"The Movie Took Every Scrap Of Chemistry From The Books And Turned It Into A Cold Festival Of Cringe" – 17 Book Romances People Say Were Ruined By Their TV And Movie Adaptations

"The movies ruined Ginny for me forever. From the shoelace-tying to the kiss in the Room of Requirement... it was all wrong!"

—girl_on_fire

"Harry and Ginny were so awkward in the movies! That ridiculous scene of her tying his shoelaces – I mean come on! They should have had some input/coaching to make it more believable. Ron and Hermione weren’t brilliant in the movies either, but IMO, they were certainly a lot better than this pair."

—catiefenner

"In the books, Ginny has an amazing, funny personality and it’s easy to see why Harry fell for her. In the movies, though, she's just kind of… THERE. She has a very awkward and quiet personality. She and Harry have ZERO on-screen chemistry in comparison to the books. In fact, if you'd never read the books, it would’ve made no sense that they ended up together in the movie."

—ronald_weasley

"Both the characters and their relationship have great depth in the book. We see how they love and compromise for each other, despite their personal issues. Of course, there's a lot of sex in the book too – but the movies just didn't show how Ana and Christian evolved as people. I think the movies are why some people just think of it as straight-up pornography."

—theresearagon

"Jamie Dornan was not the right Christian for Fifty Shades of Grey, IMO. Charlie Hunam WAS Christian! There was no chemistry between him and Dakota Johnson, and that book was all about CHEMISTRY. To be so excited over those books and then so let down over the movie crushed me."

—bb225

"I completely agree that the books are about chemistry. Without that, it's just so awkward watching the films."

—theresearagon

"Okay, maybe they didn't ruin it, but The Hunger Games movies did not do Katniss and Peeta’a relationship justice."

—lucystraubel

"I maintain that they only pushed Gayle and Katniss onto us because Gayle was more stereotypically masculine, and there wasn't as much of a conversation around deviation from gender norms back then."

—sofiaberdein

"The misadventures of Eve and Villanelle in the last book were something I was really hoping to see in the show, but we were robbed of it!"

—camsamjoe

"Michael from The Princess Diaries books is still the man of my dreams, while I couldn't cringe more at him on my sofa in front of the TV."

—justinetkatchouk

"Book Michael was my ultimate crush. Movie Michael was the biggest letdown of my sad little life. In fact, the movies in general were an abomination compared to the books. Julie Andrews is wonderful but I wanted a more chaotic Grandmere!"

—beckaelizabetht

"Yes, we never talk about how badly that whole relationship was done in the movie adaptations!"

—genzie

"The movies really didn’t do a good job of showing how great they are together. They made it seem as if Ron uses Hermione for homework help and settles for her because no one else can handle him. Whereas in the books, Ron is actually super caring and protective of her in a really sweet friends-to-lovers way we all adore!"

—briannajeub

"The book made their romance so much more electric, whereas the movie just had the smallest spark. Like, BLAH!"

—cherylzimberg

"I had such great hopes for it, especially since the The Fault In Our Stars' movie adaptation was very good. Cara Delevingne should not have played Margo and they shouldn't have changed the story so much, IMO."

—dajcia

"They were one of my least favorite relationships from the books, to be honest, but I did appreciate the slow burn and the importance of their friendship in the novels. While the books showed it initially as one-sided with Alina thinking Mal probably forgot all about her, the show made it clear they liked one another within the first minute and there was no slow burn at all."

—jayjay27333

"I second this! In fact, it applies to basically all the love stories in Shadow and Bone. In the books, the relationships (especially Nina and Matthias') were carefully built up and poetically executed. But they rushed them all too hard in the show and it made me sad. Mal and Alina was more unspoken love, almost resisting, but we knew it was there. The show portrayed Alina as some thirsty girl between Mal and Alexander and I feel so upset about it because she was so strong and reluctant in the books."

—imwhatsername

"Sorry, but in A Song of Ice and Fire, they were absolutely crazy about each other. Yes, in the latest book, Jaime is disappointed with her and mad at her, but he still loves her deeply. They both were obsessed with each other, and you can see the foreshadowing of their dying together. Jaime says 'I cannot die while Cersei lives, he told himself. We will die together as we were born together' in the books. But in the show, Jaime and Cersei lacked this level of obsession – they try, but in the end, they didn't have this 'absolutely mad about you' chemistry. People who'd only seen the TV show were actually surprised and confused when Jaime came back to her."

—daenakz

"I agree with this! In the books, it was obvious they would end up together. But I feel like the show needed to make room for the Brianne storyline, so they strained their relationship."

—laurenb490c8188c

"Alexander Skarsgård was hot in the TV adaptation, but Eric in the books was so much better to and for Sookie."

—leissak

"Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are actually very good actors, but these films and the writing were so bad that even they couldn’t bring any chemistry to it."

—catiefenner

"The film completely ruined the book. I read the book multiple times and was excited about the film, but it was such a letdown! Films never do the books justice – they miss so many details."

—Juds2013

"The movie took every scrap of humour and chemistry from the books and turned it into a cold festival of cringe. The movie in general is atrocious. Still not over it."

—beckaelizabetht

"I loved the books and have a weird addiction to the movie, too, but I can't pretend that the chemistry in the film is anything like as good as the book. Luke Brandon just doesn't seem like a 'real' person on-screen – when Becky's best friend accuses her of having a crush on him in the movie, it's hard to see why. Also, in the interview scene – he gave her money for the scarf 25 minutes before they met! Was she supposed to have driven to the hospital and back to give it to her aunt in that time?! The excuse still looked legit! Still, the movie is a must-watch, I'm sorry."

– Amy Glover

"The movie basically ignored their whole relationship. In fact, I think the book should have been adapted into a series instead of a movie. Way too much happened in the book to be contained in two hours."

—dellarock

"Such a good book, but the movie did them dirty."

—misstarrynj

"In the books, they had a great slow-burn romance with fun banter. On top of that, they just had a really great understanding of each other. The show rushed their relationship so much and put it together so messily."

—chubblesdog

"Agreed! I am not vibing with their relationship in the TV series AT ALL, especially since it seems like they changed Wylan's backstory to make him poor instead of a merchant's son for some reason. It removed some of the conflict."

"Honestly, the show kinda bungled all the romantic relationships, with the exception of maybe Genya and David. They were sweet."

—maysmordred

"The first movie was way too cringey, while the Peacock TV series was promising but was a little too far away from the book. Not all the way ruined, but it apparently wasn't worthy of a second season since it was cancelled shortly after. Both adaptations miss a lot of the interesting topics from the books because of how complex it was and I understand that. The show was good, but way different and just missed the relationship between Rose and Lissa and then the general pull of Rose. Rose is just such a complex character and the TV adaptations just haven't fully shown that yet and I don't think they ever will, sadly."

—bugmcgilacutty