Top Ten Favorite Romances (2/12)

Image from The Broke and the Bookish

In honor of Valentine's Day, The Broke and the Bookish has asked us to catalog our top ten favorite romances for Top Ten Tuesday.  I interpret their instructions as my top ten favorite couples (I don't read a lot of true romance genre - although Mary Balogh is my guilty pleasure.  I currently have A Secret Affair on hold as my next audiobook - it's going to be a steamy ride to work...).

Ahem - to the list!

1. Gus and Hazel - The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - These characters are two whip-smart yet surprisingly innocent teens.  I love the progression of their relationship in this heartbreaking novel.
2. Jane and Rochester - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - My favorite classic couple bar none (well except maybe Anne Elliott and Captain Wentworth in Persuasion).  Sorry, Jane Austen, I just like a little more passion in my romance. 
3. Jessica and Marcus - Sloppy Firsts-Perfect Fifths by Megan McCafferty - You. Yes. You.
4. Raziela and Andrew - The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domingue - A good romance, to me, is timeless, and I think that Razi and Andrew's story of love gained and lost is just that.
5. Nick and Norah & Dash and Lily - Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist & Dash and Lily's Book of Dares (respectively) by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn - Fantastic characters, snappy dialogue, and a dash of whimsy makes these romances must-reads.
6. Jessie and Brother Thomas - The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd - Forbidden love between a married woman and a monk - it sounds overdone, but I promise you that The Mermaid Chair and the relationship between its main characters is spectacularly wrought.  I read this book on a trip to West Virginia with my husband's (then boyfriend's) family, and I was trying so hard not to just start bawling in the backseat!
7. Leo and Alma - The History of Love by Nicole Krauss - This is my favorite book ever.  It is an epic interconnected and intertextual tale of love as it grows and changes over time.
8. Hema and Kaushik - Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri - One of my mentors at Peace gifted me Jhumpa Lahiri's collection of short stories, Unaccustomed Earth, upon my receipt of a departmental English award.  The collection is awe-inspiring, but the story of Hema and Kaushik, told through three interlinking short stories at the end of the collection, is my favorite.  The setting, the writing, and the relationship are beautifully depicted.
9. Sean and Puck - The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater - Swoon, swoon, swoon.  This was my favorite book of 2012 for a variety of reasons, but the realistic, slow-growing, yet totally swoon-worthy relationship between Sean and Puck is probably the top one.
10. Martin and Claire - The Gazebo by Emily Grayson - This novel will slay you.  A couple who can't be together but vows to always love each other meets at the titular gazebo once a year.  I repeat - it will slay you.

Upon compiling this list, I realize how many of my favorite romances are really heartbreaking.  I must be a masochist of the heart.

Hope your love and lists are heartbreak free!