24 Responses to “Bonnie Dee & The Open Ending”

1. shuzluva Posted: May 21st, 2008 at 8:17 am

   1 I am the first to admit I read romance because of it’s escapist quality, and most fiction books, for that matter. Whether it’s contemporary, urban fantasy, historical…I don’t care about the sub-genre as long as it’s written in a manner that removes me completely from everyday life. Wow, which makes it sound like I hate everyday life. A better explanation would be that I enjoy those moments where my brain is free to shut out the excitement, pressure or angst (or what have you) of the daily goings-on and relax. And if that is the five minutes alone in the bathroom before the twins burst in demanding hair and nail care, I’ll take it. I think it’s a no-brainer to conclude that because real life itself is confusing and often disappointing, readers crave the security of a happy ending. Eh. I’m not sure I need every string tied up in a neat little bow to be happy. Yes, the relationship between the H/H needs to have legs meaning I can’t be left with a complete cliffhanger, or think that they’re on the verge of killing each other, or that the relationship is futile. So in that sense, I do require essentially an HEA. But I don’t mind knowing that there might be bumps along the road, and while they’ve solved their current problems, life isn’t a bed of roses without thorns. And if that means that the writer has left a few things open-ended, I’d prefer that over simply forcing every conflict to be resolved in a perfect little box. That was slightly longer than anticipated. It goes to show it’s not a simple answer for me.

2. Ann Aguirre Posted: May 21st, 2008 at 8:18 am

   2 For the most part, I’m okay with happily for now. I don’t want to end the book thinking the hero and heroine have six months, at most, before things fall apart, but then again, I also loathe those overly sweet epilogues where the previously infertile heroine is knocked up by the hero’s magic sperm. It also depends on the genre. If it’s part of a series, then I don’t mind waiting for my happy ending. If I like the books, I have faith the author won’t write ten books about the same characters and then get bored / kill them off. That would be a deal-breaker for me.

3. bam Posted: May 21st, 2008 at 8:22 am

   3 Author Comment Honestly, I think it’s because the “real” world is mired in uncertainty… people just want to see a happy ending. Word up, Shuz. God, that was too serious of an answer. Man-titty, lolcatz, Fabio, etc. etc. etc.

4. Karen B Posted: May 21st, 2008 at 9:02 am

   4 Personally, I like the HEA endings, but they don’t need to be perfect. Knowing that the couple will have to work on their relationship is fine with me. As with Shuzluva, I read for some peace of mind and to de-stress.

5. Katie Ann Posted: May 21st, 2008 at 9:10 am

   5 The answer I was preparing in my head was pretty nicely covered by the commenters before me: okay if it’s in a series (Suzanne Brockmann’s Navy SEAL series comes to mind, with Sam and Alyssa taking so damned long to finally get together, even though they were clearly heading in that direction), and it’s still better than the epilogue where suddenly they’re married with three kids and one on the way (along with every side character) and it’s one big reproductive bliss. There really aren’t any books that come to mind where I was dissatisfied with the uncertainty of the ending, so I guess it either hasn’t bothered me in the past or I just haven’t come across one.

6. Tameka Green Posted: May 21st, 2008 at 9:13 am

   6 When a author invests so much time to have a good plot for their character and draws the readers in to love them, it’s only fare that we the readers gets an ending that show’s that there’s a happy ending at the end. Now if the author wants to spin said story in a series where other characters are involved I want a happy ending for the other characters too. Lol

7. sandie Posted: May 21st, 2008 at 9:48 am

   7 Bonnie a HEA is a necessity for me. I don’t want a partial one that allows me to come up with my own ideas. If I could make up my own I would be a writer, not a reader. I don’t want to see it continued to another book either because I read a book a day (or used to) and I find it to confusing to try and keep track of charatcters and plots until the next release. Now if it is a different couple coming out in the next book in the series that is fine. I enjoy that type of series. I read and love almost all genres but a HEA is one thing I am very insistant on and opiniated about. *as if you couldn’t tell* LOL sandie

8. Jambrea Posted: May 21st, 2008 at 10:42 am

   8 See…I’m fine with a HFN ending because I think this give an author the option to revisit the characters in a new story if they want to. I LOVE to revisit old characters in new stories. As long as the author leaves me with the feeling that the HFN could VERY easily turn into a HEA, I’m happy.

