History Main / RomanticPlotTumor

* The media has often been [[WorstNewsJudgmentEver accused of this when it comes to news]], with focus on celebrity gossip, relationships, and breakups over... well, real news. An example would be ''The New York Post'' on January 1, 2012. On December 31, 2011, news sources reported about further unrest in Syria, the acknowledgement of Kim Jong Un as the supreme leader of North Korea and a warning about the nation not changing their policies, general elections in Jamaica, saber-rattling by Iran against the United States and Israel (or the other way, depending on how you look at it), and Russell Brand ending his marriage to Katy Perry. [[https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/2011-12-31-front.jpg?quality=100&strip=all&w=744 Guess which story showed up on the front page of the New York Post]].

* While in the original story of Dr. Seuss' ''Literature/TheLorax'' the nameless boy came to get Truffula seeds from the Once-ler to restore his world after being turned to a total wasteland, the [[WesternAnimation/TheLorax2012 CGI animated film adataptation]] on the other hand, decided to give the boy (who in the film is named Theodore "Ted" Wiggins) a generic love interest as his main motivation for Truffula seeds was to solely win her affections, as she wanted to see a real Truffula tree.

At best, it results in a compelling little side-romance between two minor characters [[TriangRelations (or sometimes more than two characters)]] that avoids becoming too important in the grand scheme of things. At worst, it becomes a monster unto itself and brings the whole story down with it.

** Ironically, the post-George Lucas ''Star Wars'' Sequel Trilogy contains a similarly divisive and story-overriding relationship beginning in ''Film/TheLastJedi'': initial enemies Rey and Kylo Ren develop a bond after he’s tortured and [[MindRape violated]] her before murdering one friend (his own father) and maiming another (Finn)… [[StrangledByTheRedString without much time,]] [[UnfortunateImplications and without much change in behavior on his part or much explanation as to why she feels attracted to him.]] The relationship was simultaneously as hated as this trope implies but ''also'' a popular pairing… by about [[BrokenBase half the fanbase.]] It managed to help make Kylo Ren (often seen as a CreatorsPet) a BaseBreakingCharacter and kicked off a change in focus on the story that spun off to contribute to ExecutiveMeddling and behind-the-scenes drama to cut short his run as DragonAscendant so he could pull a HeelFaceTurn against a [[AssPull “somehow returned” Emperor Palpatine]] and get kissed by Rey before dying… meaning the romance and its favored member did, in fact, take over the story.

--> "...and I know not what could have led [[DirectLineToTheAuthor the author to have recourse to]] [[ShowWithinAShow novels]] and irrelevant stories, [[ItsAllAboutMe when he had so much to write about in mine; no doubt he must have gone by the proverb 'with straw or with hay, &c.,' for by merely setting forth my thoughts, my sighs, my tears, my lofty purposes, my enterprises]], [[DoorStopper he might have made a volume as large, or larger than all the works of El Tostado would make up]].

* In ''Literature/{{Jaws}}'' there is an illicit love affair, lasting one afternoon, between Matt Hooper and Ellen Brody. It seems so contrived, it is easy to believe the rumor that it was the product of ExecutiveMeddling. The [[AdaptationDisplacement better known (and more critically praised)]] [[Film/{{Jaws}} film adaptation]] thankfully removes it and makes Brody and Ellen a HappilyMarried couple instead.

** The Cook/Effy/Freddie [[TriangRelations love triangle]] in series 3 was one of those that looked perfect on paper, but was ''horrendous'' on-screen; Cook's an unlikeable twat, Freddie can't act, and Effy can only get away with being weird and mysterious when she's a side character (like she was in the first two series). The triangle was so all-consuming that it destroyed every other storyline it touched (not for nothing did it become known as the [[FanNickname "Triangle Of]] [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom DOOM"]]), including most notably the [[HeterosexualLifePartners Bromance]] between Cook, Freddie, and JJ. The only storyline to escape unscathed - the Naomi/Emily/Katie triangle - is the most popular of the season, and by some distance. It's quite revealing to draw out all the significant relationship triangles to see how they interact ([[EverybodyHatesMathematics they do form a planar graph]]) because it demonstrates how central the Cook/Effy/Freddie triangle was and how important it was that it was done well. Which it wasn't.

