What do You Mean Twilight isn't Good Romance?

I was reading Kara no Kyoukai and this line pretty genius.  Shiki, the main character, says “I’ll tell you something someone once told me.  He said that ‘it’s those unseen, unvoiced things that form love.  And it isn’t right to give voice to them, or else they might turn into lies.”  Ahh so true, so true indeed.  Now, I read books, and some of those books end up being romance books.  I, like many other people, get annoyed when the characters constantly profess their love for each other (cough cough Twilight).  When an author knows how to weave in love through actions and interactions, attitudes and unspoken traits, that is true romance.  A bond of mutual respect doesn’t need to be constantly brought into the forefront in a novel, it is obvious, and it is unnecessary to constantly repeat it. 

When did I start to understand this storytelling as more profound than simple love stories?  Maybe the Sword of Truth series started me down that path.  The main female, Kahlan is strong and can hold her own.  Her love with the main character is present and integral to the story, but there is respect of both of their talents.  

Kahlan Killing Someone I Assume

Yet with any novel based on Ayn Rand’s philosophy, the women end up seeming weak in subtle ways.  Don’t know why, but Rand really likes to put her women in more emotional turmoil, maybe because strong women have to face that.  In the Sword of Truth series, Kahlan can never surpass the archetype Randian character (who is the main character Richard), and is usually subjected to humiliating events like kidnapping and memory loss.  As one can see, this isn’t really that relatable to the romance I was explaining before, but it was a stepping stone.

What really made me realize the superiority of this rendition of romance was Megan Whalen Turner’s the Queen’s Thief.  Great series and I would recommend it to anybody.  Has some political intrigue, but not nearly as much as the Song of Ice and Fire series.  Premise of the story is there is a thief Gen who is part of the royal family.  His job is to basically be a spy/thief/destroyer of careful enemy plans.  His most greatest “theft” is the “stealing” the throne of a neighboring country, Attolia (long, long story and the premise of the second book).  

Best Way to Get a Woman To Marry You, Kidnap Her and Tell Her how Much You Love Her

Little does anybody know, but the Queen of Attolia and Gen actually love each other.   Gen didn't even want the throne, he just wanted to marry the Queen.  The throne is more of a burden he must carry for having his wish.  If you must know, Gen loved her since childhood and the Queen slowly started to love him after she cut off his arm (but they made the love so realistic as her inner turmoil started to grow). 

So as king and queen of Attolia, they end up having to face the politics of dealing with a nation almost at the brink of war.  Their affection for each other in the novel is only shown through trust and actions. They rely on each other when there is no other helpful hand to turn to.  Also, when someone hurts one of them, the other strikes.  Their love is so unspoken that most characters actually think they hate each other since Gen is seen by most as a usurper.  I’m not doing the books any justice, but the love was an undercurrent but ever-present, which was just awesome.  Way more realistic than people professing their love all the time.  

Sorry I did a horrible job explaining my thoughts.