Ah Valentines day, a time when we all cringe as we enters shops filled with sickening cards and perfectly good chocolates stuffed into impractical heart shaped boxes because that personal touch of commercialism really does show love, doesn’t it?
Anyway with the joyous event approaching this Friday I’m going to be taking a curve ball from yuk and discussing some ships that I really didn’t like. The ones that really need to sink because come on why were they even together?!
Katniss and Anyone
The Hunger Games
1. Come on Katniss was not in an emotional state for a relationship. Both Gale and Peeta’s priority seemed to be a date rather than her mental health which was definitely the priority. Wouldn’t Mockingjay have ended way better if Katniss learns to love herself and plants those primroses and then looks at the wind rustling in the trees, thinking of Rue and Prim, and is just happy that she helped bring about peace?
Dimple and Rishi
When Dimple Met Rishi
2. This pairing, from When Dimple Met Rishi, were so toxic. Rishi was somewhat creepy towards Dimple in his monologues and Dimple was definitely abusive, laughing it off as the trope ‘she different to other girls’. No no no no no. No.
Warden and Paige
The Bone Season
3. Um, shall we talk about the age difference? Or the power complex? He’s keeping her captive and is required to teach her to fight or she’ll be killed horribly as the apocalypse is nye. Oh and he’s super cagey and definitely manipulative she has no idea what’s going on in or outside her prison or even who Warden is but yes lets ship em. Why not.
The Dragon and Agneiszka
Uprooted
4. We’re looking at a Warden and Paige situation here: The Dragon is all up in his tower, 100 years old, snatching girls and keeping them as maidens and one of these girls is clumsy Agneiszkia who spends her first few days there weeping, is constantly bullied and belittled by The Dragon but it’s all ok because they fall in love?? Um no?
Clary and Jace
City of Bones
5. They lie to each, one of them is briefly possessed, they go behind each others backs, Jace isn’t a very nice character to start with and really their relationship is based of little else than teenage hormones. Also, shall we talk about the whole related thing?
Karou and Akiva
Daughter of Smoke and Bones
6. Everything about this relationship was super uncomfortable. Daughter of Smoke and Bone focusses on Karou and her life in Prague while telling her past. Karou of the present a new person and leapt way too quickly back into Akiva’s arms, abandoning her friends and life in Prague for a man who claimed to be the love of her life. But, like, what about her life? He was obsessed and just loved her past self, he never bothered to know her new self.
Tella and Anyone, Julian and Scarlet
Caraval
7. I’m bunging these couples together since they come from the same trilogy. Legend and Jacks were terrible suitors. Neither really loved Tella, they were both cruel to her and neither really stopped to you, get to know Tella at any point. It was, as they said, just obsession not love. At least Julian and Scarlet had some kind of history even if they were a very toxic couple by the end, and Scarlet’s playing of the field should not have been romanticised.
Nahri and Dara
City of Brass
8. In City of Brass Dara abducts Nahri against her will and then he’s closed and doesn’t really explain anything then he goes off on a mission leaving her in a strange palace full of people who want her dead, then he hates her only friend and wants her isolated and then he tries to abduct her against her will again. And through all this we’re meant to, what, ship them? Cos it seems more like a hostage situation to me.
Cassie and Anyone
The Fifth Wave
9. We’re talking Fifth Wave here and we’ve got another love triangles that just doesn’t quite work. Evan is meant to kill Cassie so stalks her for months and then falls in love with her and then continues to obsessively stalk her, reads her diary and changes her while she’s unconscious. Oh my gosh how cute. Ben is this guy Cassie had a crush on at school and now they’re literally the only two people left in the world they are considering their options and yeah, again, doesn’t make much of a ship. So yeah, let’s just see out the apocalypse single, shall we Cassie?
Cal and Mare
Red Queen
X. Besides the fact that I really couldn’t stand Mare all book didn’t she seem to just mess everyone around? And wasn’t Cal just plain dishonest about everything. And then after all this lying the author was like ‘oh yeah, and this is your otp people’ despite it making no sense whatsoever.
