The Wonders of Romance
I will have to admit, for being a romance author, I’m not much of a traditional romantic. When I see that guy up on the jumbotron at the ballpark asking his girlfriend to marry him, I always wonder what would happen if she said, “uh, no” on national TV. I see the big move at the end of a book—one person giving up everything to be with that special someone on the other side of the country—and I wonder, how long before she resents him?
Then, I met my husband.
I look back at those grand gestures and I still have those same questions, but I realized that it’s not because I’m not romantic. It’s because I believe in the little things. Last night my husband put on his shoes and headed over to Kroger to get me Campbell’s tomato soup because I’m sick as a dog and that’s the only thing that sounded good. He didn’t sigh, he didn’t complain, he just kissed my forehead and said that he’d be right back.
Every night after dinner, my husband does dishes and I take the left overs and make him a lunch for the next day. I pack it up with his favorite cookies or a piece of the cake I’ve baked. I make sure there are plastic utensils. And more often than not, I stick a post it note to the Rubbermaid container with some sweet sentiment. A few days later, I find a note on my monitor.
When Dreamspinner asked me to write a Greek Tycoon book, I knew there were some things I wanted to keep for that trope, and some things I didn’t. The rich guy wasn’t going to LoJack his love interest. He wasn’t going to chip him. The rich guy wasn’t going to sweep him away to their wedding on a private island somewhere only obtainable by private jet. Aleks and Thomas are just two normal guys. They were college roommates. They were friends. Aleks just happens to have a ton of money. Thomas just happens to have a little girl who needs it. They each have problems the other can solve. So, they strike an arrangement and in the process, they find a family.
The next time I see that grand romantic gesture in a movie or read it in a book, I’ll remember that can of soup. I’ll remember those notes. And I’ll remember that when you drop a big rock in a pond, you get a big splash and then it’s over. But when you drop little rocks here and there all over the water, you’ll get reinforced wave progression, which lasts a whole lot longer.
Title: Saving Hannah by J.P. Barnaby
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: Contemporary, Gay, Romance
Length: 200 pages/Word Count: 59,010
Summary:
Thomas Aberthol’s luck has run out. His daughter, Hannah, needs a miracle he can’t deliver. A hacker with a felony record, Thomas has little chance of finding work that will provide the care she needs. Out of money, out of options, and out of hope, he throws himself on the mercy of someone he never thought to see again.
Even after ten years, Aleksander Sanna still dreams of that drunken kiss. A perfect moment in time when Thomas wanted him. In his world of elegant code and high finance, the picture he holds of Thomas torments him in the dark of night.
Their worlds collide as Thomas interviews for the job he so desperately needs with the company Aleks inherited from his father. Thomas doesn’t get the position, but Aleks offers him a completely different kind of proposal, one suited to Thomas’s unique talents… one that will change the course of both their lives.
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Purchase Link: Dreamspinner Press
Author Bio
JP Barnaby is an award-winning contemporary romance and romantic suspense novelist with over a dozen novels. Her heart and soul, the Survivor Series, has been heralded by USA Today as one of their favorites. She recently moved from Chicago to Atlanta to appease her Camaro (Jake) who didn’t like the blustery winters. JP specializes in recovery romance but slips in a few erotic or comedic stories to spice things up. When she’s not working on her latest novel, she binge watches superheroes and crime dramas on Netflix with her husband and Jack Russell Terror, Chase.
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Thanks for spotlighting this new to me author