Cowboy romances wax and wane in popularity, but they never go out of style completely. I got thinking about that the other day. Why are cowboy romances so popular? I mean, I know I like reading them and writing them, but clearly there are many women (and some men!) who find western romances compelling. From […]
Enemies to Love Tropes–Star Rising
Today I wanted to talk about the writing trope: Enemies to Love. Funny thing is when I started writing, I had no idea what tropes were. In fact, I’m still learning. These days, the word trope has also come to be used for describing commonly recurring literary and rhetorical devices in creative works. I looked […]
A Forever Type of Romance
“Marriage is hard. It takes work. When you say those vows, you’re making a promise to God to stick to it, even when it gets rough. And it will get rough, but you can get through it if you work together.” This is the advice I gave to all three of my children and their […]
Let the Games Begin!
In June, I released Book 1 of my new Matchmaking Moms of Oceanview Church series. Here’s my blog post about it to refresh your memory. Meet the Moms was a short prologue novella to introduce the matchmakers. Book 2 (Finding Love for the Loner) will release July 7. My hope was that the short novella […]
All I Wanna Do Is Dance! + Giveaways!
I’m currently working on the second in The Spencer Family series and a couple of days ago I found myself writing yet another dance scene. I just can’t seem to help myself. There’s no better feeling that being able to move your body to music without a care in the world about who might be […]
The Power of Restoration in Fiction and Giveaway
Restoration is the act of taking something back to its original form or making it better. We restore houses, cars, old furniture, and even relationships. Like anything else that is restored, the likelihood of returning a relationship to the exact original state is unlikely, but let’s be honest, if a relationship was perfect to […]
Reunion Romance by Merrillee Whren
Last month I blogged about the love triangle romance trope. This month I’m going to talk about the reunion romance trope. In a reunion romance, the hero and heroine have a history, and most likely the history has some heartache involved. Why didn’t they wind up together in the first place? Can they mend a […]
Friends-to-More is the Best Romance Trope (and here’s why!)
If there’s ever been a romance trope more thoroughly beloved than friends-to-more, I’ve got the wrong data. Poll after poll shows above and beyond that this is one trope we romance readers will never, ever get enough of. Now, I’m well aware that the actual term for this trope is friends-to-lovers, but sometimes “lovers” has […]
Love Triangles by Merrillee Whren
Tropes are a big part of romance novels and romantic movies. One trope is the the love triangle. I enjoy watching the romance movies on Hallmark, and often there is a love triangle in the story. Right from the beginning you know which one the hero or heroine will choose. Most of the stories have […]
Friends-to-More with Pepper Basham #Giveaway
Inspy Romance, I’m excited to have Pepper Basham with us today! She’s taking over with a post about the romance trope Friends-to-more! Welcome Pepper! Thank you! If anyone knows me, he/she knows I LOVE romance!! I love figuring out how two unique characters will find their way to each other and grow together through the […]