the perfect love story?

for those who love romance… be it in a paperback or in a romantic comedy movie..

what’s the most perfect love story? or probably the best question is what are the ingredients of the best love stories? what are we looking for in a love affair? questions, questions. so many of them that i’m afraid we can’t have all the answers.

boy meets girl. both fall in love with one another and they live happily ever after. right… but it’s boring, although we ourselves wish for it to happen to us. however, we romantics expect more pizzazz. we want to be emotionally involved. we want excitement.

the classic romeo and juliet is still a hit. you and me against the world. so daring and romantic. still, we want a happy ending. triumph over tragedy. we want love to conquer everything.

try this one. rich boy meets and falls in love with a poor girl. his family is against the relationship and of course after a lot of conflicts they still end up together. ha, another classic but the formula still works.

but what really makes us fall in love with the characters? the answer is in itself. it’s character. who could resist a mr. darcy type? lke lizzie bennet we fall in love with the brooding handsome man. under the sarcastic humor is the heart of a romantic. we like our heroes to be taller than most, a bit aloof and arrogant, and irresistible. as for our heroines, we like them to be persistent, haughty, attractive and we want them to stand up to their counterparts. we love the “opposites attract” plots. not really opposites. we just want explosions and humor in the story. the two may be alike and they always can’t stand each other. neither can they resist each other. grand passion. that’s the main thing we want in a love affair. we want our beloved characters to be hurt by each other. call that masochistic or sadistic, but we want pain, loss, rejection, and grief. we want to feel sadness so that we can appreciate the joy of two souls joined together by love. we go through each moment with our beloved characters. we share their passion and their happiness in the end. that’s what we love in romantic love stories. it doesn’t matter whether in reality our love lives are as grand as a jennifer drew novel or as soppy, sweet, hilarious, and touching as “the laws of attraction” or “two weeks notice” or “runaway bride”.

as long as we can indulge in our fantasy, we always love a love story.