romance

Learning How to Read Novellas

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

Before I knew that there were more differences between a novel and a novella than just word count, a lot of my reviews of novellas read like this:

“The story ended too quickly for me.”

“I would have loved the resolution to have more details.”

“I wish the ___ plot was more drawn out.”

I read dozens like that. And then, one day, it hit me: these are meant to be short, which means the plotting is going to be structured differently than a full length novel. So, I googled “What is the difference between a novel and a novella.” Endless articles have already been written, so I’m just going to summarize three* of them:

  • Word count: A novel is 40,000+ words, a novella is 17,500-40,000 words (I don’t know where the 17,500 comes from or why it’s that specific. If you know, feel free to share in the comments!)
  • Characters, events, themes, and subplots: There are more of all of those in a novel than a novella. If there are any subplots, very little time is spent on them. In fact, it’s easier to not have a subplot. Character development happens for the protagonist only.
  • Plot and Pacing: A novella has a singular event that is the central crisis and focus of the plot, allowing it to be faster paced. A novel has several points of rising and falling action and interconnects subplots with the main plot.

*Sources: https://www.uobabylon.edu.iq/eprints/publication_10_21876_1383.pdf , https://kindlepreneur.com/novel-vs-novella/ , https://www.firstediting.com/blogs/difference-between-a-novel-and-a-novella/  

Now that I better understand the organization of a novella, I’ve had a much better experience reading them. And those authors are also getting better reviews from me! 😉 I also really enjoy reading a couple light hearted and spicy novellas in between the longer and darker fantasies I’ve been reading (ACOWAR I’m talking about you). And I’d like to share with you my favorite Novella series and authors:

  • Warriors of Sangrin (a.k.a. Madfhel Brides) by Nancey Cummings – First book: Paax
  • Tail and Claw by Nancey Cummings – First book: Have Tail Will Travel
  • Any of Carly Phillips’ series. So far I’ve read: Billionaire Bad Boys, Dare to Love, and The Knight Brothers series.
  • Any of Aurelia Skye’s series. 

I’ve read plenty of others, but those are my top three novella authors.

And in learning more about Novellas, I decided I want to be able to write some as well. So, I tried to write one, and *sigh* it turned into a 99,000 word novel. (It was The Wolf Whisperer) But I haven’t given up. I’m going to keep working on concise writing and shorter plots. And hopefully, one day, I’ll have some Novellas under my belt. 

Are you a fan of Novellas? What authors/series would you recommend? Let me know in the comments!

My Top 5 Reads of 2024

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

On Goodreads I read 38 books in 2024. But when I count the 16 books not registered on Goodreads and the 4 unpublished books I beta read, I read 58 books in 2024. Regardless, I didn’t meet my Goodreads goal of 76 books. But that’s okay. My Goodreads goal is always one more than I read the previous year. So, that means my 2025 goal will be 39 books. 

Of those 58 books, here are my favorites: 

The Dragon Prince’s Obsession by Ninally is the sequel to The Dragon King’s Obsession. Both books are about dragon shifters falling in love with the enemy: humans. In this series world building, dragon shifters live high up in the mountains. Human hunters down the mountain hunt them, and have hunted female dragons almost to extinction. In the first book, dragons capture the daughter of the leader of the hunters, and the king of the dragons falls in love with her while she is their captive. Of course there’s lots of drama, witches get involved, and the final battle is epic. And then the sequel begins. 

New couple. New story. One of the best enemies-to-lovers I’ve ever read. Adela is a human servant in the king’s palace. She serves the king’s sister, Princess Lucille, and the queen, Mystique. Prince Mikhail is the king’s brother. Mikhail was one of the villains of the first book. He kidnapped Mystique and tried to kill her.

