You’re reading a romance novel or one with a major romantic subplot and then the designated love interest of the female (or male) protagonist does something that hurts the protagonist and you hate them for it, and wish they didn’t end up together… but sure, they end up together.
Due to the nature of this discussion, spoilers from the books are included.
Example of how to write:
Gideon de Villiers from The Ruby Red Trilogy.
>!spoiler here!
Conversely I couldn’t stand the drug out scenes with Harry and Cho, especially the fixation on how wet the kisses were. All of that relationship felt like it was written by an adult dumbing shit down for younger readers, not an adult writing like she remembered how that first kiss felt. Was 13 when I had mine, wasn’t in love with the girl but was completely enamored with her. I remember so much about it: my heart stopping after pounding so hard I could feel my pulse in my neck, the smell of lavender on her skin because she used this scented lotion her mom bought her, her long hair brushing my cheeks as it fell over my face. All those memories and nowhere in there is that “wet” BS Rowling was so fixated on.
Blech. I haven’t read that book in 15 years now and it still makes me shudder how badly Harry and Cho were written and how it brought the momentum of the book to a grinding halt.
Oh, believe me, Harry and Cho were not my faves either, but it was so obviously meant to be baby’s first relationship/crush so I didn’t really mind it that much. I don’t even remember anymore why I didn’t like Harry with Ginny or her as a character, but I guess it was the same as almost all HP couples: pretty much all of them were predictable and boring and straight. 😂
If there is one girl Harry had the most interesting dynamic with, it was Luna tbf. Hermione never felt more than his best friend to me.
lol @ “baby’s first relationship.” Nice.
And I agree too about Hermione. I like her a lot but never saw her as a romantic match for Harry. People burned a lot of calories being mad that those two never became a thing and I never understood where they were coming from.