The beginning of a book obviously has to be good in order for me to get hooked by the story. But, I think the end of the book is just as important as that initial hook.

Occassionally, I get drawn into a story by a promising beginning. I grow attached to the characters, I sit on the edge of my seat as I read about the plot twists. Then the end comes, and well, I’m left feeling…disappointed. I HATE disappointing endings.

And for me (and I know lots of folks out there will disagree on this!), one of the worst endings for a story occurred in Gone With the Wind. I’m sorry, but when it comes to romance, I’m a purist. I want my happy ending, darn it! And when Rhett told Scarlett he didn’t give a damn, I thought–no, that’s so wrong! You’re supposed to give a damn. She’s the love of your life. Yeah, you’ve got confict–mad conflict–but you can overcome it! Come on, Rhett! Don’t just walk away. But he did. Of course, tomorrow was supposed to be another day in their relationship, and good old Scarlett promised that she’d win him back…somehow. But it just wasn’t enough for me.

I didn’t want the ambiguous promise of “somehow”–I wanted a concrete, I-love-you-and-always will ending.

And that’s just the kind of ending I want in my romances. Usually I get that ending. But sometimes, well, sometimes, I’m left floundering.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 19th, 2006 at 7:59 pm and is filed under Romance. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.