What Makes A Romance? by Dianna Hardy
I am pleased to have Dianna Hardy here today!
***
What Makes A Romance?
by Dianna Hardy
Thank you so much, Lisa, for having me on your blog today 🙂
So, what makes a romance? In some ways I mean this as a rhetorical question, because it’s such a personal one. What’s romantic for one person, isn’t for another. Some people find possessive and intense to be romantic, other’s find acceptance and calm to be romantic. I write all kinds of characters, and all types of relationships, rather than stick to one type of romance.
In my paranormal romance, The Witching Pen we meet Karl and Elena. They’ve both been best friends since pretty much forever, and Karl’s been in love with Elena, a very powerful witch, for nearly as long. What makes a romance with these two, is the intimacy of friendship that they both have with each other on a day to day basis, since they were kids. It’s a love based on the fact that they know and trust each other better than anyone else, and you can get a good sense of this in the FREE short story that I’ve written for the fans of the series, which take these characters back to their childhood: Wilted (A Witching Pen Novellas Prequel)
Karl and Elena have always been there for each other, only now, their mutual feelings are about to be tested: Elena’s being seduced by a demon in her sleep – the same demon who ‘gave’ her a magic pen that can write the future. He’s awakening all sorts of lustful feelings within her, and Karl’s the only one who can bring her back. However, he’s not immune to his own feelings for his best friend. But he can’t do anything about that, because sleeping with Elena will deplete her of all her magic forever…
Excerpt from The Witching Pen
He bouldered his way into her room to find her sitting up, tangled in her sheets and tearing at air.
“Elena!”
Did she see him? She seemed to be looking at something…
“Elena! Wake up!”
The look on her face almost had him frozen to the spot, but his practical nature always bested him, and he grabbed her shoulders instead, trying to shake her into full alertness. The woman was rigid under his hands, so he tried a different approach. Collecting her into his arms, he planted a tender kiss on her forehead and rubbed her back, speaking softly, “Elena, honey, everything’s all right. It’s me – it’s Karl.”
She was burning hot, her skin tacky with sweat, but she blinked.
Yes. We’re getting somewhere.
“Elena, it’s okay … everything’s okay…”
He rocked her in his arms, back and forth.
“Wake up, baby. Wake up…”
She blinked again and turned her head. “K-Karl?”
“Yes, it’s me … are you all right?”
She looked skittishly at her surroundings, then surrendered into his arms, her breaths coming out sharp and quick.
“What happened?”
“There was … something was here…”
He frowned at her open window. Did she mean that someone was actually in here?
As if reading his mind, she shook her head. “No. It was a like a dream … but it wasn’t a dream.”
She paused and seemed unsure of what to say next.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“I don’t know. I…”
She looked at him – looked right into his eyes with her own hazel ones. Up until now it hadn’t even occurred to him that they were holding each other wearing not a hell of a lot, and he forced his mind away from the fact.
A slight smile touched her lips. “I like your eyes – I like that they’re so blue…” And then her smile disappeared, she looked away and shuddered. His practical self won through yet again, and he used the opportunity to untangle her sheets and draw them up around her – for his sake more than hers. She shot him a grateful glance.
“It was a demon. I think he was in this room, or at least, his shadow was. He seeped into my mind as I was dreaming.”
“A demon?”
Nothing about Elena or the life she led should surprise him any more, but he’d never heard her mention demons at all in the past, so here he was, once again taken aback.
“I don’t know much about them. There are text books and stuff, but my teachers never concentrated on the demon worlds so much … guess I’d better get researching.”
“A demon? I don’t know what to say … how do you know it was a demon?”
“Instinct, I guess … and he looked kind of … demonic. Oh, God …”
“What?”
“The pen … he said it was his gift to me.”
They both looked at the pen that sat atop her nightstand.
“Do you believe him?”
She shrugged. “I have no reason not to, I mean … the pen just appeared one day out of nowhere.”
“So you think he planted it for you to find?”
“I suppose he did, and I’d better find out why fast, because I don’t think this was a one-off visit. Karl? Karl – what is it?”
Karl had stopped moving; he’d almost stopped breathing. A feeling of dread had sunk into the pit of his stomach. “Do you always sleep with your notebook open?”
“Yes, it’s easier for me to write down dreams and stuff when half asleep.”
“Did you write down that?”
Elena looked once again at the notebook and spotted what she had obviously missed before. A strangled cry escaped her lips.
The plane’s final engine failed, and the passengers
screamed as it plummeted.
The Witching Pen is available as an eBook, currently at the offer price of $0.99 (list price $1.99), and will be released as a paperback at the end of April.
Dianna Hardy is a multi-genre author of paranormal things, dark things, poetic things, sexy things, taboo things, and sometimes funny things. Writes about witches, demons and angels. All info can be found on her website DiannaHardy.com
Lisa Fox Romance 
Thanks so much for having me on your blog today, Lisa! x
Totally my pleasure! Thanks so much for coming over and sharing that wonderfully creepy excerpt!
Lol. Creepy Romance is one of my favourite types of romance. I think I may be in the minority though! x
Fantastic post..I think romance is in the eye of the beholder..What one might think is romance another might not agree. It is a question that each person can answer differently..