Tag: Twitter

HEA vs. HFN

Posted October 2, 2008 by Holly in Discussions | 27 Comments

Yesterday we had a discussion via Twitter about Happy for Now vs. Happily Ever After. As a romance reader, I’ve long professed my love of HEAs. I think most of us expect an HEA, no? Why else would we read romance.

But I’ve noticed an increase in dissatisfaction with the normal “marriage and baby” HEA. Or maybe I’ve just been spending too much time w/ Jen (heh). So I posed the question on Twitter:

Talking about HEA’s today. Are they necessary, or you ok w/o one? So far: Romance = HEA; Other genres = doesn’t matter. Your thoughts?

From there we had a lively discussion about whether or not we require a HEA in our books, whether they be part of a series or standalone. Then general consensus was that, yes, we need a HEA. But it made me wonder, what defines HEA? Marriage and baby? Or is being committed/engaged enough? Is an engagement/commitment considered a HFN? Or is HFN just the hope that things will continue?

I believe the answer to all the questions above are subjective. It completely depends on the story, characters and author whether marriage is required, or implied commitment is enough. Some examples I used:

Against the HEA: A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux – I would have liked this book better, had more respect for the author, if she hadn’t written an HEA for this book. I feel like both the hero and heroine were cheated by the throwaway ending Deveraux gave us.

For the HEA: Eve and Roarke from J.D. Robb’s In Death series. I don’t think anything less than the full HEA w/marriage would have worked for this couple. We really needed that full commitment from Eve, I think, to know she was truly serious about Roarke. I think we would have doubted her level of commitment otherwise. I realize this is part of an ongoing series, but even if it hadn’t been (JDR mentioned in an interview once that she’d only planned to write them as a trilogy! I’m so glad she continued on), I still would have required marriage to make the end believable.

Besides the above mentioned, there are many novels I feel require an HEA to make me happy. I’ve never been shy about sharing that I need my stories wrapped up with a nice, neat little bow.
There are times when I’ll accept a HFN, however. Even prefer it, if I’m being honest. I think I’ve become a bit jaded, but too often lately I find myself rolling my eyes that every single couple marries and has a baby and all of a sudden lives happily ever after.

We also discussed how we hate it when a couple gets a HEA in the beginning of a series and then loses it later. Again I used Jude Deveraux as an example: Her Forever trilogy. The h/h got a HEA in book one, lost it in book 2 and never really got it back in book 3. It was very frustrating.

On the other hand, there have been a couple times when a we see a couple from early in the series struggling with something in a later book and I kind of enjoy that. Not that their HEA is compromised, but they’re struggling with some real life conflict.

Again, it’s subjective. I’m curious how the rest of you feel.

Do you require an HEA for each romance novel you read? What about other genres? If you do, what do you consider an HEA? Marriage and baby? Or is commitment/engagement enough for you? Do you find, like me, that there are exceptions to every rule? Or are you pretty set in your beliefs for how a romance should end?


Tagged: , , , , ,

Forced Seduction Poll

Posted July 30, 2008 by Holly in Reviews | 15 Comments

I’ve been Twittering today and the topic of Forced Seduction came up, because it was mentioned in a workshop that readers are craving Forced Seduction, a la Claiming the Courtesan.

My response was, “Forced Seduction? Srsly?”, because I’m sorry, but no. Most romance readers are NOT craving FS. Or at least this reader isn’t. Especially CtC Forced Seduction, which from what I understand is more like full on rape. What ensued was a conversation, via twitter, between Meljean, Ciara, Jaci Burton, Lauren Dane and myself about how that isn’t really the case. We don’t believe readers crave forced seduction. I especially don’t like that it was said that “readers” want FS.

Anyway, during the course of our twittering, I said I was going to put up a poll about it. Then I suckered Meljean into doing graphs w/ the results – her graphs rock muchly – and Jaci Burton got excited. Srsly, that’s how it happened! I can’t make this stuff up.

So here I am keeping up my end of the bargain (or whatever). I’d like to direct your attention to the sidebar, where I currently have a poll up: Are We As Readers Craving Forced Seduction?

I hope you’ll vote. Feel free to leave a comment here, too, with your thoughts on the subject. I do think FS has it’s place in romance (we’ve discussed this before) but I just can’t get over her telling everyone us readers are craving it. Now watch all of you prove me wrong….

ETA: Link to Forced Seduction post and to protect the innocent (and the not so innocent).


Tagged: , , ,