Love at First Write – Four romantic short stories E-Book

Jae

• Herausgeber: Ylva Publishing
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 96

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Four romantic short stories about heroines who are writers. Award-winning author Jae penned four romantic short stories about heroines who are writers. From a reporter being challenged to write a romance to an author on a blind date in a bookstore, these short stories are guaranteed to have a happy ending. The Romance Bet Reporter Abby James prides herself on never having read a romance novel. She thinks they're formulaic, shallow, easy-to-write drivel—until romance author Tamara Brennan challenges her to write one. Is it possible that Abby will find the outcome of that bet not so predictable after all? Sex Sells Lesbian mystery writer Mara McKinney has had a crush on her editor, Hayley, for ages, even though the two have never met face-to-face. When Hayley calls her to suggest she introduce more romance into her novels, this might be Mara's chance to work on her own happy ending. The Snow Liger Like most cats, liger shifter Griffin hates winter…until her human mate Jorie asks her to help with the research for a love scene she's trying to write.  Blind Date at the Booklover's Lair Even though Tricia pens lesbian romances for a living, she hasn't been out with a woman in forever. Her best friend sends her on a blind date in a bookstore, but the woman she meets in the LGBT section isn't who Tricia thinks she is. What will happen when the wrong date turns out to be just right?

Leseprobe

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www.ylva-publishing.com

Other books by Jae

Standalone Romances:

Perfect Rhythm

Falling Hard

Heart Trouble

Under a Falling Star

Something in the Wine

Shaken to the Core

The Hollywood Series:

Departure from the Script

Damage Control

Just Physical

Portland Police Bureau Series:

Conflict of Interest

Next of Kin

The Vampire Diet Series:

Good Enough to Eat

The Oregon Series:

Backwards to Oregon

Beyond the Trail

Hidden Truths

The Shape-Shifter Series:

Second Nature

Natural Family Disasters

Manhattan Moon

True Nature

Table of Contents

Other books by Jae

The Romance Bet

Sex Sells

The Snow Liger

Blind Date at the Booklover’s Lair

About Jae

Other Books from Ylva Publishing

Perfect Rhythm

The Brutal Truth

The Romance Bet

Abby had always been a sucker for sexy voices, and the interviewee on the other end of the line definitely had one—which was why Abby had just missed half of what she’d said. “Uh, did you just say…?”

“One billion dollars,” Tamara Brennan said. “Romance is the bestselling genre worldwide. We basically finance the publishing of literary fiction.”

“Wow.” Abby couldn’t think past that unbelievable number. She spun in a circle on her office chair, causing the junior reporter at the desk next to hers to look up. “People spend one billion dollars every year on these…?” As she was about to add, trashy, clichéd bodice rippers, it occurred to her that Tamara made a living writing exactly that kind of drivel. Insulting an interviewee wasn’t in the Aurora Sentinel employee handbook. “Uh, these…um…”

“Cheesy, predictable, badly written stories?” Tamara supplied, sounding somewhere between amused and pissed off.

“Oh, no, no, that’s not what I was—”

“So now you’re insulting my intelligence on top of my chosen genre?”

Pain exploded through Abby’s leg as her chair spun around once more and her knee crashed into the corner of her desk. She took it as a well-deserved punishment. Whatever she personally thought about romance novels, she shouldn’t have let it leak through. As a journalist, she was supposed to be objective, no matter how boring she found the subject she had to write about.

“I’m sorry.” She rubbed her knee. “I really didn’t mean to—”

“It’s all right.” Tamara sighed. “Unfortunately, I’m used to it. Even my own mother is constantly after me, trying to get me to write a ‘real’ book. And most of my friends think they could easily pen a bestselling romance too, if only they had the time.”

Yeah, well, pretty much anyone could write a romance novel, couldn’t they? How hard could it be? All you had to do was to make up two good-looking characters with perfect skin, perfect teeth…perfect everything. The plot is a given. They meet; they fall in love; they have sex—amazing sex, of course—they have a misunderstanding and break up; they get back together…and voilà: happy ending!

Even Abby could do that, although—unlike most of her colleagues—she had never harbored the secret desire to write a novel.

Wisely, she kept her thoughts to herself this time.

“Let me guess…” Tamara’s voice filled the silence. “You think you could easily do it too.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“But you thought it. Come on, admit it.”

Great. How could she talk her way out of this? Abby’s gaze flitted left and right, but there was no help in sight. “Well,” she said slowly, “I’m a journalist, so I already know how to write. I bet—”

“I accept,” Tamara said.

“Uh, accept what?”

“Your bet.”

“Bet?” Abby echoed. When had she so completely lost control over this interview?

“Yes. You bet that you could write a romance novel, and I accept that bet,” Tamara said calmly. “Or do you want to back out?”

Dammit. Abby usually had great willpower, but she had never been able to resist two things: a woman who knew what she wanted and an interesting challenge. Now she was presented with both.

“No. I’m in. One romance novel. What do I get when I win?”

“If you win,” Tamara said.

God, this woman didn’t give an inch. Somehow, Abby liked that. “All right. What do I get if I win?”

Silence filtered through the line for several seconds; then Tamara’s sexy voice was back. “You get to pick the next book I write.”

“Any book?”

“Any book.”

For some reason, erotica was the only thing on Abby’s mind right now. She shook off the thought. She was in enough trouble as it was. If her boss found out she had pissed off a source—and not just any source but award-winning author Tamara Brennan—and was now making crazy bets with her…

“Okay,” she got out, her voice husky.

“And what do I get when I win?” Tamara asked.

“If you win.”

“If I win.” A smile was evident in the author’s tone.

