I thought it was disgusting! But maybe its because im only 14 or too immature but the love is going way outta line! I think Ginny and Harry kissing after they win the quidditch match was ok but the most disgusting thing was when Harry saw Dean and Ginny kissing in the corridor and were up close very tight. And JK said Harry wanted to turn Dean to Jelly. Wouldn't it be better if she described Harry liking Ginny in a way so that the readers are suprised maybe and it would be an interesting relationship? Do you think so?

But what was with Ron and Lavender trying to make Hermoine jealous? That sickens me! It was like Ron wasnt the funny guy from Prisoner of Azkaban but a playboy teenager playing around with girls??

I do suppose they are all 17 year olds but when Hermoine hugs Harry in the end JK doesn't keep going on about blushing as she does when Hermoine and Ron barely touch...

GOF was the best at describing some "relationships" and I quite liked them.

Oh well what do you think?

I tolerated it in Order of Pheonix because it was quite OK. But HBP is eww. Maybe its just me or isn't it?

ALthough I do agree that too much time was spent on relationships, i think some time was necessary, the jealousy issue needed to be there, it is how the hcaracters realized where their hearts truely lied. 14> why don't you like girls/boys? Thi sis a perfect age to ponder and adore, just no action.

I think all this luvy-duvy business is to show that they are maturing and going through puberty (the evil 'P' word!).

I mean normal teenagers do go through this stage and I think that JK is trying to tell us that they are normal teenagers.

That's my view anyway.

I could have done without it. It didin't really bother me that it was in there, but if it wasn't there I would have liked the books just the same. I think people being in realationships in a time like this is sort of far-fetched. I mean if a dark lord was very,very,very adamitt about killing me and he had the means to do it I don't think I would care too much about trying to find a girlfriend.

I think you guys are missing the point of what Rowling is doing. We see this during wars in the United States, many couples get married and in HBP, Rowling talks about how people did this before Harry's fateful first encounter with LV. I believe during these times of great unrest that seeking a companion of the opposite sex is human. It helps them deal with these dark times and to finalize their feelings for that special person. That is why I think the wedding with Fleur and Bill is so important in the seventh book. So, to all that think the love parts of the story were "yew", remember that they are going through adulthood and the darkness of the events surronding them.

Those are my two cents

It was nice to have the love scenes in but it was abit too much. However the plot of the book has to do with love and somehow those events will play a huge part in the seventh book. And i think that the whole idea that Snape was or possibly stil is in love with Lily also play an even bigger part.

Bill in Fluer, I understand. They have alraedy been dating for 2 plus years so them wanting to get married is understandable. But the relationships as far as Harry, Hermion, Ron, and Ginny go, however, I think are pretty trite. Seriously, someone is intent on killing you and/or your best friend...it's probably not the best time to be starting up a relationship.

Hmm...we're talking about the love connections...
The love business didn't bother me that much(maybe because I spent two years waiting on HBP reading fanfics), but after reading it, I noticed it was written much like those fanfics I hade been reading prior to the release of HBP...'Snog' was every other word(my little bro actually wanted to know who 'snog' was ), which got a bit annoying, and the whole thing with Lavender and Ron was ...

But you have to look at it in perspective, these are sixteen/seventeen year olds, you're are not going to walk into a school(and no one get smart with me saying it can be a girls/boys only school ) and not find couples. It just doesn't happen. I can almost guarantee many teenagers out there have had a serious relationship either by seventeen or at least a little after. Humans don't like life without romance...

[FONT=Geneva][SIZE=14][COLOR=purple] OK... so hu cares if harry gets a gf, isn't it natural?????????????????????
What's wrong with kissing, and I don't think there was too much romance, quite frankly there was not enough!
They didn't have sex or anything, so what's the problem? Most people like Ginny, but u lot are weird and think that kissing is disgusting. Ginny and Dean were mature, so what's wrong with them snogging in the corridor - it's not sick, it's romantic. Maybe you should try it some time!

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Overall, I didn't mind the "Love Bits" being in there. Actually, I was quite ambivalent about them. I knew they had to be there to have the jealousy characterized properly. They did feel a little forced, I thought, contrived may be a better word... I don't know...

So, I guess my ambivalence shows...

Yeah, it didn't upset me too much, especially as I know people who do act like that. It was fairly necessary to the plot - If it had been cut out, things would have been quite different. Omerus is right, though, a lot of the scenes did seem rather contrived. I think that romance just has a tendancy to feel a bit awkward in these books.