Adela stumbles across Mikhail being imprisoned by witches while she is on an unwilling adventure with the spoiled Lucille. In Lucille’s inability to see anyone other than herself, she returns to the palace safe and sound without Adela. Mikhail and Adela fight their way out, and Mikhail takes Adela to his palace. Because she saved his life, his dragon now owes her. Mikhail begrudgingly takes care of her as he fights his dragon’s attraction to her. He hates humans, but he also opens Adela’s eyes to how she is treated back at the main palace. Adela is “friends” with the royal women, but yet still has to serve them and sleep in cramped quarters with the other human servants. Adela also thinks she’s in love with the king’s right hand man, Blaze. Lucille and Blaze are secretly in love and having a secret affair. The problem, is that in order to keep her secret, Lucille encourages Adela’s crush on Blaze to hide her own feelings, knowing Blaze will never look at Adela like that. So, she’s setting Adela up for romantic failure for her own selfish agenda.

When Mikhail cracks everything open for Adela, she refuses to return to the king’s palace. Mikhail keeps her in his, where she is not a servant, but an equal resident. They grow closer and have one of the most delicious slow burns I’ve ever read. During her time there, Adela also discovers she is not truly human. Her mother was human, but her father was something else (which I’m not going to give away – read the book!). Her newfound abilities call evil witches to them, and she and Mikhail will have to literally fight for their survival and love.

It’s beautiful. It’s spicy. I LOVE this story.     

The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore is a biography of Elizabeth Packard, whose story takes place in the 1860s in Illinois. Elizabeth held different religious and political beliefs from her husband, who was a preacher. She vocalized them in public, and her husband responded by getting corrupted doctors to certify Elizabeth as insane, and locked her in an asylum. Kate’s research of Elizabeth’s experience teaches four main historical facts:

1. What was considered “insane” in the 1800s – Women could be diagnosed with insanity if they disagreed with their husbands, disobeyed their husbands, or stopped loving their husbands. Elizabeth was guilty of all three.

2. How deep male ownership of women was –  Several doctors who “diagnosed” Elizabeth with insanity never saw her in person. They listened to her husband’s description of her, and wrote a certificate of insanity! Also, Elizabeth couldn’t divorce her husband because he would automatically get their six children if she did.

3. Treatment of patients in asylums – Elizabeth women with less money and social status than her slapped, starved, choked, and drowned. When Elizabeth disobeyed her doctor, he took her possessions and moved her from her private room into a shared room. While the employees didn’t physically abuse Elizabeth, they allowed the more violent patients to do so instead.

4. The amount of research and lobbying needed to change the law – When Elizabeth was released from the asylum, she went to work to change the law so that some of the friends she’d made could also be released, and future women didn’t go through the same thing. It took her a decade, which included a nationally followed legal battle against her husband and doctor. She was successful in getting the laws changed across the state, which would end up saving her daughter in the future when she also suffered mental health problems in her adult years. 

Elizabeth Packard’s story is one that needs remembering for both mental health laws and feminist ideology. I have always enjoyed biographies about strong and powerful women, and Elizabeth makes it on that list. 

Bound Across Time by Annie R. McEwan was my first experience where an author reached out to me and offered me a free copy of their book to read and review. And it was amazing. Of course, Ms. McEwan got the royal treatment: an unboxing video, a blog post, and a YouTube review. 

Bound Across Time is the first of a paranormal time-travel romance series. Patrick O’Loinsigh died in the 1700s in Wales. His ghost as been stuck in the castle he perished in. In modern days, the first living person, Cece Gowdy can see him. She’s a witch and they embark on a passionate love affair. But loving a ghost comes with risk and danger. Cece is not made for Patrick’s limbo world, and Patrick isn’t made for Cece’s living world. They are going to have to rely on the help of other witches to fight against the magic of time that is separating them.

I always find magic system world building interesting, and the rules of magic for this world were really cool. This was also the first ghost-human relationship that followed the rules of the romance genre. The sequel, Bound to Happen will be released early this year!

The Haunted Purse by Kimberly Baer is my tried and true “don’t judge a book by its cover.” I thought the title sounded juvenile and the cover didn’t pull me in. Then it ended up being the book of the month for the book club I was in. I inhaled it.

