Tough Traveling: Forbidden Love
The Thursday feature “Tough Traveling” is the brainchild of Nathan of Review Barn, who has come up with the excellent idea of making a new list each week based on the most common tropes in fantasy, as seen in (and inspired by) The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynn Jones. Nathan has invited anyone who is interested to come play along, so be sure to check out the first link for more information.
This week’s tour topic is: Forbidden Love
Even in Fantasyland parents are not always happy with their children’s choice of partners.
Mogsy’s Picks:
I think this week’s suggestion might have been mine, because the trope “Forbidden Love” just so happens its one of my guilty pleasures (yes, I do seem to have a lot of bookish guilty pleasures, I am well aware of that), so where else would I turn to scratch that itch if not the Young Adult genre, which, as we all know, is a bottomless font of forbidden romances and star-crossed lovers? Here is a small sampling of the ones I found the most delish…
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well.” Need I say more? The first time Akiva and Madrigal laid eyes on each other, he was a seraph left for dead on a battlefield while she was a chimaera gathering the spirits of their fallen. Despite being on opposite sides of the war, the two of them end up falling in love and continue their affair even though the Warlord Thiago already had his claim on Madrigal. The forbidden love in this book damn near KILLED ME, though unfortunately things go kind of down hill for the rest of the trilogy.
The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski
Kestrel is the seventeen-year-old daughter of a Valorian general who one day visits a slave auction and spontaneously decides to buy Arin, a native of the Harrani lands her people conquered. Ooh, a master/slave relationship. Unfortunately, the love story wasn’t as juicy and scandalous as it could have been, considering how Arin is in actual fact a high ranking member of a group of Harrani rebels, planted purposely at the auction to draw Kestrel in. The two lovers spent more than half the book locked in conflict with each other, but the romance still ranks pretty high on the meters.
Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
This series has been called “The Game of Thrones of YA” because it comes complete with war, political intrigue, and even a brother-sister love scandal. Well…the Diet Coke version of it, I guess. For obvious reasons, things don’t get quite as lurid as Cersei and Jaime Lannister. Magnus Damora is the first born son of King Gaius and he’s married to the Princess Cleiona Bellos of Auranos, but in truth he’s got it baaaad for his adopted sister Lucia Damora.
Forbidden Love Meter: 9/10
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
Blue Sargent is the daughter of a clairvoyant, which is how she ends up in a churchyard on a freezing St. Mark’s Eve helping out her mother do her clairvoyance-y thing. This year, Blue sees her first spirit – a boy who calls himself Gansey. There’s only one reason why she could have seen him, though: either he’s her true love, or she will be the one to kill him. Thing is, for as long as Blue can remember, she’s also been warned by her mother and all her seer friends that her kiss will cause her true love to die. Jeez, tough break, Blue.
Forbidden Love Meter: 7/10
The Dragons of Dorcastle by Jack Campbell
Boy is a Mage, brought up on lessons about the power of illusions, taught that reality is a sham and that people are shadows – and oh, no matter what you do, DO NOT TRUST THOSE DIRTY LYING STINKING MECHANICS! Girl is a Mechanic, a master of logic and equations who prides herself on the fact that no machine is beyond her abilities to fix, and of course, MECHANICS ARE JUST SOOOO MUCH BETTER THAN THOSE USELESS GOOD-FOR-NOTHING MAGES! But then of course, as these stories often go, boy meets girl. And everything changes.
Forbidden Love Meter: 8/10
For as long as she can remember, Micheline has loved Ryder, the totally hot Australian boy she has grown up and trained together with ever since they were children. But of course, Micheline’s hardass of a father has some really antiquated ideas about the sort of guy his daughter should or should not get involved with, in short treating Micheline like a brood mare who should only marry dudes with the “right” bloodline in order to spawn the next generation of good little demon/ghost hunters. Yikes, get with the times, man.
Forbidden Love Meter: 8/10
Wendy’s Picks
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
You know what’s worse than dads who raise you as part of a bet to best each other? Falling in love with the competition, but being unable to get out from under dads’ thumb.
Dragon Age: Asunder by David Gaider
There’s a whole Mage-Templar War going on now, but even before the war, mages and the order meant to protect them but more often oppress them, there’s been a bit of animosity between the two groups. And yet, love will find a way for some of them.
