It’s a rule in romance that every story has to end with an HEA, or happily ever after, or at least a happy for now scenario. I like to break rules a lot of the time, but this is one of those rules I will never break. I can’t tell you how many times I read a Nicholas Sparks book or watched one of his movies and cried. I mean, really, who hasn’t?

Getting to that happy ending isn’t always easy, though. Sometimes the characters have to lose what they want the most. Sometimes they have to give up completely. And they always have to change. If the love story was as simple as two people met and fell in love, it would be a short and boring book.

We want someone to root for. Someone we see ourselves in. Someone who needs people in their corner.

I do my best to make each of my stories believable. I don’t want you walking away thinking this would never happen in real life. We all go through challenges and struggle to figure out our love lives. Love is one of the most difficult, confusing, and rewarding things any person can ever experience. I’m fortunate that I get to make people fall in love every day!

But getting to the happily ever after means going through those challenges, facing the difficulties, and battling the confusion to get the reward. Some of my favorite stories are the ones that don’t feel completely hopeless but make you doubt. The hero overhears something and misunderstands. Or the heroine finds out he’s been hiding something. Or there’s something outside the control of both of them that tears them apart.

Our challenges tell us who we are. It’s in that where we find opportunities to be better. We can always be better people, and novels help us to see that. We find parts of a character that we see ourselves in, and believe we can change the same way the character did. We can find that same love. We can have the things we really want. There’s always hope.

In real life, we don’t have the luxury of turning the page and finding out what happens next. Instead, we have to write our own book. We have to decide if we’re going to give him another chance, or if we’re going to be the first to call after a date, or if we’re going to grovel for forgiveness when we screw up. It isn’t set. It isn’t easy to make these decisions. It’s painful and heartbreaking and so worth the reward when we get it.

Keep pushing toward your reward! It’s worth it!

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