* One of the main complaints in ''VideoGame/DeadSpace3''. Ellie and Isaac fought through the horrors of the Necromorph outbreak on the Sprawl in ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2'', and apparently had some form of romantic relationship off-screen (though such was not implied in 2). Come 3, Ellie and Isaac have broken up (with Ellie citing Isaac's [[NoSympathy inability to just man up and deal]] [[ShellShockedVeteran with his PTSD]] ) and Ellie quickly replaces Isaac with an Earth Gov military Officer: Robert Norton. Despite being on a mission as humanity's last hope from becoming space-zombie fodder, this love triangle becomes the primary conflict among the group that constantly interferes with the mission at hand, with Isaac and Norton constantly butting heads over Ellie's affections. By trying to protect Ellie (who was once so capable that, in the second game, she rescues Isaac) and to accommodate their CockFight, she succumbs to BadassDecay; weakening all three characters. The third game also tries to play up the drama of Norton's SanitySlippage, with Isaac and Ellie claiming they have no idea why Norton is becoming increasingly hostile to Isaac and possessive of Ellie, even though both of them know exactly what being around Markers [[AxCrazy do]] to people.

* In many story routes of ''VideoGame/StarFoxCommand'' it's easy to forget that the end goal is to regroup the Star Fox team to stop the Anglar invasion of the Lylat System rather than watching Fox's and Krystal's bellyaching sessions over their romantic woes. It doesn't help that their offscreen DowntimeDowngrade was kickstarted by Fox holding the ConflictBall, and that [[SpotlightStealingSquad Krystal often hogs the spotlight]] [[TookALevelInJerkass while losing almost all of her positive traits]].

* While in the original story of Dr. Seuss' ''Literature/TheLorax'' the nameless boy came to get Truffula seeds from the Once-ler to restore his world after being turned to a total wasteland, the [[WesternAnimation/TheLorax2012 CGI animated film adataptation]] on the other hand, decided to give the boy (who in the film is named Theodore "Ted" Wiggins) a generic love interest as his main motivation for Truffula seeds was to solely win her affections, as she wanted to use them to grow Truffula trees.

* While in the original story of Dr. Seuss' ''Literature/TheLorax'' the nameless boy came to get Truffula seeds from the Once-ler to restore his World after being turned to a total wasteland, the [[WesternAnimation/TheLorax2012 CGI animated film adataptation]], on the other hand, has the boy (who in the film is name Theodore "Ted" Wiggins) only wanted Truffula seeds to impress his crush who wanted to use it to grow Truffula trees.

* While in the original story of Dr. Seuss' ''Literature/TheLorax'' the nameless boy came to get Truffula seeds from the Once-ler to restore his World after being turned to a total wasteland,the [[WesternAnimation/TheLorax2012 CGI animated film adataptation]] has the boy (who in the film is name Theodore "Ted" Wiggins) only wanted Truffula seeds to impress his crush who wanted to use it to grow Truffula trees.

* While in the original story of Dr. Seuss' ''Literature/TheLorax'' the nameless boy came to get Truffula seeds from the Once-ler to restore his World after being turned to a total wasteland, while in the [[WesternAnimation/TheLorax2012 CGI animated film adataptation]] has the boy (who in the film is name Theodore "Ted" Wiggins) only wanted Truffula seeds to impress his crush who wanted to use it to grow Truffula trees.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': The crush the show gave ComicBook/WonderWoman on ComicBook/{{Batman}} has been frequently accused of this by Wonder Woman fans. These fans preceived the relationship as the creators of the show, many of whom were admitted Batman fanboys like Creator/BruceTimm, turning DC's premier heroine into a cheerleader for Batman. The fact that the series ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' had already made the pairing DoomedByCanon served to make any romantic moments between the two even more superfluous.

