![Walking through the tunnel created by the cheerleaders and Celebrities, senior Frances Tran smiles as the soccer team is sent off during DEN for their playoff game against Rouse tonight. Tran said the wins against Smithson Valley and Alamo Heights gave the team a morale boost to take on the Raiders tonight. “I know we were not 100% confident in those games,” Tran said. “But, Rouse is a big opponent for sure. We’re definitely going into tonight with a lot of morale [because of the previous wins].”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/frances-tran.jpg)
![Holding a bucket of materials in one hand and a roll of tape in another, anatomy and biology teacher Tyler Terry prepares for a lab. Terry said his proudest moments are when his students are happy to see him. “When I take my wife to a football game or something and a bunch of students want to say hi to me or they like to smile and wave and it just makes me feel good that the students are really kind and supportive of me,” Terry said. “[I’m also] proud when I see students perform really well in their extracurriculars because I can see how hard they’re working in my classes, [so] when I see that they’re also working so hard in other things. Like they’re winning band competitions or they’re getting awards for their theater productions, or I see them put on their choir shows, that’s like, wow, you guys are incredible.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Rags-6.png)
![Catching a ball, junior Alivia Robinson plays at the Cedar Park vs Glenn game. Having played since she was 5 years old, she is dedicated to softball and has committed to UTPB for softball. “When I got my offer it took me a very long time to decide where,” Robinson said. “Softball has always been my dream for college, and UTPB is my fit. When [I committed] I knew I was going to be loved and supported.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Lilly-Adams-3.13aliviaedit-901.jpg)
![Holding her dog, Nova, senior Ariana Balakrishnan poses for her senior pictures while Nova wears a bandana with her college decision. Balakrishnan applied to 18 colleges in total, but she decided on Columbia in the end. “Right before I clicked the button to open Columbia’s letter, I literally looked at the camera and go ‘This is just gonna really suck because I wanted it so bad,’ and I clicked it and all of a sudden you hear trumpets,” Balakrishnan said. “There’s a video that plays when you open it and I actually didn’t watch the video, I just watched the screen go black, because every day of December before ED [Early Decision] I would go on YouTube and watch the acceptance video to manifest it, so immediately when the screen went black, I started screaming and jumping up and down. And my parents in the video are like ‘What are you doing, where’s the letter,’ and I was just screaming ‘I got in, I got in.” I just started crying, and it just felt like everything in the world came together.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/ariana-2-300x217.jpg)
The male protagonist runs through the airport, his feet pounding on the ground. Despite her small five-foot-three frame he can see her head weaving through the crowd, just out of reach. The overhead speakers call her flight and she lines up to board the plane. Just as she takes her seat and gives one last goodbye glance towards the city where she met the love of her life, a stranger slides into the seat next to her. He’s breathing heavily and she looks over at him in curiosity. Their eyes meet and they both know. They can’t live without each other.
This is the ending of many romance novels, and it is loved by authors because it’s a story wrap-up that leaves readers right on the edge of their seat, wondering if the promised “happily ever after” that comes from reading this genre will happen despite the impossible circumstances. Every year I read on average 36 romance novels and they all involve these “impossible circumstances.” Whether they are star-crossed lovers, friends, enemies, competing business partners, or two unlucky people that find themselves destined to be together, the couple in every book manages to end their story with a sky full of fireworks while they whisper to each other, “I love you.” However, not all these books are good books.
In my experience with most of the romance books I’ve read, I find myself hooked in the beginning, suffering through the middle, and ending up only mildly satisfied with the kiss at the end. But I don’t want to be mildly satisfied when I finish a book, I want to be grinning from ear to ear, blushing a little and celebrating the couple I just spent hours reading about. So what is a good romance book? The first key part of a romance novel, while it may seem obvious, is the two protagonists have to actually fall in love.
Sometimes you reach the end of a romance book and realize the two leading characters don’t know anything about each other. I mean I get the whole “love at first” sight thing, or “when you know you know.” My grandma proposed to my grandpa on the second date and they are still happily married after 50 years. My own parents met in January of 1997 and got engaged in that following April. But, for both my grandparents and my parents, they both had enough time to build their relationship and feel the chemistry. The time the two protagonists know each other doesn’t matter, but if there is no connection between them that I, as the reader, can feel, then the book is only getting a maximum of two stars from me.
Next, enemies to lovers is the only trope worth reading. I don’t want to spend hours reading about two friends that suddenly realize they have feelings for each other and now their world is going to end. Boring. Instead I want a prideful Elizabeth Bennet and a rude Mr. Darcy to transform into a dashing Westley and a beautiful Buttercup, who were willing to sacrifice anything for love like in the story of “The Princess Bride.” Lots of people prefer the trope created from “Romeo and Juliet,” where two star-crossed lovers will do anything to be with each other, but that’s way too dramatic for me. I’d much rather read witty banter between two sworn enemies that are falling for each other over hidden feelings and secret meetings.
If you’ve ever read a romance book or watched a romance movie, you’d know that this genre follows a very simple pattern. The two leads meet, spend time together, fall in love, then they fight and make up and their story ends with a kiss. The climax of these stories is when the fight occurs, which is always a misunderstanding that can easily be resolved if the two protagonists actually talked to each other about. But let me tell you, this fight can make or break a novel. Misunderstandings are what take the main couple from I like you to I love you because, according to every romance book, two people can’t realize that they can’t live without each other until they are torn apart. If this misunderstanding is quickly resolved, then the book feels like it’s missing a huge part of its story. People that read romance novels want to see the male protagonist running through the airport to stop the girl from boarding her flight; they want to see the two characters searching for each other and the moment when they decide to forgive each other after realizing they love each other.
I read romance books because I enjoy the fluctuation of emotions they make me feel. If a romance book isn’t full of undeniable chemistry, quirky main characters that claim to hate each other, and a very climatic fight, then it’s basically as exciting as the “It’s a Small World Ride” at Disney World. Super boring, very repetitive and also really annoying. If I’m reading a romance novel, then I want it to be a thrilling roller coaster ride that makes me grip the handles tight and triple check if my seat belts are buckled correctly. If you want to read romance novels but you don’t want to read a bad one, here are a couple of my favorites: “Cross My Heart” by Julie Wright, “Edenbrooke” by Julianne Donaldson, and “Listen to Your Heart” by Kasie West. Happy reading!
