a romantic storyline has thawed my ice-cold heart and given me real feelings. I’ve fallen in love with the characters and rooted for their relationship. I know these couples have to be together! So, without further ado:

 

My Top Ten OTPs

Psst! If you’re unfamiliar with the lingo, OTP stands for ‘One True Pairing’ and ‘ship’ is both a noun meaning ‘relationship’ and a verb meaning ‘to support a romantic pairing between two characters’.

 

Dido singing 'White Flag': I will go down with this ship

 

  1. Adam and Ronan from The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater. These boys are just made for each other! They each understand what makes the other tick and their slow-burn, tentative romance is so sweet. 
     

    “His feelings for Adam were an oil spill; he’d let them overflow and now there wasn’t a damn place in the ocean that wouldn’t catch fire if he dropped a match.”

    ***

    “Adam smiled cheerily. Ronan would start wars and burn cities for that true smile, elastic and amiable.”

  2. Remus and Sirius from Harry Potter. The ‘wolfstar’ ship isn’t canon but it’s hugely popular amongst fans. I think Remus’ calm and logical nature compliments Sirius’ fiery and reckless nature so well. Their epic ‘bromance’ was evident in The Prisoner of Azkaban and I could easily see it becoming more than friendship.  
     

    “Ready, Sirius?” said Lupin.
    Black had already retrieved Snape’s wand from the bed. He approached Lupin and the struggling rat, and his wet eyes suddenly seemed to be burning in his face.

    “Together?” he said quietly.

    “I think so,” said Lupin…

  3. Karou and Akiva from Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. These star-crossed lovers fascinate me. They are so passionately in love and yet they each have to fight for their own kind, even if that means hurting each other. Their romance is so complicated and hard to explain without spoilers but I was really rooting for them to find a way to be together.
     

    “She craved a presence beside her, solid. Fingertips light at the nape of her neck and a voice meeting hers in the dark. Someone who would wait with an umbrella to walk her home in the rain, and smile like sunshine when he saw her coming. Who would dance with her on her balcony, keep his promises and know her secrets, and make a tiny world wherever he was, with just her and his arms and his whisper and her trust.” 

  4. Briene and Jamie from George R R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. This somewhat unlikely couple is another fan favourite. Jamie wasn’t the most likeable character at the beginning of the series, I’m not sure he’s redeemed himself but he’s grown on me so much. I adore Briene and love the banter between them-Jamie has certainly met his match! They do seem to have chemistry both on the page and on the screen but happy endings don’t really happen in GRRM’s world so I’m not holding out much hope!
     
    Briene and Jamie from A Game of Thrones (TV show)
  5. Lazlo and Sarai from Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. Lazlo and Sarai both know what it’s like to be different from everyone else, but while Lazlo longs to be special, Sarai dreams of a normal life. Taylor perfectly captures that heady, butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling of falling in love for the first time and feeling completely out of your depth.
     

    “If you’re afraid of your own dreams, you’re welcome here in mine.”

  6. Tris and Four from the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth. Boy did these two have a rocky time! I enjoyed the hate-to-love aspect of the first book but even once they got together it was never plain sailing for them. I liked that they argued and didn’t always follow the same path, but they never gave up on each other. They deserved so much more than the ending they got.
     

    “I fell in love with him. But I don’t just stay with him by default as if there’s no one else available to me. I stay with him because I choose to, every day that I wake up, every day that we fight or lie to each other or disappoint each other. I choose him over and over again, and he chooses me.” 

  7. Lena and Alex from Lauren Oliver’s Delirium series. In a world where love is seen as a disease that must be cured, this brave pair risks everything to live and love as they choose. Julian was all right, but I was team Alex all the way through.
     

    “Everyone is asleep. They’ve all been asleep for years. You seemed … awake.” Alex is whispering now. He closes his eyes, opens them again. “I’m tired of sleeping.” 

  8. Amy and Elder from the Across the Universe trilogy by Beth Revis. I like how the romance gradually builds over this series. While Elder falls in love with Amy quite easily, Amy has gone through so much that she understandably doesn’t pursue romance and at first she feels like the element of choice is taken away from her (with them being stuck on a spaceship and all). Elder is sweet and doesn’t pressure her into a relationship, they both have other responsibilities and more pressing things to worry about. I love how their friendship develops across the series.
     
    "And in her smile I see something more beautiful than the stars"
  9. Rhine and Gabriel from The Chemical Garden series by Lauren DeStefano. I don’t really understand people who ship Rhine with Linden. I mean, he becomes much more sympathetic in the last two books and I did really feel for him at times, but at the end of the day he was still complicit in forcing Rhine to marry him and he was really stupid to let himself be controlled by his father. I think he’s a pretty wet character in general. Gabriel is much stronger and knows what he wants from life. He genuinely cares for Rhine and tells her the truth instead of playing games with her. I was disappointed that he wasn’t involved much in the final book.
     

    “I don’t know if it was love or an illusion. I don’t know if there’s ever a way to be certain.” 

  10. Thomas and Brenda from The Maze Runner series by James Dashner. I could never warm to Theresa, I find her both really irritating and morally reprehensible. Brenda is fierce, feisty and just so much better on every level, in my opinion. Seriously, Thomas, what is wrong with you?
     

    “The girl leaned forward and kissed Thomas on the cheek. “You’re sweet. I really hope we don’t end up killing you, at least.” 

Before you go…

Who are your OTPs? Dp you disagree with any of my preferred pairings?

 

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11 responses to “My Top Ten OTPs

  1. I usually don’t care about romance in books, but YES to Brienne and Jaime. I will go down with that ship. Remus and Sirius would be interesting, too. I don’t read fanfiction, so I’ve never thought about that one. They would make a perfect couple.

    • Fanfiction opened up a whole new world of ships for me that I never considered before. There’s some really weird stuff too though, like Hermione/Snape which I just think is creepy. In general, I prefer the ships that are either canon or could plausibly be canon.

  2. Yay Lazlo & Sarai! I just finished Strange the Dreamer and it was wonderful. I just started Daughter of Smoke and Bone on audiobook too!

  3. Oooo so that’s why my top 10 that week was so off. I kept going how in the world did I get the theme for the week SO wrong. lol I don’t know these pairings but look interesting!

  4. Olivia Roach

    Adam and Ronan totally make my top ten list as well! I also always include Edward and Bella. I really like Percy and Annabeth from Percy Jackson as well. I think Four and Tris were great but I’m more so that Four deserved a lot more than he got from the ending and that is what makes me the saddest. DD:

    • Adam and Ronan are just PERFECT. Ah, you’re team Edward. I enjoyed Twilight when it first came out but I wasn’t a huge fan of Bella, I thought she was too passive. I liked Jacob more up to a point, but then he became really possessive and that put me off. I prefer Alice/Jasper overall. Yeah, poor Four. Too sad 🙁

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