Guestpost: Lea's & Tori's perfect HEA

Today we are very happy to welcome two ladies here at Secret HEA society again. Tori & Lea usually blog all around the interwebs, Closetreader, DIK and Book Lovers Inc just to name some of them. Today they are here to talk about their idea of the perfect HEA. Please give them a warm welcome and share your thought with us in the comments.

Tori and I were delighted when Susi and Caro extended an invitation to travel overseas and spend a little time at the Secret HEA Society. Along with their hospitality they asked that I offer my thoughts on the Happily Ever After in romance.

I’ve blogged about this topic before and it is one I’ve personally pondered a great deal because it is ever evolving. I truly believe that it comes down to the question of what in our modern romance reading world, is a "traditional HEA"? I mean, we have humans, aliens, demons, vampires, shapeshifters including werewolves, and any number of other shifter folk, sorcerers, witches, etc. etc. Then of course there are the various sub-genres of romance that all these species, human or non fit into, contemporary, erotic, paranormal, suspense, military suspense, fantasy, m/m, historical and so on and so on.

So, what am I getting at? On more occasions than I can count I've noticed fellow romance readers responding in blog comments, readers groups etc. that they've "gotta have their HEA". I'm not saying that is bad because it isn't, at all! I mean, I look forward to a happy ending incorporated into the conclusion of my current read too. However, are we talking a "traditional" happy ending here, as in a white wedding dress and white picket fence, or as modern women and men reading a variety romance sub-genres are we more open minded regarding an HEA? I would like to think and hope the latter is true.

As an example, if we are talking about a bad boy hero or heroine who has major 'issues' that they work through over the course of a story, wouldn't a more open ended Happy For Now (HFN) seem more appropriate? Maybe the hero and heroine decide to live together or make a commitment to be monogamous and see what happens. In the case of black ops or military heroes, who live on the edge with danger and intrigue at every turn and will likely to continue this life despite finding their love match, I find it more realistic if there is a non-traditional commitment at the end of the story to be together and see how things work out. Now, I'm not saying that a white wedding dress and picket fence isn't appropriate in this type of scenario, because it certainly depends on the characters and the plot of the story. However, for me a more open ended, nontraditional ending is perfectly acceptable too.

Which brings me to paranormal beings, and I'm going to use the example of Larissa Ione's seminus demons from her Demonica series. Now these guys don't just mate, they bond, for-ever. In fact, the female takes on the same dermaglyph markings as the male when there is a blood exchange and sex during what is a physiological as well as emotional bonding ritual.In Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed Series, her alien male vampires mate for life with a unique human female breedmate who has the blood composition the male requires to sustain him. These are just a couple of examples of HEA’s and there are certainly a litany of others in the thousands of paranormal romance novels on the shelves. There quite often isn't a traditional wedding ceremony or white picket fence when you are reading paranormal romance, and it likely wouldn't fit given the dark tone and the alternate societal structures developed in the storyline. Would it?

I do think historical romance readers tend to see a more traditional HEA in that genre as it has to be kept in context with the times. Traditional marriage was the norm otherwise the woman was considered a whore and the man a hedonist. Of course the guy playing around was accepted and often expected in the good old days but that is a whole other topic, and don’t get me started. (I think in some respects that archaic attitude still prevails today. lol)

In contemporary and erotic romance I've read a number of more nontraditional types of HEA's, HFN’s or even one night stands where there is no commitment expectations whatsoever and I have been very satisfied. In fact, as I mentioned above, for me anyway, this type of conclusion added realism to the story. As a case in point in the polyamorous romance I like it when the conclusion is more open ended because I feel the lovers involved in this type of relationship dynamic would have significant issues to sort through - jealously being the major one. I guess, from my perspective anyway, I find it much more appropriate for there to be an HFN - "I love you both and we will see where this takes us", conclusion rather than a rush to the church for wedding bells (not to mention in many places in the world polygamy is not only considered taboo-it’s illegal - lol).

So what is my favorite type of HEA? As you can see from my ramblings above, I don’t have one. I like a conclusion to the love story that fits the relationship development in a compelling well-written romance, no matter what the sub-genre.

So, what are your thoughts regarding a Happily Ever After in a romance? Does it have to be wedding bells and the white picket fence, or can you handle a more open-ended relationship commitment?

Many thanks to Susi and Caro for inviting me to blog at the Secret HEA Society today. :-)