What makes Valentine’s Day special? There’s a
simple answer: personal relationships and connections with others.
Valentine’s Day is a favorite holiday for me. In
fact, the entire month of February makes me smile. One reason is because it’s
the shortest winter month; another reason is because we are getting more
daylight again. A third reason is that my older son Andrew was born in February
and also married in February.
Point of fact, Andrew and his wife Anna were married
on Valentine’s Day. It was a joyful wedding, loving and romantic. No big fancy
affair, just the bride and groom, my husband and myself, the bride’s best
friend, and a judge happy to officiate, followed by a wedding breakfast at a
local hotel. Afterwards the bride and groom had to take a long drive so that my
son could represent in court a couple accused of white-collar crime.
Andy and Anna are still happily married and have a
wonderful daughter to help them celebrate their anniversary. This love story is
one of many worldwide celebrated on the most romantic day of the year.
Love stories have always been an important part of history
and literature. Cleopatra and Mark Anthony. Cleopatra and Julius Caesar (Cleopatra
did get around). As Shakespeare said, “she was a woman of infinite variety.” Then
there is the story of Napoleon and Josephine, another passionate love affair.
In the Bible, we also find some of the world’s greatest and unforgettable love
stories. What can be more romantic than the story of Ruth or Solomon and the
Queen of Sheba? And there is the story of Esther which is celebrated on Purim.
A lot of the
world’s most famous, classical love stories, of course, did not end happily:
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Helen of Troy and Paris, Lancelot, Arthur and
Guinevere (a legendary triangle). These are tragedies.
Some of the literary characters I consider
unforgettable are those of the Bronte sisters: Heathcliff and Catherine, the
tormented lovers in Emily’s Wuthering Heights,
Jane Eyre
and Mr. Rochester of Charlotte’s
famous novel. Both romances are in the Gothic tradition. My tribute to that
tradition, although one with a happier end is my novel
DARK
MOON RISING, published by Luminosity.
https://luminositypublishing.com/en/book/dark-moon-rising/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Z7824A4/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dark-moon-rising/id1020852100?mt=1
Thomas
Hardy wrote several tragic love stories.
For something lighter, I
prefer Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth and Darcy are
memorable. I’ve read and reread that novel numerous times.
Love quite literally makes the world go round. My favorite Valentine’s
Day gift to myself is purchasing a new romance novel. Candy makes me fat.
Flowers wilt and die too soon. But a great romance can be read and reread and
enjoyed.
Luminosity has now published four of my own romance novels.
Besides, DARK MOON RISING, they are the historical novels:
TEA LEAVES AND TAROT CARDS,
SINFUL SEDUCTION,
HIGHLAND HEART.
If you’re of a mind to
read some short romance fiction to celebrate Valentine’s Day consider my collection BEYOND THE BO TREE, a book that combines
romance, mystery, fantasy and the paranormal. The first story in the collection
is a free read:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DTV0750
Regardless, I hope you enjoy February’s fun
holiday.
Are there any romance novels you would like to
recommend to fellow readers?