Libby is a 15-year-old high school student who lives on her own while her mom dates around, pretending she doesn’t have a daughter. Libby purchases an old purse from the secondhand store. The purse makes things disappear, and provides extra things to the purse. As Libby gets used to her purse’s abilities, she notices a connection with some of the objects that appear. They are all connected to a 20-year-old cold case. Convinced that the purse holds the ghost of the missing girl, Libby puts on her detective hat and works to solve the case.

In addition to the murder mystery plot, there are three other themes that provide great lessons for young adult readers:

  1. How educational professionals treat each student is important – Libby’s math teacher bullies her, and her counselor looks down on her for being poor.
  2. See something, say something – A big part of what keeps the plot moving is teenagers keeping secrets. Obviously, the secrets need to exist for a great story, but in real life, keeping secrets like these are dangerous.
  3. Honesty really is the best policy – This connects with number 2. Teenage characters lying to adults helps the plot, but in real life, telling a trusted adult the truth can always help. 

The Haunted Purse is the best YA story I’ve read in a while.

Dark Love by Aura Rose is the second in a fated mates romance trilogy. Each book features a different couple. The first book is called The Last Alpha. To be honest, I didn’t much care for the first one. Some authors who write fated mates stories use the mate bond in their plot to have a – what I call – justified cheating subplot. That is in The Last Alpha, and left a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the book. Luckily, the end of the first book lets the reader know who the couple will be for Dark Love, and I was fully on board for their love story.

Madeline is a werewolf, Arius is a witch-vampire hybrid. Arius is not supposed to exist per the council’s rules, and they’ve been trying to kill him since he was born. Arius is also the son of the vampire king who tried to kill Madeline’s pack in the first book. So, she and Arius get a very steamy enemies-to-lovers and forbidden love arc – which, in my opinion, is the best combination of romance tropes. Trigger warning: Arius does kidnap Madeline at the beginning of the book, but he doesn’t torture or SA her.

Once Madeline and Arius accept the mate bond, they combine forces to take down the bigoted council so they can live in peace. Arius is my favorite book boyfriend. 

It ends on a pretty dramatic cliff-hanger. I’m about a third of the way through the third book, His Lost Tribrid. It’s also really good. Unfortunately, the platform it’s on (Dreame) has tripled their prices over the past year. So, I won’t be able to finish it there. So, I’ve subscribed to Aura Rose’s Amazon page, and as soon as it’s available on Amazon, I’ll buy it there and finish it. 

What notable books did you read in 2024? Share them in the comments!

How Music Inspires My Writing

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

The greatest pop hits of 2006 bring me back to working in a Snowie Shack on the corner of Center Street and Geneva Road. For some reason, anything by Alanis Morisett, The Cranberries, and the Pina Colada Song remind me of working at Mervyn’s. And a catchy cha cha or samba is going to bring me back to the competition floor.

Music has always been a part of my life, and specific songs are nostalgic for different eras in my life. 

Writing Bondwitch was no different, and as part of celebrating my book’s birthday, I thought it’d be fun to share what songs inspired or helped me write specific scenes.

During the second act, Annamaria meets a pair of professional ballroom dancers who are also vampires. Kylie and Tyler have a YouTube channel, and invite Annamaria to join their dance routines. The routines I spent significant word count on went with a real song to help me describe the choreography. So, here are the songs that helped with the key dances:

  • “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri – The Viennese Waltz that Annamaria and Tyler perform. It’s Annamaria’s first ballroom performance, and the choreography tells the story of Annamaria’s parents’ courtship.
  • “The Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper – The contemporary routine Annamaria and Kylie perform. This routine tells the story of Annamaria and Marianna growing up apart from each other throughout the years. 
  • “Human” by Christina Perri – this is a contemporary duet that Kylie and Tyler perform. It showcases Marianna’s upbringing by her “adopted” vampire father. 
  • Jasmine Thompson’s cover of “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” (originally by Meghan Trainer and John Legend) mixed with “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran – This is a foxtrot-tango medley that tells the story of Annamaira’s relationship with her first boyfriend, Cody.
  • “How Can I Not Love You” by Joy Enriquez – This is Annamaria’s contemporary solo. She choreographs it all herself and designs her costume. The purpose of this routine is to say goodbye to her human life. 

