Best Couples of 2014 | Top Ten of 2014

While looking through the list of books I've read this year I realised that I haven't actually read all that many books which are romance orientated. Obviously a book doesn't have to be romance orientated to include a great couple, but I haven't come across many of those this year either. I've read a lot of great books this year, but not a lot of couples made my heart melt.

But there were a few that I loved, and a few that I liked, so I've managed to put together a list of ten! Quite a few of these are two couples from various series I've enjoyed most this year.

Couples I Love

Cinder and Kai from The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer: I had to use Scarlet for these two because I read Cinder in December 2013, and I didn't want to cheat! While I like Scarlet and Wolf they're probably my least favourite of the couples in The Lunar Chronicles purely because they were very instalovey, and I'm not a fan of instalove. Cinder and Kai I adore. I love their chemistry and the way that I can never quite predict what one of them is going to say to the other. Add to that that this is a retelling in which Cinderella has two prosthetic limbs and Prince Charming is Chinese and I'm a very happy bunny!

Sybella and Beast from Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers: So far Dark Triumph is my favourite book in the His Fair Assassin trilogy. I loved Sybella as a protagonist, she's raw and vulnerable and hard as nails, and I've loved Beast since meeting him in Grave Mercy. Put the two of them together and I love them even more. Plus it was nice to see a character being described as conventionally unattractive. Sybella never claims that he's handsome in any way but she still loves him, and that's something we need to see more of in fiction. Though I imagine it'll be a few years before anyone dares to publish a book with a conventionally unattractive woman in the starring role...

Natalie and Flynn from Polaris Is Where You'll Find Me by Jenny Han: This was probably my favourite story in the collection - reviewed here! - and now I desperately want a whole novel dedicated to Natalie, though I'm sure the possibility of that happening is highly unlikely.

Dona and Jean-Benoit from Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier: These two were just so much fun to read about. I loved this book!

Lilian and Henry from Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan: These two are basically the reason that parts of Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweet Shop of Dreams broke my heart in two. I'm still sad about it!

Couples I Like

Mia and Adam from If I Stay by Gayle Forman: I ended up enjoying If I Stay a lot more than I thought I would - look out for my review in January! - and I liked Mia and Adam's relationship. It feels like one of the more realistic relationships I've come across in contemporary YA.

Bod and Elizabeth from The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman: Okay, so I know Elizabeth's dead and Bod is a child for the majority of the book, but at the very end of the story, when Bod is a teenager, there's a hint of something a little more there and I really liked Elizabeth.

Cress and Thorne from The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer: Cinder and Kai are still my favourite, but these two were absolutely adorable. I want more of them in Winter, please!

North and Marigold from It's a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins: This time around I used the American cover just to spice things up a little. I hadn't read any Perkins before this and now I'd quite like to check her novels out. I really enjoyed this story, and thought North and Marigold were way cooler than I was as a teenager.

Ismae and Gavriel from Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers: I don't like these two quite as much as I like Sybella and Beast, but they're still a lot of fun; their growing fondness for each other was a lot of fun to read throughout Grave Mercy.

Who made your list?