Romance Fails in Fiction Choice Tag

The Rules:

• Please PINGBACK to me at Kate @ Melting Pots and Other Calamities. Or just Kate. And PINGBACK TO A SPECIFIC POST OF MINE.  I won’t see the post otherwise, and I’d like to see it.
• You can choose ten romance fails from ANY media you like: books, movies, anime, manga, T.V shows, or Webtoons. You can even mix them up if you want.
• You can choose funny fails or serious ones; for the serious ones, phrase it humorously. Remember, this is a fun tag! It’s not meant to be serious.
• Mention who’s who in the fails. (I.E, who fails and who is the recipient of the failure). If there isn’t  recipient, per se, just state the couple (or non-couple).
• Optional: Rank the failures from least extreme to most extreme.
• 5 failures at LEAST.
• Tag as many people as you want, but at least one person.

Ten – Blood Rose Rebellion

Anna has serious swoony crush on Victorian magical elite man…finds out he’s been kissing her sister and her…and that he has no intention of marrying them both. She caused major magic problemo so now she’s sent off to not-so-fun Hungary.

Who fails? Anna, for sure, and also Victorian treatment of women.

Nine – This Is Our Story

Um, this is actually a really cute swoon once it gets going, but it was totally fail-y at first sight. Kate = total crush mood over swoony but secretive Grant who she’s been texting for month. Except…now Grant’s dead…and she might be falling for one of his murder suspects. Oops.

!! Spoilers !! Um, the guy she was texting? Actually not Grant at all, but the murder suspect that she’s falling for. So, she sits there and mourns for a guy that she was falling for…but finds out it’s not him at all but instead a guy she may or may not be considering for murder. Um, it’s a wee bit messy.

Who fails? Grant. Because he’s dead.

Eight – Gemina 

Um, well, this is a confusing one. It involves a decent amount of spoilers. But let’s just say there was a whole lot of sci-fi romance failing.

!! Spoilers !! So, our swoony hero, Nik, accidentally falls into a wormhole things and now there are two Niks and two Hanna’s and it’s a mess – but they don’t know this. So, in Hanna’s world, her swoony man is dead. And Nik’s world? His epic leading lady is dead. So, here they are, hopelessly in love and thinking the other is dead but they’re really still alive…just on two other sides of the wormhole. 

Who fails? Sci-fi craziness. Because I’m pretty sure romance wins in this one.

Seven – The Star-Touched Queen

Maya is forced into a political marriage to Amar, yet it quickly turns into a real romance. However, Amar is keeping secrets, so instead of, you know, asking straight up what the secrets are, Maya believes this shady lady who appears out of the darkness because she vaguely remembers her instead of Amar.

!! Spoilers !! Then Maya decides to BURN DOWN A MEMORY TREE and realizes that she burned down her only chance of remembering her love for Amar, who is actually a good guy. And crazy lady? Is just straight up crazy.

Who fails? That poor, poor tree.

Six – The Princess Bride (the movie)

Buttercup loves Westley. Westley loves Buttercup. Westley goes off to make his fortune and gets killed by pirates. Buttercup agrees to marry Prince Humperdink many years later even though she will never love him. Buttercup gets kidnapped only to be rescued by the Man in Black. But alas, Westley is really alive, he is the Man in Black, and…also the man that Buttercup just pushed down a cliff. So, what does Buttercup do? Throws herself down the same cliff/hill thing and tumbles down the hill.

Who fails? Buttercup, because I mean, honestly, you could have just walked down the hill like a sane person.

Five – Ensnared

Girl falls in love with boy. Boy falls in love with girl. Except boy totally thinks girl is actually this really expensive robotic servant who is, you know, just really, really servant-like. I bet he’s in for a major shock when he finds out she’s a real girl (probably not the same kind as Pinocchio).

Who fails? Both of them. Just…both of them.

Four – Follow Me Back

Guy follows girl on Twitter. Girl follows back. Guy totally and completely insults and tells her how she has no life when he slides into the DMs. Romance at millennial finest? 😉 They somehow get over this hump with some apologies…and then girl totally mistakes guy for a girl for months on end. Oops again?

Who fails? Us. Because Twitter romance in books is now a thing….or maybe this is a total win for us?? 😉

Three – Bookishly Ever After

Girl is set up on a date for prom. Completely ignores date to read her book in the corner (no, literally). When she feels a bit bad and goes to find her date, she gets pulled into the most cringeworthy dance mob ever in existence (full of so many stereotypes and cliches – THE PRINCIPAL IS WHO TOUGH BUSINESS IS NOW ALL SMILEY AND THE NEW LOVE INTEREST OF COURSE DIPS BOOK GIRL AT THE END).

Who fails? That book. Because it had the unfortunate timing to be pulled into that flash dance mob – who knew they still existed? (You can tell how I’m so not a fan of these flash mobs.)

Two – All the Feels

This was kind of a tie for the first one, but I think the other one beat it out by just a cringe. Liv’s honor is called into question at Dragon Con by creepy Mad Hatter man. When Xander (literally the most Tumblr character that has even been created) hears about this, he rushes over to defend her honor. And what does defending her honor and professing his love entail? Taking off his steampunk cosplay glove…and swatting the Mad Hatter in the face. I’m pretty sure he challenged him to a duel with that?

Who fails? Mad Hatters everywhere since this man was clearly giving them a bad name.

One – All the Feels

Oh, look, we’re back here again. Okay, before Xander showed up as main love interest, Liv had another one. I can’t remember his name really, but I do remember they enjoyed calling him Granola because he was, well, very granola. Hippie, hipster, hiker = total granola man. Anyway, Liv and him flirt back and forth, and she’s like, I’m going to ask him on a date to assert my womanly independence! Except…he already has a girlfriend when she finally, finally asks him out. So, she ends up switching seat partners and avoiding him at all costs because embarrassment.

So, flash forward a few months and she accidentally runs into him again. They have a super awkward discussion about how she wasn’t aware he had a girlfriend, but I mean…she is super pretty and hot and has great boobs and he and his girlfriend would probably be down for a threeway. o.o

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Who fails? Me. MEEEEEE. Because I had to read that.

Tag…you’re it!

Well, I wasn’t tagged, so I don’t want to tag a lot of people, but I really want to spread Kate’s super fun tag! Please, please, feel free to do it because it’s so much fun!

Zuky @ Zuky the Book Bum / Nadwa @ Painfully Fictional / Kyera @ Kyera’s Library / Sarah @ The Clever Reader

What do you think? What are some of the biggest romance fails that you have seen? Have you read any of these and thought they were fails? Let’s discuss in the comments below!