9. lightlyfell Posted: May 21st, 2008 at 11:06 am

   9 I have to have a HEA. In fact, I’m a big fan of the Super Big Happy Ending where twittery birds fly around the couple singing and dropping $100 bills. I want it all in my romance. And I pretty much want it in one book. Sam and Alyssa, (good example!) is an exception, because it seemed to be coming and also because in the meantime other couples were getting their HEA. But SOMEBODY has to get one, or I’m sad.

10. Kerry Allen Posted: May 21st, 2008 at 11:12 am

    10 “one of the prime complaints non-romance readers have about the genre” That’s the thing that always sticks in my craw. Why should romance authors write books to the specifications of people who have no interest in reading them?

11. Tonni Posted: May 21st, 2008 at 11:26 am

    11 For it really doesn’t matter if it has a HEA and/or HFN because as I read a story it becomes a movie in my head and sometimes after finish reading a book if it’s a good one the movie will continue in my head and I come up with different ending myself. Tonni Avid Reader & Reviewer Of Erotica/Erotic & ETC.

12. BevQB Posted: May 21st, 2008 at 11:31 am

    12 I have a VERY loose interpretation of what an HEA is. Yes, it could be the walk down the aisle, or the declaration of everlasting love, or the epilogue that dots all the i’s and crosses all the T’s (I’m a HUGE fan of epilogues). But it also could be as simple as closing the book with a smile and feeling that “They’re gonna be okay.” Not everything got tied up in a neat tidy bow, not every problem was solved, in fact there are some obvious practical issues that still need to be worked out, but I walk away thinking that they are going to make it and do just fine. Of course, those kinds of endings are also much easier to accept if the book is part of a series and we have an expectation of checking in with the couple in subsequent books in the series- either as central or minor characters. Because otherwise there’s a good chance, if I REALLY LOVED the characters, I’m gonna obsess over what happened to them… but that’s just my OCD sneaking out.

13. kaisquared Posted: May 21st, 2008 at 11:34 am

    13 HEA or HFN are both okay with me. What annoys me are books that end in a way that nothing is resolved at all and the last chapter should just be entitled “Cliff Hanger For Sequel In Numerous Parts To Appear Much Later”.

14. Earlene Posted: May 21st, 2008 at 1:18 pm

    14 I think it depends on the story line. Some times I want the HEA to end the book. Of course if I get to read 3 or more books about the same people to see what life throws at them then all the better. But in the end I do want them to be happy without to much angst.

15. Jill Sorenson Posted: May 21st, 2008 at 1:22 pm

    15 Ah, I love this topic. I saw a movie once, can’t remember the name, where this makeshift family (mom, daughter, random guy) were stranded on an Alaskan island together after fleeing from some evil men. At the end, a plane flies overhead, and the screen just cuts to black. The audience doesn’t know if the family is rescued or gunned down. I was like, what?! And, cool! Sort of. In romance, it just doesn’t work. I don’t want a big WTF at the end of the book. Throw in an epilogue with a couple of drooling babies, I don’t care. Now that I have children I’m a sentimental fool. It seems to me that the very aspects of the genre we complain about (formulaic, unrealistic, alpha men) are part of what makes romance so satisfying.

16. Josie Posted: May 21st, 2008 at 3:46 pm

    16 I prefer a HEA… I too, am a huge, soppy fan of the white picket fence, drooling baby epilogues. In saying that though, I’m usually pretty happy with a HFN but I have to believe in it. There is nothing more depressing than closing a book and thinking ‘they’ve got 6 months before they’re going to be fighting over who gets the cappucino maker’.

