Christina here. I’m totally addicted to Happy-Ever-After endings and absolutely refuse to read books that end badly or even just so-so. I want the full-on fairy tale everyone-is-happy-and-get-what-they-deserve kind of ending in everything I read or write. That means I’m also the kind of reader who LOVES epilogues. I really like finding out that everything has turned out OK in the hero and heroine’s lives, and I enjoy knowing every little detail the author cares to add. But only in their immediate future – I don’t need to know what happens during the rest of their lives.
In real life, very few people ever do get a HEA. Happy for now, or happy sometimes, with ups and downs, is more normal of course, but when I leave characters I’ve spent many hours with, I want to picture them at their happiest. What happens years down the line doesn’t matter, because I won’t know. Or will I?