The Appeal of Slow-Burn Romance
We are all too familiar with the yearning of two characters destined to be together, yet they struggle to find their way to one another. For us readers, as we discover these characters, it is obvious to us that they belong together, even though they remain oblivious to this truth. Sometimes, taking them over half the book to realize it! As we know their love will endure, we too endure their blissful ignorance or stubbornness as they take us along their journey from their first spark.
A slow-burn romance captivates with pining, physical attraction, an inability to stop thinking of the other, and denial of these feelings. Often, the couple is too stubborn and blinded by their struggles, fears, and doubts to realize their love.
Through each character's development arc, we witness their struggles and flaws as they allow themselves to be vulnerable and grow together. We feel with them and experience their journey, rooting for them to find the only right outcome.
It Simply Works
That is why slow-burn works! It fires out our brains in all the right directions. It is the closest thing to real life yet so much more.
With each story, we fall in love again, daydreaming just like we did with our first love.
Recently, I read The Viscount Who Loved Me. As popular as the series is on Netflix, in the book, the relationship between Kate and Anthony is the most passionate slow-burn yet. Two characters focus on familial obligation. For Kate, it is to find her sister a husband and for Anthony, it is to find the next suitable Viscountess Bridgerton. Both are too busy pursuing their own goals and fighting their fears to realize how much they dearly want each other.
“I desire you. I burn for you. I can’t sleep at night for wanting you,” says Anthony to Kate in The Viscount Who Loved Me.
I am sure this made more than one reader swoon, flustered at the climax of their inability to deny their feelings. It’s captivating to witness the tension between these characters gradually shift as they lose their battle to deny their intense attraction, which they mistake for mere frustration.
Slow-burn has to have a perfect balance. It needs the right level of obstacles that culminate at the perfect time. It is not just about two characters falling in love; it's about discovering who they were before and how much they are willing to change, and risk, to keep each other. Through these chapters, we become attached to these characters and root for them to find what they sorely miss. Slow-burn Romance can’t be too long or else the moment will have passed.
Mind Body and Soul
This perfect exquisite balance reminds us to pause, to consider, and not be afraid of taking the right leap. Freely deeply into the type of love that consumes us all, body, mind, and soul. It takes us, readers, along to experience the heartaches and happiness, the pain and pleasure, the stubbornness and vulnerability, the doubts and the final reward. It’s the gradual burn of a candle until it consumes all of its wick in passion.
Of the many other popular romance tropes, one thing often stays consistent: The gradual shift to the everlasting truth that the characters can’t live without one another.
Slow-burn simply works! The next time you read one with strong character development and a gradual emotional shift, let me know if you can put the book down, consumed mind and body by the journey.
What’s your favourite slow-burn romance? Drop your recommendations in the comments!
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