hereandnow mentioned two books by margaret mahy, and those two totally worked for me, though the protagonist of The Changeover is very young (an age when most people aren’t quite dating yet and don’t have a clue what they want). Sorenson, the male lead, is like a blueprint for a lot of similar YA fantasy heroes. I think his charisma carries that one off, but I love Laura for her strength.

Someone mentioned Robin McKinley – the romances in her Damar novels were very believable to me. There’s also a good romance or two in The Outlaws of Sherwood, if I’m remembering correctly.

What about The Perilous Gard?

If anyone has read the sequel to Howl’s Moving Castle, Castle in the Air, you find that Sophie and Howl are married and devoted to each other, but bicker constantly.

I’m sort of with Mimi on romance-qua-romance. There has to be a lot more going on than that for me, unless the novel is a classic.

Libba and Penni’s brooding intense romances: they *ARE* the worst kinds in real life, and I hate to see them romanticised (as in genre romances where the Byronic hero becomes all bright and sunshiny due to the ministrations of his loving wife, etc). But they can be fun to read about. Too many people read Wuthering Heights as a romance, when it’s… not. It’s a portrait of what emotional damage can do to a person. Heathcliff is a jerk; Cathy wasn’t nice either. But by the end, you understand *why* he’s a jerk. Thinking “I want to save that jerk!” – that way lies madness.

On the other hand: lots of Austen has come up, but I love the contrast in Sense and Sensibility between Willoughby (who is all flash) and Brandon (who has substance and reliability, but no flash). The title could as easily refer to them.

I’ve heard people interpret Marianne’s marriage at the end of the novel as sad, because Brandon is so much older than her and because Willoughby, although married, still has feelings for her. I never agree with this stance, and I don’t think it’s what Austen intended, either. Marianne’s happy marriage to Brandon seems like real-life growing up.

I appreciate that Austen didn’t romanticize the charming and unreliable. In real life, you want to marry a Knightley or a Brandon, not a Willoughby or a Wickham.

“Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About” was mentioned, and I think I said in an Amazon review that the couple in that book bickered so much and so nastily that it made them difficult to accept as a couple; there weren’t enough moments of affection and understanding in it.

*Crown Cuel (sometimes published as Crown Duel and Court Duel) by Sherwood Smith
*Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt- this story is a light easy read and a bit fairytaleish but i still love it.

The Far Pavillions by M. M. Kaye – Ash and Anjuli’s story is made of awesome. Ash grows up, thinking he is a Hindu Indian, when he’s got English parents….and his childhood friend, Anjuli, whom he saves as an adult from suttee. Adventure, romance, historicity….omg, so good.

Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander – Lovely but gritty books. I love how the characters change and evolve over time.

Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword – I had such a thing for Corlath. (Also, this, Far Pavillions, and Dune all fit the Lawrence of Arabia story, which while not romantic, per se, imprinted itself deeply on my psyche. So I’m a sucker for that kind of story.)

Elizabeth Peters – Her Amelia Peabody series are awesome. Man, I loved it when Ramses got older and became sexy. Also, the Vicky Bliss mysteries. Because who doesn’t want a John Donne quoting sexy jewel thief for a boyfriend.

I rarely see Kate Wilhelm’s stories mentioned as examples of romances, but I am always touched by the love between Constance Leidl and Charlie Meikeljohn. It’s not the romance of discovering first love, but rather the romance of ongoing, continuing, love. I like that.

I also really like the love between Temeraire and Will Laurence. Naomi is showing something as deeply human and mutual, when I’ve often seen it as purely one-sided and possessive (the love of a person for a ship or an airplane.)

