Tag Archives: There’s No Place Like Home

Something About Sexy

Welcome to the 115th week of My Sexy Saturday.

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This week’s theme: Something About Sexy

This week’s theme can be anything from fun and quirky to dark and serious. We as authors all know that there is just something about writing these sexy books. We can’t put our finger on it, sometimes we can’t even define it but we know we wouldn’t do anything else. We write our sexy characters because we love to do so. We love our characters, we love that sexy can be what we define and we love to bring that idea of sexy to our readers. We love sexy and it shows. Still, these books have hot characters and an even hotter love story and we’d love for you to share your sexy snippet with us.

Sexy can be anything, such as romantic moments like walks on the beach, a home cooked meal or even in another galaxy. It could be two lovers here on Earth dreaming about the day where they go on a magical vacation to another planet. Or staying right here at one of those wonderful places we can find in our own world.

Sexy has nothing to do with looks or status or even wealth. It doesn’t demand perfection and it isn’t pretentious but it does make us want to read those books.

We know that everyone has their own idea of sexy and we all love sexy!

 

Here’s a little sexy sumthin’ sumthin‘ from my newest release FIRST IMPRESSIONS. Quentin has been dying to get his hands on Moira all day. The cramped confines of his truck don’t prevent him from giving in to his desire.

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Before starting the car, Quentin turned to her, took her in his arms, and gave her a quick, hard kiss that set them both back on their heels.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for hours,” he told her, smiling against her lips. He touched them again, this time softer, but no less potently. His hands slid around her neck, pulling her across the cab. Roomy as it was, Moira hit the steering wheel.

“Ouch.” She pulled back, laughing. “I think we’re a little too old and you’re a little too big to be making out in the front seat of a truck, Q.”

Grinning, he kissed her once more and said, “I’ll argue the first point, but not the second.” He turned the key and started the engine. “I’ll try to keep my hands to myself until we get home.”

Moira nestled next to him in the spacious cab, took his right arm and crossed it over her shoulders so she could snuggle closer to him. “Here. How’s this?”

He planted a swift kiss on her temple, his eyes never leaving the road, and said, “As good as it gets.”

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Filed under Author, Contemporary Romance, Family Saga, Friends, love, MacQuire Women, Romance, Romance Books, Strong Women, There's No Place Like Home

WeddingsRUs

My baby was home this past weekend to attend the wedding of a high school friend and that got me to thinking about weddings and the months in which they occur.

Of course, a couple can be married any month, that goes without saying. While June and July have typically been the most preferred months for weddings – something I’ve never really understood – I wonder why a couple pick the month they do to tie the knot, jump the broom, get hitched, walk down the aisle…you get the idea. Hey, can’t help it…I’m a writer.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

I got married the day after Christmas. I know. There’s nothing you can say I haven’t already been witness to from all my friends and family. But…it was the only time he could come home from his job in Wisconsin to do it, so. I loved getting married on the 26th of December. Everyone – everyone! – was still in such a good and joyous mood from the holiday and more importantly, our families were still all together and didn’t have to travel again to celebrate the day. It was a cold, crisp day, about 27 degrees in NYC, a scant amount of fresh snow covered the ground and streets so everything looked pretty and my colors were – surprise, surprise – red and green. Beautiful. It really was.

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Now, I lovedlovedloved my winter wedding, but autumn is my favorite time of year. There is something so rich and spectacular, so grand and breathtaking about the kaleidoscope of the changing colors. The harvest is bountiful and the food amazing. An autumn wedding would be a delight to plan just from the color spectrum choices for me.

A Spring wedding brings with it the beauty of rebirth and the threat of rain. I always feel anxious when I attend a wedding during the spring months because I don’t want rain to mar such a memorable day. Isn’t there an old saw that goes, “Happy is the bride the sun shines upon?”  Now I personally happen to love rain. A rainy day is a gift to me for a number of reasons, but a beautiful bride bedecked in pure white with….rain spots on the back of her dress, is not a happy thought!

In my second novel THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME, Moira Cleary and Quentin Stapleton marry on an august day in her parent’s garden. Instead of it being an uncomfortable hot and humid day, like any august day in Connecticut could be and often is, I flubbed the weather and made it a glorious, sunny, just-warm-enough afternoon for them to say their nuptials. Here’s a little sumthin’ sumthin’ from the day:

As the guests all stood and turned to watch the procession, Seamus leaned down to his daughter and said, “I married your mother in this garden twenty-nine years ago. It was the best day of my life.”