The last song that goes with a specific scene is “Almost Lover” by A Fine Frenzy. This song goes with Annamaria’s dark night of the soul moment. In this scene, Annamaria is heartbroken because she has been betrayed by people she cares deeply about, and she thought they cared deeply for her. She’s literally chained up and has a decision to make that could lead to fatal consequences. 

Other songs I listened to while working on Bondwitch:

  • Arms by Christina Perri
  • Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri
  • Fight Song by Rachel Platten
  • Down by Jason Walker
  • I Won’t Give Up by Jason Mraz
  • My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion
  • My Immortal by Evanescence

Music plays a huge part in most people’s lives. Certain songs have inspired decisions and creations. And sometimes, we just need the background noise while we work. 

What song has been important or inspirational for you?

Let me know in the comments! 

New Release: Air & Darkness by AK Nevermore

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

I am honored to introduce AK Nevermore to you. She has three series to her name: The Price of Talent, The Maw of Mayhem, and The Dae Diaries. The second book in The Dae Diaries releases TODAY. And AK Nevermore is here to tell you all about it.

Hey all! AK Nevermore here. I write seat-of-your-pants urban fantasy, paranormal, and steamy dystopian romance. What do I mean by seat-of-your-pants? Whelp, I’m a total pantser and my books are fast-paced with plenty of unexpected twists and turns. They will definitely keep you guessing, so you’re gonna want to buckle in for the ride! And today, I am super excited to be sharing my latest release from The Wild Rose Press, Air & Darkness, with you.

Air & Darknessis the second installment in the Dae Diaries, but don’t let that stop you from taking it for a spin. You can absolutely jump right into this seriously quirky urban fantasy with a sassy take-no-prisoners heroine. The story follows Envy, a half-daemon who accidentally ends up becoming a goddess, much to everyone’s chagrin—including her own. Being a deity is definitely not all it’s cracked up to be, and in Air & Darkness, neither is motherhood. It’s all about baby-daddy drama going to Hell. Check it out:

A week past her due date and not in the mood for anything other than chocolate, the last thing Envy wants to deal with is some fairy demanding she chose a consort. Unfortunately, she can’t exactly tell the Gwinth to piss off without him releasing the wild hunt on humanity, and she’s in enough trouble after the whole sealing-the-veil-and-frying-portions-of-the-planet-thing.

It’s bad enough she’s not exactly on speaking terms with Kyle, Berk, and Morgana. Brennan’s way different since she released his fiend. So is she. Assimilating Lilith’s memories and powers are throwing her for a loop, and her own messy feelings on motherhood aren’t helping. Then, Brennan disappears after a devastating scandal surfaces, and everything Envy thought she knew comes crashing down…

When I wrote Air & Darkness, I definitely pulled on my personal experience and absolute bewilderment as a new mom. Things that were terrifying at the time are pretty funny in retrospect, and I tried to craft the story to highlight their absurdity. 

I hope you’ll check it out, but if you need some more convincing, you can hang out with Envy out in One Night in Bliss, the free prequel. Not for nothin’ but it’s been reviewed as a “Hilarious, seriously f’d up good read…” and I kind of have to agree with them.

Then, if you want more Nevermore, stop by my website at: https://aknevermore.com/ There’s always something going on!

AK Nevermore writes Sci-fi & dark romantasy with spice. She enjoys operating heavy machinery, freebases coffee, and gives up sarcasm for Lent every year. A Jane-of-all-trades, she’s a certified chef, restores antiques, and dabbles in beekeeping when she’s not reading voraciously or running down the dream in her beat-up camo Chucks.