My favorite love story as love story then, with competition nowhere in sight? A Fish Dinner in Memison, with its sheer over-the-top strangeness, its glorious language, its couples that are really all differing aspects of the same divine and eternal couple, and its central dinner party with surprise ending. I may not agree with any bit of Eddison’s philosophy, but that doesn’t matter: the thing’s a tour de force, and one of the glories of the English language.
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*Social relationships in general, minutely observed, will do nicely. So not only do I love Pride and Prejudice, but in other circumstances I can and will merrily argue that it is Not A Romance At All. Comedy will do the trick, and I’m fond of The Grand Sophy. But romance qua romance? Bah, says I. And you don’t even want to get me started on the romantic-misunderstandings plot, where everything would be cleared up in a heartbeat if the characters would just talk to each other like grown-ups.

I absolutely loathe romances in which all one or the other brings to the relationship is beauty, and the reader is clearly expected to think that sufficient unto itself. Feh.

Like Libba, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I find brooding, ill-fated, obsessive, tinged by darkness romance extremely sexy. The best two examples I can think of are Buffy and Angel (no Cordy, no Spike, no no no, Buffy and Angel are the great loves of each other’s lives. Full stop.) and Labyrinth, even though it’s totally unhealthy codependence, and in the case of Labyrinth, it’s basically entrapment and torture. But I always felt completely suckered in by David Bowie’s breathy adoration ‘Live without the sunlight/Love without your heartbeat/I cna’t live within you’. Of course this is pretty much the worst kind of love in real life.

The most important quality is that the main characters are real. They have to have context, and think, feel, hurt. Grow. If they don’t, it’s all just words on a page. And ‘think’ is important: stupidity for plot’s sake is just annoying.

Vivian Vande Velde and Diana Wynne Jones are writers who portray romantic elements that I personally love. It’s not like the characters always hate each other at first; there is initial attraction, but it doesn’t immediately devolve into face-sucking.
Also, I love rooting for the underdog. Jimmy Stewart’s character in The Philadelphia Story, Erik from Phantom of the Opera, jilted lovers… It’s an interesting tension because on one hand, I’d hate the heroine for choosing the main man and breaking the underdog’s heart (who is usually clearly the better man), but on the other hand, I wouldn’t buy into it if she ended up choosing the underdog either.

I think I’m more interested in reading how two people learn about each other’s personalities than about their physical attraction to each other. A good romance for me does not necessarily have to end in kisses or consummation.

I’m a sucker for comedic romances, among other things, and currently, my favorite manga artist Ai Morinaga has a series out called ‘Your and My Secret’. There’s genderswitch, lots of confusion, and as the series progresses, the initial pairing between Akira (girly guy stuck in a girl’s body) and Momoi (manly girl stuck in Akira’s body) begins to recede, and another, even stranger romance starts climbing to the foreground. It’s hilarious and silly and never takes itself too seriously, which is definitely something I appreciate.

Probably my favorite scenario of a romantic situation is one where two enemies suddenly find themselves attracted to each other but are convinced it’s one-sided. It leaves room for tons of sexual tension and fiery sex scenes.

Stemming off that subject, I would have to say my favorite relationship in book, TV, or movie would be Phedre and Josceline from Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Legacy series. This is probably the most thought out and complex “forbidden love” scenario I have ever encountered. Phedre, a prostitute and maschist falls in love with her sworn protector, Joscelin, a priest of their warrior God sworn to celibacy.

In conclusion, any romance that brings to the table a whole lot of tension and drama and steamy-ness is a satisfying romance story for me.

HUGE Spoilers follow!

Margarita falls in love with a writer (Master) who is tormented by his own book, so much so that he almost goes insane writing it. Wanting her to be happy (not with a poor insane writer like him) he dissapears out of her life. She spends a few years miserable with another man, until to make the story short she basically sells her soul to be with her lover.

I just love her undying loyalty to the one she loves. She was willing to be with him through anything because they worked so well together that nothing else mattered. If an author can make me believe that nothing else matters, than I consider it a great romance.

