Ranking All the Couples I Read in 2020

hey guys it's sam and today i'm going to rank all of the couples i read about in 2020. so these are my least favorite all the way up to my favorite couples i've done these videos every year and they're fairly popular so i know you guys were wondering when this one was coming and i'm choosing to stand up this time and that's a choice because i have 76 i believe like books and couples to talk about and this year i made this easier on myself because i kept it in my reading spreadsheet so i'm not necessarily going to show you it but i will be looking over here to go over everything because i wrote down as i was reading the book the book title the characters names a little blurb about how i felt about it right after i finished reading them and then a ranking on the side which then i was able to sort just now and rank by like little section and everything and it worked out really well very happy with myself for doing that so here is the tier ranking system that i have that i'm going to be going through so we're going to start with my least favorite the all capital letters loathe and there are three of those then we're going into the nays the nopes there are 14 of those then we get very particular uh we have the nay meh there's only one of those and then we go into the meh so just like very neutral i'm just kind of like i don't i don't feel really anything about them and there's 14 of those then we go into the yay slash meh so like the like i'm a little bit more positive feeling but still in there's also 14 of those and then the yays which are like i love them i ship it but like i they're not like otps like i don't i don't like think about them all the time but i have positive thoughts for them those are my yays at 22 and then i have six all capital letters loves which probably won't surprise you if you've watched my favorite books of the year so as this is a couple's video there might be spoilers if you don't want any kinds of spoilers at all potentially i don't really know how in detail i'm gonna go here but i'm not gonna necessarily hold back from things so if you are all afraid about hearing couple spoilers don't watch this but i shouldn't be going in too much depth with a lot of these because i don't have time like there's like 76 books to go through so let's get into it first the the most hated of all of the ships was america maxson and aspen from the selection by kiera cass this is something we read for a household book club this year and i'm actually going to read off some of the little blurbs that i wrote for some of these because they're funny like what my initial reaction was all i said in this was all caps no one has a personality and maxin smells like chemicals because the repair there's a line i remember very little about this book but i do remember there being a line where america says that maxin smells like some kind of like chemical or he just smells like chemicals and i'm like that is worse than saying he smells like sunshine and you know sandalwood like what is that no one has a personality i can't remember this is so like early 2010s y a awful um garbage but yeah this was they were all awful then we have kella and jonah from the simple wild this is a adult contemporary romance where she goes to alaska because her dad is passing away and she meets this guy he's the one that actually is like flying her over there and stuff and he's friends with her dad and he's an like he's an from the beginning and it's sort of said that they're like enemies to lovers and whatever but he's like super awful um for like most of the book um and i just don't dig it he steals her luggage he makes fun of her relentlessly he makes fun of her not using normal milk in her coffee but she's lactose intolerant and he doesn't know that but he also like what is the point of making fun of someone for that and like it's always like you look better without makeup and it's just like a huge like it's almost like those pickup artists that were really popular in like again i think early 2010s where like negging was a thing like you want to insult a woman to make her like you more like it was just it wasn't banter it was just like he's an for what for no reason so didn't dig them then we have snow and lucy gray from a ballad of songbirds and snakes also in the loathet category uh this i wrote that i was forced to read a romance between a villain and a tribute and it was gross he was possessive of her she had no agency i get that that was probably part of like the whole point but like don't make us like read him like trying to convince us that he loves her like i it was just no so many things about this book were awful but like the shoehorned and love story was like also awful it just no then we get into the like nay category i still don't like it i'm still gonna a lot about these books but like i don't like hate them that much i mean i still i don't like them but we'll get into it we have gwenevere mordred and arthur from the gwenevere deception i don't feel like anything about any of these characters the main character really like has like no personality and i don't remember really much of anything about any of them and it feels just like very immature like she has a very immature personality i know that why it's like they're supposed to be young but she just reads like very young y a and it just felt like an early y a love triangle kind of thing which was really weird to read in 2020 because i'm like aren't we are we done with this so yeah these guys no don't care which is why i won't be continuing with the series there is like a definitely like romance major plot in this and i'm like no i want nothing to do with that then we have zara and leon from someday in paris this is a adult romance it's actually historical these two meet when they are like children and they are locked in like a museum or something and the lights go off and they don't really get to see each other but they have this like bond and then the whole story is them just like sort of not quite meeting not quite crossing paths but they have this like magical soulmate bond it's not a fantasy but they have this like this speculative element of this like their soul mates so you spend the whole book like waiting for them to get together and like they they do at some point i think um but it's just like for them having this magical soulmate bond that you're like waiting for there's like none of it together and it's possible this is why i said the whole spoiler thing it's possible that like one of them dies shortly after they get together or something like that i feel like i didn't put in my note and spend a little bit since i read it and i like removed it from my brain but it's just like why uh why um so yeah this one made me mad then we have joven and hadria from city of lies and these two were just poorly developed and like really rushed the note that i wrote is that these two have sex in the middle of a siege underground when they think that everyone that's above them in the siege is possibly dying like all their loved ones it's really bizarre like there's this weird dynamic where she kind of like hates him and his like people i think from what i'm remembering because this is one of the first books i feel like i read this year and then they're in this siege and they start speaking like chemistry and then they just have sex no i i don't remember anything besides this siege sex that they were having which people do have sex in a siege that is like a proven thing that happens um this just didn't make any sense then we have oliver and nora from winterwood i remember like nothing about this book about these two i remember this book just being like very mediocre apparently according to my notes it's insta love and she like falls in love with the dead boy and then uses a power she didn't know she had to save him i don't remember that you know but it must have obviously like not i mean it was insta love it wasn't good for me so yeah didn't love it oh that's right they find him in the woods but he's actually dead because the woods like finds people and then she has i don't remember the power thing because i do remember that like this not being explained power wise and then yeah like she must have like brought him back from the dead maybe because she like finds things i don't remember but it was still like yeah it was not great then we have win and carly from kiss me every day this is a adult female female romance in which the main character is in a time loop i read a couple of time loops this year and she's actually always really been sort of like in love with her sister's uh now wife but she actually met this woman first didn't really go for her and the sister kind of went for her really hard and so she ended up with a sister but now in like present day the sister and the wife are like breaking up because the sister kind of treats her bad like they're not a good match so somehow the main character win like goes back in time and sort of has to relive the day that she met this woman and try to like work everything out and i didn't mind the first half