What Causes Fear Of Falling Love In Romance Novel Protagonists?

Keisha Peterson has her senior year all planned out, she is going to study to get good grades for college, do everything in her power to make her crush notice her and also have a fun-filled year. But all her plans is crushed when he walks back into her life unexpectedly. Jake Hawkins, her best friend who had disappeared without a word years ago. The boy she once had a huge crush on but now hates with every fiber of her being. When he returns, he has become ten times hotter, taller, and annoyingly charming. Somehow, he is everywhere she turns. Just when Keisha starts to have a chance with her new crush, fate throws her into a whirlwind of confusion, secrets, and unexpected painful truths. Why is Jake suddenly acting like he never broke her? Why does her heart still race when he's near? And why does it seem like the more she was trying to hate him, the more she became attracted to him? Will she be able to accept the truth when she finds out? Will she be able to keep hating him or finally give in to her true feelings?

"I stood at the edge of my heart and watched him choose her. In the end, I was not the one he needed. I was simply the one he settled for." - Noelle ~~~~~~~ I thought I was the one he loved. But a few days before our wedding, I saw him in a way I never had before. His eyes softened as he spoke to her. His first love, and the very woman who had left him in pieces. Heartbreak was something I knew too well. And as I watched the love he still held for her in his eyes, I realized what I had to do. I couldn't marry a man who wasn't truly mine. With no means to cancel the wedding and lacking the courage to confront him, I made a desperate choice to leave. I painfully gave his first love my treasured engagement ring thinking it was for the best and the only way to free myself. But when he saw that ring on her finger, the fragile world I had tried to escape began to shatter. His obsession to find me and bring me back ignited a dangerous game of cat and mouse.

Everyone has some kind of fear. Some people have fear of death, some have fear of life and many other fears people do have but Emma has fear of loss. When she is in love. She can think of nothing else..... and she is terrified. She can do whatever it takes to stay away from relationships. She is convinced that she must remove her fear or stay with that fear in her whole life.

Evelyn has always believed in love the kind that makes your heart race, the kind in movies, the kind that feels like destiny. Unfortunately, destiny seems to have a terrible sense of humor. At twenty six, Evelyn has fallen in love more times than she can count. Each time feels different. Each time feels like the one. Each time ends in heartbreak. There was the charming university senior who wrote poetry on her lecture notes. The ambitious doctor who promised forever but chose his career over her. The quiet neighbor who understood her silence better than anyone… until his secrets surfaced. And yet Evelyn never stops believing. Hopelessly Romantic follows Evelyn through a series of intense, beautiful, messy love stories, each chapter introducing a new man who changes her life in unexpected ways. Every love begins like magic. Every love ends in a way she never imagined. With humor, heartbreak, and hope, Evelyn learns that sometimes love isn’t about finding the right person but loving yourself.

Amara Bennett has a rule: Never let anyone close enough to break your heart twice. After a humiliating breakup that turned her into the laughingstock of her school, she’s done with romance, done with hope, and definitely done with boys who make promises they can’t keep. Then Julian Reyes transfers into her class. Charming without trying. Annoyingly kind. The type of boy who remembers little things—like how she hates strawberries on cake and how she always pretends she’s okay when she isn’t. At first, Amara can’t stand him. Mostly because Julian somehow sees through every wall she built around herself. But when a misunderstanding makes the entire school believe they’re dating, Julian offers her a deal: fake a relationship until the rumors die down. Simple. Except nothing about Julian feels fake. Not the way he waits outside her classroom just to walk her home. Not the way his hand finds hers during crowded hallways. And definitely not the way he looks at her like she’s the best thing he’s ever found. For the first time in a long time, Amara begins to believe love might not be something meant to hurt her. But just when she finally lets herself fall, she discovers the truth Julian has been hiding since the day they met—a truth that could destroy everything between them. Because Julian didn’t transfer to her school by coincidence. He came for her.

I'm learning to swim when my childhood friend, Vivian Thorne, fakes a cramp. My boyfriend, Oliver Wilde, suddenly lets go of my hand and swims toward her. I'm left alone in the two-yard-deep pool, completely stunned. After Oliver carries Vivian ashore, he smiles as he watches me thrash around. "Vivian says you rely on me too much and need a push to learn, so just swim over here yourself." I choke on water and sink. At the sight of my struggle, Vivian laughs so hard she slaps her thigh. Oliver says something to her, then drapes a towel over her shoulders in resignation. Even though I can't hear what he says, I bet it must be, "Now that you've had your laugh, don't tease her the next time. Aria is already pitiful enough with her fear of water." It's true that I was born with a fear of water. I've known them for seven years. All this time, Oliver and Vivian have been tormenting me under the guise of helping me overcome my fear of water. In college, at the beach, Vivian deliberately pushes me off the speedboat. Oliver jumps in to shield her and watches me swallow a bellyful of seawater in the waves. On the graduation rafting trip, Vivian suddenly capsizes the kayak. Oliver swims over to pull her up and watches me slam into a rock, my leg bleeding nonstop. Last year at the water park, Vivian shoves me down the waterslide. Oliver slides down to catch her and leaves me in the pool, nearly suffocating with fear. Every time, my fear and despair are met with a burst of laughter from Vivian. Meanwhile, Oliver stands behind her, always saying the same thing. "No more next time." However, the next time always turns into Vivian's new way of having fun at my expense. Water floods into my mouth and nose, the suffocation shooting straight to the top of my skull. But suddenly, I realize that I can actually float on my own. I grab the safety rope and haul myself ashore. Two pairs of hands reach out to pull me up, but I push them away. "From now on, I don't need you two to help me build up my courage anymore."