Moira squeezed the arm she held, touched.

“Until the day you two were born,” he added. “And now today. Baby, if you know a tenth the love and joy with Quentin your mother and I have had, then I’ll be a happy man the rest of my life.”

“I love you, Daddy. So much.”

He turned to her, his eyes shimmering in the afternoon glow of the sun.

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So… you know what’s coming! What month did you marry in? Why that month? Was your wedding all you hoped and dreamed? Come on and share…we’re all friends here. Let’s discuss….

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Filed under Author, Contemporary Romance, female friends, Friends, love, MacQuire Women, Romance, Romance Books, Strong Women, There's No Place Like Home

Synopses and Blurbs and Word Count, oh my!

Okay, so book 3 in the MacQuire Women, FIRST IMPRESSIONS, is in final production right now and I’m hoping it will be released in September, since it’s a fall themed book. This is the cover.

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I know!

Gorgeous, isn’t it? I love my artist at the Wild Rose Press, Rae Monet. She’s done all three covers for me so far and – please, Jesus – she will do the rest.

But I digress.

It isn’t enough just to write the story any longer. Along with the story a writer must also pen the dreaded SYNOPSIS and (gulp!) the official BOOK BLURB. The synopsis is a detailed (or not) outline of the plot of the book. For most authors, writing a synopsis is tantamount to being tossed into the ninth circle of hell for all eternity. And that’s not an exaggeration. The blurb is that little mini description the publisher places on the back of the book or for hardcover books, on the inside jacket cover. It’s supposed to be the tease that lures the reader into wanting to purchase and read your book.

Until I had my first book published I never knew the author was responsible for writing this. You’d think it would be easy. Just sum-up the book’s main theme, right?

Ha!

It’s about as easy as putting together a car from scratch without directions, diagrams, or pictures. Or any outside help, mechanical or human.

Not kidding.

First of all there are word count restrictions of between 100 and 150, maximum. I am a verbose writer. And by verbose I mean I write A LOT of words. The task of paring down the storyline into what amounts to about 10-15 sentences is torture. Add that you must hit the high points of the story, identify the hero and heroine, describe them and the conflict resounding around their relationship ever coming to fruition, PLUS make it sound exciting and buy-worthy, well…this is why I’m sweating right now as I write this piece. Writing a blurb gives me more indigestion than Crispy Crème donuts – and I had to have my gall bladder removed after eating just one of those suckers. I really did.

But I digress. Again.

Back to the blurb. I have been told by manymanymany people in the publishing realm that a blurb can make or break a sale. Pressure, much? When I wrote my first one for SKATER’S WALTZ I thought I really did a great job. I was proud of it and the hours it took to do, so I sent it in and just knew it was perfect.

Not so much.

It took three back and forth trials between me and the burb committee (yes, there is one, and it is made up of WONDERFUL and SMART PEOPLE!) before the blurb was deemed publishing-worthy.

For THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME, I took everything I learned from the first blurb debacle and did my best not to make the same mistakes. I must have done something right this time because it only came back to me once.

For book 3, FIRST IMPRESSIONS, I let myself get cocky and knew – knew! – there was no way the blurb I wrote was coming back this time.

Yeah, no.

It took two tries, but I think they did a fabulous job guiding me in the right direction. Read for yourselves, this is the official blurb:

Family Practice Doctor Clarissa Rogers’ first impression of Padric Cleary is biased and based on gossip. The handsome, charming veterinarian is considered a serial dater and commitment-phobic by his family and most of the town. Relationship shy, Clarissa refuses to lose her heart to a man who can’t pledge himself to her forever.

Pat Cleary, despite his reputation, is actually looking for The One. When he does give his heart away, he wants it to be for life. With his parent’s marriage as his guidebook, he wants a woman who will be his equal and soul mate in every way.

Can Pat convince everyone – including Clarissa – she’s the only woman for him?

I truly can not wait until the book is released. It’s my favorite so far – and I know every writer says that when they’ve got something new coming out, but this one really is. Pat and Clarissa’s story was an absolute pleasure to write and I’m thrilled I get to share it.

I’m currently editing the 4th book, The Voices of Angels, and I am putting off the blurb until I absolutely need to submit it. Trying to come up with something that will wow the reader is much too exhausting right now. Better I write the story down and get that good and right. Then and only then will I tackle the blurb.