like the first half of them sort of like getting to know each other and win trying to like do things differently in her life as well isn't just about the romance is like fine but then the time loop got like so repetitive and then they also got to a point where it was like because at one point in the time loop like they have sex but then the time loop like restarts so like wynn has all of these experiences with this woman that she doesn't have with her but then at like the very end um once the time loops are like about to end or whatever that's the conclusion of the book there's this confession of the time loops which is just like it never really works very well and then these mutual confessions of love that don't make sense because wynn has reason to love her but the other girl like hasn't really spent time with her in that way and it just is like very extreme and over the top so i wanted to love this because i was like female female romance it's like a second chance thing time loops can work i guess um this was the year that was kind of like maybe i don't like time loops um so didn't love this because it was just like overdone then we have wade and elliott from a thousand letters and this is a persuasion retelling and i do like persuasion retellings because they're just like baked in inks and this book was like not my favorite i remember reading it two stars but i do still think about it a little bit and like it did like hurt me you know like the hurting in my in my bones that i get sometimes when i feel for a couple however he was kind of like awful to her um so they were together as like teenagers um they were gonna get married and then he joined the army without telling her and was like either we need to get like we need to get married right now so that you come with me and she's like i don't believe my family and he was like really mad at her for that and so when he came back his dad's dying and she's like really close with their family and he's like shunning her and being like really awful and then like just kind of being like wow you were awful for doing that to me and whatever when she really wasn't and then his dad dies at some point in the book and he like comes over to her house and like sleeps with her but then like leaves again and it's just like a lot and she just forgives him for that in the end and i'm just like he was like without without a conversation and it's like he was like really mean to you like i get his feelings with her but like that wasn't appropriate so although i love me similarly persuasion angst this didn't hit the way it should have then we have ash and maddock from set fire to the gods and all i wrote on here was just typical why a like i'm pretty sure this was a dual perspective and the two characters ended up like being like ooh who's that ooh who's that and then they just like like each other no like it was just early 2010's live man like we can't be doing that a decade later it's it's no the time has passed then we have danny and david plus danny and kind of aaron from in five years this is not a romance book uh this is just an adult contemporary but it was portrayed as a romance book and this is like not really romance so i kind of put that's why i put in my notes i was like it's not really a romance so like no because you don't really like see the characters together much the romance that you think is gonna happen doesn't really happen in the way that you think it's gonna happen and it's just like from what it was promising by the synopsis and this was all like a marketing problem you don't get that so it's like very unsatisfying then we have liv and mac from undercover bromance which is the second book in the bromance book club an adult contemporary romance series and these two like so mac is one of the main guys in the bromance book club and the romance book club which i'll talk about the first book later basically it's a bunch of guys that read romance novels to be like better partners and more like emotionally present and like aware and stuff and mag is one of the main guys and liv is the sister of the girl in the first book who was like you really don't like her in the first book and i thought maybe the second book i would like her more no i just really found that there wasn't much substance to either of their arcs individually i didn't like her and i didn't really feel anything for like either of them and this book i i've talked about a little bit before that it gets so muddled it turns into plot soup like the author tries to add in so many different issues into this book but it was just too much not enough focus on the couple but also i didn't really like the couple so it was overall just meh this is still in the nay category but it was just it was just like bad meh then we have naletti and thibizo from a princess in theory and these are at the nay category but almost to the mac category because i didn't like really viscerally hate them the problem was just like the writing for me personally and i know a lot of people love alissa cole and i do plan on reading moralistical but i always say with romance books i'm very okay like i'm getting very okay with like sex scenes now but if the book is very sexual like all the way through not even with like erotica but just like where the characters think about each other in sexual ways like all the time i just like don't like that i'm like can you think about each other in like other ways than sexual like you can think about each other that way but also like maybe romantic more and like just not about each other's bodies and like doing things with their tongues so that was just a thing that turned me off about them i think that they could have been like a great couple for me and like in that way and i don't like hate them but it was just like the way that they think about each other which i get happens was just like i don't want to read about that so yeah this one wasn't written in a way that i tend to like for couples now we're getting into the like kind of in between almost to the meh category we have two couples in here one is like a for sure couple and one is more of like are they and i want to talk about them kind of separately the first is fitz and molly fitz and molly are a horrible couple they're not a good match they are not compatible and like reading throughout this whole series of faiths like loving molly i'm just like why she's horrible for you so like that sucks but then we have fitz and the fool so in this series they are like not together i don't know if they ever do get together i don't know i don't know what the situation is with them but there is this like interesting dynamic happening where like they're sort of drawn together the fool especially defense and they end up having this bond this like magical bond starting in here um it's called a skill bond and i don't know where that's going to go like there are other like at least i think two more series that just follow fits throughout the realm of the elderlings like overall series so i'm not going to get to that probably for a while of like them sort of being together but i know there's a whole like fits in the fool like trilogy so i'm sure this is explored more but i feel like that's shippable so i put like that in the yay category but it's also like not canonly together in here or anything it's just kind of like potential and then him and molly who are like the couple that are up together in here as don't like it then we have rhea and khloe from seven devils this just didn't need a romance like at all it's a female famous romance love that sure but it's like so forgettable i can't even really tell you why it's so meh but i do kind of remember it being like there doesn't need to be a romance in here like they could have just been like friends there didn't need to be like i can't even remember anything about them and it sucks because that's a female female romance cool awesome don't care then we have travis and georgie from fix her up all i wrote here is that this is basically a vanilla dom sub relationship i think i talked about this in my wrap-up for this book but a lot of people were surprised i even read this because they're like this is not gonna be your jam and sure it is kind of like smutty at times but the thing that was like so weird about this is there's like it's a romance between um a gal and her like brother's best friend um that they like knew each other growing up and she always had a crush on him and it's just like really extreme like she is very like innocent and naive she's a professional clown which like just adds to that in a very dramatic way and then he's like this i think baseball player like playboy like experience so there's always like weird tropes in here that i don't like as far as like he has like this like she's a virgin so he has this like virgin thing like virgin kink and like her innocence kink and like just a lot of the stuff and i just felt like they could have just made this like a full dom sub thing which i wouldn't have read but like if you're gonna do it just go because i feel like there's a lot of like this like daddy like