WARNING! This blog contains possible spoilers for The Gender Divide.

Happily Ever After is a common theme in romance novels, so much so that many of the forums and sites that discuss romance novels refer to it using the acronym HEA.

Although not a romance writer, I have to admit that I am a big fan of Happily Ever After. Part of that may be due to my personality but I also think that it’s inherent in the medium of entertainment. That element of escapism in entertainment is what makes it so popular.

Why am I blogging about this? The Gender Divide just received it’s first less than favorable review. I sent my book to Milady Insansity, a blogger who does book reviews. It appears that she didn’t care for the ending, calling it ”too ’let’s fix everything so that everybody can have a happy ending.’”

So what’s wrong with that? I watch TV, go to movies, and read books in part to get away from the realities of day to day life. If I wasn’t looking for escapism I’d just watch the news or read a newspaper. That’s not to say that everything should be easy and perfect but to me happy endings offer hope for the future.

Admittedly the last chapter of The Gender Divide appears to wrap everything up nice and neatly, but that’s an illusion. I know it, and the characters in the novel know it. In that last chapter they are celebrating the ultimate in hope for the future, as one of the characters is pregnant. If that isn’t a time to feel positive and optimistic, then I don’t know what is. Certainly the issues postulated in The Gender Divide won’t be solved overnight, and some of the solutions envisioned by the characters will likely fail or even backfire, but they, like I do, prefer to look on the bright side.