Thursday, March 31, 2011

Extreme Break-ups?

Have you ever noticed that when you read teen romance series, the first book is always boy meets girl, they have issues to work out, they fall in love, the end. Then book two comes out, boy/girl split, one still wants the other, while the other one insists on leaving to protect them, they work things out, then get back together, the end. It just annoys you that the couple you love aren't together much in book two.  Not that this is a bad thing, it's just something we've noticed with all the series we've read: Twilight saga, Fallen series, Hush Hush series, Of Witches and Warlocks series, etc.

Case in point with possible spoilers:
Twilight vs. New Moon (Stephenie Meyer)
In Twilight, Bella falls head over heels for Edward. Edward tries to keep his distance, thinking their relationship will not end well. Eventually, he admits defeat and they end up together.

Fast forward to New Moon. Bella gets a small papercut at her birthday party, Jasper wants to feed on her, Edward leaves Bella to keep her safe. Only, this forces her to be more reckless in order to "see" Edward. Edward thinks she has died, realizes he can't live without her, tries to kill himself, only to find out she is alive and well. They end up getting back together at the end and the story continues.

Fallen vs. Torment (Lauren Kate)
In Fallen, Luce is sent to a boarding school, sees Daniel across the way, and he gives her the finger as she smiles at him on her first day. Determined to find out what his problem is, Luce feels the need to get closer to him, while Daniel tries everything in his power to keep from losing her like every other time she's been around, hence the finger. But the bad boy image isn't working on her and only draws Luce into him more. Eventually, his secret is revealed and they fall in love again. The book ends.

Now Torment rolls around. In order to protect Luce and keep others from destroying her, Daniel sends Luce to a new special boarding school in a different state, unbeknownst to her friends and family, whom think she is at the other school. One difference is, they are still together, but Luce is finding the relationship to be aggrevating and Daniel is more stand-offish than usual. Even though they are together, you get irritated with the way they are acting towards each other. Eventually, Daniel shows up more and things are better at the end.

Hush Hush vs. Crescendo (Becca Fitzpatrick)
In Hush Hush, Nora is forced to be paired up with Patch as her biology lab partner and hates every minute of it. During a getting to know you assignment, Patch told Nora that he knew everything about her, but she knew nothing of him. Determined to finish the assignment, Nora goes to a place she would normally never go, just to get answers. Which every question she asks, Patch's answers are always cryptic. To Nora, Patch doesn't make any sense, but she ends up falling in love with him and they get together.

During Crescendo, Nora breaks up with Patch because he tells her that he can't be with her, even though he wants to be. She still wants to be with him, but thinks it would be best to be apart. But everytime they run into each other, he does/says something that pulls her in, which makes her regret breaking up with him, then something else would make her push him away again. In the end, Patch decides he would rather be with Nora and deal with the consequences than to not have her in his life.

The Trouble With Spells vs. Demon Kiss (Lacey Weatherford)
From the beginning of The Trouble With Spells, Vance is in love with Portia and get together early on. Their relationship is pretty hot and heavy and due to a very special bond, they can't spend more than a few hours apart without feeling anguish. However, Vance's terrible past comes back with a vengence and he feels he must leave to protect Portia and her family and deal with his problems on his own. This is a little exception to our observation. Vance leaves Portia at the end of book one, but Portia races off to find him in the second book.

Demon Kiss is a little different. This time, Portia is on a mission with her friends to find Vance, help him, and bring him home. After they get back together, Portia is then taken and Vance is left to rescue her. So while they are still together in book two, they spend more time apart than you would like. This is a bit happier than the other books mentioned above in the fact that they aren't the ones keeping them apart. Other people are trying to keep them apart, but they are determined to help one another in order to maintain their loving relationship.



Now once again, this is not a bad thing. It keeps the series entertaining and makes you want more and want them to be back together. This is just a simple observation we've made through our readings.

1 comment:

  1. Cool post! Never realized there was a trending formula! ha ha I guess there always has to be some sort of conflict to keep things moving along!

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