Unable to ignore the voices in her head, and unwilling to become medicated, she writes full time around a nest full of ravens. Her books explore dark worlds, perversely irreverent and profound, and always entertaining. AK belongs to a bunch of industry associations, volunteers for far too many committees, teaches creative writing, and on the rare occasion, sleeps.

I absolutely love hearing about personal stories and experiences that influence writers. I love that Ms. Nevermore used something as vulnerable as motherhood to craft her newest book. What personal experiences would you like turned into a book or a movie? Let us know in the comments!

New Release: Pieces of Blue by Liz Flaherty

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

At the beginning of this month, USA Today’s best selling author Liz Flaherty released Pieces of Blue. Normally a romance author, Liz has dipped her toes into women’s fiction with her latest release, and is here to share her thoughts on her recent writing and publishing journey.

Hi, everybody. Chelsey, thank you so much for having me here today. 

I’m not sure when the term women’s fiction entered my consciousness. I don’t recall whose I read first or even if I liked it. The words Woman’s Journey had been bandied about most of the years I’d been writing romance, and I thought that’s what we should do with romance and women’s fiction—just make them into one huge glorious genre known as The Woman’s Journey. 

The idea didn’t catch on. 

But I read CurtissAnn Matlock’s Lost Highways and Robyn Carr’s Deep in the Valley and Cheryl Reavis’s Blackberry Winter and Elisabeth Ogilvie’s Bennett’s Island series. I kept thinking yes, this! They’re all women’s fiction, but they’re all love stories, too. They’re all women’s journeys and I’ve read most of them more than once. While I love the relationship that grows between the heroine and hero, I also enjoy the ones between girlfriends, between sisters, between work friends who are there for each other. The romance is important, but it’s not always most important. 

Because it’s the story that’s important. The journey. How you feel when you finish reading. To a lesser degree, as a writer, how I feel when I finish writing is important, too. 

Of course, none of that was in my mind at all when I got a two-word start that wouldn’t get off my mind and stay there. Then I had a trip back a skinny, curvy road to a small lake I’d never known existed but made me type Chapter One above those initial two words. Later still, Maggie North invited me on her journey. It took her a while, and writing it took me a while, but…gosh, I loved Maggie. And Sam. And her adoptive parents. And Pastor Cari Newland. Oh, and Ellie and the dachshund named Chloe, too. 

Pieces of Blue has some romance, a setting I never wanted to leave, and, most of all, it has friends and family and community. Their dialogue was so much fun to write. The house—the Burl—is a character unto itself. 

How did I feel when I finished writing it? Oh, good. Sorry it was over and slapping back thoughts that maybe it wasn’t over…maybe there was another story at Harper Loch. Or two.

We’ll see. In the meantime, it’s a story from the “huge glorious genre” I mentioned above. I hope you like it.

For all of her adult life, loner Maggie North has worked for bestselling author Trilby Winterroad, first as his typist, then as his assistant, and finally as his ghost writer. Throughout her first marriage, widowhood, remarriage, and divorce from an abusive husband, Trilby was the constant in her life.

When he dies, she inherits not only his dachshund, Chloe, but a house she didn’t know existed on a lake she’d never heard of. On her first visit, she falls in love with both the house and the lake. Within a few weeks, she’s met most of the 85 inhabitants of Harper Loch and surprisingly, become a part of the tiny community. Her life expands as does a new kind of relationship with her friend Sam Eldridge. She finally feels not only at home, but safe.

Until her ex-husband is released from prison. The fragile threads of her new life begin to fray, and that feeling of safety is about to shatter into a thousand pieces.

The drive took me farther into the country than I’d ever been—at least that I could remember. While the temperature didn’t drop, the wind did increase, blowing snow from the roadsides across in front of me in gusty swirls of white. I was surprised that Gladys, the elegant voice of my GPS, didn’t sound either confused or disdainful even when it took me three tries to see the little green sign that indicated Harper Loch Road.

