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The writing team of
sisters Melanie and Shawna discuss why they chose the theme of “Big Life
Choices” for their Crossroads Series.
Robert Frost, in his
immortal poem, describes one of the biggest conundrums in life.
“Two roads
diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood.”
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood.”
There is something so
gut-wrenching about facing a metaphorical fork in the road. You can only go one
way, and the what the rest of your life will look like is based on that one
monumental decision.
Of course, people
face these crossroads in life every day. They decide whether to enter or leave
relationships, they decide what job to take and what job to pass on, they
decide whether to move across the country or not. They decide whether the time
is right to start a family.
It's not the rarity
of the experience that makes the facing a crossroads so compelling, it's the
struggle. We all do it. We go back and forth mentally, we try to see down the
divergent paths to envision what our lives would be like under each of the two
sets of circumstances we are choosing between, even though we know that's
folly! There's no way for us to predict the outcome.
The truth is, the
only way to make a big “crossroads” kind of decision is to follow your heart. You
have to ignore the clenching in your gut, the uncertainty, the little voice in
your head that says you aren't good enough, and just...leap. You have to take a
giant leap of faith.
Decisions. Choices. Crossroads.
We knew immediately
when the concept occurred to us that it simply had to be the theme of our
second series of novels. There is such a great arc, and there is so much rich
emotional material for mining, in a situation where one or both of the
characters have to dig deep, determine what is right for them, and then take a
huge leap of faith.
Of course, since
we're romance writers, we know that leap will pay off for them. They will take
that scary jump only to land in their lover's arms and find out that they were
launching themselves right into their own HEA all along.
But the “good stuff”
is in how they manage to get to the point where they feel ready to jump!
Bio:
Melanie Shawn is the writing team of sister duo Melanie and Shawna. Originally from Northern California, they both migrated south and now call So Cal their home.
Growing up, Melanie constantly had her head in a book and was always working on short stories, manuscripts, plays and poetry. After graduating magna cum laude from Pepperdine University, she went on to teach grades 2nd through 8th for five years. She now spends her days writing and taking care of her furry baby, a Lhasa Apso named Hercules. In her free time, her favorite activity is to curl up on the couch with that stubborn, funny mutt and binge-watch cable TV shows on DVD (preferably of at least eight seasons in length - a girl's gotta have her standards!).
Shawna always loved romance in any form - movie, song or literary. If it was a love story with a happy ending, Shawna was all about it! She proudly acknowledges that she is a romanceaholic. Her days are jam-packed with writing, being a wife, mom aka referee of two teens, and indulging in her second passion (dance!) as a Zumba instructor. In the little free time she has, she joins Melanie in marathon-watching DVDs of their favorite TV programs.
They have joined forces to create a world where True Love and Happily Ever After always has a Sexy Twist!
Book
Description:
Jason Sloan is known as Harper’s Crossing’s resident Romeo, and
he’s never had to work too hard to live up to that nickname. With his easygoing
charm, whiskey-colored brown eyes, and sinfully sexy half smile, women just
seem to fall all over themselves when he’s around.
Well...most women, anyway. Katie Lawson’s the one woman who isn't putty in his hands, and she's the only one he’s ever wanted in his arms.
Katie Lawson left Harper's Crossing in the middle of the night ten years ago, immediately after her high school boyfriend Nick's funeral. She left behind all memories of Nick, and she left behind her life-long best friend, Jason Sloan.
Now she's on the fast track to junior partner at one of San Francisco's top law firms. She's made a life for herself that's all about maintaining order and sticking to the rules. Rule #1 is keeping herself WAY too busy to think about all that she ran away from. If she can do that, after all, she can keep everything under control.
But that rule is about to be broken. She’s headed back home to be the maid of honor in Nick’s little sister’s wedding. It's time to face the truth she's been avoiding all these years, the same one that sent her running ten years ago - that maybe she didn't lose her first love the summer after high school. Maybe her first love has been waiting for her all this time, at home in Harper's Crossing.
Well...most women, anyway. Katie Lawson’s the one woman who isn't putty in his hands, and she's the only one he’s ever wanted in his arms.
Katie Lawson left Harper's Crossing in the middle of the night ten years ago, immediately after her high school boyfriend Nick's funeral. She left behind all memories of Nick, and she left behind her life-long best friend, Jason Sloan.