I’ll also have to make sure I have a couple bottles of Rolaids handy as well when I do.

 

 

 

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Filed under Author, Contemporary Romance, Family Saga, First Impressions, Life challenges, MacQuire Women, Romance, Romance Books, Skater's Waltz, There's No Place Like Home

First Kisses…

Think about your favorite fictional first kiss. That’s right – not your own, but two characters in a book you were reading, where you just thought this was the best kiss ever. EVER. It had passion, tenderness, desire; it made your heart beat faster, your hands shake a little and your insides get all swirly, and boy-oh-boy did you wish you could be kissed like that in real life.

Okay, so you’ve got the image of the kiss in your mind. How did the author make you feel so good about that kiss? What language did she use? What words? Where they descriptive? Sexy? Raunchy? Was the emotion of the kiss put on display? What about the characters who were kissing- did the author show you their feelings, emotions, internal thoughts when it was happening?

Was there a buildup to the kiss? Tension and suspense around it happening – or not? Anticipation isn’t only a Carly Simon song; it’s a tried and true way of a writer getting you sucked into the characters and what’s going to happen to them.

Personally, I’ve always liked fictional kisses that took a long time coming. The buildup, the expectation, the hope for it to come about is what makes a first kiss so special to me.

Here’s the first kiss between Moira and Quentin from my new book There’s No Place Like Home, Book 2 in the MacQuire women. It uses the buildup and the expectation I mentioned, but the added bonus is the surprise that fills Moira’s mind about the kiss:

Her first and last coherent thought was her best friend was going to kiss her goodnight. After a heartbeat, she forgot the best friend part and knew down to her toes friendship had nothing to do with this.

His lips slid across her mouth, soft and gentle, testing, tasting. Moira’s mind went blank as she succumbed to the sensation of them, hot and hard, pressing against hers in a kiss like none he’d ever given her before. Slowly, he traced her bottom lip with the tip of his tongue, silently asking her to open for him. When she did, he entered her mouth and began to explore, each movement becoming more demanding, more insistent. Moira fell against him, fisting his jacket lapels to steady herself. When she felt his heartbeat pounding under her hands, she grew lightheaded with need. Quentin framed her face with his fingertips, softly tugging down on her chin, changing the angle of the kiss.

She’d been kissed before, but never, never with such all consuming need and longing. She heard a deep moan and was shocked to realize the sound had escaped from her. One of Quentin’s hands left her face to slide down her back. When he pushed against her backside and molded her body to his, Moira’s stomach jumped. This time, though, it wasn’t with the painful contractions she’d come to expect, but with a heart-stopping craving.

A craving for him.

She unfurled her hands from his jacket and, without thought, wound them upwards, weaving them over his shirt collar and up through his hair. She grabbed onto the ends, pulled his head down closer, and held on fast.

All aspect of time was lost. Nothing mattered but the delicious feel of his strong hands caressing her back and the taste of him as his tongue mated with hers.

This couldn’t be happening. It had to be a dream.

But no dream had ever made her want like this, feel like this. When he skimmed his lips across her jaw and down her throat, stopping to take her lobe into his mouth, Moira knew this wasn’t a dream.

They’ve been best friends forever, but everything changes the moment Quentin makes his true feelings known to her in that kiss.

I’ve got a new novella coming out for Valentine’s Day 2016 and the first kiss in this one – 3 Wishes – is told from the first person’s viewpoint of the heroine, Chloe. Here’s a little of what’s going on in her head when she’s kissed for the first time by the hero – a guy she knows nothing about – including his name.

…And, holy Mother of God, what a kiss. My toes curled, my thighs wobbled, and my girlie parts went zing. If I was never kissed by another man for the rest of my life, I would have died a happy little Italian girl right then and there.

You can read all about Chloe next year ( Now, that’s an anticipation tease isn’t it?)

So, back to your favorite fictional kiss. What book was it, who were the characters, and why was it your fav? Let’s discuss…

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Filed under 3 Wishes, Alpha Hero, Author, Contemporary Romance, love, MacQuire Women, Romance, Romance Books, Strong Women, There's No Place Like Home

Conference time again…

In less than 2 weeks I will be going to the National Romance Writers of America 2015 conference. For those of you who were here with me in the blogosphere last year, it was my very first time attending Nationals and I blogged about the experience while I was in San Antonio. This year it’s in NYC – my hometown – and I go a very different person and writer than I was in 2014.

