To Rush or Not To Rush a Romance, that is the Question.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion as to how long people should get to know one another before dating, carrying on a relationship, and then, if things work out, get married.  But, I have to ask..."Is there really a timeline?"

Love happens in its own time.  I've known people to date the same person for years on end to have them end up getting married and the relationship quickly ends in divorce or have them end things before marriage is even discussed.

At the same time I've known people who've gone out with one another for two or three weeks, realize that they've found their true match, get married right away and still be married 30 + years later.

So is there a timeline that one should follow in regards to relationships, whether in reality or in fictional writing?  The answer is NO!

As a fellow author I've heard complaints about both my books and others.  They range from, "I thought the couple would never get together" to "The relationship is hard to believe because it happened too quickly".   The comments are endless.  In reality, you might not want things to happen so fast, but they sometimes do, so it isn't a stretch of the imagination.  Then again, a book is fantasy, not reality.  It's a means to escape reality and go into a fictional world where romance and love exist in perfect harmony, with the occasional switch-up.

I know I've been guilty of having my characters trust a bit too easily in the other person, fall too quickly, and marry within no time.  I did have them carry out things over the course of many, many months.  But, if you think about many of the books out there, especially the erotic genres, you almost have a "Wham, bam, thank you ma'am," kind of persona.  I've read some where the characters instantly fall into lust, bed, and not long after, marriage.  Even FSOG goes from a first encounter to marriage within the course of a little over three months.  Talk about quick, but an amazing story!  (Can't wait for the movie!)  

Does love at first sight exist?  It's possible.  Let me give you an example of a true romance and how fast it transpired.

Imagine if you will a female who's married to her work, but at the persuasion of friends, places an at online and starts dating.  Yep, you guessed it, she ended up with a lot of toads and one nut case that caused her trust in men to falter.  But, when all hope seemed lost...along came a "too good to be true - knight in shining armor."  She was going through a lot of life changes and a family emergency, but he was caring, considerate, and offered hope.

The couple ended up talking via instant messaging, email, and then moved on to phone calls for about two months before finally meeting.  She needed time to grieve for the loss of a family member, he was swamped with work.  The two finally meet, knowing after all their daily phone conversations, lasting hours on end, that they'd always be friends.  But, there was an instant spark.   They've discovered they've lived within blocks of one another time and time again for years; even shopping at the same stores on the same nights, but had never met.

Their very first meeting resulted in another date, and another, and another.  They became glued at the hip, even completing each others thoughts and sentences.  In eleven, yes I said eleven, short days, they went from meeting to becoming engaged.  After seven months had passed, they were married and are still together today, even more in love than ever.

I will admit this did seem a bit rushed.  But, my parents had always told me, "When you find the one you're meant to be with, you'll know.  It will feel like all the air has been taken out of your lungs and you've been hit by a Mack truck.  The pull you'll have toward one another will be undeniable and you won't be able to resist staying away from each other, even for just a day."

Yes, I'm talking about how I met my husband.  The strangest thing is that we came so close to meeting so many times in the past, but our fates must not have been ready for us to meet yet.  When we finally did meet, I stopped looking because, "Once you find your forever, there's no need to look any further."

This week we'll celebrate our 16th Wedding Anniversary.  I will admit we've had our ups and downs and plenty of things that should have torn us apart, but the foundation in our relationship was solid, so we've been able to weather all the storms and come out stronger than ever.

It amazed me this weekend when we were driving along and a song came on the radio.  It was a song from Queen and I looked over to see my hubby smiling.  I began to say, "You know what this song reminds me of?"  He immediately finished my thought, "Wayne's World?"  Sure enough, he knew what I was thinking, because he was thinking the same thing.  It's actually scary just how in tune we are with one another.  I've had people complain that we can't possibly love one another and share so many likes and dislikes, but we do.

Our love story was the inspiration for the series Remembrance, especially how the two characters fall in love in I Remember.  So do I tend to write my characters falling in love too quickly at times?  Yes, I do.  But, I have a lot of personal experience and pull from similar stories to my own.

Love happens when it's the right time.  There is no right or wrong timeline, place, etc.  It just exists.  May you find the love of your life and your happily ever after.  I know I've got mine. 

A Learning Series Trilogy NOW Available on Amazon!

That's write...the entire trilogy of A Learning Series is NOW Available on Amazon, Worldwide!  In fact, my publisher has the first book in the series, Learning to Trust, currently FREE on Amazon!  The links are as follows:

Learning to Trust, A Learning Series Novel, Book 1

Learning to Let Go, A Learning Series Novel, Book 2

Learning to Love Again, A Learning Series Novel, Book 3

The NEW Learning to Trust under Limitless Publishing is HERE!