it was just like some of that that i was like this is right under the surface and if you just go there and put that into that category then you're probably gonna get a better readership anyway who like really want that instead of people who are thinking this is just a contemporary romance and are getting something like a little more uh so yeah didn't love that i just didn't like their dynamic like don't really remember a whole ton about it but it was just it was just weird then we have emma and mac makalis i think is his name he's like a i think he's a demon this is meh which is very meh very forgettable supposed to almost be like an enemies to lovers thing but it's just like a monster boyfriend um story that if you're in a monster boyfriend you might like this but like very forgettable not fleshed out at all then we have ava and akado from river of royal blood this is sort of like a very fast paced enemies to lovers situation um and added nothing to the story like it didn't need to be in there at all like i i don't i really don't know why it was even in there like there's a little bit of like banter that's totally not the point of the story um it added nothing to the story then we have eliana and kieran from the falconer series these are two that i'm very neutral about this is like a buffy the vampire slayer with fae and he's a fae and she's a human like slayer kind of person and they have this thing that i should be really into as somebody who grew up on buffy who is in love with both bangel and spuffy if you remember the ship names so i should have been like totally all for this and it just like it didn't vibe with me like i just was very like i didn't hate it but i just was like i don't care like this whole like will they won't they like is it gonna work out for them like it probably will like i don't i don't know so it didn't have the tension that i wanted it to have then we have aidan and orla from the five-year plan this is another adult contemporary romance this is like a second chance romance and sort of a friends to lovers so from what i'm remembering these two met and had like a summer together when i'm pretty sure this is the one that the wildlife photographer so they have summer together and then separated like he she didn't go with him when he went traveling or whatever so like they started out as friends we're going to get together got together had like a month together and then left and then so we get that like flashback of them together and then we get them like in modern times when they see each other again so there are parts of this i really liked and parts i really didn't so it is like a friends to lovers like over a like you know whirlwind summer kind of thing and then second chance when they like meet back up again but there were some things about him that like although i was pulling for them at times i was like then he did some things that i feel like we're crossing boundaries like he never really took no for an answer with her and like would always push her on her boundaries not necessarily like sexually it wasn't like sexual boundaries but just like she would be like i don't do something and he's like no we're gonna and it's like you're not listening to her so i just like didn't dig that and there's a lot of other like sort of red flag behaviors like that and it annoyed me because he was always portrayed as like a nice guy in a story so i'm like if you're gonna portray him as a bad boy and he has those like it's still not great but like whatever but don't portray him as like a nice guy and then make him do that then we have susan and chris from all stirred up which is another adult contemporary romance and another persuasion retelling problem with this is it was a persuasive retelling that didn't really focus on like them at all and there was hardly any romance in it i think it was only like maybe the very very end and it was more about like her life and stuff and i'm just like i am not here to read about your life and your family i'm here to read about you guys longing for each other across the room like there was not enough longing not enough angst then we have another adult contemporary romance this is rick and lana from mistletoe or mr right and these two were just like cute but whatever um like i didn't really like them like either of them a ton i liked him a little bit more than her and i got their dynamic because she's like a big city girl and he's like an alaska guy that's like grungy kind of and like that whole like opposites attract thing i totally get but um it was still like whatever also the couples in these books like get together really easily um and i don't love like that like there's not enough like oh you guys just like each other and it's just fine okay then we have ruby and dove from the rise and the wicked and this is a romance between a trans boy and a witch girl from magical family and i said my notes cute but shrug and that is how i feel i don't i don't remember anything about them sure don't like i i vaguely remember their names i'm pretty sure i read this in like september or october i think but i have no other recollection of them just they must have been cute meh then we have maisie and andrew from in a holidays this is a adult contemporary romance that's set around christmas and this is another time loop story and this was between two friends who were like friends from in childhood and really their like families know each other they're like family friends they only see each other around christmas and it's almost like a second chance thing because she gets to relive this time loop to kind of like sort of get together with him and it's fine like i think the only reason i remember is because i just read it in uh like right around christmas and it's like only a few weeks later now so otherwise if you would have asked me about this like a year from now i'd be like i have no idea what you're talking about i have very little recollection like i kind of pulled for them it was fine no substance there then we have the tourist attraction this is by the same author as mistletoe mr wright that i must have forgotten about the list i'm just remembering now i'm like i'm pretty sure i read this book and like i must have not put on the list which is really weird but this is zoe and graham and this is like a tourist um who's like really sweet meets a local in alaska who's like a bar owner and he's like an owner of a tourist attraction bar and he like hates it and he's grumpy and she's kind of array of sunshine a little bit and they fall for each other um but it's very drawn out like these books are way too long like uh and they get together but like like everyone knows they like each other but they haven't figured it out yet kind of so it just is like very long um i wouldn't say it's angsty long it's just like drawn out for no reason so this is just kind of like whatever it's fine i don't really ship it then we have daisy and billy and karen and graham from daisy jones and the six and these are two that like i find these couples compelling but as couples i'm not like so set on them i like graham and karen more than daisy and billy i found daisy and billy super toxic um just there like i get it and i get that's kind of the point this is a adult novel about a fictional like rock band and their dynamics and these are all band mates but they're just really like toxic people and billy and daisy like so almost get like a second chance at the very end you find out like that they're gonna like probably get a chance to be together maybe like probably whatever and it's just like no y'all are toxic and like messed up a lot of people's lives like i can't with you like i get that you were both having like addictions and what but like karen and graham on the other hand made me sad um because they were like a side couple i don't talk about any other side couples in here really but they were a side couple that was like pretty prominent and they talk about each other like in the story there's like a multiple pov kind of story and it told them like an interview style and like the way they talk about each other just makes me like like i don't think they were super compatible so it's fine and they weren't supposed to be together but i'm like why didn't they get a chance to be together and not billy and daisy like they were just like i don't know i feel like those crazy kids could have worked it out somehow you know so they're still on like that but almost getting to the a almost getting to the me yay category then we have kai and maggie from storm of locust and the only reason they're really in the math category because i really like them in book one is because they're not together in this book like they're they're separated we don't really know the dynamics are but they still like maggie's still sort of like thinking about him kind of being like what's going on and is he okay and whatever so there's this like lingering like they have a thing they have a connection but they're not together so that's why like i couldn't really ship them in this book you know then we have ori and yetu from the deep and