Some of you may recall that at last year’s conference I found out from the person who would soon be my editor, my first book SKATER’S WALTZ was going to be published by the Wild Rose Press. I was speechless, terrified and excited all at the same time. I couldn’t tell anyone I knew at the conference because I hadn’t signed the contract yet and I didn’t want to jinx myself. Let’s face it, try as I might I can’t get away from my Irish Catholic mysticism thoughts. I had to hold that enormous news inside me until the contract was signed, sealed and delivered and it was a legally done deal. Then and only then did I let my crazed exuberance free!

This year, when I attend, I am no longer an RWA conference virgin, nor am I another unpublished author dying to network and get someone to read my work. I go this year as a published author with two books currently in release (Skater’s Waltz and There’s No Place Like Home ) with a third (First Impressions) coming out this Fall.  I’ve also contracted for a Valentine’s Day novella  3 Wishes releasing early in 2016. I know vastly more than I did last year about the process and business of writing, publishing, and marketing. Plus, I’ve now got street cred because I’ve walked the walk of the published romance writer.

Having said that, I still have oodles left to learn, which is why this conference is so wonderful for any romance writer to attend. There are dozens upon dozens of workshops with topics that cover the craft of romance writing, to marketing, to independent publishing, and even how to write great sex scenes ( a personal fav of mine.)

In addition, RWA hosts the Readers for Life Literacy Autographing session where over 400 romance authors are available for a meet and greet and book signing. This year, I am a volunteer at this event and I can’t wait to meet all my fav authors and snap a couple of selfies with them.

The week culminates in the Rita and Golden Hearts awards ceremony on Saturday night and this year is extra special for me because one of my NHRWA chapter sistahs is up for a Golden Heart award. I’m so happy I’ll be there when she wins – nothing like a little cocky self assurance, eh?! LOL

So stay tuned and I’ll be blogging from NYC come July 21. And if you’re in NYC on July 22, drop on down to the Marriott Marquis from 5:30 until 7:30 for the author signing.

If you see me, give me a shout out!

 

 

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Filed under 3 Wishes, Author, Contemporary Romance, NHRWA, Romance, RWA, Strong Women, There's No Place Like Home

The things I love about my favorite book(s)…

I have 3 favorite books.  They are all different genres, cater to different age groups, and I’ve read each one at least 5 times ( one waaaaaaay more than that- you’ll see why in a minute.) I tend to reread them because they are such central, integral  parts of the themes of my life and of what I write about.

As a child, I read The  Little Engine That Could probably close to 500 times. When my daughter was born I read it to her an equal number. This is truly -in my humble opinion- the best book EVER about self actualization. Whenever I think I can’t do something in life, whether it be get a book published, or learn a new tech savvy maneuver, I remember that little train, the mountainside, and the end result of his journey, and I KNOW I can do whatever I put my mind to.

The Wizard of Oz was quite simply the perfect book for me to read as a child because I had the same wanderlust and wishes to find my heart’s desire Dorothy had. I never appreciated what I had, and I was frequently on the look out for something better. It was only when I was married with a child of my own did I realize the truth of this statement: there’s  no place like home.

So, Gone With The Wind was the first complete romance novel I ever read – and I don’t think it was marketed as such when it was published. But it has everything a true romance reader loves: an amazingly strong, conflicted, beautiful heroine; a rakish, devilish and debonair hero who truly loves the girl; a sweeping cast of characters who live to show the H/H why they should be together, and a plot that continually pulls our main characters apart. Couple that with the heightened emotions of war, poverty and death and you have  an historic epic of love and loss. Now, the H/H don’t end with their HEA, but like the last line says, while putting hope in the mind of the reader that they will, “Tomorrow is another day.”

So, each book has the same facets and themes that I love: a strong, central character; an internal need coupled with a struggle for acceptance; a journey or task that needs to be accomplished; a lesson ( or many) learned about self; and an ending where the main character is a better person(or  in one case, a better engine!)

Why are your book YOUR favorites? Let’s discuss….

 

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Filed under Alpha Hero, Characters, Contemporary Romance, Family Saga, Life challenges, love, Romance, Romance Books, Strong Women, There's No Place Like Home

A visit with Angela Hayes…

Hi all.  Greetings on this lovely June day.