Canopied by naked February trees and lined with animal-tracked snowbanks, the road was one and a half lanes wide. I hoped it would be wider when there was no snow, but I wouldn’t bet on it. It was hilly, with serpentine curves that reminded me of a Chutes and Ladders game board minus the ladders. Gladys didn’t enlighten me as to how far it was to the lake itself, and two miles in, I was starting to wonder if it was all a bad joke. 

Trilby had been the master of bad jokes.

A barnwood sign at the side of the road encouraged me to Keep Right! I inched over, flinching when the snowbank brushed the side of my car, my pride and joy. Chloe looked my way, wide eyed.

Apparently, it was a popular meeting spot on the road, because I met a pickup immediately, going at least twice as fast as I was. The driver waved cheerfully and missed me by what I was certain was the hair’s breadth Trilby used to insist was purple prose if used in a book. I would have waved back, but my hands, white knuckled, didn’t want to let go of the steering wheel.

“Trilby,” I said, “what in the hell were you thinking?”

Pieces of Blue is available everywhere books are sold online:

https://books2read.com/FlahertyBlue

https://a.co/d/eyEjPDA

Liz Flaherty has spent the past several years enjoying not working a day job, making terrible crafts, and writing stories in which the people aren’t young, brilliant, or even beautiful. She’s decided (and has to re-decide most every day) that the definition of success is having a good time. Along with her husband of lo, these many years, kids, grands, friends, and the occasional cat, she’s doing just that.

She’d love to hear from you at lizkflaherty@gmail.com or please come and see her at  https://linktr.ee/LizFlaherty 

My Grandparents’ WWII Love Story by Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

She was a widow with four children, ages sixteen to three, struggling to make ends meet after losing her husband in 1943. Edna Neely had grown up in a fine house, with a fur coat, and her own car at 16 but her world crashed when the stock market did. Everything was liquidated to pay her father’s debts when the banks failed. 

He was a farmer, older than the average soldier, and the “kids” serving in his unit called him Pop. Until he joined the Army, because he didn’t wait to be drafted, Claude Roberts lived near the small farming community of Fillmore, Missouri. Fillmore has fat farmland; fertile fields raise some of the state’s finest corn and soybeans. Surrounding farms produce cattle and hogs for the livestock market. In my grandfather’s day, nearby St. Joseph, MO still ranked as the third largest packing site in the nation.  He came from a large family but my grandmother was an only child.

After she married, my grandmother found a lifelong best friend in neighbor Margie Violett. The two young woman both had young children at home. They bonded over recipes, shared neighborhood gossip, and the age-old effort to understand the men they married.

After my grandmother was widowed, she joined the war effort. She volunteered her time at a local USO canteen and even though she hadn’t planned to find another husband, she was soon dating young men stationed at Rosecrans Field, an Army Air Corps based nearby. More than one proposed marriage but she declined, satisfied with her children and life.

Several of her cousins were away serving in the war and she wrote letters to each of them. When Margie suggested she add her Uncle Claude to her pen pal list, she did. Edna and Claude wrote numerous letters. She detailed her everyday life on the home front and he shared what he could of Army life in the Pacific Theater of war.

Despite the differences in location and background — she was raised in the shadow of the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City, Missouri and he came from an Andrew County farm – they found common interests. My great-grandmother, Edna’s mother, also hailed from the Fillmore area. They poured out their hearts about music, life, and fell in love by letter.

When V-J Day came, the war ended and Claude would be coming home. They wrote about meeting in person but my grandmother never expected it to play out the way it did.

She woke up one winter morning to find a man, rolled up in his overcoat against the cold, on the porch asleep. It turned out to be Claude. When he’d gotten as far as St. Joe, he headed for the address he knew from the letters but since it was late at night, he decided to wait until morning. By the time my grandmother opened the door, he was nearly frozen.

Grandma invited him in, served him breakfast, and fell the rest of the way in love. They married a few months later and he became one of the best grandpas a child could have.

That’ s a real life love story. I write romance, from sweet to heat but I often draw on actual inspiration from my long relationship with my late husband or other family tales.

