It's the genre's greatest selling point - the guaranteed HEA. Pick up a romance novel and you know that not only are two characters going to fall in love; they are going to live Happily Ever After. What happens, though, when the reader is just not convinced? When two characters seem too toxic, too selfish, or too different to make it work? Yes, they wind up together on the page, but in the reader's head?
Possibly not. And that can spoil the novel.
Can you imagine the brooding alpha millionaire mob boss doing a midnight tissues and Nyquil run at the drugstore when his lady has the flu? Will the career-obsessed, highly aggressive, totally self-involved heroine ever find it within herself to make compromises for her relationship? Will these two self-serving, argumentative, domineering people ever be able to decide where to order takeout or which laundry detergent to purchase?
Probably not. And no matter how hard the author tries to push the HEA, it won't convince the reader.
Taking all of this into account, I was bound and determined to portray the characters in my romance novels performing everyday activities, making the mundane sacrifices that sometimes define relationships, and simply enjoying each other's company. In the manuscript I currently have out for submission to Harlequin my hero and heroine go fishing and four-wheeling, tackle the annoyance of vehicle breakdowns and bad cell phone reception, and face the balance between chasing their dreams and compromising for each other. Sometimes their problems are huge, sometimes they are tiny. In the end, they overcome them together.
I think that is the ultimate romance. I hope Harlequin agrees. More importantly, I hope that one day my novel will get into the hands of readers who love it.
