I am, of course, a romantic at heart – what romance novelist isn’t? But in today’s fast-paced era of busy people hurtling around in their busy lives; of connecting to people via the internet and mobile phone more than face to face (even arranging dating online); of rising divorce rates and disillusion with long-term relationships; […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
As Lysander wisely points out in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, ‘The course of true love never did run smooth.’ And what would a romance novel be without some obstacles along the path to test the lovers? Of course, one of the most common threats introduced by the author is love rivals – the other […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
What makes a perfect man? Does such a man exist? Perfection is surely subjective – so what’s your idea of a perfect man? These are the fundamental questions explored in a recent survey commissioned by Remington (the UK supplier of hair care and personal care appliances). Remington asked 2,000 women what they thought about the […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
I call myself a romance novelist; I write romance books. The genre in which I write is entitled ‘romance’. But I wonder, sometimes, whether that’s quite accurate. Because while I do write about romance, I would say that the core of my writing is love. I write about love. Romance plays a part, of course, […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
In most novels, the central premise of the book is that the main character(s) goes on a journey. Usually, that journey is at least partly experienced within the character – so spiritual, emotional, intellectual. In Burning Embers, both of the main characters, Coral and Rafe, go on such a journey. For Rafe, the journey is […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Happy Valentine’s Day! The most wonderful day of the year for a romantic like me. Do you remember the comic strip ‘Love is . . .’ by cartoonist Kim Casali? Now, I’m not a regular reader of comics of course (not enough words for my liking), but this strip caught my eye back in the […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Most of my favourite films are romantic classics from previous decades – like Gone with the Wind. But I do occasionally watch a more recent film, and a friend recommended I watched the 2010 film Charlie St. Cloud because she had seen it and thought it would strike a chord with me. At first I […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
… Or so the popular saying goes. Heathcliff and Cathy. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy. Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler. Jane Eyre and Mr Rochester. Pip and Estella. Dexter and Emma (One Day)… Romantic stories throughout the history of literature are peppered with the prolonged separation of lovers, which serves to bring them closer together. […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
One of my favourite quotes about love is from the book Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières: “Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
I’ve been reading romance novels since I was a young girl, and years ago, in more traditional times, the happy ending at the end of a book was wrapped up in marriage. Either the hero proposed to the heroine, or, usually in an epilogue, they stood at an alter and made their vows. Such books […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry…
