Most romances either have a "likable" lead character that's really generic, or, has some superficial outsider quality that never really plays out. Kind of like Belle from the 1991 Disney Beauty and the Beast, where she's "weird" mostly because she's the only person in the story who isn't weird or interesting. (I find most Jane Austen stories to be in this vein.)
Continuing Beauty and the Beast as the base point, what would be the love stories about characters like Gaston, or Maurice, or Lumiere, or Lefou, or that guy who runs the mental hospital? Those are the kinds of books I'm looking for. I'd like to see love stories about those kind of people.
Also, I'm all for the traditional view of romances where they do not need to have a happy ending.
by PeregrinePickle