17. Bonnie Dee Posted: May 21st, 2008 at 3:58 pm

    17 Sounds like people are divided over the issue. That’s good. Guess that’s why there’s room for all kinds of romance novels. And sometimes it depends on your mood whether you’re into the complete, drooling baby wrap up or a more tentative resolution. (I predict that DBW, drooling baby wrap, is going to become the new acronym for HEA)

18. Ciara Posted: May 21st, 2008 at 5:37 pm

    18 I need a firm HEA. If I pick up a book expecting a romance novel and I don’t get a HEA, I’m terribly, horribly unsatisfied. It’s all about expectation. If I know I’m reading a non-romance novel then I’m prepared for a happy-for-now ending and I can deal with it. But I prefer a HEA. I read romance for that warm fuzzy feeling. I read it for the love, true love, happily ever after. It doesn’t matter if the characters and plot are great - without the HEA it’s like chocolate-chip cookies without the chocolate-chips. It’s probably because I grew up on disney. …and they lived happily ever after. The end.

19. April Posted: May 22nd, 2008 at 1:25 am

    19 My favorite endings are the HEA endings but I can also deal with the HFN endings if it comes to that. Like a lot of others, I read to escape reality and enjoy the confort of happiness in the pages of a book most times versus the HFN way some things end up in real life.

20. tbear Posted: May 22nd, 2008 at 6:03 am

    20 Like someone posted above (damn IE - can’t see the comments while typing!) I can do both endings as long as I know it isn’t a temporary thing…. my question is the opposite - I recently read on of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunter books called Sins of the Night where they central characters were only allowed together only in - I guess you can call it- “pergatory” as shades… they can’t experience sensation, etc. IIRC… yes it was a bittersweet ending, but I didn’t find it particularly satisfying, as if it were tacked on to make the editor happy or something. In general I like the series, but this one left me a bit disappointed. Has anyone else read an ending similar, where it’s happliy in the everafter? If so, was it a satisfying ending?

21. Lorelie Posted: May 22nd, 2008 at 6:21 am

    21 Stupid work computer with the stupid work explorer. :::grumbles:::: Can only see one or two comments, so I apologize if I’m copy catting anyone. I don’t need a big ole Christmas bow on my happy ending. A book I read recently had one of those endings, where heroine was pregnant, and hero was so faboo he gave new clothes to all the servants, the awful father was redeemed and there was even a couple trunks of gold sitting in the corner. Srsly. It was the over-the-top capper on an already painful journey. That being said, I like a well-crafted epilogue sometimes and I definitely like to know everything’s *gonna* be hunkie dorie. Even if it’s not this second. And if I know it’s a series, there’s even more leeway given. without the HEA it’s like chocolate-chip cookies without the chocolate-chips. Hee! I just read Pamela Clare’s Unlawful Contact and the “family” recipie for chipless chocolate chip cookies comes up a couple times.

22. Jill Sorenson Posted: May 22nd, 2008 at 7:33 am

    22 Unlawful Contact…mmmm…that book was hott. And a nice little HEA, if I remember correctly.

23. azteclady Posted: May 22nd, 2008 at 2:02 pm

    23 I like a happy for now with potential–when it’s well done, I can easily imagine it becoming hea, as long as the people involved are willing to work at it. (it sucks that the one day I don’t check this blog there’s a contest *kicking desk*)

24. Neetu Posted: May 26th, 2008 at 3:23 pm

    24 A friend of mine told me about a book they recently read, which they absolutely loved. There was a sequel to the book, with the same characters. Now, however, the hero from the first book was replaced by another hero for the same heroine. Nancy Gideon (or was it Lori Herter?) did a similiar thing in one of her vampire books, where the heroine was “replaced” by another. She hated this idea and I have to say so did I. I have yet to read those books and I doubt I ever will. As you mention, in real life, there are far too many uncertainties etc. and the reason why I read romance is that I am “quaranteed” a happy ending - for those two individuals - together. While, it is acceptable to be that the characters have a happy ending “for now”, since there are always uncertainties in life, I would still like to know that the two character were able to grow and adapt to what life throws at them - together. I’ve also read a few romance where the heroine dies - and for some reason that is okay with me, two of such books remain among my favourites. I think the key difference is the way in which the author deals with the situation and characters. This idea of being “replaced” is what I think I don’t like and so want a more concrete ending where I know everything turns out okay. Just my two cents. Cheers, Neetu