I love so many types of romance novels that I didn’t believe I had a favorite romance trope. There are too many to choose from including: Friends to Lovers, Soul Mate/Fated Love, Second Chance at Love/Reunited Lovers, Love Triangle, Sexy Billionaire, Secret Baby, Enemies to Lovers, Fake Romance/Marriage of Convenience, Sassy Heroine, Opposites Attract, Forbidden Love, etc.
To make things more complicated, most authors—including myself—use two or more tropes in one book! Since I was asked to choose one, I have to admit that my all-time, favorite trope is Forbidden Love aka Star-Crossed Lovers. I have a lot of reasons for my choice, but they all stem back to one book: Wuthering Heights. When I found that book in High School, I read it in one sitting. I remember sitting on the couch, during a snow storm, with a cup of hot chocolate. It’s hard to explain the emotional and physical changes I went through while reading that book. But I do know that when I sat down I was a fifteen-year-old girl. When I got up, I was a young woman. Wuthering Heights showed me that books could carry far more emotions in a far more satisfying manner than I’d ever realized. I then went on to find other books with that same type of emotional resonance, and came up with a too-short list. Not long after that, with the help of a friendly librarian, I discovered Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss. While that was more of an enemies-to-friends/marriage-of-convenience book, it became a full-blown Star-Crossed Lovers story at the black moment. That was my first true romance novel and from that moment I was hooked. What is it about this trope that draws me close every time I write a new book?
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Every day I see or hear something that makes me think “What if…?” and asking those questions leads me to an idea for a scene, description, or even an entire book! I’m blessed to be working with a young man with Asperger’s who dreams of publishing a book. His creativity and excitement inspire me greatly. When I’m writing, I’m transported to a different time or place and get to live vicariously through my characters. How can I not be inspired when I can be anyone, anywhere, at any time? What Are the Top Five Things That Inspire Me?
Holidays are a great time to take a step back from the hustle and bustle of daily life to spend time with family and friends! Many people have traditions--both longstanding and newly created--that remind us of the spirit of the Christmas season.
To help get us excited for the holidays, we asked our Casa Christmas authors to share their favorite Christmas traditions (or things they can't live without during the season)! Keep reading to see what they said... We're celebrating the release of Terry Spear's Silver Town Wolf: Home for the Holidays! We asked Terry to share where to start if you’ve never read one of her books. Keep reading to find out more! Have you ever wanted to get away from it all? Live among people that have your back? Party with the best of them? Go for a run on the wild side? Have a whole pack of friends, loyal to the core?
Come join the fun in Silver Town, where the gray wolves rule. Starting with Destiny of the Wolf, you’ll get an introduction to the pack, family dynamics, pack dynamics, mystery, suspense. And of course, romance. In celebration of the recent release of Diana Munoz Stewart's The Price of Grace, book 2 in the Black Ops Confidential series, we asked Diana to share her favorite romantic suspense novels! Check out her favorites below. As an author of romantic suspense, I read a lot in and out of the genre, and while I could do an all-time must-read list, that list would undoubtedly contain books you have already read. I would rather introduce you to some newer amazing books that I’ve read recently, say within the last year. I’m thrilled to be able to share some of my favorite books from this past year. These books are well-written, powerful, and suspenseful. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!
In no particular order... We're celebrating the release of Lucy Gilmore's Puppy Christmas, book 2 in the Forever Home series! So we decided to ask Lucy about her favorite dog breeds! Here's what she had to say... I’ve never met a dog I didn’t like. Granted, some are a little bit harder to love than others (I’m looking at you, dog next door who barks every morning at 6:00 am), but if I have my choice between spending time with a canine or spending time with literally any other living creature, I’m picking the dog. I like them big. I like them small. I like them long-haired. I like them short-haired. I like them sweet and composed, and I like them full of yapping energy. Basically, I’m a sucker for a wet nose and a wagging tail. Although it’s tough to pick five favorites, here’s my list:
We're excited for the release of One Dark Wish, book 2 in Sharon Wray's Deadly Force romantic suspense series! To celebrate, we asked Sharon about her favorite HEA. She surprised us with not one...but TWO favorites! Keep reading to learn more. My favorite HEA is Jane Eyre. But since most romances authors choose Jane Eyre or Pride & Prejudice as their favorite HEA, and I’m a commercial fiction author who writes novels for contemporary romance readers, I’d like to write about my second-favorite romance novel HEA: Lover Eternal. I have to admit it’s hard not to write about Jane Eyre. I read it when I was fourteen and it had such a profound effect on my life that I blame it for the reason I became a librarian. The reasons I love Jane Eyre are mostly due to my age when I read it. It was the first true romance I’d ever come across and all of those emotions—some of which seemed forbidden—carved themselves into my heart, helping to form the woman I’d become. But the reasons I fell in love with J.R. Ward’s Lover Eternal, the second book in her Black Dagger Brotherhood series, are more important. Where Jane Eyre made me feel all sorts of new, emerging emotions, Lover Eternal validated all of the emotions I’d dealt with as an adult.
Juno Rushdan Interviews Gideon Stone, the hero in Nothing to FearWe all have characters that resonate with us and we can’t forget. I’m thrilled to introduce you to one of my favorites. He’s not easy to get to know, but once you do, I guarantee you’ll fall hard for him. He’s sexy, badass and fiercely loyal. Today I’ve managed to score ten minutes with the mysterious Gideon Stone, an operative in the Gray Box. Are you familiar with the Gray Box and the Final Hour series? If not, now is the time to grab the first book, Every Last Breath!
I don’t want to waste another second because once my time is up, he’s out of here. It’s so hard to choose a favorite romance trope! There are so many fun, emotional, feely stories to love—how are we supposed to choose?
I love a best friend’s sibling story—there’s a forbidden element there, don’t you think? I can’t tell you how many friends’ older brothers I had crushes on back in the day. It gets even yummier if you add in a second chance love story, like Lizzie and Adam’s from my recent novel, Big Chance Cowboy. There’s some extra heartache built in—can’t you just see teenaged Lizzie, pining away for Adam as he rides off to boot camp without (she thinks) looking back? And can’t you see Adam, working so hard to be a badass in spite of how terrified he must have been to head off to war? And then they meet again…he’s got scars inside and out, and she’s lost her rose-colored glasses, but not her attraction to Adam. Sigh. |
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