I like it when two characters dislike each other at the beginning…usually because of some mistake or rumor or just a bad first impression. I like it when the man is unable to return or show the love he has for the heroine because of some obstacle. Typically because of his personality (he is reserved or shy) or because love has kicked him in the ass too many times and he is hurt. I also like the heroine to be somewhat clueless that the hero is that turned on by her. But not in a TSTL way…

A bit of unrequited love on the man’s side is great. For some reason this never works for me when it is the woman.

I will agree with one commenter who used Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe. She just has absolutely no interest in him beyond being his friend. She thinks he likes to tease her because he is just a boy and likes to tease girls. His actions towards her are completely misunderstood. Love it!

I also really enjoyed “It Happened One Autumn” by Lisa Kleypas (a recent read of mine) because

SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the hero was reserved and had trouble expressing his feelings towards the heroine whom he found very attractive. She was all wild and crazy, and he loved her for that. But she thought he was stodgy and boring and absolutely annoyed with her. That made for such a great book! He was tortured over his love for her, and she thought he despised her. Lovely read, that was.

I also do not like it when the sex comes too early. Before the characters get to know one another. Either one of those ‘accident’ type things where the heroine is thought to be a prostitute or through some quick marriage and an even faster deflowering (can you tell I read a lot of historicals?). I like the physical bits to be drawn out somewhat until I am dying for the two characters to get together.

I’m a sucker for banter, which I think is verbal sex. Give me a guy who can trade witty barbs or toss off a naughty aside, and I’m a little pool of romanceglobulin. I don’t care for passive characters. I like really flawed characters whose aggression/pigheadedness/insecurities/neuroses/pride, etc. provide obstacles. Because really, if they were perfect, or if one person were just really easy-going, there’d be no tension. It’s the two people trying to establish top doggery, to try to win without exposing their vulnerabilities, that makes for exquisitely painful sexual tension. And of course, I want them to be changed by each other over the course of time, to learn to let their defenses down. But I want it to take a good, long while.

BUT–and I’m loathe to admit this–I also like that brooding, star-crossed, this-will-never-work thing. I’m thinking Heathcliff and Catherine in WUTHERING HEIGHTS or Spike and Buffy or, recently, Azazeal and Cassie on “Hex.” I also love Rochester and Jane in Jane Eyre. I love screwball comedies with Cary Grant or film noir, which is tough-love romance. I loved “Moonlighting” where Bruce Willis was a sexy, obnoxious, funny jerk with one foot on a banana peel. (I’m smiling just thinking about the scene where Cybill Shepherd is on all fours looking for something and Bruce Willis comes in, smirks in appreciation, and says, “You praying or did you finally come to your senses?”)

I don’t want the characters too broadly drawn. It’s all those quirks and tics and assholian defenses that can’t quite be let go of even for love and the various missteps and foibles that make my heart ache as well as leap. I need them to be fully human in order for me to be fully engaged. That’s why “Say Anything” and HIGH FIDELITY work for me as well. (Well, yeah, and because it’s John Cusack. Sue me.) So I guess for me the romance is an outgrowth of character. If it’s just all about the romance and sex without any of the underbelly of what makes those characters tick, I won’t care.

I realize I mostly used movie/TV examples, but fehhh. It’s still romance.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Why? Because it begins in the present (well, relatively speaking) and quickly sweeps the reader away to another time. It feels like a romance, but before long it’s walking the tightrope between historical fiction and fantasy. And the romance is delicious. The characters are vivid and well drawn. The details have all been well researched, and that makes, please pardon the cliche, the story come alive! It was recommended to me by someone who knew I did not *do* ‘romances’, but made me promise to try the first 100 pages. I did, and I was enjoying well enough, but not planning to do much more than finish it. By the time I was 150 pages away from the end, I could not put it down, and when I was done, I started reading it all over again, because it would be several days before I could find the sequel (yes, it is a story that covers a lot of ground, as well as time). And it made my 42 year old heart go pitapat, too, with humor, passion, intrigue, and the sexy bits!

Enjoy!