Some never forget their first love. And sometimes they're given a chance to act on that love. Most stories I've read like this involve much younger couples, think twenties to thirties. Today's focus is on a couple much older who have loved from afar for years and might now have their chance.
Please welcome the lovely LG O'Connor, author of this fabulous seasoned romance, Surrender My Heart.
LG: Thank you for having me today!
WLR: I have to ask this because it’s rare that I willingly read a story with mature main characters. The take is usually May/December, older/ younger. So why “seasoned” characters?
LG: Ha! Funny you should ask. The first book in the series, Caught Up in RAINE, is a reverse May / December romance between a widowed romance writer in her early 40s and her cover model, a troubled young landscaper in his 20s who is working himself through college. Kitty and John’s story was originally a couple of chapters in that novel until one of my editors told me they deserved their own book. What started out as a standalone novel became a romantic women’s fiction trilogy about Jillian, Jenny, and Kitty—three women in the same family, but of different ages. All had stories tied to ghosts of the past and some element of redemption.
A note on the “seasoned” piece. Beside a crazy incident that happened to me (which became the first chapter of Caught Up in RAINE), as a woman over forty, I wanted to affirm that even as a women ages it doesn’t mean she becomes sexually unappealing or undeserving of love.
The same can be said for Kitty. Nothing can keep a good woman down. The sparks between Kitty and John sizzle with the same heat and intensity of a couple two decades younger, only better. They have a rich appreciation, deep emotional connection, and confidence that only comes with age. To me, that makes their reunion all the more poignant.
WLR: This is a second-chance story but also one of redemption. Which would say it is more of to you and why?
LG: In Kitty’s case, she can’t have a second chance with John without redemption. John let Kitty sidestep the truth the last time they reunited in their late twenties, and he’s unwilling to let her have another crack at his heart unless she comes clean. Though what Kitty did all those years before was out of love (“I made the best of the worst choices,”) the consequences of her actions could touch them both.
WLR: What inspired Kitty’s character?
LG: Kitty shows up on the very first page of the series in Caught Up in RAINE. She’s Jillian’s nurturing older sister. Jillian tells the reader, “What my older sister lacks in style, she makes up in heart.” From that first moment, there has always been more to Kitty than meets the eye beyond the kind teetotaler with the appalling “stuck in the 80s” wardrobe. It’s the “why” that inspired Kitty and her story. What no one expected was the wildcat—or wild Kat in her case—that she used to be before life happened and buried her in a mountain of secrets, not all her own.
Isn’t that true even in real life? That who we are now is a direct result of the life we’ve led and the choices we’ve made?
WLR: What inspired John’s character?
LG: Like Kitty, John shows up in the first book. He’s the one Jillian calls when Raine is attacked in her home. A close family friend, the hardboiled detective has a history with Kitty, which becomes clear the moment he asks shyly, “How’s Kitten?”
LOL, I think we all have one that got away—someone who might not appear to fit on the outside. Maybe it was our first love in high school, maybe it was someone else. I loved the contrast between Kitty, the sweet CPA, and John, the foul-mouthed detective. I wanted readers to discover how these two people could fit. I loved that under this big, gruff guy’s rough and tumble exterior, there was a skilled lover with a quick mind and an unwavering loyal heart to this one woman in particular.
WLR: The synopsis hints at secrets only Kitty knows and forgiveness she needs from John. Without giving it away, why did you include this layer into their story? Wouldn’t it have been easier to write their second chance only?
LG: Great question! Yes, I’m sure it would’ve been a lot easier to write this as a straight second chance romance, and a whole lot shorter, LOL! It may have appealed to more readers that way, too, but when I set out to write this series, I wanted to write it for readers like me who hungered for something a little different and more complex. For this series, that meant heroines of different ages dealing with loss and finding love on their road to redemption. I want to fall in love every time I read, and I want the characters to stick with me long after I’ve closed the book. Honestly, that’s the best compliment I can receive in a review!
This series is a contemporary romance / women’s fiction hybrid, so that whole layer of growth was necessary for Kitty to achieve her objective. As much as I love straight contemporary romance, I didn’t feel that format alone would allow me breath the life into Kitty and John’s story that it deserved.
WLR: What do you hope readers walk away with when they reach “The End”?
LG: Hope. I want readers to walk away with that for every one of my stories. We have one life. May we always live our best lives and never give up hope 😊
One of the reasons I wrote Kitty & John’s story in a dual timeline format was to demonstrate how we become who we become, how our choices dictate the rest of our lives, and how true love can find a way. Sometimes the universe works in mysterious ways, and timing can be everything.
WLR: Thank you for stopping by today. I enjoyed the story and now I have a deeper appreciation for it and the characters. Readers, you can find out more about this book below. I hope you find it as enticing as I did.
Series & Title: Caught Up In Love, Book 3: Surrender My Heart
Author: LG O'Connor
Author Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
Publisher: Collins-Young Publishing LLC
Release Date: February 13, 2018
Genre: Contemporary, Dual Timeline (Present & Coming of Age), Romance
Do you remember your first love in high school? What if you never stopped?
For decades, Katherine "Kitty" McNally has secretly loved John Henshaw, the man lying shot and unconscious in the hospital bed next to her. Then again, maybe not so secretly. Those closest to her, including her soon-to-be ex-husband, have suspected it for years. Their story ended with a gunshot wound the last time, too. Life seems to have taken her full circle, but only the dead know the secrets she still keeps.
Detective John Henshaw fell in love with his "Kat" the moment she became his geometry tutor in high school. When they graduated, he thought their future was sealed. Wrong. Enter life's nonstop curveballs. The worst two moments of his life were the two times he lost Kat. After thirty-five years and one failed marriage trying to forget her, he can't escape the fact that he's never stopped loving her. Maybe it's just his ego, but he could swear he sees a spark of love in her eyes every time she looks at him. That's what keeps him in the New Jersey town that holds his most painful memories. That's why he accepted his place decades ago as a family friend to the McNally sisters.
As John recovers from his injuries in Kitty's care, she has one last chance to confront her past and rekindle their love--if John can forgive her once he learns the truth.
**Romantic Women's Fiction - includes BOOK CLUB discussion questions. Contains adult content but little to no violence.
Follow up to the 2017 Kindle Scout Winner, Shelter My Heart.
LG O’Connor is a corporate marketing exec by day who takes her author cape out at night. An avid reader, she loves books with memorable characters that make her heart sing. She’s the author of the urban fantasy / paranormal romance series, The Angelorum Twelve Chronicles, and Caught Up in RAINE, her contemporary romantic women’s fiction debut. Shelter My Heart (a Kindle Scout Winner) is the second novel in her romantic women’s fiction series, Caught Up in Love, a series which follows three women in the same family on their road to redemption and a second chance at love. A native ‘Jersey Girl,’ she’s always in search of the perfect cup of coffee and fine Italian leather. Her perfect hero always keeps the heroine fed. You can find her new book, Recipes from Raine’s Roost (which first appeared on Joyce Lamb’s USA TODAY Happy Ever After blog), by Caught Up in RAINE hero, Raine MacDonald, on Amazon under the Cooking & Wine section.
Thanks for featuring this interview for the tour!
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