I agree with Saucysister I don`t know what you`re all arguing for ? I think Rowling put Harrys love problems in the right book. Not too early, not too late But the whole thing about Ron snogging Lavender only to get Hermione jealous really ticks me off !! And I was very suprised about Harrys feelings to Ginny Greets

MOD EDIT : I'm afraid that word is considered swearing and thus isn't allowed on the forums. Your post has been edited.

I think the the love scenes were okay, but way too much kissing in this book. Don't get me wrong, I love this book but there was alot of kissing. Although I kinda think that this is one of the first books of Harry Potter where almost all the chracters seem to like someone. [SIZE=7][COLOR=green]

Ok I guess its ok now since everybody says it is, and all of you do have a point.

yea...it wasn't too bad but the whole ron/lavender thing made me sick!!!maybe because i'm a immature 14 year old!!!!!ginny/dean was ok!!!and harry/ginny's kiss after the quidditch match was cute!!!!so it wasn't too bad!!!

I think that the whole thing about Ron and Lavender was corny. Ron was acting like an idiot. He knew Hermione liked him. Why didn't he just say something?! Stupid.

I didn't mind all the love bits too much. They were actually a bit hilarious after rereading them again. I've never liked Lavender very much, but after Ron hooked up with her, I hated her. Ron was being an idiot, but at times, he can be a bit thick. I hope Bill's wedding might prompt him to finally get together with Hermione.

All of it was one big fat distraction from the clues in the story and for the characters themselves. I believe the parts themselves were written in a mocking, over-the-top way on purpose. The more I read about people opinions, the more I see that JKR set-up the shipping wars on purpose when she said "...everyone (in GoF) is in love with the wrong person..." for her amusement and to knock us off the scent.

H/G was pure lust and wish-fullfillment, which doomed it to being a flash in the pan. R/L was pure lust, in which Ron realized that there is more to a relationship than the physical. R/Hr demonstrated why they should never get together, they both realized this and became the friends they should have been earlier. H/Hr grew distant because they both wanted to be the one who was right, but realized in the long run they had a job to do. R/T came out of nowhere and there is something strange about Tonks. B/F were the best representation for young love than any of them--a wake-up call to the teens who witnessed the Fleur/Molly moment in the hospital.

Hopefully the teen drama part is over and the Trio will finally examine the dynamics of their relationship as they grow closer to destroying Voldemort.

Personally i think the whole thing was quite realistic. it was a nice side story to the main plot Jk didnt go over board or anything. however if you look at the romance/ lust its quite entertaining seeing who likes who and what people are hiding.

nothing wrong with it in my opinion.

They were really good I thought!! A little random at times, yes. But thats just how things like this are haha.


On a different topic. (nymphes signature) What do you mean there wasnt a Hermionie/Ron relationship at the end of HBP? They looked alot more close than "just friends" to me haha. oh well.

cheese puff?

The love bits in HBP is unique. It's not the usual romance thing we see on TV or movies or most books. Jo Rowling wants to write in a special way, but not every reader can accept that. Overall I tend to see the romantic storyline is as "weird" as the rest of the Harry Potter universe. Some parts are similar to our worlds, many are creation of Jo Rowling. I wouldn't want to compare everything to the real life. The love bits are definitely giving enough materials for the romance lovers to enjoy.

awww, i think twas funny...the harry/ginny bit wasnt given too much emphasis but the lavender/ron/hermione bit was really funny....

ron was, deep inside, very devastated that hermione kissed viktor. there was already this tension even in the GoF, but well, i reckon he then decided to jst shut his mouth than actually confront hermione bout his feelings (i guess he then realised that hes got a bit of a crush on her...and anyway, i dunt think a 16 yr old bloke like ron would actually confront a girl bout his feelings....even 20 yr old blokes have problem doing that) ...ron just did a bit of a...erm...revenge, when he started going out with hermione, didnt he? his action was more like, 'SHE kissed viktor....now il give her a sample of how terrible i felt bout it' kind of erm, revenge...

bout harry....he knows bout timing doesnt he? kissing ginny when its like the whole room had a full dose of that 'euphoria' potion oh well :> its young love....and its sweet...and i hope they'd be able to enjoy it...amidst all the challenges that they'll face...

Well, I think that the kissing wasn't too much in HBP.It was much,but not too much.In my opinion,JKRowling did a perfect job,because they are teenagers now and love cannot be cut out!It's my favourite book.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"

I got kind of bored with the romantic aspect because it almost took over the book. Hermione and Ron spent nearly the whole book at each other's throats over their massive mutual crush, Ron started dating Lavender, there was the whole business with Ginny and Dean and then eventually Harry...I think "Goblet of Fire" had a better balance of romance out of the books with romance. It was present, but the focus was still very much on Harry trying to keep himself alive.

