Interesting question!
I’m not a big fan of either trope, and can’t remember the last time I read either a jilted or a runaway bride.
A jilted bride is always going to have my sympathy …
As long as she’s a likeable character–and romance heroines tend to be likeable.
A good novel always needs a good story question, and a jilted bride is a great story question: why has he jilted her?
For a jilted bride story to work as a romance for me, one of two things need to happen. Either the initial couple either have to end up together (which means he needs to have a really good reason for jilting her in the first place, and he needs to convince me he’s not going to do the same thing again).
Or she ends up with a different guy, one who will treat her right. For this to work, we need to find out something about the first fiance which shows she never really knew him.
Otherwise, I’m left wondering if she really knows what it means to love someone until death us do part.
A runaway bride is similar but different.
For a runaway bride story to work for me, I have to understand why she ran away. Did she decide she didn’t love him enough (or at all)?
Did she discover something about him that shows her he’s not the man she thought he was (this probably works best in romantic suspense, when she finds out he’s an assassin for hire or something similar).
If so, be the runaway bride. Leave before the wedding.
Even in real life, I would absolutely say to anyone that if they are having any second thoughts about marriage, they should call off the wedding. Despite the inconvenience and the expense, that’s going to be easier than working through a divorce later.
