Top 5 Favorite Love/Hate Ships

Top 5 Love/Hate Ships

            This topic seems to have confused people, but I had assumed it was love/hate ships:  Couples that can’t stand each other at first, but have a slow burn romance, so that is what I am going with.  Top 5 Wednesday was created by Ginger Reads Lainey and now hosted by Sam from Thoughts on Tomes.  Goodreads Group: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/118368-top-5-wednesday

1.     John Thornton and Margaret Hale from Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South.  This story is very similar to Pride and Prejudice in its themes, but instead of class differences we are looking at different lifestyles and where people live.  Margaret is a woman from the South of England, Helstone, and Thornton is from the city of Milton.  He is a self-made man, who manages a factory, and she is the daughter of a former minister who believes in the power of books.  The world has progressed, though, and Margaret’s father is struggling.  Margaret and Thornton’s personalities often clash throughout the story and they tend to butt heads quite often.  They are both incredibly stubborn and can almost never see eye, but neither can resist the attraction they feel for each other.

2.     Ron & Hermione from The Harry Potter series.  I love these two together!  I know half the HP fanbase ships Hermione with Harry, and there’s a non-canon ship of Hermione and Draco Malfoy but I disagree with those ships. Hermione is a book worm, follow the rules, and has that know-it-all personality.  Ron on the other hand, is laid back, doesn’t care about following the rules, and wants things the easy way. The pair argue like an old married couple, but both are very loyal to Harry and care about him.  They balance each other out with Ron’s light-heartedness and Hermione’s type A personality is a good influence Ron.  I enjoy watching the affection they have for each other grow throughout the books

3.     This was much newer and that’s Matthias and Nina from Six of Crows dualogy.  Nina is a Grisha and Matthias is one of the soldiers who slaughters Grisha and considers them an abomination, less than human.   Nina was captured by Matthias and his men, but during her escape she finds herself saving him and journey back to safe harbor.  They begin to fall for each other, but to protect herself and her kind she sells Matthias.  Naturally, this makes him hate even more and spends many years in prison, but the guilt weighs on Nina.  When Kaz offers her an opportunity to break him out, Nina jumps at the chance, but Matthias wants to kill and doesn’t trust her at all.  I enjoyed and got frustrate with this relationship watching as they went from hate, to an alliance, to trust, and eventually to love again.  There were times when I as yelling at the characters, facing palming, and shaking my head as I read.  They drove me crazy, but I adore these two and want things to work out for them so bad.

4.     This next is a television couple, Buffy and Spike aka Spuffy.  This is such a screw pairing, because the two not only hated each other, but hooked up only to use each other.  I started watching the show during reruns of season seven, which had a healthier version of their relationship.   When they first started sleeping together it was so Buffy could just feel something, and Spike was already obsessed with, so you’re probably wondering how could anyone support these two?!  Well, Spike understood Buffy’s darkness and he was the only one there for her during her resurrection from death.  She had been heaven and her friends, understandably so, brought her back thinking she had been hell.  Spike was the only one she could find solace in.  Spike has always been willing to protect her mom and sister, and in seven they developed a mutual understanding and respect.  She helped him when the first tried to use him, and he was there for her when her friends, sister, and the potentials turned their backs on her.  When he realized how he truly was a monster she could never love, Spike went through trials to get himself a soul.  Even if it’s an unhealthy relationship I can’t help, but enjoy watching them as I watch reruns of the series.

5.     This is another screen one that I enjoy: The Captain and Maria from Sound of Music.  In case you are unfamiliar with this story, Sound of Music this is the story of Maria, a young free-spirited woman who loves to sing and is a nun in training.  The rest of the nuns don’t think Maria is meant for their convent, so the Mother Abbess sends Maria to be Governess to a widower’s seven children.  He is a navy Captain that has become emotionally distant from his children, because they remind him of his wife.  Maria ends up helping the Captain reconnect with his children and he falls in love with her, despite being engaged to another.  At first the two have complete opposite views; Maria thinks the Captain is too cold towards his children, and he thinks they need to be disciplined.  Despite his strictness and that he’s her employer, she rebels against his rules feeling sympathy for his children.  She is so sassy towards him and isn’t afraid to stand up to when she knows he is in wrong, though it is risky because he could fire her.  He does fire her, but when he sees and hears that she has brought music back into the house by teaching his children to sing this warms his heart.  She has done so much for him and his children.  I love awkward it is after that, because he’s appreciative, but this is new territory for him and she doesn’t know how to respond to him.  You can tell the moment when she falls in love with him, when she first him sing and is playing the guitar.  I don’t think she was paying attention first time the character sings in the movie, and is only focus on the children and how he’s reacting.  It is very cute how embarrassed she is when the Baroness says she can see how Maria feels, but I also feel bad for her.  Also before that there’s the dance, which to me is sexy for that time period it is set in.  Then of course, the scene I have watch multiple times: the second Gazebo scene, where the Captain and Maria profess their feelings.  The scene was so perfectly done in movie being both awkward and cute at the same.

6.     A bonus love/hate ship that I love that’s not a book ship is Mary and Matthew from Downton Abbey.  I have just gotten into this series, because Matthew is played by Dan Stevens who has recently starred in Beauty and the Beast, and he’s currently the title character in the FX show Legion, and love M & M.  Mary cannot inherit her family’s money unless she’s marries, particularly a distant cousin.  In comes Matthew, a middle -class lawyer that doesn’t understand her way of life.  They are both very judgmental of each and don’t like the idea of getting married.  So many things getting in way like Mary’s mother getting pregnant with a boy, WWI, and then Matthew finding someone new when Mary finds herself hesitant.  They two do become friends which is probably better for their relationship in the long run, and eventually after so many set-backs the two finally are in love and get married.  This couple drove me crazy, but I loved them.

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