I'm glad I posted this all, even if it was only for this conversation. <3 <3 <3
In a public forum that is part of my career plan, I didn't want to go into full details about exactly what I wanted, but here, I can. :)
This is gonna be gushy, as I've been excitedly thinking through everything I wanted to say ever since I got your comment notification. (Plus it's almost 2am and I'm probably half delirious.) lol
Here goes:
I did legitimately adore Rachel/Kisten, but mostly because of how much I loved Kisten. At that point of the series I really can't stand Rachel, but the evolution in her feelings toward him from pure irritation and dislike to love is what made me fall in love with the series itself. But he couldn't have grown with her. From a writing perspective, I get why he was a dead end that KH had to get away from.
With Ivy, what I really wanted was a functioning, loving threesome. I adore that they gave me a strong woman in every way who just so happened to prefer other women, and there was a part of me that wanted her to get a happily ever after somehow. (I'm so glad that in the end, they did.) But Rachel is straight, and every aspect of her character we've ever been shown says that it's just not going to ever be otherwise. (This is why I've written Ivy/Rachel, but always from Ivy's perspective, and more lust than fulfillment.)
I like that they let them explore if they could make it work, and figure out that yes, there definitely was love there. But I never bought that it was going to be sexual attraction from Rachel's perspective. And it's not fair to Ivy if the only reason she had been there was for the vamp pheromones.
But when Rachel and Kisten got together, that gave me a new option. All three of them loved each other. Ivy and Kisten shared the blood need. Rachel and Kisten had the physical lust, but were afraid to share the blood side fully. And Ivy and Rachel loved each other but not in the same ways. It could work, and omg did I want to see them figure it out together.
When Kisten died, that option went away. It was only with the three of them that I could see them finding a functional happiness, not with just Rachel and Ivy. And then he became the spectre of loss and grief between them, and for me that's when Ivy's chance disappeared.
Kim Harrison has written multiple versions of a threesome into the background already, in so many different ways. Not all of them were explicitly sexual, but all were three people who cared for each other and found a way to make things work between them, for a while at least. Ivy/Glenn/Daryl and Trent/Quen/Ceri and Alice/Montgomery/Takata. Hell, maybe even David and the two girlfriends he accidentally turns Were, though that one you have to squint sideways at to see.
I don't think I've ever read an ongoing genre series (not erotica) that did a central threesome, and most writers I don't think could pull it off. But I thought maybe she'd be the one to do it, and I so wanted to read that.
Hell, for the last three books I've been desperately rooting for it to end up Trent/Rachel/Al. The way their magic came together in Ever After, the scene in Trent's shed when Al came over to get drunk and mourn Ceri with them, and the knowledge that the main problem needing resolution was the elf/demon divide.
The way she wrapped up everything in the end did leave me satisfied, and I don't think it could have been anyone other than Trent in the end. I am content with where they left pretty much every character. But in my wildest-dream scenario, I would have Al worked into that final configuration.
I'm glad I posted this all, even if it was only for this conversation. <3 <3 <3
In a public forum that is part of my career plan, I didn't want to go into full details about exactly what I wanted, but here, I can. :)
This is gonna be gushy, as I've been excitedly thinking through everything I wanted to say ever since I got your comment notification. (Plus it's almost 2am and I'm probably half delirious.) lol
Here goes:
I did legitimately adore Rachel/Kisten, but mostly because of how much I loved Kisten. At that point of the series I really can't stand Rachel, but the evolution in her feelings toward him from pure irritation and dislike to love is what made me fall in love with the series itself. But he couldn't have grown with her. From a writing perspective, I get why he was a dead end that KH had to get away from.
With Ivy, what I really wanted was a functioning, loving threesome. I adore that they gave me a strong woman in every way who just so happened to prefer other women, and there was a part of me that wanted her to get a happily ever after somehow. (I'm so glad that in the end, they did.) But Rachel is straight, and every aspect of her character we've ever been shown says that it's just not going to ever be otherwise. (This is why I've written Ivy/Rachel, but always from Ivy's perspective, and more lust than fulfillment.)
I like that they let them explore if they could make it work, and figure out that yes, there definitely was love there. But I never bought that it was going to be sexual attraction from Rachel's perspective. And it's not fair to Ivy if the only reason she had been there was for the vamp pheromones.
But when Rachel and Kisten got together, that gave me a new option. All three of them loved each other. Ivy and Kisten shared the blood need. Rachel and Kisten had the physical lust, but were afraid to share the blood side fully. And Ivy and Rachel loved each other but not in the same ways. It could work, and omg did I want to see them figure it out together.
When Kisten died, that option went away. It was only with the three of them that I could see them finding a functional happiness, not with just Rachel and Ivy. And then he became the spectre of loss and grief between them, and for me that's when Ivy's chance disappeared.
Kim Harrison has written multiple versions of a threesome into the background already, in so many different ways. Not all of them were explicitly sexual, but all were three people who cared for each other and found a way to make things work between them, for a while at least. Ivy/Glenn/Daryl and Trent/Quen/Ceri and Alice/Montgomery/Takata. Hell, maybe even David and the two girlfriends he accidentally turns Were, though that one you have to squint sideways at to see.
I don't think I've ever read an ongoing genre series (not erotica) that did a central threesome, and most writers I don't think could pull it off. But I thought maybe she'd be the one to do it, and I so wanted to read that.
Hell, for the last three books I've been desperately rooting for it to end up Trent/Rachel/Al. The way their magic came together in Ever After, the scene in Trent's shed when Al came over to get drunk and mourn Ceri with them, and the knowledge that the main problem needing resolution was the elf/demon divide.
The way she wrapped up everything in the end did leave me satisfied, and I don't think it could have been anyone other than Trent in the end. I am content with where they left pretty much every character. But in my wildest-dream scenario, I would have Al worked into that final configuration.
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