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Jun
26 2010 | ||
Today’s guest is a fellow Bradford Literary client and a fabulous writer – Elisabeth Naughton!
The Lure of Lost Love
Big thanks to Lauren for inviting me to play along during her Take You To Another World Contest! Having recently ventured into the world of paranormals, I’ve discovered there is one thing consistent across all the genres I write (and dabble) in:
I am a sucker for a reunion story.
I don’t know why. I think it’s that missed opportunity, the belief that everyone deserves a second chance, the romantic in me hoping real love—true love—endures no matter what obstacles life throws at us. My first reunion story was STOLEN HEAT – the second book in my Stolen Trilogy. I loved that book and those characters, but I quickly learned reading a reunion story and writing one are two very different things. Writing a reunion story is HARD work. Not only do you have to make the reader believe these two characters can and will fall in love, you have to convince the reader they did so once before and then for whatever reason walked away from each other. When I finished STOLEN HEAT I vowed never to write another reunion story as long as I lived—I was missing several eyelashes by the end of it, after all. But that lasted, oh, three books. Then I wrote ENTWINED—my July 27, 2010 release and the second book in my Eternal Guardians series—and yes, you guessed it…it wound up being another reunion story as well.
See? Major sucker.
This time I’ve not only added lost love, betrayal and secrets, I’ve thrown in mayhem and other-worldly danger, scheming gods, seething demons and a hero with a serious death wish. I once again fell in love with the idea of a reunion, and when I got to know Zander—the hero in ENTWINED—I knew his story couldn’t go any other way. Zander & Callia pushed me to the brink a time or two, but I’m absolutely thrilled with the end result. So much so, I’m pretty sure book four in the series (which I’m about to start working on) will be another reunion story…with a twist.
To celebrate the release of ENTWINED next month, I’ve got a copy of MARKED – book one in my Eternal Guardians Series and the book where readers get their first glimpse of both Callia and Zander – to give away today. TODAY’S QUESTION: Simply tell me, Are you a fan of reunion stories? And if so, what’s your favorite reunion story?
June 26th, 2010 at 7:02 am · Link
I LOVE reunion stories. My favorite romantic reunion book is Laid Bare by Lauren Dane. My favorite family reunion book is Out of the Dark by Sharon Sala, where the heroine is reunited with the father she has been separated from for 20 years. Both books make me sob like a baby but they are some of my favorite rereads.
June 26th, 2010 at 8:11 am · Link
Hello,
I’m a huge fan of reunion stories!! My all time favorite is Paradise by Judith McNaught. More recently, I really liked Roxanne St. Claire’s Hunt Her Down & Cindy Gerard’s Risk No Secrets. I always find it interesting to read about how the characters have changed and what brings them back together. Congrats on the upcoming book.
June 26th, 2010 at 9:01 am · Link
I’m a sucker too for reunion stories. The last one that I read and really enjoyed was Lucky Charm by Carly Phillips. The hero was trying to outsmart a family curse, it’s a great story.
June 26th, 2010 at 9:06 am · Link
I like them, but not above other plotlines. The most recent one that I read and loved was Shiloh Walker’s No Longer Mine – the heroine is just put through the wringer in that one. I also loved Sherry Thomas’s two reunion books – Private Arrangements and Not Quite A Husband.
June 26th, 2010 at 9:22 am · Link
Reunion, second-chance love is one of my favorite romance themes. Liz Carlyle’s, Beauty Like The Night is one of my favorites.
I own a copy of MARKED already! no need to enter me for this giveaway.
June 26th, 2010 at 11:02 am · Link
For the life of me, I can’t recall reading a reunion story.. I guess Voyager by Diana Gabaldon could be considered a reunion story…
June 26th, 2010 at 11:22 am · Link
I do enjoy reading re-union stories…I love stories where they might have had a conflict in the past but later on meet up again in a few years and get together. Next door neighbour stories where you hook up years later…high school re-unions…pretty much any scenario works for me.
June 26th, 2010 at 11:41 am · Link
I love reunion stories and my favorite is Lisa Kleypas’ “Again the Magic.”
June 26th, 2010 at 11:50 am · Link
I’m not a big reunion story fan but have come across afew that I liked over the years. However none of them really stayed with me so I haven’t got a favourite.
June 26th, 2010 at 12:26 pm · Link
I like them in a way, depending how the people parted-But I do like when lost lovers find each other again 🙂
June 26th, 2010 at 12:33 pm · Link
I love reunion stories and one of my favorites is Shelly Laurenston’s The Beast in Him.
