The best love stories are about so much more than the romance on the surface, even when the happily ever after ending is what all romance readers look for.
Some romance readers like sassy, some like funny, some like sweet, some spooky or dramatic or heart-pounding. But we’re all going readers reading for an ending that inspires and encourages and gives up hope that our lives could be just as well-crafted and happily-ended.
But love stories can be about so much more.
It’s this “more” that love can speak to, that I write for. How we love and how we relate and how we deal with or lives is shaped by the world around us. Our families, the ones who made us and the ones we build for ourselves, define so much of what we see as ours, and sometimes what we think we can’t. Our world view can tell us we’re loved. It can insist we’re unlovable. OR it can challenge us to fight for the love we need, no matter how many people might be standing in line to let us down. The families and community I write about find their happy endings, but not before I show them fighting as hard as they have to, to conquer some of the very real challenges we all do
I want that CONQUER THE WORLD reality for my characters, my readers, and myself. I want the the kind of happy ending we all hope for, no matter what gets in our way. The one where we’ll fight, and we’ll never fight alone, until we claim our HEA. And I HEART stories where kids are fought for and families are fought for and communities are fought for, no matter their challenges.
I’ve talked a little about Hearts for Hearts, and I’ll be talking more this month, as we celebrate Valentine’s day. Hearts for Hearts is about more. Seeing so much more in the world and lives around us, and seeing if we can’t dig in and help someone else fight. The kind of giving I’m challenging readers to embrace is what I’ve challenged myself to do with my writing from Day One. Let’s build community. In our lives, let’s make our families and neighborhoods and friends and towns stronger, especially the parts of our world that don’t look so glittery or happy or easy to deal with. Let’s make what we have count by giving just a bit of it away (our time, our books, our compassion). Let’s build community one story at a time, and let’s see just how amazing that can be for all of us!
How can you conquer a need in your world today? This week? This month? What does loving your community mean to you?
That’s the question for the contest we’ll be drawing winners for this week!
Look for contest details tomorrow (after I announce the winners from last week). But today’s comments will count toward the randomly selected winners from this week for a signed copy of Love on Mimosa Lane and an Amazon Gift Certificate. Again, details tomorrow.
But for today, for this post, how will you conquer and help others conquer the world around you? Read up on Hearts for Hearts for inspiration, but there are so many ways I’m sure you’re all already out there, like the characters in my novels, making love a reality, one story at a time.
I’m DYING to hear your stories.
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Tags: Anna DeStefano, best-selling romance, Community, Contemporary Romance, Happily Ever After, Hearts for Hearts
I have been enjoying your wonderful, inspiring and memorable posts about music, love and heartwarming topics. They are so meaningful and profound. I believe that living in a warm, loving and secure community is important and gives us a purpose. I hope that as I grow older it stays the same way as it was in the 1950’s with neighbors whom we could rely on and trust and feel comfortable with. I look forward to more of your heartfelt posts and wish you the best of happiness and enjoyment.