You’re reading a romance novel or one with a major romantic subplot and then the designated love interest of the female (or male) protagonist does something that hurts the protagonist and you hate them for it, and wish they didn’t end up together… but sure, they end up together.
Due to the nature of this discussion, spoilers from the books are included.
Example of how to write:
Gideon de Villiers from The Ruby Red Trilogy.
>!spoiler here!
Not sure that I can remember the first, but I finally got back into a consistent reading habit this year and boy! There sure have been a lot of trash male love interests in some of these books. It might be a three-way tie between the men of Cleopatra and Frankenstein, Like Water for Chocolate, and A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers. In 2024 I need to source stories with better romances. Or stick to non-fiction about political economy, it’ll be less disappointing