the ask@AAR: Who’s your favorite couple (of all time) in romance?
Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman. Claire Randall and Jamie Fraser. Stella Lane and Michael Phan. Naledi Smith and Thabiso Moshoeshoe. Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Dominic Frey and Silas Mason.
Just to name a few.
Romance is rife with swoon-worthy couples, lovers whose union is literally the stuff that dreams are made of. These are pairs who thrill us with the astonishing power of their passion, whose happiness together sparks great joy, and whose happily ever after is nothing less than perfect.
Who is your favorite couple in romance? And do not even think about nominating Romeo and Juliet. NOT A ROMANCE. Rant over.)
I’m really not good at remembering names and titles of books, but the only one that always pops up when asked about couples is Slighly Dangerous by Mary Balogh. Wulfric and Christine are the best example for opposites attract.
Wow! What a challenge to name just one. Not sure I can do it either,. Some of my favorites have been mentioned so I will name other sets of couples from recent reads. I have been on a Lucinda Brant binge lately; she writes delicious Georgian novels. So I name Antonia and Jonathan from Autumn Duchess. This book covers a couple of tropes very well – 2nd chance at love and older woman and younger man. I listened to the audio book performed by Alex Wyndham. He is absolutely incredible! (Thank you Caz for recommending him and this book.). I have to give honorable mention to Antonia and Renard in Noble Satyr.. Their love and devotion was beautiful and was crucial to the story in Autumn Duchess. I can’t leave without mentioning Magnus and Jane from Salt Hendon set. In some ways this is a dark story, but their love was beautiful. If you enjoy well-researched historical, I highly recommend Lucinda Brant. Great discussion here.
So many wonderful couples have been mentioned. I would add The Duke of Jervalux and Maddy Timms from Flowers from the Storm.
Oh. Yes. How had I forgotten them?
I cast my one vote right here. Jervalux and Maddy Girl
Eve Dallas and Roarke from In Death
Kate Daniels and Curran from KD
Elena and Raphael from Guild Hunter
Sebastian St. Cyr and Hero from Sebastian St. Cyr
Kathleen and Michael from Doyle and Acton mystery
You have listed many of my favourites couples – except one of my favourites – Brishan and Ildiko in Radiance. Gorgeous couple, with so much to overcome to be together as a couple.
I just read my first book by Draven–Phoenix Unbound–and loved it. I was thinking about trying Radiance next.
My favorite by Draven is still the first book I read by her: Master of Crows.
OK. I’ll check it out. Thanks!
Definitely look at Radiance. That was the first Draven book I read and made her an auto-buy author.
That looks so interesting too. I’m always fascinated by cross-cultural assessments of beauty.
Many of my favorite couples have already been mentioned. My favorite male/alien male couple are Liam and Ondry from Lyn Gala’s Claimings series.
My absolute favourite couple is Elizabeth and Darcy. My favourite MM couple is Silas and Dominic (I don’t think I’ve read a better example of bodies and minds coming together). But here are a couple of other relationships that really stuck in my mind that haven’t been mentioned:
1) Bryony and Leo from Sherry Thomas’ Not Quite a Husband. Both unusual characters, they torture each other but by the end of the book you know they will be utterly content together.
2) Freddy and Kitty from Georgette Heyer’s Cotillion. Kitty is supposed to end up with another man, the stereotypical Regency hero, but the stereotypical comic sidekick wins the fair maiden instead.
Favorite couple from another genre: Val Con yos’Phelium and Miri Robertson in the Liaden Universe books by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller.
Favorite couple from a book now counted as a genre romance that I’m not sure was originally published as genre: Venetia Lanyon and Lord Damerel in Venetia by Georgette Heyer.
Favorite couple in a genre romance: Gideon Westbrook, Viscount St. Justin, and Harriet Pomeroy in Ravished by Amanda Quick (JAK).
Viscount St. Justin, and Harriet Pomeroy at the dinner table with his parents. MMMMMMMM
I kept noticing how many named couples were from recent books, so it was refreshing to see that some one else has Val Con and Miri as a favorite couple – they are certainly one of mine!!
I also would go back to Heyer for some favorite “all time” couples – I think that some couples I really like today will be not so memorable in a couple of years!
One of my favorite fantasy couples is Phedre and Joscelin from Jacqueline Carey’s first Kushiel trilogy. I had such a book hangover after reading those books, and often returned to re-read my favorite scenes so I could spend more time with them. I also really liked and rooted for Althea and Brashen in Robin Hobb’s Liveship Traders.
