Why Disastrous Beginnings Make for Better Endings




My Blogpost is being featured on Just Contemporary Romance today! Here's the original article, and a link to Just Contemporary Romance where I'm giving away a copy of Beastly Charm.

Just Contemporary Romance


It’s that moment when you’re standing in a crowded room. You look over, and his eye catches yours. You feel a tingle run down your spine, and your insides go warm. And then he smiles. The room contracts, and everything else fades away until it’s just the two of you. Your heart is pounding in your chest as he makes his way to your side, and then he speaks … the rest is history, as they say.
           
            Okay, you’re probably rolling your eyes right about now, thinking—what planet does this woman live on? Really? She must be delusional!

            Yes, as much as it pains me to admit it—you’re right! Life rarely turns out how we expect it to. Kind of like those frozen dinners (the kind you pick out of the freezer section of the grocery store). It looks perfect on the picture, but when you pull it out of the microwave, the vegetables are limp and watery, and the meat tastes like a leather shoe with a rubber sole.

            The little girl in me will always love those dramatic scenes where the hero and heroine’s eyes catch across the room, and they know in an instant that they were meant to be together. However, a lifetime of experience has taught me that in real life, romance is sneaky and allusive, striking at the most unexpected of times and in the most unlikely of places. And I’m learning that the spontaneity makes it all the more delightful. Even when things go awry in the beginning, there is hope that things will work out well in the end. So, perhaps on some small level, it is possible to have your cake and eat it too! 

            In my novel Beastly Charm, a contemporary retelling of Beauty and the Beast, a disastrous first meeting sets the state for this smart and tender love story that’s set against the splendid backdrop of a sweeping, timeless mansion.

High-powered real estate executive, Belle Montrose has a lot riding on a deal—a deal that must take place else her career will crumble! Only one man stands in the way—the elusive Sebastian Blake, heir to the valuable Rosewood Estate.  He refuses to sell to Belle’s client, even though Rosewood is on the brink of foreclosure. When Sebastian Blake cancels a conference call, Belle is furious! She jumps in her car and drives to his estate, determined to speak to him face to face. Never mind that it’s coming a blizzard or that she’s sick with the flu.

Sparks fly when Belle barges into Sebastian’s home and demands that he listen to her. Sebastian Blake is not only devastatingly gorgeous, but he’s formidable and beastly in the way he chomps Belle to bits with a severe tongue-lashing that cuts her to the core. In a rage, she storms out of his house, vowing to never lay eyes on him again, but a twist of fate, throws her right back into the den of the beast, where she finds herself completely at his mercy.


Sebastian Blake offers her a proposal she cannot refuse, and she’s drawn into his world—an intoxicating world of charm, romance, roses, and dancing. And try as she might, she can’t fight the incredible attraction she feels for Sebastian. Will she risk everything for the man whose beastly charm is captivating her heart, or will her head win out in the end?