The Reviewers' Roundtable is a weekly discussion feature hosted by me and Emily from Read Your Bookcase. Each week we discuss a different bookish/blogging topic and hope you guys will share your thoughts too!
Go HERE to find a list of past/future topics.
THE HOSTS:
Emily at Read Your Bookcase
Michelle at Pink Polka Dot Book Blog
Insta-Love: Love it or Dealbreaker?
So this has been talked about a lot already on practically every blog, but I guess now it's time to give my opinion :)
Here's the thing: I believe that you can see someone and have an instant connection of sorts. Like you see them, you are attracted, they are attracted, the chemistry is there... it feels exciting and it feels right. But LOVE?? If we're talking LOVE, I don't buy LOVE at first sight. You know nothing about that person. And if you are so blinded by your infatuation (because that's what it is), you are never going to even truly see the person for who he/she is. You are never going to truly be in LOVE with them. And that is my mind set going into books when I read about romance.
So many many many YA books fall into the Insta-Love trap. I guess it's a fall-out from Twilight. So many YA-ers bought into the Bella/Edward Insta-Love that authors began to write couples that were like "meant to be" at first sight. I can see why people find it romantic. I actually know quite a few readers who enjoy a good Insta-Love... I am just not one of them. I want chemistry, sure.... but I want a slow build to love. I want to feel it. Having said this, I am not a teen. I'm sure a teenage audience is less jaded about love than I am. To some of them a good Insta-Love might feel more magical than it would to me. I don't know. I just know I get a pissed-off feeling when I read about an instant love.
It seems like New Adult right now is very big on the Insta-Love as well. Which is definitely one of the reasons why I have been avoiding that genre.
Recent experiences with Insta-Love:
Dare You To by Katie McGarry
Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Bottom Line: For me to enjoy Insta-Love I would have to put aside a huge part of my brain that screams "ANNOYING!!!" and unless the book is like fantastic, it's really hard for me to do.
So how do you feel about Insta-Love??? Do you have any examples where it really really worked for you?
While I'm definitely not a FAN of insta-love, I feel like in some rare instances, it kinda works for me. Or, at least, doesn't bother me all that much. It really depends on the book, though. Usually, I dislike it, though. But there are definitely a couple exceptions. I wish I could think of some off the top of my head! Most of the time, I'm more into the slow-burn type of romance, though. I really like the whole trope of a boy and girl becoming friends first and then realizing that they're in love.
ReplyDeleteUgh, insta-love. I get insta-attraction, but it makes me roll my eyes when two characters meet, fall in love, and are ready to die for each other within a chapter or two. I'd love more books with slow-burn romances.
ReplyDeleteHmm...the only "insta love" book I like that I can think of is The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight (well, they did spend 24 hours on a plane talking, and the book was cute).
Alice @ Alice in Readerland
Oh I liked that book too!! It's not the instant connection that bothers me it's the instant "I'll Die If One Ounce of Hurt Ever Gets To You" type stuff that I can't stand.
DeleteI hate insta-love! Sadly, so many books have insta-love that it's hard to avoid. In order for me to believe in a romance I need to see the characters get to know each other and slowly fall in love. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight is the best exception I can think of where I was okay with it. Don't even get me started on New Adult =P
ReplyDeleteI am not a fan of insta-love. Maybe you are right, and it stems from the fact that I am no longer a teenager. Far from it, at 31. I have been in lust and I have been in love, and the difference is astounding. Sure, I could imagine seeing someone and talking to someone for the first time, and feeling like something could be there. But falling crazy in love with them after that one meeting? Nada! No way. It seems very silly to me. I won't hate a book because of it, but it definitely doesn't help its case. If there is a real romance in a story, one that takes its time and the characters get to know each other and fall in love over a period of time, that makes a huge difference and I am much more likely to love a book for it!
ReplyDeleteMost of the time Insta Love is a huge deal breaker for me, unless the book is absolutely amazing! I can see lust at first sight or feeling a connection, but OMG I love you, let's get married at first sight? Um, no! The worst case that I've come across is Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, I think that's one of the main reasons why I couldn't enjoy that book!
ReplyDeleteI really dislike insta love too! There are times though, where it happens and it doesn't bother me as much. Say, in books where they have their "mates", which is usually in paranormal romance. I'm like you, I like to see the build up, over time.
ReplyDeleteI think teenagers are in love with the idea of being in love, which is why insta love works in YA sometimes. Still, it's one of those evils that I wish authors would nix altogether.
Insta-attraction: plausible, realistic, fine. Insta-love: makes me insta-hate. I think it's annoying and I honestly don't get why authors keep doing it. One author said on Twitter that they don't get why readers hate insta-love because it happens and I completely disagree. Insta-love doesn't happen, I personally believe that someone cannot love another person instantly. You can care, you can like to look, but love? Nah. And I completely agree with what the person above me said: teens are in love with the idea of love.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Insta-love is over-done in Y-A's and New Adult. Insta-attraction might turn into a real romance, maybe love over time, but I suppose too many readers today appear to want insta-reads too, so the writer has to speed things up.
ReplyDelete