You can find my books on Amazon and elsewhere. https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lee-Ann-Sontheimer-Murphy/author/B004JPBM6I

And you can read my ramblings and writings on my blog here: https://leeannsontheimer.blogspot.com/

Real Life Romance: My Love Story by Maria Imbalzano

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

When I graduated from law school at the age of 28, I was fairly certain I would never get married. I had been on and off with my boyfriend for eight years, my parents had a terrible marriage, and I didn’t want to end up in an unhappy relationship. I had my career ahead of me, I had friends to hang out with, and I was fine by myself. 

A few weeks before I was to start my job at a law firm, I met with the managing partner. He said he had good news and bad news. What did I want to hear first?  I chose the bad news, which was that another new hire was starting two weeks before me and would be on the letterhead above me. The good news was that he was tall and good-looking. 

I laughed that off and began my legal career as anticipated a few weeks later. I did meet the “tall, good-looking attorney” on my first day, since we worked at a small firm (17 lawyers at the time). He was very nice, very handsome, and perfectly tall (6’4” to my 5’9” plus heels). But I had a boyfriend (the on and off guy) and he had a girlfriend (who was very short). 

We became friends, hung out on Friday nights for happy hour with our colleagues, and eventually broke up with our significant others due to relationship issues. We both worked late on week nights and started going out to get something to eat when we were famished—sometimes with others, sometimes on our own. It was all very platonic, but something was happening beneath the surface. 

On a weekend ski trip with our friends, we somehow ended up in the same room together. My roommate had disappeared into someone else’s room, and he didn’t have a bed in the guys’ room. Although there were bunkbeds, we shared some hot kisses and a bed that night. It all became very romantic over the next few weeks, as we kept our attraction hidden at work, and would meet up clandestinely so no one would know. 

Then he got cold feet. He told me we probably shouldn’t continue. We should just go back to being friends. I was devastated. I had fallen for him and didn’t want to be friends. And I told him just that. I said that, of course, I would be friendly at work. I was a professional after all. I told him I respected his decision, but I didn’t want to go back to hanging out. He said he understood and we left the restaurant with heavy hearts. 

The very next night, he asked if I wanted to go get something to eat. Had he not heard me? I said no, and reminded him that I did want to revert to the best friends zone. He accepted it that night, but a few days later we were at a firm function. He kept coming over to me, engaging in small talk, sitting down next to me if I sat, following me if I moved to a different spot. Then he asked why I was being so icy.  

I reminded him of our recent discussion. Sadness shrouded his eyes, but I could not back down. I had my heart to protect.  A few nights later, he asked me to go out to dinner with him. He wanted to talk.  Reluctantly, I agreed, despite my resolve. I was still crazy about him, and was willing to spend a few more hours together, hoping he would change his mind.

Although, he never said that in so many words, we spent that night and every night thereafter  together—either at my place or his. We went on romantic vacations together, most notably Key West and Rio de Janeiro and married eighteen months later. And I’m still crazy about him today.  

*****

I retired from the practice of law a few years ago, and now write full time. In several of my contemporary romance novels, the heroine is a lawyer, and a lawsuit pits the main characters against each other. My new release, “Island Detour,” (on pre-order and out on February 19th) does not follow suit. The main characters are teachers at an environmental school in the Florida Keys. Sunrise Island, a fictional island in the Keys, is based on Key West, which played an important role in my and my husband’s love story. We’ve gone there every year for the past thirty-seven years, and it is definitely one of my happy places. 

Buy Links for Island Detour https://books2read.com/u/4D20y7

Meet Maria and follow her writing journey: https://mariaimbalzano.com/

Real Life Romance: Of Love and War by Annie R. McEwen

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

May 16, 1938

Dear Albert,

The joke is on you this time. I bet a friend that you would never write to me twice in succession. As it happens, you did!

