#TuesdayTeaser from What a Texas Girl Dreams

I love contemporary romance. This should come as no surprise to y'all since I write it. And tweet about it. And badger kindly tell you when I've found a great new author. What is it about contemporary romance that gets me? The strong heroines, the alpha dudes, the visiting of a place I've never been but always wanted to go...it's the escape from reality, I suppose. It's fun to step out of Kristina's skin for a little while and into Jane Doe's.

Sometimes, that happens as I'm writing, too. It did (a lot) with my recent release, What a Texas Girl Dreams. I'm sharing a teaser from the book today, where you'll meet Monica's family and (I hope) have a little chuckle.

 “You deliverin’ for Bloomers now, Trickett?” Mitchum’s voice was loud in the quiet room.
Trick grinned. “Nope. This is a special delivery." He reached for the card, sticking up from the middle of the display. Monica’s heartbeat clip-clopped in her chest and she shook her head no, trying to head him off before he really got started. Trick caught her eye, winked and continued on as if she wasn't about to die right here in the dining room. He cleared his throat and read.
“Roses are red, Violets are blue, Monica Witte’s sure sweet, but she’s certainly hard to woo.”
Mitchum chuckled. Nathaniel snorted. Kathleen looked like she wanted to jump over the table and dance a jig.
“Son, your poetry could use a little work.” Nathaniel picked up his plate and started for the door. He patted Trick on the shoulder as he passed, and Monica swore she heard him whisper, “Good luck.”
Time to nip this in the bud before her family got any more ideas circling around in their heads. She stood. Trick pressed the flowers and vase into her hands.
“I thought about roses, but decided something wild would suit you better than hothouse flowers.”
Monica automatically reached out to take the flowers. "If that's your idea of a compliment-" The fresh scent tickled her nose, and she bit back a grin. He was right. She did prefer wildflowers. She should have made him take them back, but now that they were in her arms, the flowers were too pretty to turn down.
“Not a compliment, although we might get to that later. This is me, asking you for a date. Today. We’ll start with lunch—at a restaurant not in the Lockhardt city limits.”
“It’s barely breakfast time.”
“Hence the not-in-the-city-limits reference. It’s going to take a little while to get there. I might even throw in a movie, if things go well.” His smile widened, and Monica’s heartbeat picked up the pace again.
She told it to slow down. “Big spender, springing for a matinee.”
“You’ll have to come along to find out just how big a spender I can be.” He waited. Monica searched her mind for a reason not to go. Nothing.
“Or we might just go see a man about a horse.”

So, tell me readers, what is it that you love about contemporary romance? Or any romance genre, for that matter? And, authors, feel free to share a snippet of your own in the comments.

Comments

  1. I love this, Kristi.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Here's a quick bit from my novel "Dream Doctor". Sara, the heroine, is a medical student and a newlywed (and, she has the ability to see into other people's dreams). She's just woken up from one such dream...


    “Get out of my room, you whore!” I hear myself shouting at someone, but who? There’s nobody here. Brian’s in the shower, I can hear the water going. And why would I call him a whore? That makes no sense.

    Not Brian. I was dreaming. I saw – God, I saw Barbara! The woman who lives next door to us. The married woman who lives next door to us. I saw her dream. And she was dreaming about seducing Brian. “Whore” is far too good a word for her.

    She's dreaming about my husband. My husband! Who the hell does she think she is? She's got her own husband! She should be dreaming about him, not Brian. Granted, I think her husband is an ass and I’m pretty sure she does too, but still. She can't have mine!

    This is very strange. I can't remember ever feeling jealous like this before. But then again, before Brian I never had anybody worth being jealous over. I know this is completely irrational. I have nothing whatsoever to worry about. I'm in his heart and I always will be. Me and nobody else. Especially if last night was anything to go by.

    Still, I’m going to keep a close eye on her. And if she so much as puts a hand on him, I'll cut her heart out. I know how to do it, too. I’ve been reading ahead - the instructions are right there in Grant's Dissector. Page 75.

    I think I’ll mark the page with a post-it note. Just in case.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love contemporaries b/c they are ME. I just can't see myself in a historical, although I like to read them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Me, too, D'Ann!

    Liz, thanks for dropping by!

    James, great excerpt - thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for your excerpt Kristina. I do love contemporaries as it's so easy to walk in the heroine's shoes. Here is a line from my latest Crimson Romance Seduction's Canvas :

    "But that voice. That deep, throaty, old smoky, Hollywood voice, it was something that made a man stop and think before answering anything she said, no matter what she was wearing or how quick and smart he thought he wanted to be." http://amzn.to/10XV8Z7

    ReplyDelete
  6. ooooh, I'm hooked already, Kwana! Thanks for sharing your snippet!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I like contemporary and read it occasionally but my heart is with historical romance. I love going back into a different time. What I love most is that people were the same back then as they are now. They wore different clothes and didn't have smart phones, but they yearned for love just as people nowadays do.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts