Friends become lovers. Enemies become lovers. Former lovers get a second chance together. Arranged marriages generate real feelings. A human falls in love with a high lord of the fae. These are just a few of the plots readers can find in modern romance novels, which vary in tone, setting, and characters but are united by one key characteristic: a central love story that culminates in the all-important HEA (happily ever after, for the uninitiated). Everything leading up to that—the meet-cute,