That was the start of a letter from Jean Morlach to Albert Patrick, my parents. Jean, known then as Gina Morlacci, had emigrated from Italy to the U.S. with her parents in 1921. Albert, whose family was already established in America, helped the Italians as they struggled to set down roots in Pennsylvania. Albert, born in 1915, and Gina/Jean, born in 1912, became best friends before they even had a common language. 

You see, it was my turn but I was so darned busy with my hobby show that I neglected to write. You wrote again, thinking it was your turn. I’m so glad you did. 

When Jean and Albert got engaged in 1939, it surprised absolutely no one except Jean’s parents. Still struggling to make a success of their Italian grocery, they’d expected that Jean, their oldest child, would stay at home to help. Jean and Albert had other ideas. Jean was so worried about her parents’ reaction that she wrote Albert about it. She was considering abandoning her devout Catholicism so her marriage to Albert could take place quietly and fast. 

You know, I’ve been thinking (I do it sometimes) that perhaps we’d better marry in a Protestant church. I don’t mind.

Albert, who’d divided his growing up years between Florida and Pennsylvania, got an apartment in Tampa and set about furnishing it for his bride. Jean industriously, but on the sly, added to her stock of soft goods. Knowing nothing of the Florida climate, she worried about heating. 

Are you getting gas in the house, or are you getting an oil stove? I just was wondering about it. 

Last night, I embroidered for a while and made napkins. I have four sets, now. 

When she wasn’t making linens, working at her new job as a grade school teacher, or slaving at her parents’ grocery, Jean longed for Albert.

It seems ages since I saw you last. You seem so very far away—almost unreal. There are ever so many things I’d like to talk over with you, but I guess they will keep. Only, I do miss you so very, very much. 

In 1940, while World War Two loomed and Albert was sure he’d be drafted, Jean and Albert married, not in a Protestant church but in the vestry of a Catholic one. Jean’s parents were as angry as she’d feared. She fled with Albert to Florida, leaving her trousseau—all those embroidered linens—behind. The newlyweds had just enough time together in Florida to conceive their first child when Albert was drafted. He went off to train with the U.S. Air Force. The young airman was shocked by the unreadiness for War he saw in his first posting to Atlanta. He wrote Jean about it.

I don’t think these people realize a war is going on, so much waste and complaining. Several plants and a dairy are on strike, 325 fellows here just sentenced for draft evasion. There was an air raid drill the other day and officials complaining about poor cooperation from people. 

War and loosening social mores were producing changes in American society, and not everyone was comfortable with them. Albert was appalled by local women. Or maybe his letter was an attempt to reassure his lonely bride back home that his eyes weren’t wandering.

The girls up here are awful. Their skirts are 3 to 4 inches above the knee and they smoke more cigarettes than men. More imitation blondes than I ever saw in my life. I’m not laying it on thick, it is the truth with no exaggeration. 

Jean had her own complaints, mostly about her rowdy students. She’d gotten a job in a rural community outside Tampa, teaching eight grades in a one-room schoolhouse.

I’m just a bunch of nerves. You know it’s difficult to keep smiling all day in front of the students when I feel like throwing some of them out on their heads.

As difficult as those war years were, Jean and Albert were sustained by their love letters. Jean’s always closed like this one. 

All my love to you alone. 

Jean

Jean and Albert were married sixty-two years. After Albert’s death, Jean lived another nine years, but she was never truly happy. Her last utterance before her own passing was Albert’s name.

As Albert’s ended like this, from 1941.

I love you, sweetheart.

Your husband

Annie R McEwen is an award-winning author of historical romance, paranormal romance, and romantic suspense. Her Bound Trilogy from Harbor Lane Books launches on May 7, 2024 with Bound Across Time, a love story that transcends death itself. Annie also has upcoming titles from Bloodhound Books (UK) and The Wild Rose Press. For release dates, giveaways, Annie’s quirky blog, and more, go to www.anniermcewen. Be sure to Subscribe for her fun newsletter and a free Regency Romance story. While you’re at it, visit Annie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anniermcewen/ and Facebook: https://facebook.com/Quillist/