this is a female female mermaid and human romance and they're both separated from their own people and find togetherness with each other and like that's fine this is just a very short book that's like you don't really have time to like love it you know what i mean so like i just feel like okay like sure fine okay but like i'm not like oh my god because you don't really get a lot of time spent with them because this is not the point of this book then we have chloe and nick from not like the movies which is an adult contemporary romance and basically they work together and they have worked together and the main character of the first book which i didn't read uh writes like a movie about them um and they them like kind of always liking each other but never making a move and so then people are kind of like you know you should get together and they're like no we're just friends and whatever so she's insufferable as a character and i don't say that often about female characters she's insufferable and they are kept apart for so long from her like absolute denial of feelings when it's like so obvious that she has feelings and he has feelings and like just get together already but the thing that made them further up on the list and they probably should have been based on that feeling alone is that he is perfect um he is one of my only like book boyfriends from this year like i very frequently don't like i might ship couples but i don't typically want to like date the character he's like one of the exceptions i'm like find me one of those um i like that that's i would like one please for myself please so that's what bumped them up a little bit further on the list close to the yay category then we have red and blue from this is how you lose the time war and this is a female female romance between two characters who are on opposite sides of a time war and they're writing like letters through time and space kind of and like this is another one that i'm just like sure fine i enjoy like the letters but the plot of the story like doesn't stick with me at all and like them sort of having this bond over time is really good but again it's you're kept more at a distance i feel in this story like you're you're not really with them because it's more like again these letters and you have that emotion there but not a connection otherwise you don't really like see them together because they're just writing to each other so i didn't get the connection with them because of that then we have elle and orion from a deadly education these are two that not aren't really together in this book like you find out towards the end that like he did kind of have a crush on her but she thought they were just friends and like and it's all fine it's not in like a skeezy way but the thing that made them like a little bit higher in this list is their potential sort of like i mentioned with some other couples earlier is that like he's a himbo and she's grumpy and like that dynamic i really dig so i hope that that works out that they do kind of get together in that way because like himbo guy with grumpy girl like sure yes absolutely now we're getting into the me yay category we have stacia and berenice from shore fall and this is a female female romance it's established in book one and these two like i like them but they don't pull up my heart you know like they're just fine they're together they're like stable that's not the whole point of the plot i dig them cool wonderful um but like i'm not like oh my god about them or anything and we have tiffy and leon from the flat share this is similar to the like time war thing and that this is an adult contemporary romance we don't have that situation but these are two people that are sharing a flat she sleeps in it at during the night and he sleeps in it during the day because of work schedules and they end up kind of forming a relationship over like post-it notes and like letters that they leave for each other so you don't really get to see them like together and this is more contemporary than i would say it's a romance so like again i don't feel like pulled to them because i didn't like see them together i didn't like see them interacting it's just all these like post-its and stuff but they're like cute and like supportive of each other as people and stuff once they start to like really know each other but again like no like feelings there for them then we have chef ali and shizuka from the warrior moon and the phoenix empress i read both this year and these are still two warrior women in love but they were much higher up on my list when i read the first book back in like 2017. so they still like love each other um they're also like a little bit codependent which is why they're lower on the list but they do grow out of that a bit but like they're obsessed with each other and like i respect that like you know like i don't like love it but this is one of the only books i've ever read that is like an epic fantasy tale centered around two women who are like deeply in love with each other so is it a bit co-dependent sure are they obsessed with each other yes am i okay with that though because this is like one of the only series that has that element to it sure then we have chelsea and jason from paris is always a good idea and this is a adult contemporary romance in which they are co-workers and it's like rival co-workers to lovers and the reason they're in like the like mata yay category is like i kind of pulled for them but like he has some moments where like he's a little bit possessive i do believe there's like a fistfight at one point over here which i never love there's a couple of guys that have done that and some of these um that i've forgotten to mention but like i don't tend to love that and he also like he follows her she's basically going around to paris italy and ireland because what before she started working i think it was like before her mom died um she went on this trip and like found herself over the summer and fell in love with three different men over there and so she was trying to like reignite her like spark for love and spark for life and whatever and he sort of like follows her because of like a work thing ends up like kind of trying to like ruin her trip like trying to like talk her out of like seeing these guys and kind of being like this is dumb and like i get why he's doing that but i'm also like that's a little bit schoolyard of you isn't it but they do end up bonding over some like shared experiences and there is this like understanding throughout the story eventually that she comes to of like she needs someone that's good for her right now and not someone that's good for past her which is what these other guys were so like i do kind of like that um but again not high enough to be like yay then we have sabine and bastian from the bone criers moon this is one of those like faded star cross lovers destined to kill each other things like he needs to kill her for a reason she needs to kill him because of a magical reason and like then they start making googly eyes at each other this is kind of angsty um but does feel a little bit more like younger ya which is fine again why is written for younger people than me but it does feel like slightly more mature which is why i couldn't get super invested in it and they like loved each other like a bit too quickly in my opinion but again like i do love a good like star-crossed lovers destined for each other but also destined to hurt each other kind of vibe so i forget it then we have navini and dalinar from the way of kings and this was just a dynamic that i liked because he is a man with like a pure soul and she is like a very cunning woman and it's a very small subplot and like not important for the story at this point but there is sort of like a second chance lovers dynamic here because i think they were like into each other before but then she end up marrying his brother or something who's like now dead so it's like fine um i guess like it's fine for me like morally but the one thing that gets me is like all he says is like how beautiful she is i'm like okay can you talk about like something else because she's also like really smart um so her being pretty is like not important um but also i feel like he's like a little bit him bowie so like it's whatever we'll see how this goes then we have cassiopeia and the death god i think his name is like we pronounce that horribly and it's not gonna be in the synopsis and this is the death in the maiden story which i always dig but i just wasn't super attached to them i felt like more of a distance from the characters in general in the story so i didn't get super attached to them in the way that i would have liked to cryer and ayla from crier's war this is a young adult science fiction and is a female female romance between like basically magical androids like they're magically made like alchemically made maybe possibly i'm forgetting it's been a while androids and the androids are in charge and the humans are not like they were the ones that were sort of overthrown and that's what makes this more compelling i think