NOW AVAILABLE: 

Amazon US:  Learning to Trust - A Learning Series Book 1

Amazon UK: Learning to Trust - A Learning Series Book 1

The remainder of the series comes out on the following dates:

If you like steamy reads like FSOG, with hot alpha dominant males, strong willed women, along with some suspense and lust filled adventures -- then this series is for you!!  Feel free to share the word about this series! 

Bad about blogging...been super busy

I know...I've been bad about posting like I should.  My schedule just took a big turn towards hectic.  I promise to sit down and catch everyone up properly sometime this week!  So check back...some interesting news, upcoming signings, yada, yada, yada....is going on and you don't want to miss it!

Until then...have a fantastic week!

Important News for the Learning Series

I've had some questions start coming in, "Why can't I find the Learning Series on Amazon?  Where's Learning to Love Again?  Did Amazon take them down? etc...."

Amazon didn't take them down, I did.  But, for a good reason.  I recently signed the Learning Series to Limitless Publishing.  They were taken down to undergo transition and will be re-released.  I don't know exact dates yet, but they are already working hard to make the series even better.  As soon as I have any updated information, I'll pass it along to everyone!  Garrett and Laurel will return! 

In the meantime, I still have the Remembrance Series, with I Remember and Loving You, available for ebook and print purchase, via Amazon, Smashwords, and Barned & Noble.  It's a sweet YA, Paranormal, and Historical Romance all rolled into one.  Two souls are destined to meet and fall in love throughout history until they finally fulfill a prophecy to defeat the darkness that threatens to unleash evil upon the world.  Each book focuses on their current relationship, while trying to uncover secrets to their past lives.  The more they're together, the more information they find out about the past, the stronger their paranormal powers grow, but so does the darkness that seeks to defeat them. 

The book LOVING YOU is FREE July 19 - 21, 2014

LOVING YOU is FREE this WEEKEND thru Monday! 

Here's a 5 Star review of Loving You, from Amazon, cut and pasted:

This is a sweet romance coupled with paranormal and historical elements; which makes for an exciting read! I have to admit that I didn’t realize this was the second book in the series until I had finished. This book could easily be a standalone; that being said, I picked up the first, re-read the second and eagerly anticipate the third – I enjoyed reading this series that much!! Cynthia did a wonderful job writing this story. You learn so much about Jordan and Gregory; their pasts, & their present as they seek to discover who is behind the curse, and just to what extent evil will go to ruin them. I love that Jordan and Gregory are proactive and are willing to fight to stay together and to stay alive! They have some great powers that were passed to them and even better ones that they come in to, which adds to the excitement. My only question is: will Jordan and Gregory succeed in their journey toward Happily Ever After?

Amazon

Smashwords

Need, Book 1 - Hot Alpha Madness

Initially I'd thought I would never write in the Contemporary, boarding on the Erotic, Romance Genre.  Then again, how could I pass up the challenge of trying a new genre for a writing competition and having the gauntlet thrown down that someone didn't see me being able to pull of writing a steamy romance?  Well, anyone who knows me will state I'm ALWAYS up for a challenge!  I may not succeed in everything I do, but it doesn't mean I won't try, maybe step back and re-evaluate and try again until I say, "Maybe this isn't for me."

Thankfully, my first attempt at Contemporary has inspired more books of the same level.  I thought I would never write a male hero with more of a controlling and dominant nature than that of Garrett Andrews Waters, but I've decided to push the envelope and see just how dominant I can make this new one, but stay within the Contemporary borders. 

The next book was supposed to be a stand alone, but the more I get into the book, the more I see the supporting characters creating a series with each "potential" couple having their own book with their own set of issues.  The original characters will remain present, but they will shift to the background, while another couple moves to the foreground.  It will be my first attempt at doing this so there are no cliffhangers in the books.  Yep, I definitely learned my lesson with cliffhangers from Learning to Trust.  I'll never leave you with a soap opera Friday or season ending finale like that again. 

The Need Series will start with "I Need You Always" and is actually based on a real life event that I encountered and may have helped save a young man's life.  The events of that night kept playing out in my mind and I kept wondering why he ended up where he did and thought about the different scenarios until I realized I had a romance story in the making.   It is amazing how the events around us, including our dreams, can inspire the stories of tomorrow. 

Dane and Marissa are currently being written.  They are the new power couple.  He of course will be the dominant, but they are both pig headed, strong willed, and ....   I'd like to go into details, but I'm not ready to fully introduce them just yet.  I'd actually intended to work on the third book in the Remembrance Series next, but the idea for this book took hold of my dreams and insisted it be written first. 

I'll slowly start to introduce the characters, as soon as I figure out a timeline for things.  But a new series has definitely started and it will stay in the Contemporary genre, but pushing the edges of its boundaries. 

Check back for more information.