Let’s Compare Notes
So there you have it! Ten couples that I don’t think make any sense whatsoever. What are your thoughts? Anyone agree? Got a love related list? let me know in the comments!
I will have my review of City of Brass up this week, so you can truly see the depths of crazy Dara and Nahri’s relationship was, and on Friday you all get to meet another bookworm! Until then!
So the only two of these series I’ve read is The Hunger Games and When Dimple and Rishi. It’s funny. I agree SO MUCH about Katniss, but I really liked Dimple and Rishi… As far as everything you’ve mentioned here though, it all makes perfect sense to why these aren’t necessarily good couples. I have some of these series on my TBR list, so after reading this, it will be interesting to see them on the pages.
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Urg Katniss could have had a much better ending… Yeah I found Dimple quite violent and Rishi a bit stalkery. Thanks! Oooh tell me what you think! Which ones are on your tbr?
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Somehow I think I missed the abuse in their relationship the first read. It’s been awhile since I’ve read it, so maybe I just don’t remember it well.
The ones here on my TBR are Caraval, The Fifth Wave, and Daughter of Smoke and Bone.
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Ooh I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the ships when you read the books yourself!
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I love your twist, but I’ve only read The Hunger Games and Daughter of Smoke and Bones (and I can’t remember much about DOSAB). I see your point with Katniss, and yes, she definitely needed to heal. I wasn’t thrilled with the ending either, but at least she didn’t end up with Gale. 😉 And I interpreted the ending as it wasn’t all about Katniss, it was about creating a new future with new life. But I am a sucker for romance. 😉
Great post! Here’s my Top Ten Tuesday
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Thanks! Yeah I’m glad she didn’t end up with Gale but wasn’t sure she should end up with either tbh. Yeah that’s fair, I can see the symmetry of it and I’m not much of a romance reader so maybe I didn’t get it really. All I remember from DOSAB was that Prague sounds so pretty. Thanks, and thanks for the link, sorry its taken me so long to get to it!
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Ooh nice list idea! I did ship Katniss and Peeta together, though the ending you suggested also would have been a nice way to wrap it up. Couples that I don’t understand are Mia and Ashlinn in the Nevernight books (I haven’t read Book 2 but I don’t understand how it’s even possible to go from Book 1 events to *IN LOVE*), and Nico and Will in The Heroes of Olympus (it developed way too quickly to be believable, for me anyway).
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I preferred Peeta to Gale but yeah I thinks he should have been single. I haven’t read Nevernight but now I’m intrigued! Nico and Will did go too quickly, really I think Nico needed a lot more page time tbh. I feel all his character development happened away from the actual story and then he’d pop up and I’d be like ‘Oh Nico’s changed again’. I liked the idea of Nico and Will and think they were a good couple just needed more development
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Ooh I’m going to zip it now on Nevernight as I don’t want to to spoil anything!! I agree I like the Solangelo ship but it seemed to just come out of nowhere.
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Yeah definitely needed some more development. That’s been on my tbr for so long! Tell me if it’s any good
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Will do!!
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Yes, I love this list! I really, really wanted Katniss to end up alone – I hate the epilogue of Mockingjay so much, and I think Katniss deserved better – and Nahri and Dara leave such a bad taste in my mouth.
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Urg I know! Especially given how upset she was in Mockingjay it would have felt like she actually healed if she ended up single. Yeah they are terrible on so many levels, I couldn’t work out if the author meant them to be an actual ship or just a plot device?
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I may not agree with all these lists but I love your take on them! I felt like it would have been great if Katniss could have healed alone but considering her lack of MH care I always thought quiet and supportive Peeta (who had been through it all too) was great to be there for her.
I didn’t totally mind Dimple and Rishi but the physical side of it was too freaking much for me.
