Real-life love

Life-Saving Love

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I’ve been reading about the Miami condo collapse and found it so incredibly upsetting. When tragedies like this happen, you keep asking why. And you hope that some miracle will find at least a few of the people OK. So, I’ve been reading a lot of the coverage to see if they’ve found any more survivors or if they have any understanding of why this horrible thing happened.

I ran across this story in the Washington Post story about Erick De Moura, who lived in the collapsed building, and was all set to go home when his girlfriend convinced him to stay at her place, even though he had an early morning meeting and needed stuff from his apartment for it.

Thankfully, he stayed. And he was not at home when the building collapse. She loved him and asked him to stay and he loved her enough to say yes, and it turned out to be life saving for him.

It’s a wonderful story amid such tragedy. It reminds us just how fateful a simple choice can be, just how it can change everything.

I’m glad for Mr. De Moura and his girlfriend. It’s a nice spark of warmth in this awful situation.

Unforgettable Love

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Source: Pixabay

Sometimes, as people get older and continue to be happy with their partner, they make the statement that they’d do it all over again–in terms of getting married, being with that person.

It’s a great sentiment. One I wish more people had after years of marriage. But the sentiment is always rooted in fact, in feelings and memories that the couple have built up over time. There are no regrets because they know what happened.

But what if you did it all over again not because you remembered how great your spouse was, but because you didn’t remember them, met them again and fell madly in love again? That’s the true story of what happened to a Massachusetts couple.

The husband had Alzheimers, but his daily interactions with his wife, whom he thought of as one of his caregivers, sparked him to propose again. He fell in love with her again. He knew she was the one a second time.

It’s romantic in so many ways. Despite the sorrow of the fact that his condition is deteriorating, his love is not. His love is there. He still sees in her what he saw when he proposed the first time. If only we could all have that level of love for our partners.

Read more about Peter and Lisa Marshall’s story here in the Washington Post.

Keeping Love All in the Family

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When it comes to love and family members, things can get tricky.

While a family member falling in love with or marrying your ex is typically the stuff of soap operas, it can happen in real life, too. The most soap opera-ish example that comes to mind is Erica Kane [on All My Children], who wed both Travis and Jackson Montgomery, and even became more popular with the brother match than her original lover. It happens in real life, in recent years with Hunter Biden falling for his dead brother’s spouse.

And most recently, it happened, in a stranger way. Another one of those stories that seems more like fiction than real life. According to the Daily Mail, an Indian woman had a heart attack and died at her wedding. The groom instead married her sister! It was shocking enough to merit a news story. That’s definitely some type of family dynamic!

What are your thoughts on love within families? If the old relationship is over, can family members move on with one who already had a bond with someone else in the family. Or is that always an “ewww” situation?

Let’s chat in the comments.

Can Political Opposites Be Happy Together?

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It’s the height of election season, with today being the big day, and lots of polarization. It got me to thinking: can people on the opposite side of the political spectrum be happy together?

Back in the day, James Carville and Mary Matalin were the power couple who seemed to make it work despite being on opposite sides of the aisle. But back then, differences seemed to be more relegated to politics, whereas today’s differences seem to be more moral in nature, with one side believing the other are just bad people.

So, what are your thoughts: can political opposites work these days, or is it one for all and all for one?

Are you still finding romance?

/ rosettabloomauthor

We’ve been in this pandemic for more than six months now. I’m tired of it, to be honest. I’m tired of all the restrictions, but I know I need to do them for safety.

The one thing that hasn’t been restricted though, is entertainment. No, we can’t go to the movies, but we can read great books and watch wonderful films in home.

Have you found yourself, as things have continued to get worse through the pandemic, able to find joy in some of these small pleasures? Have you enjoyed a good romance novel or a great romantic film?

I’ve found I have been able to escape in watching and reading, but less so in writing. My productivity has been down. It’s taking forever to finish two projects I started ages ago.

I think people want escape–I know I do. Are you escaping into romance? If so what are you watching or reading? Share in the comments.

Real-Life Loves from Pre-School Get Married Years Later

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Don’t you love those stories about kids who meet at a really young age, and one says, I’m going to marry you, and then 20 years later it happens?

That’s how it goes in books and movies, but rarely does it go that way in real life, right?

Well, you’re in luck if you want a real life sweetheart story, featured on Elite Daily. Matt and Laura had known each other since pre-school, and Matt knew then he wanted to marry her. Somehow (imagine that) they lost touch, but reconnected in high school, and they’ve been going strong ever since.  He proposed, she said yes, and now they’re married. Quite touching. It’s a great real life story with pictures (read it here).

One of my favorite stories in my Romance:Trysts collection is Tristan & Blair. It  involves a guy who fell in love at 8, and his attempts to reconnect to the past.  It plays on the same theme, except it’s fiction, and fully of steamy love scenes. If you haven’t checked out the collection, give it a shot. It’s available on Amazon and other retailers.

