by Lynn Raye Harris, author of Cavelli’s Lost Heir (Harlequin Presents, January 2010)
Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you are all refreshed from the holidays and ready for 2010. A new year always brings resolutions, does it not? But does it also bring regrets about past events, things we wish we’d done differently? That’s not the idea behind resolutions, but I can’t help but think that we sometimes look back while we’re looking ahead. A new year is about a fresh start, but I think it’s also about second chances sometimes.
That’s what Nico Cavelli and Lily Morgan get when they meet again by accident in CAVELLI’S LOST HEIR. Lily was utterly swept away by Nico the first time she met him. During the heat and passion of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Lily lost her heart to the tall, dark stranger from an exotic Mediterranean kingdom. When they part quite suddenly, Lily has no idea her lover is a prince – or that she’s carrying his child.
By the time Nico and Lily meet again in his native country, Nico is the Crown Prince and he’s about to be married to a neighboring princess. Nico searched for Lily after they were parted, but was unable to find her. Now that he has, and now that he knows her secret, he’s not about to let her go.
The story is passionate and hot, peopled by two characters who share a bond that cannot be broken but don’t know how to make it work. I absolutely loved writing Nico and Lily’s story. I laughed and cried and ached along with them, and I hope you will too.
We don’t always get a second chance in life to make things right, or to do something over, but it’s nice to think that if we did, we’d succeed. The path to getting it right isn’t easy for Nico and Lily. Though we aren’t guaranteed happy endings in life, we know a Presents hero will move heaven and earth for the woman he loves once he figures it out.
This is why I love writing Presents, and why I love reading them. The emotion is real, the passion is hot, and the happy ending is guaranteed. This time of year, when it’s cold and gray and I’m longing for summer (or the days when I used to live in Hawaii!), I love nothing more than curling up with a good Presents and a cup of hot tea. It’s my comfort and my joy – and I hope if you choose to do the same with CAVELLI’S LOST HEIR, you’ll find that same comfort and joy between the pages.
Stories about second chances are some of my favorites. Just this morning I had an email from a woman who told me she’s read CAVELLI’S LOST HEIR twice and that she loved storylines which featured children. Danny isn’t on the page very much, but he is definitely an integral part of Nico and Lily’s journey — as well as the impetus for their second chance.
What about you? Do you like stories about second chances? What are your favorite types of stories? And if there was something you could do over again, what would it be? (We can probably all think of a million things we’d do differently, but if I could turn back time to when I was first writing romance, I’d have tried to write a Presents much sooner and I wouldn’t have given up when I got that first handful of rejections.)
I wish all of you all the best in the coming year. You’ve been very good to me as I’ve made this journey from contest winner to published author, and I love hearing from you.
Happy New Year Lynn – I hope 2010 is a fabulous year for you.
I’ve already read Cavelli’s Lost Heir and I really enjoyed it. Even more so than your first book. And I think that second chances – in all sorts of ways – are a vital element in Presents novels. I’ve always loved writing those stories where the hero and heroine have a past together and something has come between them to split them apart. Finding their way back to each other can be a painful, difficult experience, but the end result is so worth it!
I love the way that, in writing our heroes and heroines, we can give them those second chances to do – and say – things in the way perhaps we wish we had but never had the nerve or the chance(or is that just me – giving my heroines the chance for the defiant comeback I never quite managed?!)
Happy New Year to all our readers and thank you all for your support of the books, the line – and of course the authors over the past 12 months.
Kate (going back to work on her current reunion story)
CAVELLI’S LOST HEIR sounds great. I love second chances! We all deserve them I think. But I also love a “cinderella” type story as well. Have a good day. Take care Caroline x
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Hi, Kate! Oh yes, so true about those defiant comebacks! The chance to say the perfect thing that you didn’t think of at the time, but wish you had. Maybe that’s part of why I love second chances!
Thank you so much for your kind words about Cavelli’s Lost Heir! I’m so glad you liked it.
Can’t wait to read this reunion story you’re cooking up…..
Hi, Caroline! I love Cinderella stories too! CLH has an element of Cinderella, I think.
I love reunion stories, they are one of my favourites.
Happy New Year Lynn – wishing you all the best for 2010
Happy New Year, Lynn, and may 2010 be your best ever!
Kate’s right – it’s so satisfying to put a perfect, considered reply into the mouth of a heroine, months after you’ve kicked yourself in a RL situation and said ‘Why on earth didn’t I say such-and-such!’
Hi Lynn! I haven’t read this one yet, but I think it must go on the Kindle.
Second chances are wonderful to read about. I think there are times in life when we’ve all needed them, and it’s wonderful to see someone get it! Makes for a very satisfying, emotional read. And I love it when the hero and heroine have a past together, that really ups the ante!
Maisey
That sounds like a marvellous story, Lynn! I love reunion stories! You can up the heat level straight away and bypass that “getting to know you” stage entirely!
Happy New Year, Lynn. Read this story and loved it, especially the hero. I like stories where the characters have a past and have never forgotten about each other.
I’m with you on the second chances. I wish I’d pursued my writing dreams much earlier.
Can’t wait to read it this week. there’s something so special about people being reunited especially this time of year when one can believe in second chances. At hot Italian alpha and a prince, what more could a girl want? I know I’m going to love yours.
At the moment I’m reading another reunion story, Annie West’s first..Forgotten Mistress, Secret Love-Child.
Another reunion I recently finished by by debut author Rachel Dailey (Desire) Claiming His Bought Bride.
Happy New Year, Lynne!
A second chance is such a powerful premise for a story, especially where there is a child involved. So much at stake, but so much past hurt to overcome – it’s never going to be an easy ride for the characters. (But as always in Presents, their emotional struggles are our blissful indulgence! Aren’t we cruel?!)
Snowy and freezing here, so the perfect day for curling up with a good, heartwarming story, if only I didn’t have a very scary deadline. Am so going to reward myself with Nico and Lily when I’m finished. x
Hi, Joanne! Thanks for the good wishes.
Hi, Christina! Why is it we can never think of the right thing to say at the time? The beauty of being a writer is getting to do it right in print.
Hi, Maisey! Is that baby here yet?
Mulberry: absolutely! There’s so much going on in the background of a reunion story, isn’t there? I love writing them.
Hi, Anne! Thank you for the kind words about CLH. I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Hey, don’t worry about not pursuing the writing dreams earlier. You are NOW. You’ll get there.
Marilyn! Lovely hearing from you. You always make me feel so good about my stories!
India, thanks for dropping by! You are so right about our cruelty to our characters. Mwahahaha! It’s freezing in Alabama too (uncharacteristically so!), so you aren’t alone. But we don’t have snow. Good luck on the deadline and I hope you enjoy Nico and Lily!
I just love second chances, and intense reunion stories! And with a bit of Mardi Gras thrown in? Yes, please.
Yes, Lynn! The baby has landed! So to speak…I threw up some pics on my website and some on Twitter. Also included one of my very handsome hubby.
Hi, Caitlin! I hope you enjoy — and I can’t wait for your book next month!
Maisey, how wonderful! Yay! Congratulations!!!! I’ll have to go peek at the pictures.