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. (more…)