Now she's on the fast track to junior partner at one of San Francisco's top law firms. She's made a life for herself that's all about maintaining order and sticking to the rules. Rule #1 is keeping herself WAY too busy to think about all that she ran away from. If she can do that, after all, she can keep everything under control.
But that rule is about to be broken. She’s headed back home to be the maid of honor in Nick’s little sister’s wedding. It's time to face the truth she's been avoiding all these years, the same one that sent her running ten years ago - that maybe she didn't lose her first love the summer after high school. Maybe her first love has been waiting for her all this time, at home in Harper's Crossing.
Excerpt:
Katie opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came
out. She snapped it shut. She tried again. Same result. She imagined she looked
like a trout on the banks of a river, flapping her mouth open and shut for no
apparent reason.
The realization of how silly she must look gave
her just the extra edge of courage she needed to jump off the cliff.
“Jason, I...I wanted to...I wanted to tell you
that...” she steeled herself for what she knew her physical reaction would be
as she forced herself to look up into those gorgeous brown eyes, which
resembled nothing so much as pools of warm and melty milk chocolate...
The expression on Jason's face when she raised her
eyes brought her up short. She narrowed her eyes.
“Why do you look so smug?” she asked suspiciously.
Rather than answering, he smirked and bent down,
putting his mouth right next to her ear. His hot breath assailed her neck and
she began to feel light-headed again.
Wait...was this....OH NO! Panic attack #2 might be
on the horizon.
Not in front of Jason, PLEASE, not in front of
Jason, Katie begged the Universe. It
seemed like the Universe must have more important things on its mind, however
because - oh, lord. Now the shallow breathing was starting.
Jason's breath on her neck, however, was anything
but shallow. It was deep. And heavy. And warm. And full of desire. And...oh,
man, that lightheadedness was just getting worse and worse.
Jason had her pinned up against the trunk of her
car. Her mind was screaming at her to push him away and RUN as fast and as far
as she could. Hey, it had worked in the past. Her body, however, was sending
her some very different signals.
“I'm not smug, Kit Kat,” Jason informed her, his
deep voice rumbling in his chest.
“Wha...huh...?” Katie mumbled.
Jason laughed lightly, “I was just saying that I'm
not smug. Just happy to know that I still get under your skin.”
Katie didn't respond. She didn't even really hear
what he said, she'd stopped trying to pay attention to the words. Stupid words.
They just got in the way of listening to his voice...that silky, deep voice.
Jason traced his thumb down the back of Katie's
neck slowly, sensuously, and then continued across her shoulder and down her
arm. When he reached her waist, he slipped his hand around her easily,
spreading his fingers slowly and firmly, grasping her back with a familiarity
that felt as dangerous as it did comforting.
His thumb began to gently massage the small of her
back, sending sharp zings of electricity ping-ponging off of her nerve endings.
She wanted to stop those little zings of pleasure in their tracks. She wanted
to ignore, suppress, deny...anything!
She needed to push him away and get some distance
is what she needed to do. Her knees began to buckle. Any time now, a little
voice in the back of her head whispered. Any time you want to get a jump on
creating that distance would be perfect.
That was, however, not what Katie did. No matter
how hard her lizard brain screamed at her to push him away...step away...jump
away...DANCE away, even...all Katie found herself doing was looking up into his
chocolate brown eyes as she melted into his embrace.
Katie heard a low moan escape from Jason's throat
and was suddenly hyper-aware of how close their lips were to each other. A
shiver ran through her as she contemplated the nearness of those delicious,
sexy lips.
Katie's breathing became more labored, but not in
an out-of-control, panic-attacky kind of way. No, it was more of a
body-coming-alive-for-the-first-time-in-years kind of way.
She vaguely wondered what was going to happen
next, but couldn't make herself focus too much on the future. Not when the
present was this flipping interesting!
Her brain might be telling her to get out of this
situation, to think about the consequences – but her body was perfectly content
to ride this little scene out and see where it went thankyouverymuch.
Why did it seem that she was utterly incapable of
listening to her brain in any situation where Jason Sloan was involved?
Buy Links:
Website: http://melanieshawn.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelanieShawn
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