* One of the more heavily disliked aspects of ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' is Donatello's constant crush on April. It wasn't so bad during the first season where it just popped up every now and then, but in season two the new writers decided to take it and make it the primary aspect of Don's character, making every single one of his appearances devoted to him lamenting on his crush on April and getting jealous over Casey, which has also wound up limiting April's character development as well. Even worse is by the end of the season it seemed that the whole love-triangle aspect was finally resolved, only for the whole thing to come back with a vengeance early on in the third season. By that point, fans had become sick of it.

** Ironically, the post-George Lucas ''Star Wars'' Sequel Trilogy contains a similarly divisive and story-overriding relationship beginning in ''Film/TheLastJedi'': initial enemies Rey and Kylo Ren develop a bond after he’s tortured and [[MindRape violated]] her before murdering one friend (his own father) and maiming another (Finn)… [[StrangledByTheRedString without much time,]] [[UnfortunateImplications and without much change in behavior on his part or much explanation as to why she feels attracted to him.]] The relationship was simultaneously as hated as this trope implies but ''also'' a FanPreferredCouple… by about [[BrokenBase half the fanbase.]] It managed to help make Kylo Ren (often seen as a CreatorsPet) a BaseBreakingCharacter and kicked off a change in focus on the story that spun off to contribute to ExecutiveMeddling and behind-the-scenes drama to cut short his run as DragonAscendant so he could pull a HeelFaceTurn against a [[AssPull “somehow returned” Emperor Palpatine]] and get kissed by Rey before dying… meaning the romance and its favored member did, in fact, take over the story.

* TheMovie of ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' features a fairly obvious example of this trope, between Arthur and Trillian. [[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy The "original" source materials]] all handled their past differently, but agreed that Arthur had been briefly interested in Trillian during a single superficial encounter in the past; when he re-encounters her during the story, he displays jealousy at a few points, but not much more than that. By comparison, the movie version features an Arthur who is desperately pining over Trillian, who could have been his one true love [[CannotSpitItOut had he not been afraid to pursue her]], and he spends most of the movie time thinking about, worrying about or focusing on her. This was deliberately inserted by Creator/DouglasAdams when drafting the movie, before his death, to increase studio interest and audience acceptance of the movie. (Which doesn't necessarily rule out that the new love plot was half-baked or several draft rewrites away from being good.)

** Ironically, the post-George Lucas Star Wars Sequel Trilogy contains a similarly divisive and story-overriding relationship beginning in ''Film/TheLastJedi'': initial enemies Rey and Kylo Ren develop a bond after he’s tortured and [[MindRape violated]] her before murdering one friend (his own father) and maiming another (Finn)… [[StrangledByTheRedString without much time,]] [[UnfortunateImplications and without much change in behavior on his part or much explanation as to why she feels attracted to him.]] The relationship was simultaneously as hated as this trope implies but ''also'' a FanPreferredCouple… by about [[BrokenBase half the fanbase.]] It managed to help make Kylo Ren (often seen as a CreatorsPet) a BaseBreakingCharacter and kicked off a change in focus on the story that spun off to contribute to ExecutiveMeddling and behind-the-scenes drama to cut short his run as DragonAscendant so he could pull a HeelFaceTurn against a [[AssPull “somehow returned” Emperor Palpatine]] and get kissed by Rey before dying… meaning the romance and its favored member did, in fact, take over the story.