I don't mind there being romance in the books...I just wish it was done in a way that didn't hold down the major plot of the story. The book would've been a bit better if it had toned down the prevelance of romance just a touch.

i think that the love scenes wern't sick or anything, but when harry and ginny kissed, i thought that was cool, but thats as far as i wanted it to go. ron/lavender was totally un-necissary. i thought that the amount of romance that was in order of the pheonix or GoF was the amount there should have been in hbp. i really didnt want these books to turn into love stories, but as dumbledore always says, the world could always use a little more love in it!

Relationships obviously have to be included in the books, because it would be completely ridiculous if it didn't! When you go to school you have the boyfriend and girlfriends stuff just like is portrayed in the HP books and I personally think without including first loves in the book would make it unreal because this kind of stuff happens in real life and J.K. Rowling had to add some sort of humanity and something real in it to make it beareable.

The romance part is my favorite I really hope they include every last detail of that in the movies. If it wasn't in there, I think most readers would be extremely disappointed if there wasn't romance in the books.

Exactly, AQHYAgrl! I couldn't have put it better myself. I would have shut the book and never open it again...lol...thanks for the thought!

MOD EDIT: please be careful one liners are not allowed on the forums..please elaborate more in future posts!

matbe but ron/lavender/herminone was still sort of sick!!!!but i guess if they don't put it in the movie the story won't be the same

MOD EDIT: please be careful one liners are not allowed on the forums..please elaborate more in future posts!

Ron-Lavender-Hermione wasn't sick, it Ron growing up (which he needed to do) it was both of them growing up basically. It could have been toned down a BIT, but Ron and Hermione ARE important characters and it's important for them to grow up as well as Harry, and it was good to get a look at the other characters too. that's my views

i think it will be wierd to see the potter charecters kissing people but the story does need a bit of love in it theres too much danger and stuff lke that it needs to be settled down with some love in the air i think it will be realy good.

Well, since you are asking what I think about the love bits in HBP, I'll answer you. I did not like the romance in the book at all. It was far too rushed between Harry and Ginny. It made my head spin! I didn't care at all for the out of control testerone, monster in the chest (!) and other hormones and pheromones that JKR threw at us in HBP. I also didn't care at all for the way Hermione was portrayed in HBP. Like a demented fool! So out of character for her, hormones or not! And for what?! Absolutely nothing, since at the end of HBP it is neither R/Hr NOR H/G! But, I do hope that this is the last we read about the Trio going through puberty!

I loved the romance in book 6.i wish there was more.i was so happy when harry and ginny got together...and ron and hermione are definitly getting there.its awesome.i admit i hated the ron and lavender thing..but i get why it was there..to show that ron and hermione liked eachother more than friends.

How can you have a book where the most powerful force is love, but not expect to have love/romance involved? Yes, it was a bit over-the-top at times. But people are human. Love is blind, but so are people in love. It makes perfect sense that this would change their chracters some, particularly because they have never experienced it before.

To those who thought it was too sudden, read the books a little closer. Harry and Ginny was being hinted at in CoS. Harry started having feelings for Ginny at the end of OotP. I was not surprised by the romance at all.

Well of course the love bits might not appeal to you young ones, but if you have grown with the books you kinda go through similar things. And if you're growing so are the characters like others have said. They might look like a whole load of romance mush but it shows the bonds that have been made and broken. The bit that had the impact for me wasn't Harry and Ginny it was the triangle between Ron, Hermione and Lavenda. When Hermione walks into the common room to find Ron and Lavenda copping off she was totally heart broken. This could of not only distance Ron and Hermione's relationship but like many times before force Harry to choose between them which is not good because we need the trio for book 7. And Lavenda of all people. I agree with DD's Widow Hermione does act like a bit of a demented fool. But i think another reason for the romance is that JK wants to show the theme of love, as DD always say love is the key to kill LV.

x-nat-x

I didn't like the love bits at all!

It kind of felt that JK had been thinking of making those couples from way back but she ran out of books or something so she threw all of those happenings in there! I didn't think that stuff was that sudden, I just thought she didn't know how to write them, I just didn't like them.

I was glad she held up with the Ron/Hermione one thought; when Hermione felt heart broken I felt like that too, just because Ron seemed like such a sweatheart in the earlier books (I know they are teenagers but still...)

It amazes how age plays such a major role in how we make our decisions on love in the book.

I don't think there was a lot of "love" per se. There were a lot of typical 16 and 17 year old people running around being overly hormonal. Unless I'm mistaken, that is what 16 year olds do. I know when I was 16 the most important thing for me was to find a boyfriend, have a boyfriend, and keep a boyfriend (I'm a girl by the way).