I loved book one but couldn’t stick with the series. But that was over a decade ago. I’ll heave book two onto my TBR.
You guys are TERRIBLE at picking just one. :)
I guess it’s like potato chips. :-)
It is indeed.
Well, in all fairness, you did ask for the favorite couple *of all time,* That’s quite broad considering how many romance novels have existed throughout history. That’s like asking somebody to pick *the* greatest movie of all time. I think that’s the reason AFI (American Film Institute) has top 100 lists.
I know. I know.
Favourite movie of all time is easy, Casino Royale, which contains a very nice romance but does NOT meet our genre’s most pertinent qualification.
Heh. I’m glad picking your favorite movie of all time is easy for you. I have several movies I love and wouldn’t rank them. So I couldn’t even do a top 10 list unless I made the disclaimer they were arranged alphabetically.
With movies I can do a top 1, a top 2 and a top 10, but any other number would have me staring in confusion, like a deer in the headlights.
I can name my first, second and third favourite romance books, but any other number would have me running away in fear.
I knew I’d be back—but, because I no longer read much HR, I forgot two of my favorite couples, both from Mary Balogh books: Wulfric & Christine from SLIGHTLY DANGEROUS and Madeline & James from THE DEVIL’S WEB. THE DEVIL’S WEB is an early, very angsty Balogh—and James might seem cold and controlling, but I loved the chemistry between him and Madeline. They’ve loved each other from afar for years, but after they marry in haste they have to figure out a way to make things work.
And if I’m really jumping into the waaaay-back machine, the relationship between Beatrice & Benedick (anatagonists-to-lovers, ftw) in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING has always been one of my favorites.
I’m hopeless at picking favourites and like most people can’t pick just one couple. So a few of mine… Emma and Knightley, Lizzie and Darcy, Jane and Rochester when it comes to classics. Otherwise – and at random – Hawk and Justine (The Black Hawk) Venetia and Damerel (Venetia) Justin and Abigail (A Splendid Defiance) Dominic and Silas (A Seditious Affair), Justin and Nathaniel (An Unnatural Vice), Hazard and Somerset, Fitz and Millie Ravishing the Heiress), Malloryn and Adele (Dukes are Forever – in fact, most Bec McMaster couples work really well for me), Levi and Dominic (Seven of Spades) Jackson and Ellery (Fish Out of Water) Clara and Raven (Dukes Prefer Blondes), Daphne and Rupert (Mr. Impossible) and many other of Chase’s couples…. and lots of others I just can’t remember right now!
I simply have to second Damerel & Venetia. And I would like to add Adam Kent, Duke of Ridgeway & Fleur from The Secret Pearl, perhaps Mary Balogh’s most controversial book but one I truly love for the wonderful H/h.
Why is that a controversial book?
Perhaps because Adam is married through most of the story. Or perhaps because Fleur is about to sell her body when the story begins.
This is one of my top two favorite books by the author.
Some dislike it because the story starts with what can be interpreted as a rape by Adam, Fleur lives in fear of him for a time and he is an adulterer. But Balogh salvages all of this and makes it into what is, for me, perhaps her best book. I have re-read it with pleasure many times.
Got it. Thanks!. I adore a redeemed hero/heroine.
I know that The Secret Pearl is a fan favorite., but I remember really disliking it though it’s been years. The prostitution scene at the start isn’t pleasant but I would hesitate to characterize it as rape — I recall it representing joyless, autonomous sex for the hero and humiliation and denigration for the heroine. It takes the entire novel for them both to work their way out of victimhood and martyrdom. It was my entry into Balogh’s books, but I remember loving the next one I read — More Than a Mistress.
What is, for me, so special about TSP is the very beautiful (and believable) way in which the author turned the initial situation about having given the H/h so many obstacles to overcome. It took them a very long time to reach their HEA. This is why I think it’s such a special piece of writing. I don’t like happy endings to occur out of deep angst without a meaningful struggle as (the far too common) unrealistic 5 minute resolutions are stuff for the bin. I have truly loved most of her books and the Mistress Trilogy is high up on my ratings list for her
I know what you mean about The Secret Pearl. It was more undeserved suffering than I care for. On the other hand, I remember it quite vividly even after all these years when most of the books I read have faded into oblivion. The H/h will never be my favorite couple, but Balogh is an extraordinary writer to have created such an effective story.
Anything by:
Carla Kelly,
Sherry Thomas,
Courtney Milan,
Lisa Kleypas,
Loretta Chase,
Anne Stuart,
Georgette Heyer,
Jane Austen
and Julie James.
