The JoBev novel that CM was referring to was An Arranged marriage. One of my favorite romances of all time — The Painted Lady by Lucia Grahame has the hero seeking mistresses after the heroine physically repudiates him in forceful terms and there was one Livejournaler who mentioned how she HATED the book because of it. She wouldn’t even acknowledge the writing itself which is as good as you will find in a romance novel.

There are others that just won’t work. Like, “I thought I could get away with it, and now I’m really really sorry (that I got caught).” If it’s driven by selfishness and lust, it’s hard to swallow.

It sounds like you’re doing the former. I think a lot of people can relate to that, and rules be damned. If you can make it work, go for it.

And then there’s the question of being unfaithful to the heroine.

In my mind, sleeping with other girls after he’s met her isn’t being unfaithful to her. To be unfaithful in the first place, there must be faith to keep. And so what I want to know before judging this at all is whether you’re talking about violating the former edict–in which case I say go for broke–or if you’re talking about having him break trust with her.

I’d find the second really, really hard to swallow. And the only way I’d accept it is if there was a damned good reason (Either M.J. Putney or Jo Beverly does this in one of her earlier books, but he has a damned good reason–national security.) In any event, if he’s cheating because he just wants to get laid, I don’t think I could handle it.

I’m subversive, and I love authors who dare to bend and break rules, so I’m okay with a cheating hero in theory. In reality, I think it’s probably very hard to pull off and keep him likable. Maybe it’s a plot to save for a later book? Not because you aren’t capable of doing it well, but because it might be a little easier to sell to editors and readers once you have a following.

I am reluctant to say something will not work in a romance because there is always an author who proves me wrong. Like many readers, just the thought of an unfaithful hero makes me cringe. However, Marilyn Pappano has an adulterous hero in Some Enchanted Season, a book I love, so I know the strategy can work. I do think a writer who chooses to burden either the hero or heroine with infidelity has set herself a formidable challenge, but I also believe that you are up to any challenge.

As for your plots, I am no expert whatsoever. I am a complete dummy. Which is why I often rely on the advice of the book, Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies – and for what it’s worth, that book says the hero should not stray (once he and the heroine have hooked up, of course – before then, the more lovers he’s had, the better).

And I can sorta see why. In the best sorts of romance novels (and any book you write is bound to be the best sort), I come to think of the heroine as a friend, and I love imagining her living truly HEA with her hero. I believe it 100%. If my own, real-life friend came to me and said she’d met this terrific guy, and he’d had this little lapse, but he’d groveled brilliantly and they worked through it, and now she was over-the-moon for him and swore they would live HEA – I would have a hard time believing it 100%. Once the guy’s cheated, it’s so hard to believe he won’t do it again – ten years down the line, when the heroine’s copper curls turn silver and her svelte waistline has plumped up from bearing him six children.

I’m not saying it can’t happen – HEA after infidelity – in real-life or fiction. But to be completely honest, as an author you’ve set yourself a hard task, making me buy into that HEA 100%.

But even if you decide you want to revise, if you wrote the whole novel with that conflict in mind – will it work to just drop-and-drag another conflict into its place?