If you live in the northern hemisphere, you are right in the middle of fall. Fall here means pumpkins, apple picking, Thanksgiving celebrations, and the lead up to Christmas and New Year’s Day. A few years ago we spent October in Australia and New Zealand, during their spring. I was surprised to see pumpkins on display in some store windows, because I don’t see pumpkins here in the spring. So if any of you Aussies or Kiwis would like to tell me where you get pumpkins in spring, I’d like to know. But I digress. Pumpkins in spring isn’t what I’m going to talk about.
Is it possible to cram all the excitement of fall into one book? I certainly tried in my book, A Family to Call Ours, which is now on sale for 99 cents.
In this book the characters dive into fall as they attend a fall festival, pick apples, go for a hayride, and select pumpkins to decorate. They hunt for the perfect tree as Christmas approaches. My hero and heroine fall for each other in the fall, but they don’t see their happily ever after until the new year. So this brings me to a question. Do you like the romance to take place over several months, or do you like the hero and heroine to fall in love in a few weeks?
A Family to Call Ours is the fourth book in my Front Porch Promises series. I will give away the first book in the series, A Match to Call Ours, to one person who leaves a comment.
“Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.”
Merrillee Whren is an award-winning author who writes inspirational romance. She is the winner of the 2003 Golden Heart Award for best inspirational romance manuscript presented by Romance Writers of America. She has also been the recipient of the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award and the Maggie Award for Excellence. She is married to her own personal hero, her husband of thirty plus years, and has two grown daughters. She has lived in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Chicago and Florida but now makes her home in the Arizona desert. When she’s not writing, she spends her free time playing tennis or walking while she does the plotting for her novels.
I did a search and the carving pumpkins are grown in Western Australia in the north of the state. I would say some probably come from overseas too.
Ausjenny, thanks for that information.
I love both types of romance but think romance over several months is more realistic than love at first sight.
Pam, thanks for your input.
I like romances that take place over a few months.
Jessica, thanks for your input.
The longer the romance, the better, in my opinion. Too quickly and it doesn’t seem realistic or at least pretty shallow.
Lila, that’s what I usually think.
I enjoy both actually. Thank you for sharing. Happy Thanksgiving.
Lelia, Happy Thanksgiving to you, too.
I enjoy both types of romance, but I think I prefer it to happen over a bit of time so its more realistic and adds more depth to the relationship between the characters.
Megan, having the romance develop over time is usually my writing style.
I like romances that take place over several months, though I read both!! Over time, the relationship has more time to develop and the characters get more depth.
Trudy, I agree. Thanks for your input.
I’m with the “give it time” crowd. I get really frustrated with the “all of a sudden he proposes” approach. He could even know her needs and desires, let alone be prepared to spend a lifetime meeting them.
Lincoln, it appears that the majority like a romance that plays out over time, but I do know of a real life romance that happened in a matter of weeks. When I was in college, our dorm mom met her future husband, and they were engaged within a month. They were married for nearly 50 years before he passed away.
I like them both, you just never know how it will turn out, in the end. A couple can be engaged for a year or so and then they get married and it doesn’t work out, or a couple can know each other for a month or so , and it can last forever, or of course vice versa, we just never know. Have a Great Thanksgiving and stay safe.
Alicia, happy Thanksgiving to you also.
I think that it depends on the couple, however, I usually enjoy both kinds
Angeline, that’s true about the couple.
I like them both but I think the longer the better! Happy Thanksgiving!
Sarah, happy Thanksgiving to you also.
I prefer a few months, but I enjoy a few weeks, too.
Denise, a few months seems more realistic to me.
Several months. I find that true love takes time to fully develop. Getting to know them as friends helps to form a foundation for a lasting love and marriage. I am not saying that they may see themselves together after a few weeks. It just takes time.
We have different varieties of eating pumpkins available year round in the supermarkets here in New Zealand. We don’t have a variety specifically for carving so whatever you can find! Alternatively I have heard that watermelons or pineapples work too :).
Carolyn, that’s interesting about the watermelons and pineapples.
Do you like the romance to take place over several months, or do you like the hero and heroine to fall in love in a few weeks? I love it all as long as there is HEA :)
Natalya, there has to be a HEA for sure!
I like long romances and short ones; the story has to be somewhat plausible. In my own life I knew my husband 3 months and have been married almost 14 years.
Kathy, I mentioned in one of my previous replies that I knew a couple that was engaged a month after they met.
I read one this week where the couple met all of 3-4 times before falling in love and getting married. Contemporary romance. No, that did not cut it for me AT ALL! They were still acquaintances, at best.
And I thought I was rushing it when some of my stories span 6-8 weeks with a happy-for-now ending and an engagement epilogue months later!
Valerie, I read those kind of books, and they never seemed very realistic to me.
Merrillee, my mom moved to New Zealand in 2001 so it’s always funny to think of Thanksgiving or Christmas in the middle of Summer. I don’t think I could get in the holiday mood when it’s hot outside, lol! From what my mom has said, pumpkin pie isn’t really a “thing” there. She made one the first year she moved there for the couple she lived with, but it wasn’t something they were really fond of. For me, that’s my favorite part of Thanksgiving :-)
Don’t enter me into the giveaway as I have read these books! :-)