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Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Angela Hayes and I’m an author with The Wild Rose Press. My debut novel, Love’s Battle, a fantasy romance is available on Amazon at http://bit.ly/LovesBattle, Barnes and Noble at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/loves-battle-angela-hayes/1119985601?ean=2940149742493 , and on The Wild Rose Press website at http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=indexHYPERLINK “http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=1103″&HYPERLINK “http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=1103″manufacturers_id=1103 .

I’d like to invite you all over to my blog www.authorangelahayes.blogspot.com where Peggy has graciously agreed to be a guest.

We’re talking all about her new book, There’s No Place Like Home. You don’t want to miss out.

If you like what you see, be sure to follow me either by email or by Google to get the latest blog postings.

You can also follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/imahayes and Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/imahayes.

It was wonderful meeting you,
Happy Reading,

Angela Hayes

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Something new…

You all know I loathe self-promotion and marketing. I like the end results of it, but I’m still very uncomfortable trying to convince people to buy my books. Because of that basic insecurity, I’ve tried to find other ways to engage readers to purchase my work.

One of those ways is a giveaway on Goodreads. So, from May 19 ( my birthday!) until June 3, if you click on the following link you can enter to win a signed copy of my newest book THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME. It doesn’t cost anything to enter and hey, you may win!!

Please support this humble writer!

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/138470-there-s-no-place-like-home

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME< book 2 in The MacQuire Women Series

Blurb:

Symphony pianist Moira Cleary comes home after four years of touring, exhausted, sick, and spiritually broken. Emotional and psychological abuse at the hands of someone she trusted has left her gaunt, anxious, and at a crossroads both professionally and personally.

Moira’s best friend, veterinarian Quentin Stapleton, wants nothing more than to help Moira get well. Can his natural healing skills make it possible for her to open her heart again? And can he convince her she’s meant to stay home now with the family that loves her – and with him – forever?

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Excerpt:

“Remember when your cousin Tiffany got married in the backyard here?”

Confused, Moira nodded.

Quentin rubbed her bottom lip with the pad of his thumb. “When the Reverend told Cole ‘you can kiss your bride,’ and he swooped her off the ground, spun her around and kissed her silly? Remember what you said?”

“I think I said it was the most romantic thing I’d ever seen.”

He nodded. “The exact quote was, ‘I hope someone kisses me like that some day.’”

Her grin was quick at the memory. “Pat snorted and said I’d better be satisfied with licks from the horses and Rob Roy because no guy was ever gonna kiss me.”

“He wasn’t known for tact back then.” He rubbed a hand down her back as he held her. “Remember what happened later on behind the barn?”

Because she did, she couldn’t stop the heat from spreading up her face like wildfire. When she nodded again, he said, “You wanted to know what it felt like to be kissed like that and since I was your best friend, you thought I should be the one to do it, because you – quote – felt safe with me – unquote.”

“What was I? Eleven?”

“Thirteen. And I was more than willing. Almost broke my heart in two when you said afterward, ‘I don’t see what all the fuss is about.’”

“Q—”

“Hush.” He kissed her forehead. “Ever since that day, all I’ve wanted is a second chance. Now,” he pulled her body closer, wrapped both arms around her small waist, his hands resting just above the dent in her spine. “We’re both a little older, a little more mature. Some of us are much more experienced—”

“And conceited.”

“Experienced,” he said, the laugh in his voice quiet and seductive, “and things can be so much better.”

amazon.com:http://www.amazon.com/Theres-Place-Like-MacQuire-Women-ebook/dp/B00VU85CBI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428599275&sr=8-1&keywords=there%27s+no+place+like+home%2C+by+peggy+jaeger

Barnes and Noble ;http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/theres-no-place-like-home-peggy-jaeger/1121798145?ean=2940151238489

The WIld Rose Press:http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=191&products_id=6237

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Filed under Contemporary Romance, Family Saga, MacQuire Women, Romance, Romance Books, Strong Women, There's No Place Like Home

A new experience…

I’ve said many times on this blog how taking a risk or having a new experience is a worthwhile endeavor and yesterday I talked the talk, walked the walk. I participated in my very first Facebook release party. It was last minute thing. I was asked because one of the authors couldn’t make it so, my NHRWA sistah Susan A. Wall asked me to fill in and I was happy to.

Those 30 minutes went by faster than a speeding bullet (a head nod to Superman here!)

Apparently, a very large group of readers, fans, and fb followers attend these sort of things. Who knew? 

