A.L. Heard

We’ve all seen it before. You’re reading a romance, the romance leads are finally together and things are going well…but there sure are a heck of a lot of pages left in the book. You know, in the pit of your stomach, that It’s going to happen. The “It” can take a lot of forms, but normally it’s called The Third Act Breakup. The characters have a fight and separate, sometimes very dramatically, and only once they’ve gotten past this Big Moment can they come back together and get their Happily Ever After.

So… is this a thing we like reading in romance?

I did a few polls to ask other authors and readers. I had opinions of my own going in, but I wanted to see what people thought. I had my suspicions, and the results told me what I’d thought I’d see: readers don’t want this break-up.

So you probably got from the title, I’m here to say we need them. And if your instinct is to disagree, hear me out! Not in every story, not in the same way, but I do think that emotional beat that the third act breakup hits is a really important one in romance stories. 

My Background With This Trope

I don’t know that I was very trope-aware when I was younger. I read a lot and knew I liked certain things, but I didn’t have the vocabulary to describe the tropes I liked or consciously aware of the story arcs that’s common. As I started writing first fanfiction and then original works, I picked up the terms for the tropes but it took a lot longer for me to pin down those more plot-focused beats. I wrote Hockey Bois without considering them at all to be honest, and it wasn’t really an intentional consideration of mine until years later when I wrote The Trade Deadline.

Honestly, it was being part of a local book club that made it finally click. Standard romance structure: characters get a Happy Ever After (or Happy For Now, but that’s a later discussion) and there’s a third act breakup. Once it was pointed out, I saw it everywhere…and realized I’d been doing it the whole time.

I have read books where there’s a third act breakup and I *hated* it. Sometimes it’s a great story and I feel like the couple has already overcome their big issue, and throwing that wrench in feels forced. Sometimes I hate it because I think the story does need that big moment, but the way the author went about the separation is not for me. That might be tropes that I personally hate reading (surprise pregnancy and cheating come to mind), or they’re situations that just…don’t mesh with the rest of the story.

Why It’s Important (imho)

If everyone hates it, why is it a thing? Why does it continue to be a thing? 

I don’t have a good answer for why it still exists in the romance world as a whole, I can only talk about why I choose to include it and why I’ve enjoyed it in books (when executed properly).

If I’m watching or reading a romance, and it’s just two people meet, flirt, and get together… that’s kind of boring, right? If they face no or few problems, it’s not an interesting story. There has to be some sort of challenge, some obstacles. If the get together is all that’s included in the story, it’s too low stakes to know if the relationship will last. They need some sort of conflict to see how they resolve it and work as a team. The couple might have a solid foundation, but as a reader I want it tested so I’m confident they will stay either after “the end.” That to me is the main difference between a couple that has a “Happy Ever After’ vs a “Happy For Now” – we see how they handle pressure on their relationship, and seeing that is what gives me the confidence to say, “Yeah, these guys are the real deal.”

You might be thinking, that doesn’t mean they have to break-up! And you’d be 100% right. A third act break-up does NOT need to be a legitimate breakup. It could be a separation, it could be a step-back, it could be something that draws their attention away from each other. It could be the threat of separation (a job offer overseas). It could be a tragedy (death of a family member or an injury). It might be a new person thrown into the mix (family disapproving of the match). It just needs to be A Big Moment that forces them to confront the thing that’s between them and their Happily Ever After. I honestly think the problem is that the term is the problem – it should be Third Act Conflict, where break-ups are a subset. Somehow breaking up has become the standard, and I get why that’s frustrating as a reader. It can be really poorly done.

My characters in particular are not good with communication. They do fine because their chemistry carries them along, but without some moment that forces them to work through the issues (a trade, for example), those issues will eat at them until it’s worse than whatever actually appears on page. And sometimes, the major issue isn’t a relationship one – there are personal ones that at least one of the love interests has to work through before they can settle into a relationship.

Do I Use it in My Books?

As I got to thinking about this post, I thought about each of my romance novels and if I included the trope and how/why I did it. I’m not saying I did a great job or that it was necessary, or even the opposite, this is just me outlining my thought process. There are (obviously) spoilers ahead.

I think I arguably have TWO break-ups in this one: before they’re ever ‘together’ in any capacity after the PA tournament, and the more obvious one in the summer after the Canada tournament when they are ‘together.’ Whoops. Both of them were necessary for Brady in terms of him getting over his issues, but especially that second big one. Brady needs room to go think and process, and he knows the whole time he’s afraid and that drives most of what he does. What he needs is that space without Nick to realize ‘oh shit, I’m absolutely miserable without him’ so he can decide which is worse for him: that fear or that misery. And I do think this is a legit breakup – in Brady’s mind, things are over, he’s ending it, he’s doing Nick a favor not being stuck with him anymore, and he’s getting himself out of harm’s way. But in the end, Nick was someone he felt it was worth being brave for (and hopefully he saw that he was worth it too).

So…this one had to happen lol. It was the whole premise of the story, this trade that finds its way into the title. It was always going to happen and there wasn’t a whole lot they could’ve done to avoid it. I wouldn’t even call this a breakup – despite Lars being dramatic af about it, he’s more upset that it makes things difficult. He doesn’t think it’s impossible, he’s just pissy about the whole thing. Now, if I hadn’t built the whole book around this trade, would they have needed this kind of dramatic ‘break-up’? Meh probably not. I think a lot lower-scale thing might’ve forced them to talk. Anders or Mormor asking Lars about it. Ryan’s contract legitimately ending and them needing to figure their shit out. A fan catching them making out because they get less and less careful. Who knows – but the trade happened, and it threw a grenade in the middle of their relationship. I stand by this one because there’d be no book without it.

There was no break-up at all in this one. There was no point where either Dima or Johnny thought they were going to break up. They were aware that their differing mortality would cause some sort of issue, but they never thought that separating was the solution. Part of it might have been my intention going into this story. It was supposed to be light-hearted and fun (…it did get a little more intense than I was expecting haha), so I wasn’t expecting that dramatic arc. I hit the drama with Johnny’s injury, and that ultimately gave Dima the food for thought necessary to solve their Big Problem, but not the traditional break-up that the trope implies.

So this one… this one’s easily avoidable. These idiots (mostly Evan, but a little Riley) just needed a single conversation. “Hey, I’m just realizing I’m gay and I’m upset about this time you hurt me last season.” Riley is obviously frustrated with Evan’s lack of communication on these very two important things, and he’s also a little annoyed that Evan looks down on how Riley plays hockey. Riley I think would’ve had that conversation if he’d known it was necessary. It was up to Evan to initiate it in a way that they could work through, and he didn’t, so when Riley does find out and it’s not from Evan voluntarily sharing, he’s hurt. Is he a little dramatic breaking up? Yes. Is it an actual break-up? Yes – both characters know they are not currently together, and Evan actively works to fix this. I didn’t go into this novel expecting a third act break-up, it just ended up being the most convenient way to get them to work out The Big Problem (or rather, it was the natural progression of Evan not talking). I could’ve probably figured out another way for it to go down, but it felt the most in character.

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I haven’t finished writing my next hockey romance. It’s a work in progress, and I’m definitely thinking about Henri and Dylan’s Big Problem. Whether or not it includes a break-up to get them there, you’ll have to find out later this year 😉