If you were to remove the romance, love interest and all, you should still have a story. Just less exciting and maybe less conflict, but still a story. I'll give you two examples.
Twilight - Remove Romance - A girl who moves to a place where it rains all the time (not exciting is it?)
Baked Love - Remove Romance - A boy whose family owns and runs a bakery and he's struggling to keep it a secret (Baked Love 1) A boy who tries to keep the bakery magic alive while his asshole cousin owns it ({Correct Me if I'm wrong} Baked Love 2) A critic is in the bakery and doesn't give it a good review and the boy's reaction (Been a long time since I read these books don't judge)
Which story would you read without romance? I bet Baked Love.
Chip has his Xander and we happy! But.. you get my drift.
