HEA Me. Please!

I know not everything in life is good. Not all relationships have that coveted HEA (Happily Ever After). I’ve been around long enough (nearly 50 years) to know that sometimes things are just not meant to be. And there are people out there with less than honest and honorable intensions. So why read books where everything always turns out great?

Well, why not. First, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page here: In order for a book to be considered a Romance, there must be that expected, anticipated, 100% necessary HEA. That doesn’t mean it can’t end in a cliffhanger; an HFN (Happy for Now) is perfectly acceptable in a romance novel. It just means that when the story eventually resolves, the main characters will wind up together and live their lives in emotional, romantic bliss. Some of the best HEAs I’ve read have been resolved over multiple books- Claire Kingsley’s Protecting You & Fighting for Us and Lucy Score’s Sinner and Saint duet come to mind. Book 1 left me heartbroken, but at the end of the second book there was a happy resolution. And yes, I know that’s not like real life, but that is exactly my point. I don’t read romance for the reality. I read it for the escape.

When the pandemic hit my state in March of 2020, and everything shut down, and I do mean pretty much everything, I was an emotional mess. One because of the basic fear of what the hell Covid-19 was and what it was going to do to the health of my friends and family. But also because of the uncertainty it brought with it. Would we be in lockdown for days? Weeks? Months? And what would we be going back to? For someone with anxiety, these were scary questions. I mean, should I settle in with a new hobby? Or avoid something new because I would have to ditch it in a week to go back to “normal.” I felt completely paralyzed by the uncertainty. Then there was the constant barrage of news footage, and it all sucked. Nothing about the situation was positive. There was no visible HEA on the horizon for anyone. And that was freaking terrifying.

I needed something that was happy. Something that was good. Something that provided an escape from the new reality closing in on me. I needed out of real life. And you know what traditionally brought me that escape? Books. But books with heavy themes, realistic plots, and everyday life weren’t in any way appealing. They didn’t provide the same level of escapism they used to. But romance novels had everything I was looking for. The characters were just real enough to believe they could actually exist. They traveled--- read that again- They TRAVELED—to places I couldn’t go even if I wanted to. They found themselves in strange, unique, ordinary, bizarre, believable situations. And sometimes the situations were just bizarre enough to remind my brain that reality isn’t always believable (seriously, we were living through a pandemic straight out of a sci-fi novel). And they always, ALWAYS had a happy ending. That elusive HEA- the coveted Happily Ever After- it always happened.

I read both Claire’s and Lucy’s HFN books after both books in the pair had already been published, so for me there was no waiting between books to make sure all would turn out okay. But even if there had been, I would have been okay because I had read enough books by both authors to trust them with the characters I’d come to love. I knew they wouldn’t let me down, and that the next book would tie things up with a beautiful emotional bow and all would be right in the world again. Was my angst anxiety activated? Sure! But that level of trust between the author and reader was strong enough to keep it at a manageable level. And the trust was solidified when that coveted HEA happened in book 2.

I recently came across a new-to-me author I was getting ready to dive into, when I noticed some chatter in groups about a character she had killed off in one of her books. And it wasn’t the bad guy! It was a main guy. Like a really big part of the series main guy. I hate to say it, but I shelved the series before I even started it. The reviews of her earlier books are great. But I honestly don’t want to get invested in a character and then watch them die. It ruins the entire premise of why I’m reading romance novels. I’m not in it for the reality. I’m in it for the distraction from reality. And I need to trust an author is in it for the same reason I am.

So, now as things are getting back to normal, I’m not ready to give up my romance novels or my HEAs. I’ve found so much joy, even through some serious tears, in the denizens of Romancelandia that I kinda want to stay here forever. There will always be enough reality out there to remind me that not everything ends with that perfect kiss. Fortunately, my romance TBR is long enough to sustain my HEA addiction and remind me that even when reality is in chaos, the promise of an HEA exists somewhere. Even if it’s only on my Kindle.