Abby twirled a pen between her fingers. “I’ll buy a set of your novels and donate them to the local library.”

“Nice try. You forget that I’m a local too, so the library already has a set of my books. Plus it’s hardly the same time commitment compared to what I’ve got at stake.”

True. So, what else could she offer?

A ping on her computer announced an incoming Tweet. It gave her an idea.

“I’ll market your books for however long it takes you to write a novel. Social media, blog posts, press releases, whatever you want.”

“Deal,” Tamara said.

Oh fuck, what had she done? She didn’t have time to write a novel!

Then she tried to calm herself. Housewives did it while raising a gaggle of kids, didn’t they? So there was no reason why she couldn’t write a romance in her spare time. It wasn’t exactly rocket science.

“How do we decide who won?” Abby finally asked.

“Easy. NaNoWriMo starts on Wednesday. I figured you could just do that.”

Abby scratched her head. “NaNo…what?”

“NaNoWriMo—National Novel Writing Month. It’s a challenge to write a fifty-thousand-word novel in thirty days.”

Abby nearly swallowed her own tongue. “An entire novel in thirty days? Um, I have a day job.”

“Fifty thousand words is more like a novella, actually. I wrote my first five novels while working full-time too. If you put in a few hours every evening and do nothing but write on the weekends, it’s doable, especially since romance is so easy to write, right?”

Tamara’s tongue-in-cheek tone made Abby grit her teeth. “Right. No problem. I’ll send you my masterpiece by the end of November,” she said in the same tone. As a journalist, she was used to working to a tight deadline after all.

“We’ve got each other’s contact info, so you can call or e-mail me before that if you have any questions or need some guidance.” Now Tamara sounded sincere.

“Thanks.” But Abby already knew she wouldn’t need it. She could pound out one of these simplistic girl-meets-boy…or, in her case, girl-meets-girl stories, no problem. “So, to get back to the interview about the romance industry…”

~ ~ ~

Abby settled down at her kitchen table with her laptop and a beer. She opened a new document and cracked her knuckles. If she knocked out five thousand words tonight, she’d get to take the next two days off to let her brain recover from this sappy romance thing.

No problem.

Two hours, three beers, and four failed beginnings later, it started to dawn on her that maybe, just maybe, this romance-writing business wasn’t so easy after all.

Bullshit. It’s just that I’m not used to it. Once she made it past the first page, she’d be fine. Some research was in order. She googled how to write a romance novel.

Her jaw dropped. Holy shit! Four million four hundred sixty thousand hits! She randomly clicked on one of the links on the first page and scanned the article.

Start with a bang, it said.

Abby stared at the screen. Did they mean that literally?

Probably not. That came later, didn’t it?

Admittedly, she’d never read a romance novel, so she had no idea.

She stared at the e-mail icon in her task bar. For a moment, she was tempted to shoot Tamara an e-mail and ask for some pointers on how to begin her novel.

But no, that would be too much like admitting defeat.

Maybe she should start by choosing names for her characters.

Half an hour later, the ding of an incoming iMessage interrupted her. She clicked over to it.

It was a message from Tamara Brennan.

How’s the writing going?

Abby sighed. Good—if you consider staring at a blank screen and wasting time on baby naming sites writing. But, of course, that wasn’t what she answered.

Great! I’ve already picked names for my characters—Sabina and Tina—and now I’m set to write the first chapter.

It didn’t take long for Tamara’s answer to appear. Abby found herself holding her breath as she read it. How would Tamara react to the two names she’d provocatively dropped—two female names?

Happy writing, then. BTW, you might want to change one of the names.

Why? Abby replied. You never said one of the characters has to be a man.

Not because of that. Lesbian romances are fun. But having a Tina and a Sabina in the same story will lead to confusion. The names are just too similar.

Duh. She was right, of course. A slow grin spread over Abby’s face. So Tamara thought lesbian romances were fun?

Will do, she typed. She hesitated but then continued. Now that she had already received some advice, she might as well ask for a little more help. After all, Tamara probably had a team of editors and critique partners to help her too. So there’s this website that says to start the novel with a bang. I assume they don’t mean Tina and…uh, Gabby are supposed to do the dirty on page one, are they?

Tamara sent a laughing smiley face. No. Although you could, if it sets up an interesting conflict.

Conflict? In a romance novel?

Of course, Tamara answered. Otherwise, romances would be as boring as watching grass grow. Readers want to root for the characters while they overcome obstacles and fight for their happiness. If a sex scene in chapter one contributes to your story conflict, why not?

Abby tapped her upper lip with her index finger. How would that work? Can you give me an example?

Well, the morning after, Tina could find out that Gabby is her new boss or a rival for a job or something like that… Anything that keeps them from having a happy ending in chapter one.

Before Abby could think of a reply, another message from Tamara arrived.

Have you ever even read a romance novel?

Does Pride and Prejudice count? Abby replied.

I love Pride and Prejudice, but I meant something more contemporary. Maybe you should give it a try.

Abby cringed. She didn’t need to read a romance to know that she preferred reading material with a little more depth. No time, she answered. I’ve got a novel to write, after all.

Me too. I’d better not tell my editor I’m exchanging texts with you instead of writing.

What’s it about? Your novel, I mean.

A self-help author who’s about to publish a book on healthy relationships but can’t keep one herself. When her publicist finds out, she hires someone to pretend to be the love of her life.

It was a clever idea that could lead to a lot of misunderstandings and hilarious situations, Abby had to admit. So that was probably what the website meant with opening a book with a bang—something that got the readers’ attention. Maybe she could think of something similar for her own book.

After she had wished Tamara happy writing