**SPOILER ALERTS LIKE WHOA!**
I started out thinking this post would be a Delicious Despair post; then it morphed into “damn it, that author made me ugly cry!”
Be warned, this post is going to bring up sad memories, and snot-nosed cries *hands out Kleenex* and if you haven’t read any of the series we are about to talk about, step away, read the book, then come back to me.
Kim Harrison was the first author to make me cry. I don’t even mean a few tears; I mean full-out heaving sobs of despair. My heart broke in a million pieces and I would have yelled at her, had she been in my vicinity. Why did she make me cry, you ask? Just go read For a Few Demons More. She even had arm-bands made to mourn the loss of this character!
The death of a character is something that always hurts, but this totally came out of left field. Same goes for Rachel Vincent’s Shifter series, full on sobs came out of my body when she killed off a character. I couldn’t believe it! The characters dealing with the aftermath of the death just about did me in, totally not something to be reading when you are an emotional PMS nightmare.
I polled our other bloggers for their favorite ugly cries:
Tori already told us about her sob-worthy scene.
Amanda Collins: The Book of Scandal by Julia London: the hero and heroine are married, but have been living separate lives because they each handled the death of their toddler son in different ways. It totally WRECKED me.
Also, Toni Blake’s One Reckless Summer: the hero, Mick, is caring for his dying brother and when he finally dies, it’s awful to see how much it hurts Mick.
Janice Rholetter: Linda Howard’s Cry No More, hands down, is the romance that caused me to weep most. I can’t say much without spoilers. Milla Edge’s infant son, Justin, is abducted, literally torn from her arms. A decade later, her sole mission is finding Justin and helping others find their lost. The ending is so wrenching that I get emotional just thinking about it. It wasn’t a keeper for me because I knew I could never bear to read it again.
Charli Mac: Diana Gabaldon’s The Outlander. These are two quotes from Jamie to Claire.
Here Jamie explains how he felt before Claire almost left...forever.
“I prayed all the way up that hill yesterday,” he said softly. “Not for you to stay; I didna think that would be right. I prayed I’d be strong enough to send ye away.” He shook his head, still gazing up the hill, a faraway look in his eyes. “I said ’Lord, if I’ve never had courage in my life before, let me have it now. Let me be brave enough not to fall on my knees and beg her to stay.’” He pulled his eyes away from the cottage and smiled briefly at me. “Hardest thing I ever did, Sassenach.”
Here Jamie talks about the choice to be tortured and raped in place of Claire. Yup, he was tortured and raped.
“I can bear pain myself,“ he said softly, ”but I couldna bear yours. That would take more strength than I have.”
So now I ask you all, what books have made you do the ugly cry? And does someone have some Kleenex handy?
Natasha Carty reviews Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy on her website Wicked Little Pixie and lives in Toronto, Canada, with her cat, Seamus.
