What's love got to do with it?

[alison23]

Some weeks back, my friend Rosemary Clement-Moore won the 2009 RITA award for best young adult romance novel for her book Highway to Hell. (Congrats again, Rosemary!) This expanded my definition of "romance novel," because the romance in that book takes a back seat to the paranormal mystery and adventure

Comments

[robinellen]

I don't think I can write a story where there isn't some kind of satisfying romance. By satisfying, it has to end with serious hope that the two will get together. I prefer books which end like that, as well. But when it comes to real relationships, I'm not that romantic (at least, I don't think I am)...interesting.

[alison23]

I worry about this, because as a reader, I'm really disappointed if the romance doesn't work out in the end. But as a writer, I end up with all these "you can't always get what you want" endings. (There's always some hope for something at the end, but not necessarily for the romance. Though as a teen, I know that would have been the main thing I cared about!) But then, depending on the story, I also have these occasional Disney endings in which everyone gets exactly what they wanted and more, maybe in some over-the-top way.

[robinellen]

Oh, as a teen, I HAD to have the HEA ending :)