** Firestar/Spottedleaf -- A much more divisive ship than the above (probably the most divisive of the series, in fact). Little to no relationship was built between the two while Spottedleaf was still alive, yet the entire rest of the series treats it as though they had a big, intricate romance that ended in tragedy. Their "relationship" serves the plot quite a bit despite barely existing at all. Sometimes, like in the cast of Firestar's Quest, the focus is so into this shadow of a ship that the main plot gets pushed to the side.
** Bluestar/Oakheart -- In the first series, their romance was considered a tragic story that threw both, but especially Bluestar, into a sympathetic light. In Bluestar's Prophecy, once Oakheart enters the picture, almost Bluestar's entire arc is about her underdeveloped, sudden, and short romance with him.
** Bramblestar/Squirrelflight -- While their relationship is considered one of the better ones for the most part, the plot sometimes decides to spend WAY too much time on their relationship drama and has Bramblestar give DisproportionateRetribution to Squirrelflight after the plot involving their kits. The New Prophecy focuses on them for almost half of the arc, and Bramblestar's Storm may as well be called "Bramblestar and Squirrelflight: WillTheyOrWontThey".
** Leafpool/Crowfeather -- These two suffer from the same issues as Bluestar/Oakheart above, only without the prior build-up. What's worse is that their relationship is the focus of more than just one book; half of The New Prophecy, the last two books of The Power of Three, and about half of Omen of the Stars is heavily reliant on their fling in Starlight and Twilight. Of course, considering what it resulted in, it is partially understandable. However, plenty of fans are sick of them at this point.
** Dovewing/Tigerheart -- Their relationship was pretty drawn out, Dovewing's feelings spanning almost the entirety of Omen of the Stars and serving as a major plot for her, despite Tigerheart's devotion being rather limited and being seen as a traitor in her eyes for helping his Clan hold her sister hostage and being in the Dark Forest. By Bramblestar's Storm, set a whole six moons after the ending of Omen of the Stars, she still has very obvious feelings for him. It took yet another arc and one Super Edition for their WillTheyOrWontThey to finally be resolved, with Dovewing [[spoiler:having Tigerheart's kits and deciding to move to [=ShadowClan=] to be with him.]] In total, that's fourteen books, fifteen if Dovewing's Silence is counted. Understandably, their relationship, bearing almost no substance, got old fast. If one never read the chapters of the fourth arc told through the POV of the three other main characters, one would think an imminent war wasn't about to break out between the living cats and the vengeful cats of the Dark Forest.

* ''Franchise/{{Buffyverse}}'': The Buffy/Angel elements in "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E21EndOfDays}} End Of Days]]"/"[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E22Chosen}} Chosen]]" and the entire episode "[[{{Recap/AngelS05E20TheGirlInQuestion}} The Girl in Question]]" are argued as Romantic Plot Tumors for their respective series, whose leads both changed and developed drastically different lives from the one they had together. Making it worse was their proximity to the end of each series, which used precious screentime that could have been dedicated to setting up the storyline of the finale.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'': The main story was about the league trying to liberate an alternate earth from an evil Justice League, but spent quite a bit of time developing a romance between Rose Wilson-2 and Comicbook/MartianManhunter. Had the story taken place in the Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse (as originally intended) it would have probably been valuable character development for him, but it's pointless when that's taken out of the equation.

* The "romance" between Gwen and Kevin in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'' was shoved down the audience's throat at every opportunity, with some suspecting that it was done to [[ShipSinking drown out]] the KissingCousins vibe given off by Ben and Gwen in the [[WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}} original series]]. It didn't help that it was tied into what was seen as a poorly explained HeelFaceTurn on Kevin's part.
** Ben and Julie's romance seen in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'' and ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' is also perceived as a forced attempt by the writers to drop the same KissingCousins vibe mentioned above. It's not as obvious as the Gwen and Kevin debacle, but it still didn't come off natural for the viewers; especially when ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' came around and Julie continued to stay with Ben despite him constantly jeopardizing their relationship by breaking promises to do ''non-hero'' activities and actively flirting with others ''while'' she's in earshot. ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'' took this angle and had them break up between series because of Ben's self-centered behavior, with Julie only getting two appearances in ''Omniverse''; ironically, even those who didn't like the relationship saw this break-up as poorly done.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': The crush the show gave ComicBook/WonderWoman on ComicBook/{{Batman}} has been frequently accused of this by Wonder Woman fans. With many saying it was the creators of the show, many of whom were admitted Batman fanboys like Creator/BruceTimm, turning DC's premier heroine into a cheerleader for Batman. The fact that the series ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' had already made the pairing DoomedByCanon served to make any romantic moments between the two even more superfluous.

* InUniverse in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' -- in "Open Book", Connie laments that her favorite book series ended with the two main characters [[StrangledByTheRedString suddenly hooking up]] and getting married, with ''fifty pages'' dedicated to describing their wedding cake. Funnily enough, the conflict of the episode is resolved when Steven admits he felt the opposite, thinking the ending was really sweet and pointing out all the obvious romantic beats that Connie had ignored in favor of focusing on the worldbuilding and social commentary.