without that angle it would be like just your basic kind of like why a story one is trying to kill the other blah blah blah overthrow like a regime whatever but with this element of the ai being like the ones in power i think it makes it slightly more interesting so this made it the higher side of the mech category then we have zafira and nasir from we hunt the flame these were like kind of okay i don't remember a lot about this but in my notes i do say they both have like an affinity with darkness which like love that and they both feel that they like can't love so these are like two broken beans who are going to like learn about love with each other and i i kind of dig that this is a duology i believe so i do want to read the second book is it out yet it might be i don't know then we have nadia and malaki ash from ruthless gods these are two that are again kind of like the yay side of math for me because i'm not super invested in them and i do have like longer notes for these two because i just have like uh thoughts the way that i do in my review for it but i don't get all the hype around them like they have a really big fandom this is supposed to be like an enemies to lovers true enemies to lovers you know monster boyfriend kind of thing however i'm like okay i love the fandom like depiction of them but that's not really how they are in the book there's a lot of tell instead of show like it's kind of like oh yeah she like hates him and like doesn't want to be with him and whatever it's like no no you need to show you need to show the attraction and the like the the pining and the inks in a way that you're just not there are individual scenes with them that are so so good and like so on point but when it's woven into the entire story it like doesn't really make sense in land for me i want to like it but it's not really a villain romance if the entire book you're trying to convince me that he's not actually a villain and he's really just a soft anxious boy like are you a villain romance or are you not either he's a big bad or he's just a soft boy like come on like i know there's a gray area but like you gotta choose if you want a villain romance you gotta choose so the the wishy-washy-ness is what makes me not like this as much as i want to i wish that i did then we have alex and henry from red white and royal blue these were two that were like fine for me um cute fine very romantic i'm sure all of you know this is an adult contemporary romance it's a male male romance between a fictional prince of england and a fictional son of the first female president of united states i mentioned this in my wrap up for this book but what got me was that like they're together for too much of the story for me like they get together like pretty quick it's sort of supposed to be like a rival slash enemies to lovers but they get together like pretty quick and then they're just like together for most of the story which is fine but like i need some pining i need some will they won't they and i just don't have that so i'm just like okay you're cute but like i don't know if i care a ton you know then we have stacy and daniel from well played so this is complicated because this is an adult contemporary romance and it's set around a catfishing plot so basically this is set in a um series where they're all part of like a red fair so stacy we meet in the first book and is one of the friends of the girl in the first book and she has had like this fling with this guy who's part of a band and so once he leaves for the summer that summer she like messages him kind of drunkenly on like facebook messenger or something and they start having this email relationship well who she's actually messaging is his cousin who she's always found very nice and very sweet but they have never like been together and so they form this relationship with her not knowing that it's him for like 70 of the vote maybe 60 like a pretty long time and then you don't really see them together like most of the book is them spent like very separate which i know i just bitched about you know like black but like i said that i don't like seeing characters together like a ton as far as like being together but these are couples again this like couples that communicate through just like writing messages doesn't work for me it's what i've learned as i've talked about all these couples any of these couples that i don't get to like physically see them like interacting don't love it so i pulled for them a little bit um toward the end because he's just like very sweet and she's like a good character too but like the catfishing plot and their relationship being formed mostly out of the red fair because i like the rent fair setting and just mostly being through email like means i didn't connect to it as much as i maybe could have if it was more rent fair based then we have juana homan and hanani from the shadowed sun i don't really remember these two i wrote in their information but somehow the like little blurb that i wrote got lost so i just know i was kind of like okay like they were on i think like two kind of slightly different sides of this like political situation like they were fine but i did i don't remember them so that's why they're kind of like them man whatever then we have henrietta and blackwood and henrietta and magnus from sorrow fierce and falling this is the last book in the series and this is a young adult fantasy series and i talked about this in the like review for it and that this book was like too rushed like this could have been like a four book series because there's two like couples in here that are like together and there just wasn't enough time so i have like conflicting thoughts about like the ships in here so i loved throughout the whole series henrietta and blackwood and the first book they had this almost like pride and prejudice dynamic and then they have this like angsty dynamic and like kind of like well they won't they or this is gonna work out blah blah but then this last book and very quickly because of how fast-paced it was because there wasn't enough time for everything he turns to like basically borderline villainy and it happens really quick but it sucks because their bond like before that happens is like so good like their connection is just really immaculate so i wish if that would have happened that they would have had more time to like dissolve that and like turn him sort of like to the dark side instead of it being like this quick sudden thing and then she eventually does kind of like pair up with magnus who's a guy that she was with previously but it was more like a flirty thing and he sort of like like lied to her a bit and whatever but i do like this a little bit too because it shows like two people maturing and being wrong for each other at one time and right for each other and another and i do think it was a good match in that way but it was still two-cent like everything happened with blackwood like very quickly and then we're supposed to be like oh now her and magnus are like a good matches like those just both needed more time like there should have been the black wood thing in like a book three and a magnus thing in like book four and there wasn't and that makes me sad but i still like liked it but it was just like it became more meh because of the lack of time then we're getting into the yays we have elizabeth and nathaniel from sorcery of florence which is the first book that i read in 2020. i don't remember a lot about them but i know that she's like a keeper of magical books that can like turn into actual monsters and he's a sorcerer who are supposed to be kind of bad cause they make deals with the devil or like demons or whatever but what i like about them is that she is kind of like basically the only note i wrote about them is that he says you absolute menace to her so she just like kind of causes chaos and he's like a bisexual orderly sorcerer and like i just kind of like that dynamic because it reminds me of like a low-key version not as much but like a low-key version of like the dragon and agnes if it was written into a a story and not a main plot point of just like oh my god you're a terror but i love you like i kind of i kind of dig that you know then we have juden carton from the queen of nothing i didn't like them as much as i liked them in the second book i didn't like them in the first book like at all i dug them kind of in the second book i think i talked with them probably in my last year's wrap up and then in this book they just felt different there was less banter and like more straight to trust for them which i found like not really in line with their characters like there wasn't quite enough time in the series to develop that but the the fandom really put them a little bit higher into the a category for me because like the art and the imagery that you can pull from these scenes even is just like it's really good like i dig that um but them in this book not so much more like their overall arc from book two to three made it a little bit higher but still another book where i just feel like there was enough time