Love Never Goes Out of Style

One of the things I love about romance novels is that they’re reasonably timeless.

It really is a tale as old as time, isn’t it? Boy meets girl. She smiles. His heart races. He makes a move. Or she does.

Maybe they both do.

They fall in love, face hardship, overcome it stronger than ever.

Get married.

Live happily ever after.

It’s the formula that every romance author puts their own personal spin on with every new book they write. (And it’s a formula that’s included in romantic subplots of all other genres out there, too.) For me, it’s what makes romance so very re-readable.

Every now and then, I dust off some of my first books and I wonder, “Do these need updating?”

Technology has changed in the last ten years. Maybe not as drastically as in the last twenty years (or more), but cell phones, for example, are ubiquitous these days. Ten years ago, they were less common. And they weren’t smart. Texting was for the truly dedicated, since you had to stab the buttons multiple times to find the right letter.

Ten years ago, when we wrote the word “internet,” the most commonly used style manual said it needed capitalization. Not so today! (Thankfully, my editor is about my age, so she just laughs and reminds me when I forget.)

But, like love, some things don’t change–or not much–with the passage of time.

Workplace romance is still frowned on in some situations. Hard problems that throw people together still can result in those people forming a strong friendship that turns to more. Mothers and daughters can have complicated relationships. As can parents and their teens–especially single parents.

And so, when I picked up my book, Courage to Change, with an eye toward skimming through to see if there was anything glaring that needed addressing, all those timeless factors sucked me in. Allison, a confident lawyer with a crush on her coworker, Phil. Lindsey, the troubled teen. Her dad, who’s doing the best he can. A love triangle that’s resolved before it really even takes off, because I just can’t bring myself to write them. Phil, with problems of his own in the form of a crazy ex-wife. And Allison’s mother.

Oh, Irene. She means well. Mostly.

But at the end of the day? Phil and Allison do all those timeless love story things. In the process, they’re challenged in their faith. They help Lindsey make better choices. They help Lindsey’s dad get a better handle on some of the difficulties of parenting a teen. And Allison and Irene find their way to a mother-daughter relationship that isn’t quite so…fraught.

Ultimately, I decided that there wasn’t really anything I needed to tweak in the story. Does its age show a little here and there? Yeah. It does. But the story itself is strong.

If you haven’t read Courage to Change, now’s a great time to grab a copy as it’s 99c in the US and UK through August 12th.

Here’s the back cover:

He’s a lawyer who’s determined never to love again. But his coworker refuses to get the memo.

When Phil Reid became a Christian and stopped drinking, his hard-partying wife Brandi divorced him. Reeling and betrayed, he becomes convinced Christians should never remarry, and resolves to guard his heart.

Allison Vasak has everything in her life under control, except for one thing. Her heart is irresistibly drawn to fellow attorney and coworker, Phil. Though she knows his history and believes that women should not initiate relationships, she longs to make her feelings known.

As Phil and Allison work closely together to help a pregnant teen, both must reevaluate their convictions. But when Brandi discovers Phil’s new relationship, she decides that though she doesn’t want him, no one else can have him either. Can Phil and Allison’s love weather the chaos Brandi brings into their lives?

You can also read for free as part of your Kindle Unlimited subscription if you have one. Or, if you like listening to audiobooks on YouTube, you can do that here.

I’d love to talk about older CCR that stands the test of time! Do you have a book you return to time and again that was written prior to, let’s say, 2015? Share the title and what you love about it!

(Here’s the link for Courage to Change again, in case you missed it above.)

Elizabeth Maddrey (292 Posts)

Elizabeth Maddrey is a semi-reformed computer geek and homeschooling mother of two who lives in the suburbs of Washington D.C. When she isn’t writing, Elizabeth is a voracious consumer of books. She loves to write about Christians who struggle through their lives, dealing with sin and receiving God’s grace on their way to their own romantic happily ever after.