Read a genetics book, idiot children!
So, I am reading Josephine Angelini's Starcrossed, which is actually a very entertaining YA supernatural novel (short take on plot - demigod clans live and fight among us, and heroine discovers she is member of one, when a different clan shows up and her imperative to murder them all acts up. In the middle of high school.)
I actually even like the heroine and the rest of the characters, including the heroine's love interest, who seems a decent guy. For a decent chunk of the book, heroine and her hunky dude have a problem - they can't be together or WW3 will start and the world will end. Cue emo! OK, fair enough, WW3 would suck.
Then, it turns out, they were wrong and WW3 will not start. Crisis averted and initiate make-outs? Not so fast! For an evil more impenetrable, deadly, scary obstacle faces them and they can never be together - they are first cousins.
How I laughed and laughed and laughed. I get that Cassandra Clare's City series might be giving Ms. Angelini's no peace, or that she just tried to find a general bad taboo but City series involved people who believed they were full siblings and, as far as taboos go, first cousins isn't really one!
I mean, sure, people will think it's slightly icky, on the par with marrying your teacher or someone who's too young/too old for you, but you know what it has in common with the latter examples? It's legal and only slightly gross! First cousin marriage is legal in 1/3 of the states (the book takes place in the US and the characters are Americans) which means, due to full faith and credit clause, it's legal in every state. Recent studies have also indicated that there is no harm to the putative kids, either, unless you've been doing cousin marriage for generations.
So, basically - ahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Instead of buying it as this big doomed and angsty thing, I ended the book laughing my head off. Really? Really? This is your big obstacle? Oh my God, how more idiotic could you get? Just get together, idiotic OTP, before I consider you are utterly mentally deficient.
I actually even like the heroine and the rest of the characters, including the heroine's love interest, who seems a decent guy. For a decent chunk of the book, heroine and her hunky dude have a problem - they can't be together or WW3 will start and the world will end. Cue emo! OK, fair enough, WW3 would suck.
Then, it turns out, they were wrong and WW3 will not start. Crisis averted and initiate make-outs? Not so fast! For an evil more impenetrable, deadly, scary obstacle faces them and they can never be together - they are first cousins.
How I laughed and laughed and laughed. I get that Cassandra Clare's City series might be giving Ms. Angelini's no peace, or that she just tried to find a general bad taboo but City series involved people who believed they were full siblings and, as far as taboos go, first cousins isn't really one!
I mean, sure, people will think it's slightly icky, on the par with marrying your teacher or someone who's too young/too old for you, but you know what it has in common with the latter examples? It's legal and only slightly gross! First cousin marriage is legal in 1/3 of the states (the book takes place in the US and the characters are Americans) which means, due to full faith and credit clause, it's legal in every state. Recent studies have also indicated that there is no harm to the putative kids, either, unless you've been doing cousin marriage for generations.
So, basically - ahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Instead of buying it as this big doomed and angsty thing, I ended the book laughing my head off. Really? Really? This is your big obstacle? Oh my God, how more idiotic could you get? Just get together, idiotic OTP, before I consider you are utterly mentally deficient.