It's hit or miss, but secret love interests are usually right up my alley, so I've had to grind through the entire cast a few times just to unlock him.
However, having to pursue guys I'm not into is really no fun at all. I'm not the type to 100% clear every game. I only play the routes for characters I actually like. Because of that, I've recently started using the skip button (whereas in the past, I never used it and would force myself to read through everything).