how to judge if a novel heartwarming or wholesome? for me, if I see that the main couple never argue and always affectionate with each other till the end of the novel, I'd deem it as wholesome. surprisingly, there's not many novel i could find that has this criteria even though its not a difficult things to do. but it seems like author always need to put "drama" in the couple relationships as if they're allergic to the word wholesome. I get that it "realistic" for couple to argue and have disagreement, but its also not impossible to not have disagreement and the percentage of wholesome novel is so few that it becomes a rarity.

the words "misunderstanding", "miscommunication" or "no communication" is an enemy to this list. so any novel that have those trope will not be added here bc those are usually the cause of non-harmonious relationship. unless the "misunderstanding" is not directed at the main characters relationship, then those word is fine.

[wholesome] = just like what it means, giving off wholesome, happy vibes when reader reading it.

[smooth sailing] = can't exactly be described as wholesome. might have certain dark topic. but main character relationship is going well and author never made use of "cold war/argument/discord" plot to be use on main characters relationship. thus the word 'smooth sailing' coming from. 

------ anyone got recommendation, leave a comment! ------