An eclectic list, I know , but I haven’t read a bad book by any of the above authors.
Can’t believe it took this many posts for someone to mention Eve and Rourke!
Amelia Peabody and Radcliffe Emerson by Elizabeth Peters (long mystery/romantic suspense series)
I really like Nora’s Chasing Fire couple, Rowan and Gull, because of their banter. They’re smoke jumpers.
Daphne and Rupert in Mr. Impossible are irresistible.
Mercy and Adam are adorable in the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. Anna and Charles are equally adorable in her Alpha and Omega series.
Alex Randall and Winter de Ballesteros in Shadow of the Moon by MM Kaye.
Hugo and Anthea Darracott in The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer.
Gervaise and Drusilla in The Quiet Gentleman by Georgette Heyer. (It should be noted that I completely disagree with the review of this book on this site.)
Tristram and Sarah in The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer.
Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane by Dorothy Sayers (and also several sequels by Jill Paton Walsh).
Daisy and Alec in the Daisy Dalrymple mysteries by Carola Dunn.
Meg and Simon in The Others series by Anne Bishop.
Roxanna Drew and Lord Winn in Mrs. Drew plays her hand by Carla Kelly.
Who are Eve and Rourke?
THe H/h in J.D. Robb’s In Death series.
Thanks Caz! I have only read 1 of her books about 15 or more years ago and have not been motivated to try again. But I’m glad so many find her work enjoyable!
The Quiet Gentleman is one of my favorite Heyers, and it’s a book I reread frequently. I love Gervaise and Drusilla.
The first couple that popped in my mind was Eve Dallas and Roarke, but I will always pick Kate Daniels and Curran, mostly because of my devotion to the series.
I agree with the Loretta Chase nominees!
St. Cyr and Hero are another great couple I like.
Sebastian St. Cyr and Hero Jarvis – C.S Harris series
Vere Mallory and Lydia Greenville – The Last Hellion, Loretta Chase
Clara Fairfax and Raven – Dukes Prefer Blonds, Loretta Chase
Lucian Langdon and Lady Catherine Mabry – In Bed with the Devil by Lorraine Heath
Edward Ailsbury and Angeline Dudley – Secret Mistress by Mary Balogh
A few others I love that haven’t been mentioned yet:
Elizabeth and Clanross (Lady Elizabeth’s Comet)
Stuart and Emma (Untie My Heart)
Anne and Jack (All Through the Night)
Irene and Eugenides (Megan Whalen Turner’s Attolian series)
Several of Stella Riley’s couples, but especially Kate and Luciano and Justin and Abigail
Venetia and Damerel (Venetia)
Fleur and Raoul (Fleur-de-Lis)
And most recently, Mulan and Kai (Magnolia Sword)
I adore Emma & Stuart from Judith Ivory’s Untie My Heart. I had them on my short list. Such a terrific romance. I really like All Through the Night as well.
I find that I tend to have two distinct types of situations in which couples really stand out for me. The first occurs in sleuthing or suspense books where a couple must use their unique chemistry to solve crimes or even just to stay alive, and all while carrying on with their romance:
Julia Grey & Nicholas Brisbane from Deanna Raybourn’s Lady Julia series
Veronica Speedwell & Stoker Templeton-Vane from Deanna Raybourn’s Veronica Speedwell series
Mae Valentine & Hamish Kitt from Sandra Antonelli’s In Service series.
I also though tend to be drawn to couples who complement each other’s strengths and flaws, such as in opposite attraction dynamics where the differences between two people are strikingly apparent but serve in the end to highlight the intensity of two people’s attraction to each other:
Lucy Hutton & Joshua Templeman, from Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game
Genevieve Eversea & Alex Moncrieffe, from Julie Anne Long’s What I Did for a Duke
Lucy Parker’s grumpy heroes and buoyant heroines: Lily Lamprey & Luc Savage from Pretty Face, Freddy Carlton & Griff Ford-Griffin from The Austen Playbook, and Lainie Graham & Richard Troy from Act Like It.
And so many wonderfully, bantering couples from Loretta Chase over the years: Clara Fairfax & Oliver Radford from Dukes Prefer Blondes, Jessica Trent & Sebastian Ballister from Lord of Scoundrels, Bathsheba Wingate & Benedict Carsington from Lord Perfect, and Daphne Pembroke & Rupert Carsington from Mr. Impossible
Jamie & Claire, Ross & Demelza, Frederick Wentworth & Anne Elliot, Mr Rochester & Jane Eyre. In that order.
