Writing Romance: Marie Force (Guest Post & Giveaway)

Good morning lovelies and welcome to our week long Writing Romance event, hosted by myself and the lovely Kelly at Secrets of a Book Lover. 

Everyday this week we will have a wonderful author stop by each blog for an interview or guest post focused on...Writing Romance, and of course there will be fab giveaways as well! So make sure to check in each and every day to visit with some of your favorite romance authors! Note: Because RWA starts this week some authors won't be around all day but don't worry, they will check in whenever they get a chance to respond to reader's questions and comments. J

Okay, enough with the boring stuff...today I have the pleasure of having one of my favorite romance authors, Marie Force, joining us at Reading Between the Wines! Make sure to visit Secrets of a Book Lover where  Karen E Taylor will be visiting today!

What Makes a Great Romance?

By: Marie Force

Togetherness. There. That’s it. End of blog.

Just kidding! When Crystal asked me to write a blog for today she offered me a number of topics, and I chose to answer the question in the title. My favorite romances have the hero and heroine together for most of the book, battling through their issues to get to their happily ever after.

While I do include them in my books from time to time, I’m not a big fan of “girlfriend scenes,” in which the heroine pours out her heart to a friend while she’s avoiding the guy who caused all her problems.

I want to see her with her guy, working through whatever is keeping them apart. I want to see them enjoying each other, fighting with each other and loving each other.

That doesn’t mean girlfriends and secondary characters don’t play a big role in a great romance. They do. Just like in real life it’s important that the people in the lives of our characters interact with our couple as they work toward their happily ever after.

This summer, I’ve published three of my favorite books for Kindle, Nook and other e-readers. The McCarthys of Gansett Island series takes place on a fictional Rhode Island island and opens with Mac McCarthy accidentally knocking Maddie Chester off her bike in downtown Gansett. Maddie, a single mother, is badly injured so Mac basically invites himself into her home and her life to nurse her back to health and care for her infant son.

I loved putting Mac right in her apartment where they had to fight their way through all kinds of issues while dealing with their instant attraction to each other.

In the second book, Fool for Love, Mac’s best friend Joe Cantrell has been in love with Mac’s little sister Janey for as long as he can remember. When she ends up in a crisis, she turns to Joe, and he takes her to his home on the mainland where they spend a few days testing the waters of what they could have together.

These situations are the most fun to write for me, and I hope, the most fun for readers, too.

So those are my thoughts on the matter. I’d love to hear what you have to say about what makes a romance memorable for you. I’ll give away PDF copies of Maid for Love, Fool for Love and the third book, releasing this week, Ready for Love to one commenter.

Thanks for having me today!

Marie Force is the bestselling, award-winning author of the Fatal Series from Harlequin’s Carina Press. The series includes FATAL AFFAIR, FATAL JUSTICE, FATAL CONSEQUENCES, FATAL DESTINY and FATAL FLAW, with more books planned. “This novel is ‘The O.C. does D.C.,’ and you just can’t get enough.” (RT Book Reviews, 4.5 stars for FATAL AFFAIR). In its July 2010 issue, RT Book Reviews named Marie a “Future Star of Romantic Suspense.”

Marie is also the author of the following contemporary romances: EVERYONE LOVES A HERO, LINE OF SCRIMMAGE, LOVE AT FIRST FLIGHT, TRUE NORTH, THE FALL, THE WRECK, MAID FOR LOVE, FOOL FOR LOVE and READY FOR LOVE.

Since 1996, Marie has been the communications director for a national organization similar to RWA. She is a member of RWA’s New England and Published Author Special Interest Chapters.

While her husband was in the Navy, Marie lived in Spain, Maryland and Florida, and she is now settled in her home state of Rhode Island. She is the mother of two kids and a feisty dog named Brandy.

Find her on her website, or on her blog, where she runs the popular weekly Romance & Oreos Book Club, on Facebook, and on Twitter. Marie loves to hear from readers. Contact her at marie@marieforce.com.

~*GIVEAWAY*~

As Marie mentioned above, she is graciously giveaway away digital copies of all three of her The McCarthys of Gansett Island novels to one lucky reader! 

To enter, just leave a comment answering Marie's question at the end of her post AND fill out the form below. 

Open Internationally, giveaway will end at 11:59pm on July 8th when one winner will then be selected at random and contacted via email.