Be sure to check out the evocative April releases on the Spotlight page.

Writerspace: A central theme in romance novels is, quite obviously, falling in love. Finding love awakens something inside of us, just as the warm embrace of spring wakens the barren earth. Tell us about your characters experience in finding love...

Susan Wiggs: HOME BEFORE DARK is about all the loves that fill a woman's life-husband and wife, parent and child, sisters and mothers...and of course, lovers. In this book, Jessie Ryder is running from love and from a troubled past, yet her journey leads her straight into the arms of the one man she cannot have. Dusty Matlock is an aviator and widowed father of an adorable baby who finds himself ready to fill the empty space in his heart with a special new love. One of my favorite scenes in the book is their first date. She mentions that she likes Mexican food, so he takes her to Mexico. That's romance!
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Toni Blake: In my Harlequin Duets novel, MAD ABOUT MINDY ... AND MANDY, Mindy and Benton actually fall in love the hard way - while Mindy is desperately trying to drive Benton away from her, a victim of her own scheme. A successful professional matchmaker, Mindy is appalled when handsome Benton Maxwell comes shopping for a wife with a grocery list of qualties that sounds straight out of the 1950s, and before it's over, she decides he must be taught a lesson. Which is where Mandy comes in : ) Donning a disguise to pretend she's her own twin, Mindy goes out with Benton herself, intending to show him a woman cannot be categorized by a list of traits. How? She's going to be everything he wants during the first part of the evening - docile, refined, worshipful - then turn into a wild woman that will totally appall him. The problem? Much to his surprise, Benton discovers maybe he doesn't mind having a wild woman, and in fact, he loves everything about "Mandy," which forces Mindy to continue her charade until it's too late - they're both in love. Only Benton is in love with an imaginary woman ; )

When the story begins, neither character believes true love is in the cards for them, yet they soon find it in places and ways they never would have expected. This book was so much fun to write and these two characters are among my favorites - I think they both bring their own unique spin to modern love which I hope will leave readers with a smile on their face.
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Kathy Lynn Emerson: Since FACE DOWN BEFORE REBEL HOOVES and all the books in the Face Down series are murder mysteries, finding love tends to be a bit tricky. I generally have a romantic subplot in each of the books, sometimes involving my heroine/sleuth, Susanna, Lady Appleton, but more frequently between minor characters. Now that Susanna is a widow, she has at least a chance at love. Her late husband, through the first three books in the series, conspired, connived, cheated, and even took credit for the book on poisonous herbs Susanna authored. This story, #6 in the series, finds Susanna in Hamburg, an independent German city state in those days (16th century) with the love of her life, Nick Baldwin (book #5--Face Down Under the Wych Elm, is probably the most romantic book in the series). Marriage, however, is out of the question, and before long an old suitor, Sir Walter Pendennis, intelligence gatherer and sometime diplomat, whose wife was recently the victim of the rebel hooves of the title, turns up to ask Susanna to help him thwart a conspiracy to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I. A romantic rivalry between Nick and Walter provides a subplot to this tale, but Susanna spends very little time with either of them.
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Cindi Myers: As happens for many people, my hero and heroine, Mitch and Jill, find love when they're not looking for it. Mitch is too busy looking after his sister and his business interests to have time for a relationship, though he knows something is missing in his life. Jill saw her sister hurt by settling down too young, and is determined to do as much as she can and experience as much as she can before she decides on just one man. They learn that sometimes the heart knows what we need better than the head does. When the time is right for love, it happens.
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Catherine Anderson: Chloe Evans, the heroine in ONLY BY YOUR TOUCH, doesn't believe she will ever love anyone again. Her wonderful marriage ended tragically, and her main focus now is to start over fresh with her little boy Jeremy in a new place where they can escape the painful memories. Then Ben Longtree, a mysterious, reclusive stranger with an unsavory reputation, befriends her child, and Chloe finds herself falling in love again whether she wants to or not.

