I just finished Kristan Higgins new book, All I Ever Wanted. I can count on Higgins for a book that features a heroine who is truly likable and a cast of seriously wacky characters. I can also count on Higgins for a last minute HEA.
What do I mean by this? Her couples almost always don't get together until the last two or three chapters of the her books. And I'm trying to decide how I feel about it.
It used to be that every romance had the first "I love you" in the last two or three chapters and then the curtain came down on the couple. When I think about old school Johanna Lindsay, for example, I always think that the last chapter is the one where the big, gruff, ridiculously alpha hero finally admits that he loves diminutive yet seriously feisty heroine.
But in more modern stories, it seems that most heroes and heroines get together far earlier. They are more self-aware, realizing early on that the lusty feelings they have are love, and we the reader get to experience those heady first days of being in love. I find that this scenario is more to my taste. I want to *see* the couple together. Of course, in most romances something happens after the couple admits they're in love, either another/past suitor comes along, someone gets kidnapped, or some other diversion happens to draw the couple apart. But still, these days when I read a romance, I want the "I love you" to come earlier on.
What about you? Do you like to see your romance couples together? Or are you satisfied with the last minute HEA?
10 Comments:
Unless the book is a heavy emotional read, where I'm dying for my couples' HEA, I don't mind the HEA reveal in the last few chapters.
I really need to read Higgins!
It all boils down to execution for me. I can swallow the last minute HEA, just so long as it's not last minute because one or both of the characters are unreedemable asshats that I want to strangle, throttle and/or throw heavy objects at. You know, the hero who treats the heroine like dirt the ENTIRE book, but then says "I love you" on the last page and suddenly he's perfect husband material. Or the heroine who is so brain-deadingly stoopid that you know the hero is going to spend their entire lives together saving her from herself. Blergh.
What I tend to get annoyed with (more so than the last minute HEA) is hero and heroine who aren't "on page" together for long stretches. I don't need the "I love you" by the halfway point, but sure as shootin' I need the couple to be spending time together, learning about each other, tackling the conflict etc.
I can go either way however I do get a little irritable if the h/h go through the book experiencing a series of 'near misses' due to lack of communication etc.
I definitely like it when the h/h come together earlier in a book. My favorite historicals are those where they are forced to marry at the beginning for whatever reason or paranormals where one recognizes the other as a mate right away. I love to read their evolution throughout.
You still have to have some angst in there though ;)
I completely agree with you on those HEAs. I'm really tired of seeing the curtain fall just because our couple has said "I love you." I want to see couples work for their HEA, because HEA does not just happen just because you love someone.
In fact, depending on what kind of personality they have, love can complicate things even more. An "I love you" does not mean everything is smooth and easy as pie from there on out.
Like Wendy said earlier, if our hero has been a total asshat the entire book, is the supposedly strong heroine really going to just forget it all and play the adoring spouse after he says "I love you?" No way do I see a anyone going through that kind of abuse and coming out emotionally unscathed.
I'm assuming that "HEA" is short for "Happily Ever After". What are the differences between a HEA and a "Happy For Now? (I understand that one may or may not be temporary - Is it that simple?). Does it piss you off if the heroine has a HFN and then in another book have a HEA with another dude?
Ah, good questions, Handsome.
HEA = Happily Ever After. It's just what it means, the couple is together *forever*, implying marriage.
HFN - Happy For Now. Usually they're together, in a committed relationship, but not married, or planning to get married.
Um, I can think of old school Bertrice Small (Skye O'Malley, anyone?!), that had a heroine with a variety of men. But she was married to all of them, they just all died. LOL! She was kind of the kiss of death for her heroes.
But I've not read a series of books where the heroine has an HFN with one hero and then gets an HEA with a different one.
Has anyone else?
HFN? I like it. I haven't read too many of those, the only one coming to mind would be Brenda Joyce's Deadly Series. But even at the end of the first book there were no guarantees as far as our heroine and supposed hero's relationship goes.
I think its interesting to explore the "meant to be" theory though, like Gena Showalter tried to do with her "Tales of an Extraordinary Girl" series. I have to admit, though the romantic in me loves the HEA, the reader in me appreciates a HFN moreso.
Are you an HEA, or a HFN type of reader?
I'm going to fence sit - I don't want the last few chapters reveal, but I also don't want it early. I so don't want it early. I need to see the characters fall in love, not suddenly arrive there in a blaze of sparks. I want that slow development...the understanding...and I want to see them test the bonds of that new relationship, find the boundaries. And I would be more than happy not to have some extraneous factor (e.g. a kidnapping thrown in).
Hmmmm. I is inspired!
I never really thought about it before. I happen to be a big fan of Higgins' stories. I LOVE them. But I do admit sometimes wanting more from the couple towards the end. Sometimes a tad bit more passion between them and yeah.. sometimes more general page time with the couple when they're finally together for good.
For most stories, though, I'm with Wendy and find that it all depends on the story line and the author's ability to convince me in the last half of the book or the last chapter that the couple have their HEA.
I get pulled out of the story if either one says 'I love you' too early. I have to believe that just as much as I have to believe in the HEA for the story to work for me.
Good topic.
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