Ron is your typical 16/17 year old boy; he's hormonal, and after that slap in the face from Ginny about snogging their great aunt's picture he felt he had something to prove. So he grabbed the first willing girl to prove that to.

He probably has very strong feelings for Hermione (as JKR has hinted strongly towards) but perhaps he was looking at this a different way. I know a lot of people that have no problem kissing just some bloke off the street but when it comes to someone they care about, they prefer to take their time and make it special. I'm sure Ron isn't too concerned about his first kiss being memorable, but he probably wants his first kiss with Hermione to be memorable to her. Can we call Lavender practice?

Perhaps Ron and Hermione do have feelings for each other, but how rare is it that a 16 or 17 year old knows what he wants in a life mate? I'm not saying it doesn't happen because I've seen it, but it's very rare. So the feelings they are dealing with are new, different, and they have different thoughts going through their mind. Could this ruin our friendship? Is this going to cause problems for Harry? Can we still focus at the task at hand? I'm sure Ron does have more of an emotional range than a teaspoon and is considering Harry's feelings as well. The "golden trio" as they are affectionately called, have been friends since they were 11 years old; they have to make sure to not do anything rash to ruin that.

As for Harry and Ginny. *Sigh* In all of the fan fictions I have read Ginny is this aggressive, out spoken, not gonna take anything from anyone borderline obnoxious girl. I don't see her that way in HBP only because if she were, she would have not let Harry cast her aside at the end. I think she has always loved Harry but the love has changed and grown into something closer to respect. She will be patient, and she will do everything in her power to help him even if it means waiting until Voldemort is dead to pursue anything. She's waited 5 years; what's another year?

The romance doesn't hurt the story, nor does it help it; it just proves the fact that Harry, Ron, and Hermione are typical 16 and 17 year olds.

I don't have much to say about Remus and Tonks and Bill and Fleur. To me they are secondary characters and either relationship doesn't have much to do with Harry. I could be wrong...

i so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so ( just a bit more lol) so so! LOVED the fact that finally harry and ginny got together!!! but so so sad when they broke up im still sad after a year but i hated lav-lav and won-won but i loved the fact that they broke up! im still on for hermione and ron in the 7th book eh?
what do u think?

I liked the relationships that were present in the sixth book. It helped remind the readers that they are still teenagers and are still going through the same old puberty stages. It could also set the stage for book seven: if, for example, the Harry loves (Ginny, Hermoine, whatever) is killed by Voldemort, this will really throw him over the edge and give him strength to overcome Voldemort. I hope that makes sense; it's the way I see things anyway.

I think that the relationships are VERY important!! There may be something BEHIND the relationships!

Thank you Charmer for your post. I think that it is an accurate and clear synopsis of the romance portions of Half Blood Prince. Your comments on Ron (being a former16/17 year old male) are pretty accurate. Given Ron's history, why would we expect anything different from him?

*sigh* I do have my moments of pure genius.

I do want to take a quick look at Bill and Fleur. There is something about that relationship I just find disturbing. I'm sure Bill is a well educated man with a great deal of common sense. So how did he end up with Fleur? Did she woo him with her Veela power or is he truly in love with her?

Just from the conversation Fleur had with Molly we do know she thinks highly of herself "I am good looking enough for both of us!"

We also know from the first moment she saw Bill she liked what she saw. So is Bill another conquest for Fleur, or does she truly love him? I honestly don't see JK explaining this one too much. I'm sure there will be a wedding and we'll probably never know how Bill and Fleur felt about each other.

[font=Verdana] At first the love scenes did put me off reading the book for a second time but after a long time of attempting to sit down with the book I did manage to get into it again.
I do agree with some people when they say that the 'love-issue' is important, however, a good percentage of the book was about everyone getting together and/or splitting up.
I was so excited when this book was released, but after reading it I fully appreciated how fantastic OOTP was.
Maybe if JKR had toned down the 'love' and added some more...action (if thats the right word) then I would've enjoyed it more!

I think that it was completely normal really theyre at the time where thats what teenagers do. I think the fact that JK Rowling put it in makes the Harry Potter world seem more real!
I mean i liked the fact the romance was in there...and im only 15. i thought it was normal

I liked the H/G that was sweet i think and not too sudden because you sort of realised that ginny liked harry in CoS but i had an inkling that they might get together sooner or later.

As for ron and lavender it kind of annoyed me that they got together as im a supporter of RW/HG but i did realised after a while that ron can be an idiot and rather than admit he likes hermione he'd rather make her jealous...and since a lot a guys his age are like that i think it made it all the more real!!
I dont think it took anything away from the book and like After The Burial said:
....i completely agree!

D.A