As a reader, I find reunion romances to be tricky. It's fine if the couple knew each other a bit and dated and then broke up. Or even if there was a one-sided crush and years apart. With that personal background, there can be layers of knowledge and emotion and conflicts to overcome--and also there's a bit of an inherent level of trust in that the hero and heroine aren't starting from scratch in knowing each other.
But for me, if they had a great love in the past and crashed and burned and are coming back together now, I need a little bit more. I need to know that the reasons for the breakup were solid, and aren't likely to occur again. That it wasn't simply lack of communication or misunderstandings or a meddling family member or friend who broke them apart (no matter how realistic or not that can be!). That just makes me doubt that couple and the strength of their love.
And most of all, I want some kind of acknowledgement that the years apart have changed them and they are falling in love with the people they are now, and not just picking up with who they were five or ten or fifteen years ago.
That's the toughest part I think. They are starting half way there, and they have tremendous history, but they also need to figure out who they are now.
Sure, a lot of the qualities that drew them together from the past might be there, but since then they've had jobs, successes, failures, joys and sadness. My favorite parts of the reunion romance are when the hero and heroine acknowledge those differences, that they have grown and changed, but they just fall in love all over again.
I guess I'm just a sucker for the falling in love part and sometimes with a reunion romance I don't see that happen in the pages--I just have to trust the author. And really, I read romances for that excitement and thrill and nervous anticipation. :)
So when I'm editing a reunion romance I'll sometimes challenge the author to give me more motivation and really convince me that they deserve to be together again--and it will last.
How about you--do you enjoy a reunion romance?
Happy reading!