June 26th, 2010 at 12:48 pm · Link
I love reunion stories. I come across and read them all the time.
The most unique reunion story is Wild Card by Lora Leigh! A Special Ops agent leaves his loving wife to go on a mission. He gets captured. After months of brutal torture and left for dead, he is rescued. He is completed changed man (rehab, re-contruction, whole new identity) and lets wife believe he is dead. In his eyes, the old him IS dead. When he returns to protect her, she falls in love with the NEW him. AWESOME!
June 26th, 2010 at 1:04 pm · Link
I love reunion stories and I agree with Daniela that Wild Card by Lora Leigh was a great reunion story. It was one of the last books I read recently.
June 26th, 2010 at 1:44 pm · Link
I love reunion stories!
I don’t have a favorite.
June 26th, 2010 at 2:06 pm · Link
I love reunion stories, especially if the couple used to be close and/or childhood friends, who meet up later in the lives.
June 26th, 2010 at 2:29 pm · Link
I like reunion stories. I just read a unique one – Ancient Whispers by Marie-Claude Bourque. The two lovers are separated in 1755, and they are reunited 250 years later thanks to reincarnation and magic. I loved it!
June 26th, 2010 at 2:38 pm · Link
I enjoy reunion stories. A couple of my favorites are This Duchess of Mine by Eloisa James and Private Arrangements by Sherry Thomas.
June 26th, 2010 at 2:39 pm · Link
i do like reunion stories! especially ones that both parties thought they were betrayed by the other, but by the end of the story that is not what really happened. just the tention between the two reuniting, (both wanted and mad that they still do) is what i love to read about!
June 26th, 2010 at 3:51 pm · Link
Oooh…such GREAT book suggestions to add to my TBR list. Thanks all!
And Jennifer D…I LOVE Paradise by Judith McNaught. Such a great reunion story!
June 26th, 2010 at 4:15 pm · Link
I love reunion stories. My favorite lately is Vision in White by Nora Roberts. Granted the characters to not have a ton of history with each other but just enough to strike a match.
June 26th, 2010 at 4:24 pm · Link
I love reunion stories. Some of my favorites are The Secret by Julie Garwood, Paradise and Remember When by Judith McNaught, Wild Card by Lora Leigh, and The Beast in Him by Shelly Laurenston.
June 26th, 2010 at 6:23 pm · Link
I love reunion stories too! I just read Heidi Betts’ story in the Real Men Last All Night Anthology. Former lovers are brought together when Claire’s daughter is taken, she turns to Linc for help and he is the man to help because he is the Dad and didn’t know it until now! 🙂
June 26th, 2010 at 6:28 pm · Link
I LOVE reunion stories! Something about the second chance. I can’t think of my favorite right now, but I have read several.
June 26th, 2010 at 8:45 pm · Link
I enjoy reunion stories. Even though the couple isn’t separated for a long time, there is a reunion story quality in Pride and Prejudice, when Darcy is given another chance to win Lizzy’s hand. P&P is my favorite book.
June 26th, 2010 at 9:44 pm · Link
I am a fan of reunion stories. My favorite would have to be Rough, Raw and Ready by Lorelei James.
June 26th, 2010 at 10:13 pm · Link
I’ve read a few reunion stories. Don’t have a particular fave, but the one I’m reading right now is pretty good. Never As It Seems by Shiloh Walker. The couple have been apart for three years and a mutual friend works it so they have to spend time together.
June 27th, 2010 at 4:09 am · Link
Have read reunion stories but not particularly fond of them and do not seek them out.
June 27th, 2010 at 8:05 am · Link
I don’t go looking for reunion stories but they often are in what I read. My favorite is the second Cat and Bones book ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE. I love when they get back together. Also loved New Moon when Edward thinks he’s dead as Bella runs into his arms.
June 27th, 2010 at 8:11 am · Link
I love reunion stories. My favorite of all time is Persuasion by Jane Austen. Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth are great characters. This story gives me warm fuzzy feelings.
June 27th, 2010 at 5:08 pm · Link
I LOVE reunion stories also. My favorite has to be Laid Bare by Lauren Dane. LOVED IT!!
June 27th, 2010 at 8:08 pm · Link
Oh gosh… I have racked my brain, I am not sure I have ever read a reunion story. So I am not fit to answer this question.
But if I had to guess, I would say it would have to be done just right….
Please include me in!