An alien species introduces humanity to all sorts of new things, including new ways to look at love and relationships. Unfortunately, there are those who are not at all fond of this new matchmaking business.
East of West by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta
Even Death needs to be loved. But that love just might not work out the way he’d like it to in this apocalyptic western “romance.”
The BiblioSanctum 
Forbidden love are a secret guilty pleasure of mine, especially if it’s well executed. It’s so prone to veer off into crazy drama land, but when it’s restrained and filled with delicious angst, I can get behind it. I desperately need to check out The Winner’s Curse!
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Yes, you should! I still have to check out the sequel The Winner’s Crime.
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Yes that first one is great
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Forbidden love…YES. If it’s well written and the characters are likeable I will most definitely read the book. SO THANK YOU FOR THIS LIST. I have a lot of books to add to my TBR 😛
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I also picked Karou & Akiva and Celia & Marco.
I recently read The Night Circus and it’s such a SAD tale! I liked how slowly Celia and Marco fell in love but my heart broke a little, too.
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Daughter of Smoke and Bone was the first book to pop up in my head, to be honest. I think I wrote in my review the only reason I liked that book so much was becaue of the forbidden love 😛
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Karou and Akiva… Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, does my heart ache for them. I’ve only read DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE so far, and I already suspect they might not reconcile during the next book. But I still can’t wait to read it.
I’m also a sucker for forbidden love. It makes you root for the couple even more, despite all the obstacles they face. It’s also more compelling than love triangles or insta-love, IMO, so I gravitate more toward those relationships. The most recent “forbidden love” I read about was between Yeine and Nahadoth in N.K. Jemisin’s THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS. If you think an angel falling for a demon can cause problems, how about a mortal woman and a god? 😉
I have FALLING KINGDOMS and THE NIGHT CIRCUS on my TBR list, btw. Haven’t got the latter yet, but the former is in my “priority pile” of yet-to-be-read books.
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Hmm, yeah, the direction that book two took Karou and Akiva’s relationship – no likey at all. Which was what hurt the book, imo!
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Uh oh. I guess I’ll have to wait and see what I think when I read it…
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I had considered using THTK, but I often go back to that book. Tried to change it up a bit here … but yes, there is so much forbidden love there, starting right with Yeine’s own parents.
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I forgot about Yeine’s parents! They’re a good example, too.
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I haven’t read any of the books on your lists. BUT I do love the Forbidden Love Meter.
I have been seeing The Midnight Circus on most lists. Definitely sounds like they are in quite a pickle there.
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I’ve read The Night Circus as well, and it was pretty good. More of a slow burn type novel, and a great one if you enjoy magical realism.
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I’m intrigued by the Falling Kingdom books, especially since I’ve heard the series improves with each book.”Get with the times” <— what I say in response to at least half the forbidden love arcs out there. Parents need to chill. Marco and Celia…swoon.
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I still need to read book three of Falling Kingdoms – yes, it does get more and more intriguing! I think book four is already on the horizon so I better get on that.
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ha ha! Love the Forbidden Love meter. Love the Night Circus pick, I completely forgot about that one!
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Yeah, a love meter – that’s how big a sucker I am for Forbidden Love 🙂
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Forbidden romance is one of my guilty pleasures too! Surprisingly I’ve only read one of these, Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I’m definitely going to have to add some of these to my list!
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I am currently reading The Raven Boys and I totally didn’t even think of it. Because I’m an idiot. It’s a great choice! YA has a serious amount of this trope but The Night Circus is also a great example so we adults don’t get left out!
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There are quite a few in adult SFF I can think of too, but I just couldn’t resist going with an all YA theme this week. It was just too perfect 🙂
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The trope this week is perfect for you! I haven’t read any of yours and Wendy’s examples but they all sound great. Plus I love the forbidden love meters 🙂
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Every book can benefit from a pinch of forbidden love, especially if it is tastefully done. Great lists of your top choices.
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Haha, I love that you have a meter! Such a good idea. I wouldn’t mind this instead of a rating!
I thought of Daughter of Smoke and Bone but then seemed to forget it when I came to do my list. It is a really top choice.
Lynn 😀
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Great forbidden love meter!
I haven’t read any of these books, though.
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