The Marrying Kind?

By: Michele De Winton

www.micheledewinton.com

Happy Ever After is as essential in a romance novel as conflict and sexual tension, but there’s a whole bunch of ways it can manifest. I’ve read a bunch of titles recently where everything has been going along swimmingly, hero falling in love, heroine planning out lives of togetherness with great career and financial independence assured and then, seemingly out of nowhere, the hero gets down on bended knee and pops the question. My question is, did he need to?

I like my heroines strong and sassy. Give them a sharp wit and the vocab to go with it and I’m a happy writer. So I’ve pondered whether I need to have them sign up to marriage at all sometimes?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Mrs. myself and while our wedding was less traditional than…well, anything either set of in-laws would have liked, it was still a wedding. And I love being married. Love the certainty, the definition of togetherness, the shared experience. But reading those novels made me wonder if it’s as necessary in romance-land as it often seems to be. If the heroine has always wanted to get married. Has a scrapbook full of pictures of her ideal dress and has been planning it since she was eight‒sure. But if she’s never really thought about it and was simply looking for a Mr. Right to share her life with, does she need to get married? My beef with the books on my recently read pile, was not that the question was popped, more that the timing seemed off. That everything was heading for Happy Ever After anyways and the addition of bended knee felt a little like the author thought they had to. So, I’ll ask it again, does the hero need to?

I have a biker series where I just couldn’t see my heroine walking any sort of isle except one in a supermarket, and yet I have another series where the white dress was a non-negotiable part of the heroines Happy Ever Afters. My surf series is more about bikinis than dresses and the women support each other through thick and thin – there are happy ever afters, there is romance, there is passion and sex and hope and love, but marriage doesn’t necessarily follow in every romance. I figure that’s fine. Life is full of all sorts, I’m hoping my books will be too. But I’m keen to hear what you think? On bended knee or just a life with thee? Does your hero do de-facto?

Thanks for having me!

X Michele

Michele is a novelist based in New Zealand who loves sunshine, chardonnay, (preferably together), chocolate, beaches, trees, great vegetarian food, steamy writing and happy endings. She’s been known to be an all-round arty type, dancing and producing theatre around the globe so it's no wonder that her first romance had a little sparkle of the stage tucked into its pages.  Being a writer was not was she was supposed to be when she ‘grew up' but then neither was being a dancer. Her poor parents. They thought that when she toddled off to law school, they'd bred a responsible, useful adult and instead they got a performer and word junkie. Sometimes her performing past jumps into the dress up box and requires attention. But most of the time she’s content to stay in her PJs. All day. She writes surrounded by the whisper of trees from her home in New Zealand and with only intermittent interruptions from her two young sons and husband. (Okay more like regular interruptions, but dreaming is free.)

 She likes her heroines smart and sassy. Girls can do anything right? But the heroes have to be a match as well, so you can count on men who know just how to make a woman melt. And she always kisses and tells. To find sassy women who catch the eye of a bevy of Billionaires, and other work ranging from Motorcycle Gangs to Surf goddesses and Dream Destination Romantic Comedy, follow Michele on

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