for what we got then we have a whole slew of characters from kingsbane by claire legrand first we have eliana and simon and this is the second book in a fantasy why a series with a lot of different characters in two different timelines and all this stuff so eliana's one of the main characters and her and simon have a thing and i'm still not super into this um there's like an age gap thing that i think is like super weird like squeaky in a way because it's an age gap that is like closer to realistic um there's another age gap situation that you could argue in this as well but it's between like a supernatural creature and i can like i kind of forgive that i know this is like a whole thing people talk about fantasy a lot i'm like kind of okay with that sometimes when it's like oh he's like in his like 20s and you're like a teen i think it's like six-ish years i'm just like not at your ages no then we have real and audrey and riel is one of the other characters in a different timeline and these two are like again like kind of fine they're kind of meh of all of them on here um so like actually we kind of have like a nay meh and like kind of yay in this uh range but those two like audrey just seems kind of dumb sometimes bless his heart and i also don't know why he puts up with real so much in this book like real is just doing the most in this book and he just like puts up with her i'm kind of like why and then we have real and corian and this is a really interesting like main character and villain dynamic and corian and real are like toxic but intriguing so that's why they're kind of like a yay like it's definitely like oh this is not like a good situation but like it's interesting and this like call to power and like call to darkness and it's kind of taking this character who's supposed to be like a symbol of good and like turning her to the dark side kind of so like that i kind of just just dig for those vibes you know but it's not like a good thing you know but that's kind of the mix that we have with all the couples here then we have violet and isaac and justin and harper from the devouring gray so no one is actually together in this but there are some like implications for people getting together i think two of them were previously together i think just in the harper i want to say we're like previously together and it's kind of like oh are they gonna have this like star cross thing because due to their like magic this is a like contemporary fantasy y a so due to their like magic because they're both from founding families they're not really supposed to be together and like meh but what i really dug was violet and isaac there are implications that they might get together and both of them are like kind of damaged and um relate to each other in that way and they're both bisexual so i'm like these two disaster buys getting together like i really i really kind of want that so that has me intrigued it makes me want to finish the series as a duology then we have a whole handful of couples from chain of gold by cassandra clare the only reason i read this book was for the couples so we have james and cordelia and those are the two that i'm most invested in of the series they get like sort of like fake marrying so like i kind of dig that there's like that there's this dynamic and there's like some magical things keeping them apart and i'm kind of into it then we have lucy and jesse i'm intrigued about it but jesse's actually dead so jazzy's a ghost we know this like pretty much from the beginning i think again i told you guys there might be spores in here um but yeah he's dead uh so even though there's like a thing there i'm like until he's um alive again i don't know what we're gonna do here there's kind of an age gap because he's been dead since he was like a little bit closer her age but like uh i don't know then we have anna and ariadne and these are a side couple because neither of them are main characters i still want to mention it because it's female female and like anna's great we barely got to see them but um anna is a queen so that's kind of why i wanted to mention them and we have thomas and alistair this is a male male romance and these two are two we also didn't get really to see much of and aleister has some like redemption to do but again i could be like into it like all these i'm like ooh it's like a soap opera i love to see it then we have celine and bastian from the beautiful and the damned what i like about them is these are two very strong characters that are drawn to each other's strengths as well so i feel like make a good like power couple this is a young adult uh like historical paranormal um series like it's gonna be like four books set in new orleans there's vampires eventually in book two really i do like that there are some discussions of consent in here too like there's a steamy makeout scene and like the consent is very like on-page deliberate which is really good and they're being like kept apart by outside forces and things throughout i liked them but i wasn't like clutching my chest over them and the second book they're like slightly more dramatic and i'm like for what so we'll see if that comes back around to where i start liking them again even more in book three then we have arwa and zahir from realm of ash the first book in this companion series empire of sand i had one of my i think my favorite couple from last year so these two are slightly down farther on the list but i remember the quote the mystic order of two this is a adult desert-based romance and these two are kind of working together and they're two very like smart people like the heroes very like bookish and like studied and like there's this like magical stuff going on and they have a much quieter romance than the characters in the first book so i didn't enjoy them quite as much but like it's still like a quiet stable partnership in that way then we have gavin and karis from the black prism these are two that we also didn't get to see much of because there's only some like implications and like second chance stuff and whatever but again i'm intrigued about the future of this the angst is definitely there they're like ripped apart by external forces and circumstances but they're actually in love um so i think there's like a chance there for like a second chance romance thing that's going to be like kind of complicated so dig that and i know it's a long series so i'm like ooh is it going to be like pining for multiple books like let's see we have tessa and ian g from heart of seoul this is a adult contemporary romance between a k-pop idol and a fan but like in a way that doesn't make the power dynamic super icky there's lots of consent in here like lots of on-page consent like there's even a scene where there's some like drunken stuff starting up and they had already had sex like earlier and still the character was like no because you can't consent when you're drunk like it was very blatant on page which was nice and they are very much like a comfort couple um and so they're very sweet in that way there is some stuff about the story that gets a little bit like dramatic but not so much with them so i really dug their like comfort of each other it was very sweet and also both of them are on the lgbtq plus spectrum part of the alphabet mafia so love that then we have lena and max from the worst best man this is another adult contemporary romance and these are two that like oh i wasn't sure at first because he was the brother of her ex-fiance but it's been like years and her and her ex-fiance were actually like not compatible at all and then her and the brother max have to work together on like a business thing and she's like a wedding planner and it's like this whole thing um but like the way they grow together is like super good they opened up to each other it's like hate to love but not too much miscommunication there less drama and stuff and then another thing that really got me that i wrote a note about was like there's some awkwardness in the sex scenes so a lot of people say how like sometimes sex scenes are so like unrealistic like i think there's a part where like he can't get his pants off and he's like tripping i think this might be the i don't think this is a book where someone broke a table but i've read a number of books this year that are adult contemporary that like have very realistic sex scenes like people not being able to get shirts off and like just stuff like that so i always like to see that then we have alexis and noah from crazy stupid bromance so the third book in the bromance book club series so again adult contemporary romance and this one was better than the second book obviously since it's higher on the list this was actually your friends to lovers that i liked because they became friends like about a year and a half before the book starts maybe only a year and became like good friends as adults and they're both like blatantly into each other but the other one doesn't like really realize it but everyone else knows and so it's that kind of friendship to lovers thing which i dig and they're also like very