One of the rule of romance novels is that they have to have an emotionally satisfying ending.
Many authors and readers use the phrase happy-every-after to describe the perfect ending for a romance novel.
While I agree that the a wedding is the ideal happy-ever-after in a Christian romance, I don’t necessarily think the wedding has to happen as part of the novel. It doesn’t even need to happen in the epilogue.
As an example, I’ve just finished a novel which featured the hero and heroine marrying at the end (I’m not going to name the book for reasons that will become obvious).
The heroine has just moved to a small town after she inherits the Inn her aunt ran. The hero is a local businessman who maintains the Inn’s gardens in his spare time. They’re attracted to each other, and a relationship develops. The book ends with their wedding, and she’s pregnant by the “one year later” epilogue.
My problem? The “hero” is a widow whose wife and son died less than two months earlier.
Wait. A. Minute.
“Hero” has been widowed for just two months? And he’s already moving on into another relationship? And his mother is encouraging it?
We find out the hero never really loved his first wife, that their marriage was a mistake. Well, that might explain how he’s emotionally able to move on so quickly, but it doesn’t show good judgement. I really wasn’t interested in the romance plot. The subplots were the only reason I kept reading.
In that case, the wedding scene crowned an already distasteful plot.
If the couple only meets for the first time at the beginning of the novel, and the novel takes place over a relatively short timeframe (weeks or months), then I prefer that the story doesn’t end in a wedding, or even an engagement. I’d rather that came in the next book in the series, after the couple have truly had a chance to get to know each other.
But if the story is a reunion romance or a friends to more story, then I’m more relaxed.
The couple have history. They know each other. That, to me, makes it more likely their relationship will succeed … as long as they can resolve whatever issue split them up in the first place.
Now, having said, that, I do enjoy a good marriage of convenience story …
And those typically include a wedding scene at or near the beginning. But in those stories, the whole plot is strangers getting married, then falling in love. The wedding is what brings the couple together, and the whole point of the story is that they will establish a lasting relationship.