I love Persuasion too! It was the first Austen novel I ever read and Captain Wentworth and Anne get me emotional every time I re-read it. His is possibly the best letter written ever.
A lot of my favorites, and favorite authors, have already been mentioned so I’d like to add these three pairs:
Daphne Wade and the Duke of Tremore from Guilty Pleasures by Laura Lee Guhrke (He describes her as a stick insect before he comes to his senses.)
Miranda and Blake from Confessions from and Arranged Marriage by Miranda Neville (Part of the pleasure is watching them grow up)
Calico and Quill from This Gun for Hire by Jo Goodman (She’s a bounty hunter, one of Ms Goodman’s few heroines who hasn’t been severely abused.)
These are three of my favorite authors, and I like practically everything they’ve written.
I LOVE Daphne and Anthony. That’s my favorite book by Guhrke.
Levi and Dominic in Seven of Spades series by Cordelia Kingsbridge
Anna and Charles in Alpha and Omega series by Patricia Briggs
Zenobia and Ariq in The Kraken King by Meljean Brook
Elena and Raphael in Guild Hunter series by Nalini Singh
Melissade and Jasper in To Seduce a Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt
Oh! I love Zenobia and Aria from The Kraken King! I do love her romantic pairings! Kristen Callihan and Bec McMasters also write wonderful romantic pairings. And Loretta Chase writes couples I love to laugh at – and with!
Co-sign McMasters. I love so many of her couples.
Oh, I’d forgotten about Melissande and Jasper. I LOVE that book. And it has such a great secondary romance!
Kate Daniels and Curran? Luc and Lily from Pretty Face by Lucy Parker? No, the intense connection and respect for each other of Pax and Cami from Rogue Spy by Joanna Bourne.
Bourne has written so many stellar couples. My favorite is Sebastian and Jess but I really do like them all.
The Ilona Andrews team have created some great couples. Kate and Curran have great chemistry. I also really like Nevada and Rogan and Maude and Arland.
Revisiting with Nevada and Rogan in the novella was a joyous experience for me. I literally didn’t stop smiling while they were on the page. I am certain Ilona and Gordon wrote the first half of Sweep of the Blade specifically for me, sublime respect and trust for each other combined with Machiavellian machinations REALLY appeals to me.
This is a TOUGH one.
As you specifically mention couples -Jamie and Claire of Outlander fame must be mentioned because I cannot think of a couple I have spent more time, years and growth with even if I stopped reading the series a few books ago.
Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett really set the high bar for every romance couple that came after them and seem as relevant now as they did when their story was published.
Gideon and Harriet from Amanda Quick’s Ravished are a pair I like to go back and revisit from time to time. I really enjoy how much they seem to just like each other. They are a crystalline example of the saying a person being “perfect for you” rather than being a just “perfect” person.
A more recent favorite pair is Blade and Honoria from Bec McMaster’s “Kiss Of Steel” because I love a starchy bluestocking and a rich but rough edged working class guy. Especially if he is also a vampire (or more precisely here a “blue blood”.) But you could hardly find a couple in McMaster’s books I don’t like. There are all types and sorts and I feel like she really comes up with unique pairings.
Jess and Sebastian from “My Lord and Spymaster” and Doyle and Maggie/Marguerite from “The Forbidden Rose” really exemplify couples who share similar mindsets. They are two of my favorites from Joanna Bourne who is another author where pretty much all of her books and couples are “my favorite”
Lisa Kleypas has written some of my favorite couples but Cam and Amelia from “Mine Till Midnight” and Sara and Derek Craven from “Dreaming of You” are the ones I probably revisit the most.
Genevieve Pasquier and Florence D’Urbec from Judith Merkle Riley’s “The Oracle Glass” are two of the most literate and interesting characters I have read.
When then finally get together, no many how many times I read the book, I am always delighted and relieved.
I will quit here only because I know many others will post all the other ones I have forgotten to mention.
I see we have more mind-melding going on!
It was bound to happen, lol.
First, I want to thank you all for suggestions and I especially appreciate your adding the titles and the authors for easy access.
