miss Snark’s formula for a hook goes like this:

X is the main guy;
Y is the bad guy;
they meet at Z and all L breaks loose.
If they don’t solve Q, then R starts and if they do it’s Lsquared.

But this only seems to work for romance novels where one character starts off being the bad guy. (There are some good examples of this. E.g., “Miss Challoner wants to save her younger sister from the seductive Marquess of Vidal, who threatens her virtue. But when he kidnaps her instead, he decides that she’ll do just as well.”).
But how the devil do you write, say, “An Offer from a Gentleman” by JQ?

You could write it in hook form: “Sophie Beckett’s stepmother lied and cheated her out of her inheritance. They meet when Sophie is 10 years old. 70% of this novel ignores the stepmother, the true antagonist, and focuses on Sophie’s relationship with Benedict Bridgerton. Oops.”

Or, how would you write a hook for “Potent Pleasures” by Eloisa?

“Charlotte was deflowered by an anonymous gentleman years ago. Now we need an antagonist. Alex, who’s actually the hero, is occasionally a complete ass. When they meet, he isn’t a complete ass at first. But then he becomes one. If he doesn’t learn not to be a complete ass, then … well, then Charlotte’s husband will be a complete ass. But if he does, then he won’t.”

So what’s the form for a romance hook? If I’m coming up blank staring at her hook form, is it because I’m trying to pound a square peg into a round hole?

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