In Ben's world, nothing is quite as it seems, and his deep spirituality, passed down to him by his Shoshone grandfather, helps both Chloe and Jeremy come to terms with the tragedy that nearly destroyed their lives. In the process of helping Chloe and Jeremy, Ben comes to accept himself for who and what he is, finally realizing that the dark secret he has always viewed as a curse is actually an incredible and wonderful gift.

In this story, love is a mirror of sorts, enabling Chloe, Jeremy, and Ben to see themselves in new and positive ways. We are all special in some unique way, and too often, we see our uniqueness as a flaw, when it is actually the most beautiful thing about us.
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Susan Kearney: In DADDY TO THE RESCUE, my newest Harlequin Intrigue that begins a new series called Heroes Inc, I've stranded my nerdy heroine on a mountain, in a blizzard, with her baby. The reluctant hero is a search and rescue specialist and the only man that can save her--but the one man she doesn't want to ever see again. This book is one of my favorites--so if you haven't tried one of my romatic suspense novels, please give this one a try.
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Katherine Garbera: Falling in love gives Corrine the courage to create the home she's always craved with Rand. And for Rand finding love with Corrine gives him the strength to finally put his demons to rest.
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Rebecca Winters: In RUSH TO THE ALTAR, gorgeous Riley Garrow, burned by the only woman he ever wanted to be his wife, and burned in a fire on the set of an action film where he did the stunts, leaves the hospital and arrives in Torino, Italy, with the hope of racing motorcycles for the Danelli Company. A motorcyle is the only mistress he can count on. Ann Lassiter, one of the actresses who'd witnessed his accident, had turned him down flat for a date previously because of his reputation for 'Lover and leave em." Her secret hope that he would come after her and try to win her around never happens, and it hurts. It hurts a lot more than she's willing to admit. No longer interested in a film career and wondering where to turn, she leaves Hollywood to stay with her sister and brother-in-law Nicco Tescotti in Torino, never expecting to see Riley again. Yet there he is, a guest in Nicco's palatial home. Furthermore, he's been hired to race motorcyles for the Danelli Company where Nicco is the head. Riley isn't about to let her get away a second time. She represents everything alive and beautiful after his barren existence. When he finds her alone on Nicco's barge, he starts to make love to her. His embrace thrills and excites her so much, she makes the mistake of marrying him within the week, knowing he'll never love her the way she loves him, knowing his life could be wiped out in seconds during a race. At the wedding the Gypsy woman who was Riley's only mother figure growing up whispers, "He will test your love." Ann already knows that, but it's too late. She loves him heart, soul and body.
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Ann Lawrence: I'm a firm believer in "love at first sight" since that's how I felt when I met my husband for the first time. I saw him and that was that. We're still happily together after 20 years. In the writing world, of course, my characters sometimes are merely in "lust at first sight" but that's another story :) I really enjoy the idea of two people making that quick connection and then having to hurdle lots of roadblocks to be together. My heroes usually love the heroine from the beginning but from circumstances can't have her. And my heroines are often aware of that admiration or have their own which they also can't indulge. It's the denial that makes the tension for me. Is there nothing worse than desiring something you just can't have!

This is very true in LORD OF THE KEEP. Emma, the heroine, is a humble weaver and in normal circumstances could never aspire to be the wife of the lord of the manor. Gilles is a powerful baron who's sure of one thing, he has no need of a wife. From the instant Emma meets Gilles, she wants him. But Emma can't indulge her desires and not just because they're directed at a man who's out of reach. She's involved in a daily struggle to put food on the table for her daughter. Protecting her daughter is her goal and on a day-to-day basis there's no time for anything but survival. Once Emma connects with Gilles, she sets foot on a road that leads places she could never have imagined.
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Sherry Lewis: No matter how I plan to nudge the characters toward love, they find their own way there as I write the book, and it always fascinates me to see how they manage to dodge all the things I set up for them and then create their relationship in their own way. These charaters, both the main characters of Heath and Courtney, and the secondary characters of Roddy and Delilah, had been wounded deeply by the past. It was in discovering what they could give to another that they each found what they wanted most.
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Jamie Sobrato: Trent and Josie in PLEASURE FOR PLEASURE grew up in the same neighborhood and have quite a history when the story begins. They've always been attracted to each other, but Josie's fear of sleeping with Trent has led to one too many near misses in and out of the bedroom, and when they meet up again, Trent wants revenge for all the cold showers he's had to take in Josie's honor!

