Love and Romance, Living Happily Ever After
By Kelli Wilkins
Amber Quill Press Author
Happy Valentine’s Day! On this day more than any other, love is in the air. Take a quick trip to the mall and you’ll see expressions of love and romance everywhere – lacy lingerie, “I love you” diamonds, red roses, pink hearts filled with chocolates…all that’s fine, but it’s not always realistic or practical. Where does such “perfect romance” leave the every day, “everything’s not always roses and sunshine” love? What about the rest of the year?
As an author of romances, I write stories based around characters who find each other, fall deeply in love, and live happily ever after – but not without going through some emotional ups and downs. Although my characters love each other, they have to face reality and learn a few lessons (about themselves, trust, and honesty) before they can live happily ever after.
For example, Princess Elara in A Most Unusual Princess has to open up and develop trust. In Dalton’s Temptation, Elara and Dalton learn important lessons about temptation and fidelity. Lord Adrik in The Dark Lord is moody and misunderstood, until an innocent girl teaches him how to love and trust again. All these trials and emotional hardships are realistic challenges that people face every day.
Sometimes love can be a surprise. In some of my stories, the characters aren’t looking for love – it’s the furthest thing from their minds – but there it is! Lauren in The Sexy Stranger quickly found herself falling for her ex-con “captor.” Claudette from The Pauper Prince had Prince Charming literally stroll into her dress shop, and Brian found his true love on a deserted beach in Confessions of a Vampire’s Lover. Although these relationships are uncommon, they’re about more than just meeting the right person and having a wild love life — the characters focus on commitment and being there for the other person, no matter what.
Many of my characters only find true love when they are willing to open their hearts and risk sharing their deepest emotions, darkest secrets, and intimate desires — and then discover that the other person loves them even more for it. (Julian and Annabelle from A Midsummer Night’s Delights are excellent examples of this.)
People read romances for many different reasons: for great storylines, to live vicariously through the characters they care about, and to know that whatever obstacles these lovers face, they’ll overcome them together.
However, in real life, not every relationship turns out the way we’d hoped. Promises aren’t kept, hearts become broken, egos get crushed, and sometimes people end up alone and looking for love all over again. That’s why I enjoy bringing unique and interesting characters together in my novels. Sometimes I never know where the story will take me – but I’m always sure of one thing – that my characters will end up together, forever. And that’s the way it should be.
Remember back in grade school when Valentine’s Day came around? Everyone got a Valentine! So today, take a few minutes to let someone (or everyone) special in your life (a lover, brother, sister, best friend, cousin, parent, grandparent, and especially your cat) know you care.
With love,
Kelli
*************
Author Bio: Kelli Wilkins has published seven romances with Amber Quill Press. Her paperback romance anthology, Naughty Nobles is being released in February. To learn more about Kelli and her writings, visit her website at: http://www.blogger.com/www.KelliWilkins.com
BOOK LINKS:
(I included these in case the links I embedded in the text don’t show up. They all link to the book purchase page on the Amber Quill site.)
A Midsummer Night’s Delights - http://www.amberquill.com/AmberHeat/MidsummerNightsDelights.html
Confessions of a Vampire’s Lover: http://amberquill.com/AmberHeat/ConfessionsVampiresLover.html
A Most Unusual Princess - http://www.amberquill.com/AmberHeat/MostUnusualPrincess.html
The Dark Lord - http://www.amberquill.com/AmberHeat/DarkLord.html
Dalton’s Temptation - http://amberquill.com/AmberHeat/DaltonsTemptation.html
The Pauper Prince - http://amberquill.com/AmberHeat/PauperPrince.html
The Sexy Stranger - http://www.amberquill.com/AmberHeat/SexyStranger.html
By Kelli Wilkins
Amber Quill Press Author
Happy Valentine’s Day! On this day more than any other, love is in the air. Take a quick trip to the mall and you’ll see expressions of love and romance everywhere – lacy lingerie, “I love you” diamonds, red roses, pink hearts filled with chocolates…all that’s fine, but it’s not always realistic or practical. Where does such “perfect romance” leave the every day, “everything’s not always roses and sunshine” love? What about the rest of the year?
As an author of romances, I write stories based around characters who find each other, fall deeply in love, and live happily ever after – but not without going through some emotional ups and downs. Although my characters love each other, they have to face reality and learn a few lessons (about themselves, trust, and honesty) before they can live happily ever after.
For example, Princess Elara in A Most Unusual Princess has to open up and develop trust. In Dalton’s Temptation, Elara and Dalton learn important lessons about temptation and fidelity. Lord Adrik in The Dark Lord is moody and misunderstood, until an innocent girl teaches him how to love and trust again. All these trials and emotional hardships are realistic challenges that people face every day.
Sometimes love can be a surprise. In some of my stories, the characters aren’t looking for love – it’s the furthest thing from their minds – but there it is! Lauren in The Sexy Stranger quickly found herself falling for her ex-con “captor.” Claudette from The Pauper Prince had Prince Charming literally stroll into her dress shop, and Brian found his true love on a deserted beach in Confessions of a Vampire’s Lover. Although these relationships are uncommon, they’re about more than just meeting the right person and having a wild love life — the characters focus on commitment and being there for the other person, no matter what.
Many of my characters only find true love when they are willing to open their hearts and risk sharing their deepest emotions, darkest secrets, and intimate desires — and then discover that the other person loves them even more for it. (Julian and Annabelle from A Midsummer Night’s Delights are excellent examples of this.)
People read romances for many different reasons: for great storylines, to live vicariously through the characters they care about, and to know that whatever obstacles these lovers face, they’ll overcome them together.
However, in real life, not every relationship turns out the way we’d hoped. Promises aren’t kept, hearts become broken, egos get crushed, and sometimes people end up alone and looking for love all over again. That’s why I enjoy bringing unique and interesting characters together in my novels. Sometimes I never know where the story will take me – but I’m always sure of one thing – that my characters will end up together, forever. And that’s the way it should be.
Remember back in grade school when Valentine’s Day came around? Everyone got a Valentine! So today, take a few minutes to let someone (or everyone) special in your life (a lover, brother, sister, best friend, cousin, parent, grandparent, and especially your cat) know you care.
With love,
Kelli
*************
Author Bio: Kelli Wilkins has published seven romances with Amber Quill Press. Her paperback romance anthology, Naughty Nobles is being released in February. To learn more about Kelli and her writings, visit her website at: http://www.blogger.com/www.KelliWilkins.com
BOOK LINKS:
(I included these in case the links I embedded in the text don’t show up. They all link to the book purchase page on the Amber Quill site.)
A Midsummer Night’s Delights - http://www.amberquill.com/AmberHeat/MidsummerNightsDelights.html
Confessions of a Vampire’s Lover: http://amberquill.com/AmberHeat/ConfessionsVampiresLover.html
A Most Unusual Princess - http://www.amberquill.com/AmberHeat/MostUnusualPrincess.html
The Dark Lord - http://www.amberquill.com/AmberHeat/DarkLord.html
Dalton’s Temptation - http://amberquill.com/AmberHeat/DaltonsTemptation.html
The Pauper Prince - http://amberquill.com/AmberHeat/PauperPrince.html
The Sexy Stranger - http://www.amberquill.com/AmberHeat/SexyStranger.html
3 comments:
Thank you for incredible blog. I'll be out looking for your book. It's the romance that keeps me coming back. I always look for the happily ever after.
When you start to write your book, what comes first, your characters or the story line?
Oh, good question, Glo!!!
Kelli, thanks for the womderful post! Valentine is actually one of my favorite holidays! My hubby always teases me with the line "Is Valentine's a gift giving holiday?" Lucky for him, I know his sense of humor!!!
Looking forward to reading more from you, Kelli!!
Kelli,
I too am a stickler for the happily ever after. That is the main reason I enjoy reading romance so much. Looking forward to your next release!
Lori
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