* While in the original story of Dr. Seuss' ''[[Literature/TheLorax]]'' the nameless boy came to get Truffula seeds from the Once-ler to restore his World after being turned to a total wasteland, while in the [[Western Animation/TheLorax(2012)|C.G.I animated film adataptation]] has the boy (who in the film is name Theodore "Ted" Wiggins) only wanted Truffula seeds to impress his crush who wanted to use it to grow Truffula trees.

-->'''Tom Hopper:''' The fact that they went through that--in a way does kind of bring closure to it, because I think it says... that it shouldn't ''really be'', y'know? It's not right. And it felt wrong as it happened--on multiple levels. That's not really want they both want. It's like a weird sort of security blanket they have, which comes out in a weird, abusive manner, from both sides.

** When trailers for ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls1'' prominently featured a potential {{Love Interest|s}} for main character Twilight Sparkle, the fans were outraged. When the movie came out, only scene with said love interest proved vital to the main plot (and only because the other character in that scene was holding the IdiotBall) and no romantic tension was ever resolved in the following films, with ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsLegendOfEverfree Legend of Everfree]]'' having a character [[LampshadeHanging directly telling the love interest that he should just give up making that relationship happen]].

{{Love|Tropes}} is a [[ThePowerOfLove powerful]] emotion. It can completely change the way a character acts and thinks. It can be used to create [[LoveHurts drama]], [[LoveMakesYouStupid stupidity]], [[LoveMakesYouCrazy comedic relief]], or [[WillTheyOrWontThey suspense]]. Maybe the writer just wants to tug at the audience's heart in a way they couldn't with the rest of the story. Whatever the reason for introducing it, love is a powerful tool in storytelling that can also make the audience feel okay with [[CoitusEnsues abrupt, arbitrary sex scenes]].

* A lot of Beth and Jerry's [[TheScrappy scrappyness]] in ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' is owing to how much screen time their failing dysfunctional marriage and petty squabbles get, particularly in Season 2 where they both took massive [[TookALevelInJerkAss levels in jerkass]] and their bickering bordered on [[DemotedToExtra demoting Rick and Morty to extra]]. Many fans either never cared about their marriage at all, have just gotten sick to death of it never going anywhere, are just incensed that it's [[JustHereForGodzilla taking screen time away from Rick and Morty's adventures]], or even feel Beth and Jerry are much more interesting characters when their dysfunctional relationship isn't the focus and feel potentially good characters are [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter being squandered]]. Thankfully Season 4 has [[AuthorsSavingThrow barely even touched on their relationship drama]].

* ''Anime/HappinessChargePrettyCure'' suffered ''terribly'' from this the most due to a LoveTriangle between Megumi, her best friend Seiji and the Cures' mentor Blue. Seiji has a crush on Megumi, but Megumi was starting to have feelings for Blue (something that hadn't been seen since the ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5'' saga), but Blue had been sending mixed signals all the way, running with the "Precure cannot fall in love" spiel while having ''something'' towards Megumi. There's this entire WillTheyOrWontThey until the ''entire subplot is dropped'' when [[spoiler:the Cures rescue Queen Mirage, return her to her true form -- a Cure in the past that ''Blue fell in love with and broke her heart because of his duties'' -- and they fell in love again]]! And anything between Megumi and Seiji is flat-out ignored! According to a [=PreCure=] fan, this is due to the writers not wanting the morals of the story to be distracted by the results. The morals is that romance can be happiness but at the same time causes misfortune and everyone should be mindful of other people's feelings even if they don't feel the same way.

* Every ''Anime/PrettyCure'' season is guilty of this in some fashion, [[LeftHanging due to most of them never going anywhere thus generally wasting everyone's time]], but ''Anime/HappinessChargePrettyCure'' suffered ''terribly'' from this the most due to a LoveTriangle between Megumi, her best friend Seiji and the Cures' mentor Blue. Seiji has a crush on Megumi, but Megumi was starting to have feelings for Blue (something that hadn't been seen since the ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5'' saga), but Blue had been sending mixed signals all the way, running with the "Precure cannot fall in love" spiel while having ''something'' towards Megumi. There's this entire WillTheyOrWontThey until the ''entire subplot is dropped'' when [[spoiler:the Cures rescue Queen Mirage, return her to her true form -- a Cure in the past that ''Blue fell in love with and broke her heart because of his duties'' -- and they fell in love again]]! And anything between Megumi and Seiji is flat-out ignored! According to a [=PreCure=] fan, this is due to the writers not wanting the morals of the story to be distracted by the results. The morals is that romance can be happiness but at the same time causes misfortune and everyone should be mindful of other people's feelings even if they don't feel the same way.