affectionate and supportive of each other as friends and reading that in 2020 i'm like man i wish i had a friend that like quarantined as much as i did and we could just like cuddle you know maybe maybe fall in love i don't know also she's like a happy ray of sunshine and he's a grump and i love that dynamic she also runs a cat cafe like it's it's very cute i like it then we have chloe and red from get a life chloe brown this is an adult contemporary romance and these are two people who are just like a happy healthy couple and they work on themselves both for themselves and for each other to be like a good partner like it's really good and really healthy they're really thoughtful of each other and there is like this thread within the story of like knowing that relationships do take work but that there's a lot of hope there so i dug that then we have right after the next book in the series which is danny and zaff from take a hint danny brown these are slightly higher than the last ones because i just loved danny so much and related to her she's a plus size by black witch and he is a muslim ex rugby player so like i am also a by witch this is a vibe i enjoy they are very cute i think this was the romance book that i read that had them breaking a table while having sex so love that and it wasn't like you know like oh it's so sexy they broke the table it's like oh we fell so love that then we have amora and bastian from all the stars and teeth this was a very bandry relationship that went into something deeper and evolved into something deeper this is the first book in a ya fantasy duology that is taking place in like sort of an island area and he's like a pirate or a privateer that has to take her as the princess to like all these different places and they kind of form this dynamic so i really was into them this could have been like a very basic why a relationship and i found that it wasn't they don't get bogged down in petty miscommunications the way that a lot of romances do both in adult and why but especially in why i find that's more common and they're very trusting and mature so really liked to see them and i do want to read book too and this as well because of them then we have marcus and april from spoiler alert and this is an adult contemporary romance that is basically inspired by the brienne and jamie fandom of game of thrones this is definitely like comfort fiction for that this is not them but basically he is an actor in the uh that kind of fandom for the show that he's on but he also writes fan fiction and she writes fan fiction and they're like fan fiction friends but don't know each other well she ends up posting a cosplay of herself and she's a bigger woman on twitter and she gets like attacked so he not knowing that it's her asks her on a date to be like screw you guys you guys are awful and then they end up like bonding there and then he ends up figuring out that it's her from like the fandom and whatever so they were very cute love their dynamic again it's sort of like a himbo with like a bigger plus-sized woman and then like fandom stuff like has a lot of elements i really loved some of their own stuff overshadowed the relationship ultimately but i still really liked them then we have a few different couples from the silver serpents we have severan and layla who were definitely at the top of this list from the first book when that came out probably like two years ago there was a lot of angst here love the angst in these books but i do think that i liked the angst more in book one i was expecting more inks than i got in book two mostly because in this book severin is very like concealed don't feel like the whole time then we have sort of this like love triangle dynamic going on which was hinted in book one between tristan hypnos and sophia i love tristan and sophia so sweet so cute much more like a long-term couple but i also liked tristan and hypnos because i feel like they really understood each other and even though their dynamic was very much more like short term and like they both kind of understood that i liked that they found some like solace within each other for the time being so i kind of dug the whole thing then we have nachiri andara from city of brass um in my notes i was like question mark question mark question mark i don't know how to feel so i really dug this this is the first book in an adult fantasy desert bay setting like a um like 18 18th century cairo i think but basically our main character makes a deal accidentally sort of and like summons a gin a warrior gin and then it gets taken away to the city of like the gin and the deva and everything and i really dug their dynamic it's sort of like a she almost has like this princess and the guard dynamic going on with them and i love a whole like guard romance um but then he gets like very possessive and controlling at one point for like different political reasons and i didn't dig that so i don't know i'm gonna feel we'll see how i feel throughout the rest of the series but like i don't know but like there's pining and there's like angst and there's like things keeping them apart but like then he did that douchey thing i i don't know i'll just see what the rest of the series then we have darcy and elle from written in the stars and this is a female female romance that's pride and prejudice inspired kind of and these are two women who are set up on a date by like a mutual friend one's the sister of the guy and one's like a co-worker almost and there's like a lot of miscommunication and like shitty kind of darcy behavior like pride and prejudice darcy behavior but then they eventually end up like falling in love and darcy is more of like a straight laced like businesswoman and the other character is like astrologer it's great it's very sweet i really liked it yes and we have gideon and harrow from gideon the ninth this is a female female romance between necromancers basically this is a adult fantasy sci-fi kind of thing everyone's a necromancer and these have been like sworn enemies for so long but they end up in a situation together and kind of have to team up so they're enemies to almost lovers that continue the banter the whole time which you would think would be kind of unbelievable but it actually feels believable even though it's extreme because they're both broken so are they quite lovers no but there's like something and i don't know i don't know how the rest of this is going to play out but like so dug that dug the ladies then we have shiala and sarapio from black sun they are not a main plot point in the story they are two of the main characters but it's two outcast people in a magical like society this is um like native american inspired folklore i think pre-colonialism is like the setting that it's inspired by but these are two characters who have like both very extreme powers that other people don't trust and they find each other and like find comfort in each other and it's very sweet really like it then we have penelope and born from a rogue by any other name this is a historical fiction adult historical fiction that is a hades and persephone retelling and i dug it i did this was this was good this is my only historical fiction that i've ever read but i'm thinking about continuing this whole series this is a second chance lovers scenario as well because they were friends in childhood knew each other um he was like a highborn man she was like a highborne lady she's now been like deemed a spinster even though she's wet in their like late 20s or whatever and he lost his fortune in a gambling situation and now he owns like a gambling done which is like hell you know you see this and he ends up sort of like stealing her away um sort of like a fake married type thing but then end up being like really in love it's really good the reason this isn't slightly higher is because he does have a bit of like an aggressive streak not with her but like i think this happens a lot in historicals where it's like he's defending her honor there's like fist fights he gets in fist fights blah blah blah he can't feel his feelings so he's going to box someone and it's like nah i don't need that but overall it's a hades mercedes thing dug it then we have two couples from the invisible life of eddie leroux we have addy and harry and addy and luke and what i liked about both of them is that it shows different like depictions of love kind of and like what is love and some of these things so they're two very different dynamics addy and henry are more like perfect for each other due to the situation there's a lot of lines again that don't make it like insta love you know they're the two perfect people for each other due to the like curses that they're under and then addie and luke are very toxic but again it's depicted in the story so i don't feel like it's icky like the the story the narration says like how toxic it is and there are two people who are like the only two people that really truly know each other again because of their situations and like that's really compelling as well so it's two very like compelling dynamics for different reasons then we