Ever since I've been trying to get the hang of this romance stuff, I think I've been studying it more closely in all the books I read, even the non-romances. Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar trilogy, usually a comfort read, annoyed me because there's a lifebond that conveniently keeps a couple from having to actually learn about and court each other. (Although of course they still suffer plenty of angst, somewhow.) Then Shannon Hale's River Secrets carried on with a romance from the previous book that had seemed resolved, even though those characters were now secondary, and I wondered if this was breaking romance rules — but of course it wasn't a romance.
And Isobelle Carmody's Obernewtyn, while it drew me in with the main character's voice and the postapocalyptic worldbuilding, had a decent guy who started out a bit antagonistic. Ah ha, I thought right off. He's going to be her love interest.
I'm now engaged in a mad search for the rest of the books in the Obernewtyn Chronicles — not to find out if I'm right, but because it's good stuff. But I'll probably raise my arms Steve Holt-style and shout, "I knew it!" if I am right, even if I'm in public. Perhaps this should be strictly indoors reading.
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