PS: I Hate You

Contemporary romance is a subgenre of romantic fiction set in the modern world, typically the present day. These stories focus on romantic relationships as the central narrative arc and often explore themes of emotional growth, vulnerability, and romantic partnership. Conventional tropes of contemporary romance include second-chance romance, rivals-to-lovers/hate-to-love, forced proximity, opposites attract, miscommunication, and emotional healing. The genre often emphasizes internal conflict, particularly surrounding personal baggage, insecurities, or unresolved pasts, as much as external obstacles. Another staple element of the genre includes the third-act breakup that separates the two love interests, typically due to a miscommunication, before bringing them back together for a Happily-Ever-After (HEA). Most contemporary romances conclude with emotional resolution, if not always a tidy happily-ever-after. The protagonists usually undergo substantial character development, and romantic fulfillment often coincides with personal self-acceptance or transformation.

PS: I Hate You aligns with key genre tropes. It is a second-chance romance and hate-to-love story rooted in forced proximity—Dom and Maddie are compelled to travel together post-breakup and grief. The emotional arc prioritizes vulnerability and grief/healing, central to the genre’s key conventions. However, Lauren Connolly diverges from convention by deepening the emotional stakes beyond the romantic storyline. Grief, familial trauma, and emotional repression occupy equal narrative weight with the love plot. This integration of deeper themes is similar to the works of Ana Huang (Twisted Love), Abby Jimenez (Part of Your World), and Emily Henry (Beach Read). Furthermore, the romance unfolds over multiple seasons and years, resisting the compressed timelines typical of the genre, and the conclusion embraces a slow, evolving, realistic romantic development rather than a fixed, conventional—potentially unrealistic—happily-ever-after.