also have multiple situations but mostly just one from god's grave and dark dawn by jay kristoff these are the second and third book from the never night series which is a adult grim dark series about assassins this is the beginning of the love category the all caps love category the very top so firstly we have mia and ash and i know a lot of people don't like me and ash like i get that i get that in my discussion videos it's been very like polarized about it but like i love them i put null caps this is the female female angsty dynamic that i've always wanted there's a lot of stuff between them and like neither person is like a very good i would say ash is a worse person than mia is but like oh do they kind of like get each other and like there's this attraction even though like mia especially kind of doesn't want there to be and is like wow ash you like betrayed people and but like it makes sense why and it's just a lot there which i really liked and then in the third book we have trick back in the mix again i told you there's spoilers in here who was her love interest in the first book and who ash actually killed so like this whole dynamic is like very interesting and i do love that like trick pulled his way back from death because he loved her so much but then ultimately ended up like sort of sacrificing himself i guess you could say because he knew she'd be happier at this point with ash and some people don't like that because they're like oh like trick got screwed over and blah blah but like that was all something that he chose and it was very like wonderful and like complicated and there was a sapphic happy ending and like i loved it i love this whole dynamic with everybody like everyone loves each other in a way and like like i just i i really i enjoyed these are pretty much now but including those like all books that are my favorite book list so you shouldn't be shocked by any of these thea and gavin from the bromance book club again i read all three of the books that are out so far and this one was the one that was at the top of the list these are like a second chance romance these are a married couple and they are about to get divorced because of like a misunderstanding you know that she feels like they've grown apart there's like not a lot of intimacy there he's still like very much in love with her so he gets pulled into the bromance book club to learn how to like kind of win her back what i really love about them is there's a lot of love there they really bag each other up and there's like a lot of vulnerability and just growth with each other and just kind of showing that like yes two people can make it work and i just like loved that i love a good second chance romance and the fact that these people were still together like oh i just i really enjoyed it then we have emily and simon from wellmet and this is like a you know rivals to lovers romance centenarian fair adult contemporary romance these two the banter is excellent so these are two people who don't get along in like the real world setting you know like as people they haven't got along that kind of butt heads she's more of a carefree person simon is more like a straight-laced person and is in charge of the run fair and they just butt heads but then when they get to the run fair and she is a the bar wench and he plays a pirate their characters like each other and flirt and like that's how they end up starting to like kind of get together it's so good this is one of the best sex scenes i've ever read as well which i think i talked about in my favorites video because the writing flows the exact same and doesn't turn into like no it's sex scene writing this does go a bit downhill in the end because there's this like big communication thing that happens like drama thing that happens that is like so unnecessary that i'm still mad about because that kept this book from being like a five star book it was like a four and a half or like 4.75 but anyway there's a miscommunication that's dumb and very out of character but otherwise i still loved this and i still think about it and if i read it again which i will at some point i'll just skip that part like it never happened then the number two slot we have january and gus from beach read these two are fantastic and other adult contemporary romance and another rivals to lovers i love to see it these two knew each other in college as like writing rivals she is now a romance author he is a literary fiction author and they meet up again because after her father dies she goes to his beach house that he had been sharing with a mistress that no one knew about and is like unpacking her grief and stuff and then he is next door gus and they end up like sort of reconnecting bantering a bit and then challenging each other to write a book in the other oh one's so good like i said rivals to lovers also sort of like a second chance lovers dynamic because they had this like moment in college that was like misunderstood like i think i think what it was i'm forgetting a little bit but i think they like were at a party in college and like slow dance at a frat house or something and it like ground like we're grinding in the basement or something and then it was like a misunderstanding about it oh my god um so loved that whole thing and then they had this like second chance and like he's always been into her and she like never knew it she thought that he hated her oh love so they just form this bond based on like a deep understanding of each other they are getting over pain together and they each have like separate traumas they're getting over like together but separately really love it very supportive awesome and there is some drama within this but like it's not contrived like it all very much makes sense so good the best the best the best adult contemporary romance i read all year and last but not least you knew it was gonna be we have vasya and morozco from the winter of the witch i have so many notes written down like quotes from the book all i wrote very first was otp in all caps these are supportive equals of each other this is the last book in an adult fantasy romance and these two characters have known each other for quite some time and she's a magical woman that's kind of the bond between the magical world of this eastern european setting and he is like a god of winter and death and like frost he's like a frost demon there's so many good lines that i wrote down there's one that's where she's like never give me orders and he's like command me then then there's another line because these are two characters who have been like mostly alone and like outcasts and it's like you're not alone anymore and the other one's like i know neither are you she's so sassy to him like one of the lines wrote down is like i'm allowed to want things winter king she wants him and there's a line at the end that is you have your realm and i have mine maybe we'll forge one together and she like asks him like what will we gain and he's like a future there are so many there's so many lines in here i cannot i mean i know some of these out of context are going to be like what but i hope you know like how angsty and just perfect this is again because these characters have been built from the very first book oh so good like the bond there is so immaculate and they are like they're equals they're they are powerful a powerful partnership of equals also as a little aside as a little a little spice and a little sprinkle the other couple in here which is the monk and the bear um what is their name constantine and forget the bear's name actually he's a god he's like the god of like summer and death sort of also no chaos he's got a chaos but there's a dynamic there as well that is so good and it's like it's like gay angst where like the bear loved him in his own way and she's like it's so good so yeah super dig that i've been going so long that my heat's turned on even though i turned the heat off to do this video so you wouldn't hear that in the background so i apologize it's below 65 of my house now so i have to let that keep going but those were all the couples that i read about in 2020 so comment below let me know how some of your favorite couples and least favorite couples ranked let me know if you find this helpful again i think having the notes helped this to be more clear but if you would like me to include more stuff i guess i could but then this video would be i mean this video's already gonna be like an hour long like i've been filming this for like at least an hour uh so yeah i hope you enjoyed so comment below let me know your thoughts about all the couples that you read about and the couples that i read about in 2020. thank you all for watching and i'll see all you guys soon [Music] bye you

Channel: Thoughts on Tomes

Views: 15,473

Rating: 4.974906 out of 5

Keywords: booktube, book, review, goodreads, book haul, thoughts on tomes, thoughtsontomes, tier ranking couples, ranking couples, favorite and least favorite couples, book couples, 2020

Id: ddC7y2s9z-U

Length: 60min 3sec (3603 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 13 2021