When Love Songs Butt Against Reality, Don’t Hate on the Scribe

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Source: Pixabay

As a person who writes romance novels, I happen to love  love songs. I think they’re great because they say in really simple terms really powerful emotions. The best love songs tell us a story, with a catchy refrain thrown in between. The best love songs make us feel those emotions.

The best love songs are best viewed as songs, not as an extension of the artist who penned the song. While it’s hard to separate the song from the song bird, we really should. Some of my favorite love songs are written by people who experience the highs and lows of love with great exuberance. And like most people, they experience these highs and lows with different people. It takes a while to find a love that lasts.  And for some people it never happens. That’s life.

Yet, in this day in age of the spoof, there’s a certain meanness lobbed at artists who are more successful with love songs than they are with love. And while we can kid because we love, I have to admit, I don’t like the underlying message that the fact that you have loved and lost means you can’t write about the love.

One example is an oldie, but one of my faves that I heard on the radio the other day: Hey There, Delilah by the Plain White Ts.  It’s a song about a guy in love with a girl named Delilah and he’s singing about all the plans he has for them as a couple. The song was written by one of the band members who was in love with a girl named Delilah. And it’s an awesome song. And it’s an awesome sentiment. And if it had worked in wooing her, it would be the awesomest love story ever. Only, as things were, nothing happened between the two of them. And as such, all these stalker parodies emerged, accusing the songwriter of being a creepy stalker.  I admit, I laughed, but I feel bad, because I’m a romantic. And I love the idea of this guy putting his heart, his dreams (even if they were unrealistic) and his passions into this song all in the hopes of impressing Delilah. It’s romantic and fabulous, and if it didn’t work out, there’s no shame.  Because some lady is going to be romantically impressed beyond belief.

While that one’s an oldie, Taylor Swift is more current.  And for whatever reason (possibly jealousy, possibly because she seems lighthearted enough to laugh at herself), people say horrible things about her willingness to share the emotional ups and downs of love in her songs.  I’m sure Taylor is a strong woman and is not so bothererd. But, I still find it a little sad that people find the notion of falling in love and having it not work out be something to jeer at. That you can only write about a great love if it lasts forever, seems to be unfair.

Now, as a romance novel writer, I get to make the romances end well. But in real life, we hit some toads, and we learn from those mistakes, and we’re better for it. This notion of deriding that learning process, of saying, you can only write that if it worked out, otherwise you’re just some type of drama queen, seems really wrong. It seems the antithesis of love.

I love love songs, and I’m happy to separate the artist from the song. I love when artists write about the heartbreak or the happiness.  It doesn’t matter if it worked out in real life or not, because I hear everything I need in the song and I’m perfectly happy with that.

So, this is love

/ rosettabloomauthor

I saw this picture, and it reminded me of just how simple love can be. It’s not the grand gestures or the sweeping statements. It’s a simple, innate thing like inhaling the scent of the one you love and that alone making your day.

Source: Pixabay

Source: Pixabay

 

Have a great day, and may your love remain in Bloom.

-Rosetta

Romance: Trysts have begun

/ rosettabloomauthor

trysts1DrCarterSinncoupleContrastHappy Tuesday to you all. I hope you had a great holiday weekend. Mine was fun and filled with travel. Heard the most awesome true love story ever. Really. A friend in her late 70s happened to tell us the story of the first time she saw her husband ( he was older than her, so she was just 13 at the time) and she told her twin sister that he was the handsomest man she’d ever seen. He had wavy blond hair, blue eyes, and a gray shirt and blue jeans. It was amazing the detail she remembered (they were married 40+ years; and he died more than a decade ago). Every time she speaks of him, her face just lights up. True love. In real life. That is lovely, I think.  Anyway, that may have planted a seed in my mind for a story.

I just thought I’d formally announce that the Trysts series I mentioned earlier is out, at least the first installment. These stories tend to be more erotic in nature than my other series, but still have the air of romance about them. The first in the series, Dr. Carter and Mrs. Sinn is a touch shorter than the others, which is why I thought I’d start the series with it. Though, it’s not as romantic as the others, so maybe it wasn’t a good choice. (I hate second-guessing myself).

Anyway, the plan is to release one every two to three weeks. The next two in the series are completed, and undergoing some edits now. I hope to have Tryst No. 2, Nikki and Mike up and out in early June. This is a great series for Kindle Unlimited subscribers, because it’s several short, quick reads that should leave you smiling satisfactorily when they’re over. (You may even want a cigarette 😉 ). I made a book trailer for Dr. Carter & Mrs. Sinn. I’ll stick that at the end. Also, a quick note that Beauty and Her Beastly Love is on sale, for just 99 cents this week. It’s part of a Kindle Countdown Deal so the price will tick back up on its ow accord at week’s end.