Romance, Mystery, Archaeology, Turkey, Danger, Older Hero, Older Heroine
As a writer of romance, I like to portray real-life situations with real people. My heroes and heroines need to have activities they can share, ideas that coincide, and realistic goals. They have to be interested in getting to know each other, and we have to be able to believe that their love will last — not because they have a wild and woolly sex life in very strange combinations — but because they are appealing people, and they know how to give.
Yes, some romances don’t begin smoothly, but if there’s a good reason for that, so much the better. In romances, we can learn new ways of working out problems, or we take pleasure in seeing love growing slowly and steadily.
In my romance, The Turkish Affair, my heroine, Anne, has run away from her former life, and come to live in a small village in Turkey. When she meets the very charming Renaud Townsend, an archaeologist at the nearby Hittite site, she is forced to acknowledge how attracted she is. However, since she has run from her problems instead of solving them, she finds herself caught in an almost untenable — and very dangerous — situation.
Excerpt from The Turkish Affair
She was free to wonder about him again, just the way she’d been doing since first meeting him. Wondering what sort of person he was, about the places he’d been to, the life he’d lived. Was he married? Was he attached to a university? She warned herself not to delve too deeply because she couldn’t give out truthful information in return. Still, she wanted to know.
“I’ve an idea,” he said, breaking into her thoughts. “The heat’s gone. We can actually walk around without being cooked alive. How about giving me a guided tour of this town?”
“A tour of Gülkale?”
“Why not?”
She could think of a million reasons why not. Instinctively, she knew if she were alone with him, out there in the dusky evening, the situation would become more intimate, more personal. And intimacy could lead anywhere. She raised her eyebrows in mock surprise. “It’s not a very interesting place. What’s wrong with just sitting here?”
Renaud’s eyes darted toward the counter where Necmettin was standing, observing them.
“To be honest, I can’t say I’m feeling comfortable. That man has been watching me since I arrived. I feel like a fat coypu sharing space with a drooling piranha.”
Anne had
to laugh. He was right, of course. Here, gossip spread more quickly than melted
butter on a hotplate, and since Gülkale was, at best, slow-moving, eventless,
people were constantly snuffling after the next tidbit. Still, she hesitated,
tempted to take him up on his offer, knowing that something as innocuous as a
walk was chancy. His voice was too caressing. The heat of his body, his male
scent, and something else—something indefinable—was drawing her to him. No temptations. She hadn’t run this far
just to get entangled with yet another fatal Romeo.
https://books2read.com/TheTurkishAffair
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zkQ20uC4eg
2 comments:
I'm like you. I love romances where there's an emotional - not just a physical - connection. Honestly, constant sex in a story bores me to tears. There's only so many ways couples, triples, or whatever can do it.
Although I write erotic romances - in addition to other subgenres - my stories are never just about the sex. I prefer writing the emotional parts to anything else.
I like that you have a mature couple in this book - another plus. The Turkish Affair sounds like a must read. :)
Thank you, Tina. And it's more exciting for a writer to have some extra content, too.
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