I’m happy to celebrate fellow Anaiah Press and Canadian author friend, Melony Teague’s book birthday! I’m about halfway through her 2020 debut read, A Promise To Keep.
If you look really hard at the book cover, you might notice a shared North American heritage site – Niagara Falls.
Happy book birthday Melony! Now over to you….
Thanks for having me on your blog, Ann!
Why I Love Reunion Romances
First off, I have a confession to make.
I am a hopeless romantic. I just can’t fathom reading a story where there isn’t some sort of love story. Whether it be a story of a developing relationship between a couple, or the love story of how a parent loves their child with that parental love, or how someone loves someone with that unconditional and sacrificial love. For me, there’s always gotta be love in there somewhere.
Which brings me to why I love second-chance romances.
First, as a reader, I love the idea of a second chance at love. After loss, the optimist and romantic in me wants to see another happy conclusion.
As an author, I love reunion, or second chance romances because the romance usually kicks off with a pair who have known each other before and have a history of some sort. Whether that is a past relationship or friendship or even if they were enemies, I love the fact that the story can kick off with a bang without the need for small talk and the characters getting to know each other. These kinds of stories lend themselves to the characters having some sort of issue they need to work through in order to move forward.
In A Promise to Keep, Savannah is a newly widowed woman. Not only does he have to learn to love and care for herself again, but she has to overcome her fears. Some of them are rooted in the fact that she’s getting over the trauma of watching her cancer ridden husband deteriorate and has been his caregiver for years, and some of it is because she’s wounded and vulnerable. Savannah is afraid to get hurt again.
Enter Michael, who had his heart broken in the past, and we have two characters who have issues. Michael is not the reckless troublemaker that he was in high school and Savannah is taken back by the change in him.
I loved figuring out just how they’d sort it all out and Michael is the perfect counter act to Savannah. Can you say, opposites attract?
Readers, what do you think? Do you prefer strangers to lovers or second-chance romances?
ABOUT THE BOOK
A Promise. A High School Reunion. And a pact that proves harder to keep.
Research librarian Savannah Sanderson wants nothing more than to escape into her happily-ever-after novels with their larger-than-life fictional heroes. But a promise to her late husband has her attending her dreaded twenty-year high school reunion, drinking ghastly punch, and taking desperate measures just to keep her vow, even if she has to hide behind the décor to do it.
Once a reckless troublemaker, Michael McCann fled town after graduation. Now a professional technical rescuer, he’s back for the reunion, but on his trip down memory lane, he soon comes face to face with unresolved issues, namely Savannah. Before the night is over, a pact between these two old friends will lead them on an adventure into uncharted emotional territory where Michael must confront his past regrets and find the courage to reveal the truth. But can Savannah fly from her sheltered nest and risk her heart on a real-life hero?
LISTEN TO AN EXCERPT OF CHAPTER ONE of A PROMISE TO KEEP HERE
ABOUT MELONY
Melony Teague is a freelance writer who believes everyone has a story to tell. As co-author of As the Ink Flows, she loves to inspire and motivate others through her written words. With foamy lattes in-hand, she writes Contemporary Romance with a dash of humor. Though she has no hobbies outside of reading, writing, and eating chocolate, she is a member of ACFW and The Word Guild. She teaches seniors in her community to write their memoirs. She confesses with no shame that she has a strong belief that pumpkin pie is an acceptable breakfast food since it’s mostly vegetables. Her Fiction Debut, A Promise to Keep, released in Jan 2020. Melony was born in South Africa and now lives in Toronto with her husband, their two teenagers, and two cats who think they’re humans.
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