The Heartbreakers Blog Tour Day 6 (Part 2)

In a paragraph or two:
1. Tell us about your most romantic experience (either as an adult or as a teenager).

I never had a lot of the hearts and flowers, champagne under the stars, surprise trips to Europe romances. Which was okay. Flowers work best while growing in the ground. I’ve never understood the appeal of champagne – I really prefer beer. And I took myself to Europe after guy I was supposed to go with cancelled at the last minute. (I had a blast, the tour guide and I became friends and I saw nightspots the rest of the group never knew about.)
Only one thing jumped into my mind. I was in college on a date, we were heading back to his place, and I felt really ill. I didn’t want to tell him because we had plans for the evening, but I felt worse every minute. In spite of guys usually being deaf, dumb and blind, he realized I was only pretending to be all right. Instead of all the fun we had planned for the evening, he put me to bed, gently wrapped a blanket around me, and brought me chicken soup. I went to sleep with his hand brushing my hair.

2. Which literary character embodies true romance to you?

Angelique and Joffrey de Peyrac.
I discovered the Angelique books written by Sergeanne Golon in college and became an immediate and devoted fan. I’m currently a member of the Friends of Angelique Facebook group and went to far as to learn French so I could read the two books in the series that were never translated into English.
I love the way Angelique starts out strong. She is a teen in the first book, but you can see the woman she is going to mature into. While her marriage was supposed to be a business arrangement (Joffrey really only wanted her dowry) in true romance tradition, he fell in love with his young wife and wooed her with music and gallantry until she loved him back. Twelve books later the series has taken them through wars, separations, children (she is a truly devoted mother). The two have taken readers across the historical landscape and ended up in the new world. Sometimes he saves her, sometimes she saves him. They mature and grow, fall out of love and then back in again. I would love to create a character as smart, strong, resourceful and loving as Angelique, who resonates with readers the way she does with me.




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In a paragraph or two:
1. Tell us about your most romantic experience (either as an adult or as a teenager).

One time my husband made a super-fancy dinner for me, including special sauces and dessert, and he served it to me in different courses. For anyone else, this may not be the most romantic thing ever, but because it was so far out of my husband’s comfort zone (he rarely cooks anything, and when he does, there’s usually not much creativity involved) it meant a lot to me. That was as an adult. As a (late) teen, I remember being in Hawaii and meeting a cute guy at the beach. The first time he kissed me was under the stars while we were having a late-night swim in the ocean. (As romantic as that may sound, I still liked the dinner better!)

2. Which literary character embodies true romance to you?

I’d have to say Etienne St. Clair from Stephanie Perkins’s ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS. He knows how to show Anna around Paris and makes pretty much every conversation he has with her romantic. Plus, you know, the accent and the hair...




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The Heartbreakers Blog Tour Day 6

In a paragraph or two:
1. Tell us about your most romantic experience (either as an adult or as a teenager).

My high school days were pretty devoid of romance. I had exactly one boyfriend before graduation and we never even kissed. My husband, however, has more than made up for that. I never believed in love at first sight, but the day we met, our eyes locked and something inside me knew he was important. We spent the next few days at a music festival with our mutual friends, falling slowly in love all at once. By the time we came home, that was it. We were engaged a couple months after that and now we’ve been married for over a decade!

2. Which literary character embodies true romance to you?

Calvin in A Wind In The Door. I quote:

“He sent her a brief image of walking silently through the woods, the two of them alone together, their feet almost noiseless on the rusty carpet of pine needles. They walked without speaking, without touching, and yet they were as close as it is possible for two human beings to be. They climbed up through the woods, coming out into the brilliant sunlight at the top of the hill. A few sumac trees showed their rusty candles. Mountain laurel, shiny, so dark a green the leaves seemed black in the fierceness of sunlight, pressed toward the woods. Meg and Calvin had stretched out in the thick, late-summer grass, lying on their backs, gazing up into the shimmering blue of sky, a vault interrupted only by a few small clouds.
And she had been as happy, she remembered, as it is possible to be, and as close to Calvin as she had ever been to anybody in her life, even Charles Wallace, so close that their separate bodies, daisies and buttercups joining rather than dividing them, seemed a single enjoyment of summer and sun and each other.
That was surely the purest kind of anything. Mr. Jenkins had never had that kind of communion with another human being, a communion so rich and full that silence speaks more powerfully than words.”

Sigh. All the swoons.




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In a paragraph or two:
1. Tell us about your most romantic experience (either as an adult or as a teenager).

Back in college, when my husband and I were friends but not yet dating, he surprised me with an engraved invitation for a date. (This was back when you had to pay someone to create that sort of thing!) I accepted and he took me to dinner, then dancing—because he knew I loved dancing, even though he didn’t, much. I thought that was beyond sweet and was definitely when I started thinking of him as more than a friend!

2. Which literary character embodies true romance to you?

Mr. Darcy, of course! (Especially when I imagine Colin Firth in the role…) The way he was willing to overcome his pride, rethink his priorities and risk censure by Society and his family to be with Elizabeth gives me warm fuzzies every time I reread Pride and Prejudice—which I’ve done a gazillion times!




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The Heartbreakers Blog Tour Day 5

In a paragraph or two:
1. Tell us about your most romantic experience (either as an adult or as a teenager).

Oh, that’s a tough one; let me think for a minute. I’m lucky enough to have a really romantic husband, but hopefully he won’t mind if I dig back into my teen years for the most romantic moment BEFORE I met him. A guy I was dating when I was seventeen gave me a series of Christmas gifts, from funny to sweet, and the last thing in the bag was a sprig of fake mistletoe. When I asked him why, he said, “So you’ll still have to kiss me if you don’t like the other gifts.” I need to work that memory into a novel someday!

2. Which literary character embodies true romance to you?

I guess I’m going to say Claire Fraser, from the OUTLANDER books. Despite war, a couple of centuries, and danger, she risks everything multiple times for her highlander, Jamie. Even with the risks she takes, though, she finds a way to be true to herself and hang onto what she values. Romance and a woman of strength; sign me up!




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In a paragraph or two:
1. Tell us about your most romantic experience (either as an adult or as a teenager).

Right after I graduated from college I had a job I hated in a town where I didn’t have any friends or family. My then boyfriend lived on the other side of the country and I wasn’t sure if we would make it as we were having to date long distance. He called me to see how I was doing. I complained that even though it was my favorite time of year, Christmas, it didn’t feel festive to me at all since I was alone. The next day when I got home from work there was a florist delivery guy waiting for me outside my apartment.

The florist told me that he was the owner and hadn’t made a delivery in decades, but that he had to make this one. He then opened up the back of his van and inside was a giant six foot Christmas tree. My boyfriend had called him and arranged to have delivered a tree, stand, lights and ornaments. I put up the tree and turned on some music and knew in that moment that I loved my boyfriend and was going to marry him someday. Which I did!

2. Which literary character embodies true romance to you?

How do people choose just one? This year I read THE FAULT IN OUR STARS twice. The first time for pure enjoyment, and the second to look closer at how John Green crafted such a great book. One thing that I loved about that novel was how the characters Hazel and Augustus are such great romantic characters. They push each other to get the most out of life, even when it is very difficult. It’s easy to have romance when everything is perfect; it’s a challenge to do it when things are a struggle.




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