What’s Your Favorite?
We all have our favorite themes…you know those hooks that grab you as soon as you pick up a book and read the back cover. Secret baby, marriage of convenience, mail order bride, woman in jeopardy, May-December romances. Seeing that one certain word or phrase sparks our interest and causes us to put the book in our cart, happily looking forward to the specific kind of read we love. The variety seems endless. There are even websites with long lists of all different types of themes. The categories are wide-ranging and infinitely interesting.
One of my favorites is the revenge theme. Emotions run high, secrets often abound and the anticipation of the conclusion ramps up the tension. And in revenge theme romances, there’s often a lovely groveling scene, when the hero or heroine discovers how wrong and misguided he or she was and must ask for forgiveness. When this happens, I sigh or get an emotional lump in my throat, especially if the scene is particularly poignant and emotional.
A reunion romance is another favorite. That second chance at love—an opportunity for former lovers to finally get it right. The first book in my new trilogy is a reunion romance. NO CHANCE is about young lovers who are tragically betrayed and torn apart. Gabe Maddox, who has been a secondary character in all my previous books, finally gets his own story. I always knew I would write Gabe’s story because I recognized he had secrets and emotions he didn’t want anyone to see. I wanted to uncover those secrets but never anticipated his book would be a reunion romance.
In RUN TO ME, when it’s revealed that Gabe’s married, I was quite shocked. Then I learned that his wife is considered one of the most eligible and beautiful women in the world. Eligible? Hmm? So not only is Gabe married, he’s married to a famous woman most people believe is single? What’s that about? How did that happen? I couldn’t wait to write his story and find out more.
Eight years pass before Gabe and his wife, Skylar, are reunited. The reunion is not exactly one of sweetness, since he’s rescuing her from a sadistic kidnapper. Skylar’s reaction to seeing Gabe again is one of my favorite parts of the book. She goes through at least a dozen emotions in the span of seconds. Her final reaction shocks them both. But, of course, at the end, they do finally get it right. Which is another type of emotional scene I love. The acknowledgement of all the years and time they’ve lost somehow makes the ending even more poignant. Reunited lovers realizing how lucky they are to have found one another again—an opportunity for another sigh-worthy scene.
Those are two of my favorite themes. What are yours? Do you have favorite books with the themes you love?
CONTEST:
Christy Reece will give away one copy of RUN TO ME and one copy of NO CHANCE, so stop by and say hello. Please check back on Saturday to see if you are the very lucky winners!