He decides that this time around, he'll play the tease by pretending to need sex lessons from Josie, who is back in town running the local sex therapy clinic. He plans to leave her hot and bothered the way she has left him so many times, but that turns out to be a much more difficult task than he anticipated. And when they both find themselves wishing their relationship could be about much more than sex lessons, things really get interesting.
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Patricia Lewin: Although BLIND RUN is not strictly a romance, there are romantic elements in it. Two of the main characters, Ethan and Sydney, were married but are now divorced. Through the course of the book, they must find a way to forgive each other and come back together – at least for the moment. Otherwise, they could both end up dead. I just realized, though, reading this question, that not only is the book placed in the spring, so is the first time they fell in love.

. . . "It had been a beautiful April day, and they’d known each other less than a month. They’d taken a picnic lunch to the hill country west of Austin, and in a field of bluebonnets, they’d made love for the first time ." . . . Hmmm. Must have done that one unconsciously.

As for how they fell in love. . .

Sydney and Ethan are opposites. This is what drew them together, and what eventually tore them apart. He’s a soldier and a protector; she’s a healer and nurturer. He’s the middle-of-the-night storm that has you cowering under the covers, and she’s a morning rain shower that restores nature. They compliment and fill the vacant places within each other. Until their core beliefs are challenged, and those differences become a burden rather than a blessing. Then, the question becomes whether there is anyone else either one can trust – or love – more than the other.
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Vicki Lewis Thompson: In DRIVE ME WILD, Molly and Alec don't think they have time for love, just some good sex. An aspiring writer, Molly's been told by her agent that her sensual scenes sound unrealistic, as if she needs more experience. Alec's working as a chauffeur to put himself through law school, and he has no time for anything beyond a quick fling to give Molly the "experience" she needs to write a sizzling scene. They quickly discover that the chemistry between them is created out of an emotional commitment they never intended to make.
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Catherine Spangler: I think falling in love is very much like spring awakening the barren earth. Healthy, reciprocal love nurtures the soul, is a master healer of the heart and mind. Love is a universal emotion. Love is empowering on myriad levels. I like to emphasize the healing and empowering elements of love in all my stories. In SHIELDER, Nessa believed she was unlovable and had nothing to offer; Chase thought he was unworthy because of consuming guilt and hatred. Yet their growing bond convinced each of them that they were worthy, that they could offer something to others, that they could be healed. In SHADOWER, Moriah is a rape survivor and Sabin is a hardened loner; yet they both find the healing lure of love irresistible. In SHADOW CROSSING, my April release, love dissolves the invisible boundaries between human and android, prince and commoner, and even absolves the heroine, Celie, of a terrible crime. Love brings rebirth and beauty to even the most damaged souls. That is the ultimate power of romance.
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Katherine Greyle: To the chorus of Matchmaker, matchmaker:

Okay, I'm being silly, but the Su Ling Chen, the heroine of my novella, DRAGON FOR DINNER, has got a superstitious mother. That's bad enough under normal circumstances, but Chinese superstition can be taken to a whole new level -- dominating everything from when you eat, move furniture, and even make love.

Oddly enough, though, what Su Ling and her hero Mitch both discover is that they need their families as much as they need each other.
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Candace Irvin: THE IMPOSSIBLE ALLIANCE was a difficult book for me to write. I'd neverbefore created a hero like Jared who'd accepted his fate and completely given up on love and withdrawn from life for very real reasons. But whenforced out of retirement because his CIA search and rescue skills aredesperately needed to save a fellow agent, Jared comes face-to-face withhis own private nightmare--the one woman who makes Jared want to believein miracles. Alexis falls for Jared hard and fast, but unfortunately shesoon learns that revealing her own secrets will only make Jared doubt herlove more. Needless to say, getting this two to there ownhappily-ever-after was very hard!
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