How to do a May-December romance so that I won't vomit

[cahn]

Okay, so I spent the whole of Beekeeper's Apprentice wondering why the romance between the two main characters (okay, there's not so much of one in this particular book, but unless you are blind and deaf you KNOW what's going to happen) doesn't bother me very much at all, and definitely not nearly as much as Dag and Fawn's romance.

Because honestly, if someone had described this book to me before I read it I would have run away screaming: MUCH older, wiser mentor starts having feelings for Mary-Sue-like-young girl whom he is teaching and whose personality he is molding, and vice versa! I mean, squicky ick!

Here are the things that save it:

-It goes really slowly. I mean, this book takes place over a number of years, enough for them to get pretty solidly attached *before* any monkey business starts happening. (Though I've been informed that the horrible! horrible! line "I've wanted to do that since the first moment I saw you" is used after their first kiss. I think she was, what, 15 at the time? Eww yuck! I will simply chalk that down to temporary insanity due to kiss-induced hormones and assume that it does not actually mean anything corresponding to their actual relationship.) I can't deal with these love-in-two-weeks things. I really can't, not combined with a huge difference in age.

-Really, Mary's character is supposed to be molded by her mentor/eventual-lover, but I can't really imagine that anyone's going to mold her without her molding the molder right back.

-It's beat home to us during the entire book (although having Mary say it explicitly in the first ten pages is a bit too much!) that there is no one else for either of them. Can be no one else. They won't settle for anything less than an entire, complete partnership, and their minds are sufficiently, well, different, that there aren't too many people who will do.

-This is related to the previous point: they are partners. The last confrontation where they work so tightly together like two parts of a machine? Yes! I will forgive a lot for partners like that. John/Aeryn in Farscape also have that sort of vibe, and I love it.

Comments

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

hahahaha! This made me laugh, for I too am coincidentally (or not) stalled exactly four episodes into S4! S3 was just incredibly fantabulous-- Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (despite its ridiculous premise-- I mean, John used to work for the government, he must *know* that when Scorpius goes out of power, all the wormhole Powerpoints will be thrown in the trash, why bother to destroy it and call attention to himself?) was simply amazing and left me dizzy and gasping for breath-- and then... S4 has kind of just dribbled on, so far. I'm reliably told it gets much much better, if I can only muster up the energy.

Yeah, almost always May/December gets all my ick squick ick factors going, and it really should have here. It may also be the UST that I liked in Beekeeper-- I am a huge huge fan of UST, and it doesn't matter to me if it's May/December-- I'll let you know what I think after I read the second book.

[ase.livejournal.com]

Farscape S3 is awesome. I mainlined it in chunks, and tried to space it out, and watched four episodes at a time. This show makes me shallow and prone to capslock. For a moment there, John almost had it all! And then we get "Icarus Abides".

I mean, John used to work for the government, he must *know* that when Scorpius goes out of power, all the wormhole Powerpoints will be thrown in the trash, why bother to destroy it and call attention to himself?

I am falling over laughing, because there is so much truth there. Though depending on which department is funding Scorpius, it's at least as likely they'd file and forget it for 50 years (at least).

I'm told S4 is uneven, and ends on the Worst Cliffhanger Ever (tm). I'm looking forward to it.

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

For a moment there, John almost had it all! And then we get "Icarus Abides".

Yes, but... I kept having twinges for Moya!John, out while Tayln!John was having all the fun...

Though depending on which department is funding Scorpius, it's at least as likely they'd file and forget it for 50 years (at least).

Yeah, they'll file the report away and only check up on it when it turns out Scorpius didn't fill out the commercialization paperwork properly. Um, yeah, can you tell I'm bitter? :)

I just watched 4x05 ("Promises") which I actually really, really liked, although my pusher, I mean, friend, is telling me that the next couple are pretty weak, so I may well skip up to 4x10 or 11.