Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!! Today, we are celebrating love in all its forms. Here, in Blue Raven Club, we wanted to dedicate this special space to talk a little bit about what we love the most: writing, books, and the world inside those fiction worlds. So, stay with us because our article of today will be devoted to those special moments in literary works where our hearts raced and we wanted to get inside the pages and be part of a very intense romantic scene. We will also be talking about what makes these scenes so great.
A little disclaimer. The examples that we have here today are a selection of our personal list of favorites. Of course, we are not saying these are the best of all time, but they did a pretty damn good job at portraying the love connection between the characters involved. These made us smile, suffer, blush and reread the lines over and over to savor the intensity of the scene. So buckle up and prepare your tissues!
1. HERMIONEEEEEE!!
If you are a Potterhead, then you too were a witness of how the relationship between Ron and Hermione grew and developed throughout the seven books of the saga. It was so much that in book seven, they couldn’t hide it anymore.
The specific moment we have selected for this list is one that always makes my heart flip and reread the lines over and over: Ron screaming Hermione’s name at the top of his lungs while she was being tortured by a terrifying Bellatrix Lestrange. J.K. Rowling masterly manages to transmit the despair in Ron’s voice while he’s frantically trying to break free. This scene is an excellent example of showing versus telling.
The fact that Harry manages to stay calmed and is proactively looking for a solution while Ron just can’t keep it together also helps to intensify the scene. This contrast in reactions shows us the intensity of Ron’s behavior and that this is caused by true romantic love and not by the concern of a friend.
It gets me every time.
2. The Last Letter (PS, I Love You)
PS, I love you is a beautifully sad-but-happy love story that portrays one of the most admirable characteristics of love: selflessness. Cecilia Ahern introduces us to the life of a young widower; Holly, who was married and deeply in love with Gerry, her husband. Gerry had cancer, but he wrote a series of letters before passing away, so he could help his beloved wife overcome the pain caused by his death. Although every message evokes feelings of true, pure and everlasting love, the truth is that my heart breaks every time I read his last letter to her:
Dear Holly, I don’t have much time, I don’t mean literally, I mean you’re out buying ice cream and you’ll be home soon. But I have a feeling this is the last letter, because there is only one thing left to tell you. (…) It’s to tell you how much you move me, how you changed me. You made me a man, by loving me, Holly. And for that, I am eternally grateful… literally. (…) Thank you for the honor of being my wife. I’m a man with no regrets. How lucky I am. You made my life, Holly. But I’m just one chapter in yours. There’ll be more. I promise. So here it comes, the big one. Don’t be afraid to fall in love again. Watch out for that signal, when life as you know it ends.
P.S.: I will always love you
Cecilia Ahern (PS, I Love You)
3. Peeta’s Nightmares (The Hunger Games series)
Although they didn’t seem to start off with the right foot at the beginning of the games, Katniss discovers Peeta has only been trying to save and protect her. It took long for her to find out that what Peeta was feeling was real, and not just a strategy to get gifts from their sponsors.
The way they are willing to sacrifice their life and put the other person’s interests before their own, is simply lovely. And although there are many moments that make my heart melt (their actual first kiss, the moment when they almost eat the nightlock berries, etc.), my favorite is when Katniss asks Peeta about his nightmares:
Peeta, how come I never know when you’re having a nightmare?” I say.
“I don’t know. I don’t think I cry out or thrash around or anything. I just come to, paralyzed with terror,” he says.
“You should wake me,” I say, thinking about how I can interrupt his sleep two or three times on a bad night. About how long it can take to calm me down.
“It’s not necessary. My nightmares are usually about losing you,” he says. “I’m okay once I realize you’re here.
Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2)
Summing up
Love is everywhere. One way or another, romantic or not, every work of fiction includes a doses of it. The fact is that we can’t live without it and including it in our stories can only make it better.
What do you think of our list? Do you agree with us? What are your personal favorites? Let us know in the comments! And…
Happy Valentine’s!