As my favorite now-publishing author is Loretta Chase, I savor her couples. My all-time favorites are from “Duke Prefer Blondes,” “Lord Perfect,” and “Mr. Impossible.” Her books are usually hilarious with real adults, often with the hero not believing his attraction or the reality of the intelligence of the heroine. My all-time favorite romance is “Bet Me” by Jennifer Crusie. I love this couple because Minnie is so smart, so aware and so wary of love, especially from such a handsome man who has issues of his own. I adore how each deals with the critical family of the other. I keep talking in past comments about “Morning Glory” by Lavyrle Spencer, an author who seems to have been forgotten. If you like truly courageous, motherly women–in the best senses of the word–you will adore her and cheer as she falls in love with a man who has a prison record. Spencer’s two other lovely books are also “Hummingbird” and “The Gamble.” Although I’ve given up on Lorraine Heath now, I love her “Texas Glory” with a hero, determined to build a Texas empire and the woman–sight, unseen–he’s willing to marry to achieve that goal. Also as good is “Texas Destiny”, a beauty and the beast kind of story. Another forgotten author is Tom and Sharon Curtis; my favorite couples are from their wonderful “Windflower,” “Sunshine and Shadows” and “Lightning that Lingers.”
I haven’t read Lavryle Spencer in years but I had all her books, loved them and reread them a lot. She is great at putting the bitter in with the sweet and was one of the first one to write really unusual heroines, heroes and situations. I can’t think of another romance before Morning Glory where the heroine was pregnant with a child not by the hero,
“Bet Me” is a book I have owned for ages but somehow have kept saving for a “rainy day”. I really need to read it.
An EXCELLENT historical romance novella in which the heroine is pregnant is THE GOVERNESS AFFAIR BY COURTNEY MILAN.
Yep. So. Good.
I reread Texas Glory a few days ago, and it *still* made me tear up. I wish Lorraine Heath continued to write books like this.
My vote goes to Loretta Chase as well!
I’m another longtime fan of Morning Glory!
Logan and Tate in Ella Frank’s Temptation series.
Daphne and Rupert in Loretta Chase’s Mr. Impossible.
Rhys and Helen in Marrying Winterbourne by Lisa Kleypas.
Amelia and Cam in Mind Till Midnight by Lisa,Kleypas.
Jake and Adrien in the Adrien English series by Josh Lanyon.
And so many others….
Correction: that should be Mine Till Midnight by Lisa Kleypas.
I absolutely love Amelia and Cam! They are one of my favorites too.
I love Amelia and Cam. I love the whole ring thing so hard.
Lady Julia and Nicholas Brisbane.
Yes, great choice!
What book is this?
Deanna Raybourn’s Lady Julia Gray mysteries.
I’ll probably think of others, but these are the first ones that popped into my head. In each of these books, both the hero and the heroine take similar, but not necessarily parallel, emotional journeys. Margot and Jack in Melanie Harlow’s AFTER WE FALL—opposites attract.
Anna and Gunner in Katie Wilde’s BREAKING IT ALL—a relationship ten years in the making and not a moment wasted.
Brooke & JJ in Kate Canterbary’s FAR CRY—prickly heroine and gruff-grumpy hero, perfect for each other.
Marin & Cole in Anne Calhoun’s TRANSCENDENT—she’s a domme and he’s a sub, until they take their relationship into a less formal, more emotional direction. I wish we got more of this couple than two interconnected (and very hot) short stories. We do learn in THE LIST that they got married.
Mia & Cole in Jill Sorenson’s RIDING DIRTY—a therapist falls for her ex-con/police informer client. Need I say more?
Have to go with the classics here, and for every all-time list, so Austen and Bronte it is.
I have read too many modern romance books so they have all become pretty interchangeable for me.
What Bronte?
Charlotte, not a fan of gothics.
too hard!
I love Wyn Yale and Diantha Lucas in How a Lady Weds a Rogue, by Katharine Ashe (which is also one of my top 5 romance novels of all time!)
I’m currently ‘in love’ with Hazard and Somers from Gregory Ashe’s tremendous Hazard and Somerset series
Lucy and Josh from The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Henry and Percy from The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
and
Shane and Ilya in my favorite book of 2019, Heated Rivalry, are also new faves
SORRY! I could add a few more. These are the most memorable – and they all appear in favorite books, too!
We’re all about the challenge here at AAR….
Em, I need to know what your 5 top romances are of all time?
A few years back (quite a few years back, actually!) the AAR team all did a list of their Top Ten Romances of All Time – https://allaboutromance.com/tag/top-ten-romance-novels/ and https://allaboutromance.com/tag/top-ten-lists/ (yes, I need to sort out the tagging!). Some of our current staffers weren’t with us then, but you might like to take a look at the choices anyway.
We need to do this again!