Summer of Love Blog Hop! Jaime and Claire: Real Romance

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I can’t deny I feel a twinge of envy at the colorful, creative and brutal world of Game of Thrones. I would love to have written such an epic. Maybe someday I will.

But for me, the romance writer, something is missing. We call it happily ever after. I want Game of Thrones to end. I want the pain to end. Death may be great drama but it sucks if that is all that ever happens. The best people die. The worst people get to sit on the Iron Throne.

Now let’s compare GOT to Outlander. Outlander has the same epic feel though it is grounded in actual history. Well, except for that time travel stuff.

Outlander is also full of pain, but it is the kind of pain that encourages us to believe in love and the power of love between two people.

GOT falters because in Westero’s there is no romance. I’m talking big picture romance here. Jaime and Cersei aren’t romantic. In spite of our stomach churning dislike of their relationship, what is the first thing we all KNOW – that it is doomed. They are doomed. What’s the fun in that?

For me, one thing that could have redeemed GOT would have been a singular relationship that endured. It didn’t have to be a romantic love, it only needed to be an enduring one. Hell, it could have been Littlefinger and Catelyn Stark.

So back to Outlander. I’m already salivating over the series. But this month we have a new book coming from Diana Gabaldon: Written In My Heart’s Own Blood.

I’m ready for the enduring romance Jaime and Claire have provided to fans. They have suffered immeasurably but they continue to endure. Romance – the times, the feeling, the grandeur – drip from every word Gabaldon has written. Yes, we get the sex and the love.

But we also get the sure knowledge that Jaime and Claire will live on. We know the series will end but we already see them walking hand in hand toward their eternal sunset. We care about them. We love them.

In GOT, my happily ever after rests with Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons. I fear George R. R. Martin doesn’t really care what I think and will probably kill the dragons one at a time, just as he is doing to the direwolves. In case you haven’t guessed, I haven’t yet read GOT but I’ve read every letter of Outlander and I’m starting the series over.

I’m not going to stop watching GOT. But come August, nothing is going to matter except Jaime and Claire.

Drums of Autumn is sitting on my bed stand right now. Jaime is holding Claire’s hand. And they will face the future together. They won’t have to worry that a fickle writer is going to betray their happily ever after.

And for those who comment on my blog, you'll be eligible for a chance to win a digital copy of my next book Age of Innocence, out soon from Ellora's Cave.