My Love Hate Relationship with Romance

As you see from the title, I’m talking about romance. Valentine’s day has gone and passed and I decided let’s talk about my aversion for this thing called love.

It’s not that I don’t like romance as a concept: when I was younger, I lived for the romantic subplot in all the movies and books I consumed. Yet when I sat down and saw the two character fall in love, I was left griping at the smallest things. The sexual tension. The characters in general. And at first, I thought it had something to do with my asexuality, back when I was still figuring things out. But no.  I just don’t like the execution. And it’s even worse in movies. The two hour time frame forces me to believe this relationship could have happened this way. For some reason, my brain doesn’t compute the time jumps or montages or something.

This is probably why I’m more lenient towards romance in books though barely; we have more time to see things develop and grow, making me believe that this relationship could happen and stay solid. Except… after the initial get together, I’m bored. This happens in the majority of books I read; the slow burn, the banter, all of it is something I live for. But as soon as the characters have one kiss, my attention runs for the hills. In these books it’s the same old I love them, would die for them, their kiss ignited me; all of the same, repeated phrases and feelings. But then when there’s an added conflict, it’s becomes a why can’t you talk this out situation.

But then there’s the romance genre in general, where there’s nothing else to the story— no elves or royalty or a government to take down. It’s just a guy and a girl in a modern day setting. No one has any hobbies except thinking about the love interest in question after two hours of them meeting. It especially bugs me when the characters are in a big city. How do you guys keep running into each other? There’s only so many times you can pull a fate card.

Let’s talk about my favorite series of all time ever, The Others series it’s about time it makes an appearance again. It takes five books for the two characters to get together and all we get it a kiss at the end of the book. One simple kiss and not only was I satisfied, but of course I want more. Yet it was more than just me wanting them to get together so bad. It was how he was cautious about her feelings on men after her sexual abuse. It was her concern about how her seclusion in the past made her naive towards people and how she could learn about him so not to hurt in. It was care. It was friendship. It was beautiful.

Okay, I just used a full paragraph to gush about my fave. Sorry.

So, while I’m always griping about romance, I think I may be a romantic at heart. If you dig really deep. With a pickaxe. Deep down in there, I’m still that little girl searching for a good romance to make my heart sing <3.

What are your thoughts on romance? Let me know in the comments below!