*
(Attention: This article contains spoilers for the works of
fiction mentioned.)
Girl meets boy. Girl finds out boy
is a hundred-year-old vampire thirsting for her blood and falls madly in love
with him. Vampire abandons girl. Girl uses good-natured werewolf friend as
emotional crutch, leading him on in his love for her without returning it. Girl
jumps off a cliff to hallucinate vampire’s voice. Girl marries vampire straight
out of high school without even considering a career. Girl gives birth to a
human-vampire hybrid that tries to eat her from the inside, necessitating her
painful transformation into one of the undead. Girl accepts werewolf, who
declares the newborn baby his destined mate, as future son-in-law. They live
happily ever after.
What more could you ask of a love
story?
It turns out, a lot.
Before I continue, I must admit
that, yes, there is such a thing as
an intelligent Twilight fan. I’ve
read many of their stories on Fanfiction.net, often clever, funny, well-written
and insightful. Stephenie Meyer’s world can be quite compelling in its
emotional intensity, its twists on the old myths (Sparkling vampires? You’ve
got to admit that’s original!), and its seductive images of eternal love and
youth. As a teenager, I could easily see myself in the heroine. However, the
series’ charm is also one of its biggest problems. Is Bella Swan really the
role model we want our daughters and sisters to live up to?
This holiday season, allow me to
present a few alternatives …
- Fairest by Gail Carson Levine
This is a retelling of the fairy
tale “Snow White”, a story about the pursuit of beauty and its cost. Aza is an
overweight girl with unusual coloring in a society obsessed with certain ideals
of beauty; the unkindness of her peers have made her hate herself so much that
she cannot appreciate the uniqueness of her talents, especially her voice.
Ijori is a kind young man who loves her for exactly who she is, regrets and
makes up for his mistakes. They bond over what they have in common: a quirky
sense of humor, a love of music, and a shared concern for the threat to their
kingdom presented by the vain and selfish queen. Physical beauty, in this
story, is only skin deep; it’s the beauty of the characters’ courage and talent
that helps them save the day.
- The Matched Trilogy by Ally Condie
Yes, it’s a love triangle. But
unlike some, it’s a love triangle in which all three sides are truly making an
effort to be honest and considerate of each other, even the two rivals. The
series is set in a dystopian future in which government officials choose where
you work, what you eat, when you die and whom you marry. When
seventeen-year-old Cassia is assigned two matches by accident, a crack appears in
her illusion of a perfect life that slowly grows to shatter it, inspiring her
to think for herself, discover her potential, and fight for what she believes
in. Choosing between the two boys is only part of the story; a dangerous
journey through the canyons of Utah,
an epidemic threatening the country, a shifting political climate, and the
power of poetry all contribute to the three main characters’ evolution.
Condie’s elegant, minimalist writing style is only the icing on the cake.
- The Ruby Red Trilogy by Kerstin Gier
Gwen Shepherd likes pretty
clothes, speaks in pop-culture references and prefers watching movies to
studying. She is also a time traveler with a responsibility to stop a
power-hungry eighteenth-century alchemist from attaining immortality. Everyone
expects her to fail: her enemy, her jealous cousin, sometimes even herself. She
proves them spectacularly wrong. As for her teammate Gideon, who begins by
looking down his nose at her lack of education, he ends up owing his life to
her courage and falling in love with her wit and charm. He is a hero of the Mr.
Darcy stripe, who is not ashamed to admit when he is wrong, and Gwen is a
heroine who proves that being smart and being girly are not mutually exclusive.
Bonus for Gwen’s sassy friend Leslie, who does not drop out of the story, but becomes one of her most important
allies despite having no special powers whatsoever.
4. The Blue Bloods series by Melissa de la Cruz
To imagine this series, take Twilight and turn it on its head.
Bloodsucking vampires? Yes – but only by consent and for mutual pleasure.
Wealth, privilege, magic and immortality? Yes – but be careful what you wish
for, as most vampires are a lazy, corrupt bunch who are fairly helpless before
a genuine threat. Eternal soulmate bonds? Yes – but like any relationship, they
can and do go sour unless enough effort goes into keeping them. The main
characters include a man torn between his bondmate and the woman he truly
loves; a girl fighting against demonic possession with her own strong will and
the support of her lover; and a spoiled socialite learning to care for others
besides herself. The character development from the first to the last book is
remarkable, and the worldbuilding so believable that you’ll be looking twice at
every New York
celebrity to check for fangs.
These are my gift ideas for young women in love with love
stories, which will make their hearts beat faster and teach them to value themselves. A truly beautiful romance is
one that inspires both partners to love and respect each other – and we can
never see enough of those, either in real life or in fiction.
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