I had to ask a few questions, answer a few, and give something away, because we all know folks like freebies and giveaways. ( Shameless self promotion coming) I’m actually doing a giveaway right now of THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME on Goodreads. Here’s the link:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/138470-there-s-no-place-like-home

So, anyway. It felt good to connect with some new people and to experience this new fangled way of promoting my work. This just solidifies in my mind that Social Media has changed the world. And the future. I simply can’t imagine ever going back to the old fashioned ways of promoting things like sending out postoffice mailers, flyers, postcards. Having book premier cocktail parties ( expensive!!) seem to be a thing of the past as well.

One thing that will never go out of style is meeting the fans, the readers, the people you write for. Giving a talk at a local library, visiting a book group, volunteering to be a guest lecturer at a school, even doing a physical book signing at an actual book store are all things I want to keep doing to promote my work, and will.

That’s a promise from me to the people who read  and support what I like.

But this virtual stuff is pretty cool, no?

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Filed under Characters, Dialogue, New Hampshire

The process of falling in love in a romance story

Storytellers use certain techniques to give their tales the most flavor and intrigue they can. The simple turn of a phrase, the order in which they divulge information, how the five senses are employed through the showing and telling of the story, are all ways writers tell a tale.

It’s no different, I feel, with a romance story.

How do your characters meet? Do they already know one another from their pasts? Are they friends of friends? Co-workers? Or do they glance across a Dunkin Donuts and see one another for the first time?

What past experiences have influenced how they see their present lives and how they deal with the people surrounding them? Are they receptive to love at this time, or do they shun it? Why?

Does one partner “fall” faster than the other, and if so, is it revealed or kept hidden?

Little physical nuances the characters show around one another and with no one else, provide clues to how fast and hard they are falling.

Now, take those characters, their backstories, and their present emotions, and weave a romance story around it.

It sounds a great deal easier to do than it really is. While many critics say romance stories are formulaic and predictable, there is nothing predictable about falling in love. Every human is different in how they think, react, emote, and live. It stands to reason the way they each fall in love is individual as well. A master storyteller is able to divine those differences, have the characters equipped with tools to overcome them, and create a happy ending for all involved.

In Pride and Prejudice, my all time favorite romance story, Elizabeth and Darcy fall for each other in totally divergent ways. You can see he is instantly attracted to her as a woman, but her station in life makes it hard for him to admit it to himself or anyone else. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Elizabeth despises him for most of the book. It is only when he reveals his true, kind self during the Wickham/Lydia incident, does she really get to know the person he is and her heart quite literally turns over for him. The obstacles they face of class difference and family connections make it a difficult road to happily ever after, but in the end, their love for one another helps them overcome these seemingly insurmountable problems.

Austin was a master storyteller in the way she doled out information about her characters to the reader. She shows Darcy, arrogant and haughty in his words and actions towards the Bennett family, so much so that most readers don’t like him for the first hundred pages or so. But when his softer, loving side is revealed in how he deals with his sister, we get a better feel of the true man he is. When Elizabeth is allowed to view this side of him, her heart begins to soften.

A true and gifted storyteller is able to make you think the hero and heroine will never get together, never be able to overcome the obstacles in their paths, never find that proverbial road to everlasting happiness. This is the old fashioned basis and tagline for a romance: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. When the hero and heroine finally make it to the last pages, the reader is rewarded doubly. First, with their hoped for happily ever after ending, and second, with the knowledge and satisfaction of watching two people struggle and yet still come out on top in the love department. This is the essence of a fabulously written romance.

Remember what it felt like when you fell in love for the first ( and hopefully last ! ) time. What was your story? A fast fall, or a slow, subtle buildup? Where you friends first? Co-workers? Committee members? Were you set up or did you meet by happenstance? All these little factors make your love story different from every other one, and THAT is the true process of a well written romance.

Check out how two pair of  my H/H Fell in love.

SKATER’S WALTZ  http://www.amazon.com/Skaters-Waltz-MacQuire-Women-Jaeger-ebook/dp/B00TBUK4XS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423442958&sr=8-1&keywords=skater%27s+waltz+by+peggy+jaeger

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THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME http://www.amazon.com/Theres-Place-Like-MacQuire-Women-ebook/dp/B00VU85CBI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428599275&sr=8-1&keywords=there%27s+no+place+like+home%2C+by+peggy+jaeger

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