* ''Anime/HappinessChargePrettyCure'' suffered terribly from this due to a LoveTriangle between Megumi, her best friend Seiji and the Cures' mentor Blue. Seiji has a crush on Megumi, but Megumi was starting to have feelings for Blue (something that hadn't been seen since the ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5'' saga), but Blue had been sending mixed signals all the way, running with the "Precure cannot fall in love" spiel while having ''something'' towards Megumi. There's this entire WillTheyOrWontThey until the ''entire subplot is dropped'' when [[spoiler:the Cures rescue Queen Mirage, return her to her true form -- a Cure in the past that ''Blue fell in love with and broke her heart because of his duties'' -- and they fell in love again]]! And anything between Megumi and Seiji is flat-out ignored! According to a [=PreCure=] fan, this is due to the writers not wanting the morals of the story to be distracted by the results. The morals is that romance can be happiness but at the same time causes misfortune and everyone should be mindful of other people's feelings even if they don't feel the same way.

* ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy2019'': The most criticized plotline of the first season was the UnresolvedSexualTension between adopted siblings Luther and Alison. The six main characters were raised together from infancy and it's stated numerous times that they view each other as siblings, so even though Luther and Alison are [[NotBloodSiblings not biologically related]], watching them have the hots for each other [[UsefulNotes/WestermarckEffect made a lot of viewers uncomfortable]]. Especially since they both already had subplots of their own--Alison's desire to reconnect with her daughter who lives with her ex-husband, and Luther discovering much of his life had been a lie--making a romance plot completely unnecessary.

* Creator/PhilipKDick's ''We Can Build You'' begins with the protagonists constructing RidiculouslyHumanRobots in the shape of historical figures, and getting themselves involved with a business magnate who might be too clever for them. Then the protagonist's pathological romance with the robot constructor begins taking center stage and overtaking the plot, until -- in the last two chapters -- all other subplots are jettisoned in order to resolve the romance, and then the novel ends abruptly.

* ''Story of Tom Brennan''. The last quarter of the book gets steadily overtaken by the romance between Tom and Chrissy, which just ''somehow'' solves everything.

* ''The Magicians and Mrs. Quent'' manages to have ''two'' of these, each managing to be more egregious than the other for different reasons. The first half of the book could be reduced to little over a few pages without hindering the story any; instead, it spends two hundred pages setting up a romance between main character Ivy and another main character, Mr. Rafferdy. Naturally, as the book has "Mrs. Quent" in the title, this goes nowhere; instead, their romance is broken off because Rafferdy is a nobleman and Ivy isn't, and therefore their marriage would be inappropriate. Ivy then goes to the countryside and, after a romance that's developed in all of five pages, marries Mr. Quent. The Romantic Plot Tumor with Mr. Rafferdy is JustForFun/{{Egregious}} for being mere filler; the Romantic Plot Tumor with Mr. Quent is JustForFun/{{Egregious}} for being a textbook case of StrangledByTheRedString, with absolutely none of the development put into this romance as was put into Ivy and Mr. Rafferdy's, as well as the fact that Mr. Quent is an ''earl'', and therefore he and Ivy shouldn't be getting married in the first place.

* The author of the ''Fallen'' series apparently believed that the audience would be more interested in Luce and Daniel's dry, abusive relationship than an epic angel war and the threat of TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, to the point that the plot of each book can be boiled down to "Luce spends the first 80% of the book fawning over Daniel/angsting about how Daniel might not ''really'' love her/literally watching all of her past reincarnations fall insta-in-love with Daniel [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot with actual angel stuff being shoved into the last 20% of the book]]."