Also, Caraval made me so made I couldn’t look at it.
I LOVE this post!
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Yeah that’s true, Peeta was better but I think it would have shown a lot more about her character if she’d finish peaceful and proud of herself rather than being a mother and a wife at the end. Yeah it was for me too. I really liked Scarlet and Julian but I felt Scarlet messed him around a bit. Also Tella deserved way better. Thanks!
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The only one Ive read is Dimple & Rishi, as of which I didn’t noticed any toxicity nor abusiveness, but then again I read the French translation (lost in wordings?) AND I was in a toxic relation myself and overlooked it soo…
I totally agree with your reasoning for katniss though! Despite not being\wanting to be apart of that fandom
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Oh wow you can read French?! I’m so amazed, I’m trying to learn. Haha yeah that love triangle was a total pain
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My main language is french, so yeah! Ahaha😅 English has been so hard for me to understand.. atleast 8years until I could- I was a « late learner »
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Oh my gosh how did you learn? Teach me your ways so I can reverse them and learn French 😂
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Ahaha, It was through school 😅 as we’re a bilingual province we gotta learn both (though def more pressure on us)
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I’ve not actually read all of these books, but I definitely agree on the Dragon and Agniezska and Warden and Paige, I hate that these hundreds of years age gaps are still a thing! I also found Karou and Akiva kind of creepy as well, the past life thing is so weird, and I don’t think Akiva is really that nice to her. I did like Peeta, but I definitely get what you mean about Katniss not being in an emotionally good place for a relationship.
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Yes! And nobody else seems to notice?! Also Dragon and Angeiszka had lots of problems, like he was pretty horrible to her and they never address that. He basically calls her stupid several times. I don’t think so either and Karou ups and leaves her life too easily, she has Zuzana and her ghost tour friends to be with 😭😭 I think the ending would have been more powerful had Katniss finished single
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Yeah I don’t know why, it’s pretty obvious that age gaps like that are gross, even in a fantasy! Their relationship was not romantic at all, I don’t know why people think it is. Yes, Karou has this great life, I don’t get why she’d just up and leave with Akiva, like I’d be pretty happy to stay in Prague. I agree, it definitely would have made a point.
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And she didn’t even have good reason to leave, she basically knew nothing about him 🙄
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Ugh I know!
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Thank you! I was so annoyed with the ending of Mockingjay. Katniss had never wanted children. And yes, she brought peace but afterwards she was in no condition to be in a relationship. let alone having kids she had never wanted in the first place. Like it;s pretty clear that Katniss is suffering from PTSD after the first book and that never went away. I wanted to smack both Peeta and Gale. Katniss should have been alone.
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Right?! Yes exactly, it didn’t fit her character at all. And yes she needed time and space to heal not a romance 🙄
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I totally agree with you on the Katniss one. She was in no state for dating.
My TTT .
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She really wasn’t! Thanks for the link
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I agree with all of them except for Warden and Paige, I love that pairing and those books. I’m a sucker for the long age gaps! Great post!
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Haha fair! I didn’t get any chemistry off them, probably because he’s so guarded and she spends her whole time thinking how to escape 🤔
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I’m with you on The Hunger Games!
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Right?!
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I loved Uprooted, but the Dragon and Agneiszka’s relationship was so unnecessary! The age difference and the captivity is just too much, even if he does it for her own good…
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Exactly! Also he is genuinely horrible to her, he keeps calling her stupid and clumsy which is just bullying
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Haha, interesting and fun take on this week’s love freebie! Definitely disagree on a lot of these but there’s so much YES coming from me re: quite a few.
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Thanks! Ah glad you agree!
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Ooooh your thoughts are intriguing. ☺☺
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Thanks!
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From your list I have only read When Dimple Met Rishi, (I have a review on my blog) and I think I missed that. I didn’t get that vibe at all.
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A lot of people have mentioned this so maybe just something I didn’t like?
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Probably… But like I say, no one book is read the same.
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