A burning romance somehow holds it back (9)
I believe the answer is:
cremation
'a burning' is the definition.
(burning of a body)
'romance somehow holds it back' is the wordplay.
'somehow' is an anagram indicator.
'holds' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'back' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'it' in reverse letter order is 'ti'.
'romance' is an anagram of 'cremaon'.
'cremaon' going around 'ti' is 'CREMATION'.
(Other definitions for cremation that I've seen before include "The incineration of a dead body" , "The burning of a body" .)