I learned why we read the forbidden romance trope--because it's better than real life

💜💜💜💜💜💜

Hello !

Sometimes there's a reason certain romances are forbidden in real life.

But never mind that. The whole point of romance fiction is to see things the way they could be--better.

Okay, so this week I'm going to share what you might consider a tragic romance from my real life.

We all have one of those heartbreaking romances in our lives, don't we?

I'll share mine below, but I promise you it was worth it because now I have that visceral understanding about heartbreak and the forbidden romance trope with all its trappings, hiding and questions and fibbing...

Speaking of fibbing, my next book Tricky Puck, is another fake relationship story with a matchmaking twist and a giant fib-come-true. It's a lighthearted and fun rom-com in spite of all the fibbing--and the hero, Link Milano, is an intriguing hunk.

You might have met Link in TWO PUCKS. If not, it's worth the read!💜

Check out the story about my forbidden romance heartbreak below! ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Also, I need your help once again to name my heroine in TRICKY PUCK!

Check out the details below for the

Name That Character Contest! ⬇️⬇️⬇️

******************

At SQ's House

Visiting with my mother in Connecticut this weekend for the second week in a row!➜➜

In spite of my well-meaning effort to eat right, I treated us to take out Chinese food! That must be the reason for the smiles.😃

My diet/exercise, you ask?

Boring. Lost 1 pound and went to yoga and barre class (where I did not keep up with the others but I forged on nevertheless).

How about if I check back in a couple of months--say May 12th to let you know if my campaign to get in shape is a success or a bust? ❤️

*****************************************

If you enjoy talking books with like-minded romance lovers, and especially if you enjoy sports or my books, I would love to have you join my group. I share exclusive looks at covers-in-progress and you can join my ARC team there.

Getting to know the members of my group personally is everything! 💜

➜➜Join the SQ Team on Facebook Here

**************************************************

Public Service Announcement for all Readers!📚

If you love to read lots of books, but it's starting to get pricey, instead of downloading random free books or instead of paying for Kindle Unlimited,

GET EBOOKS AND AUDIOBOOKS BOOKS FREE FROM YOUR LIBRARY!

➜➜Why? Because they're free to you and authors get paid by the libraries!

WIN-WIN!!

➜➜How do I get my free library ebooks or audiobooks? Click HERE to get the details on how!

*********

Please consider sharing my newsletter with your reader friends if you think they'd enjoy it. The more, the merrier, right?

➜➜Friends can join the SQ Newsletter HERE!💜

➜➜Join the SQ Team on Facebook Here

**************************************************

The story about the forbidden romance heartbreak 💔

Let's call him AK. He was handsome young man with gorgeous blue eyes and a passion for waterskiing. Odd enough, but true. We were just seventeen--like the song said.

His parents had a summer house up the street from me. We lived on a lake, but it was my family's year round home. That should tell you something about the forbidden divide between us: Money, according to his parents.

At first it was all innocent. A group of us hung out that summer, waterskiing all day and going for pizza or Chinese food every single day.

Our idyllic life got so monotonous that we drove to Boston one day just to do something different.

In the evenings, we hung out in the driveway leaning against the back of the car, fighting mosquitos, looking at the stars--and flirting. Then towards the end of the summer, AK finally asked me out.

We went to the movies and then to the drive-in and then the summer was over and he was leaving.

His parents were wealthy and he went to prep school and they didn't want him to see me anymore--figured it was just a summer romance.

But we had other ideas. We were going into our senior year of high school and had started applying to colleges and wanted to be near each other though I couldn't afford to go to the same college he would be going to.

When his parents found out, they told him he should date other people, and fixed him up with a Judge's daughter. My father was a mere high school teacher.

He agreed to date the judge's daughter and in return they allowed him to see me once a week.

We had a standing date every Saturday night during my senior year.

When they continued to give him a hard time, insisting that he stop seeing me, he told them we broke up.

But we didn't. Instead we continued to see each other in secret.

The forbidden romance made us closer and at the end of our senior year, he drove me to Boston--again--and proposed to me, giving me a diamond ring.

The truly shocking part is that he stole the money from his parents to buy the ring.

It was all so dramatically romantic at the time, but the reality was that lying to his parents--which continued into our freshman year of college--put a big strain on him.

I found out his parents had told him they would disown him if he didn't stop seeing me. So he was constantly worried that they would find out. I didn't have a problem with him being disowned because I didn't care about his parents' money, but my mother told me there was more to it than the money.

She said for him, no matter how mean and unfair his parents seemed, they were still his parents and losing them would be difficult.

That wisdom helped me some when he started making excuses during spring semester towards the end of our freshman year about why he couldn't see me. He went to a college only an hour away from UConn where I went and there were only so many When that went on for a couple of months, I realized something was terribly wrong.

and by the end of the year when I came home, he was no longer calling me. This was before cell phones and I could never call him at home in case his parents answered.

So there I was, abandoned at the end of my freshman year, with a diamond ring and no fiancee to show for it.

This was the official end of my heartbreaking forbidden romance with AK--but it wasn't the end of the AK story.

He eventually came to my house that summer in a new car--that I suspected was a gift from his parents out of guilt--and officially broke up with me, saying we should "see other people" but that I should keep the ring.

He also said he was going away to summer school and we wouldn't be seeing each other.

I cried a lot of tears and went back to UConn in the fall--without the ring on my finger.

I ended up throwing myself into making the most of college life, but it was the desperate heartbroken kind of forced fun.

Story over? Not yet. A year later--my junior year, I was walking up the stairs to my fourth floor dorm room and a guy was walking down the stairs.

I stopped short--it was AK. Out of the blue he showed up--said he hired a detective to find me--which was overkill since he knew I was at UConn and the place isn't that big.

He was cryptic and weird and visited a couple more times, telling me he had a brain tumor and then calling me from the hospital to say he was having brain surgery to have it removed.

Then nothing for several months. It was summer time and I was working and dating my now husband when AK struck again.

He said he'd had successful brain surgery and his parents had felt bad about forbidding our relationship after his near-death experience. He said they'd realized he'd been happy and so they said he could see me.

I was torn. On one hand, I thought maybe I could rekindle the romance with AK. And on the other hand, I was starting to fall for my husband.

In the end, I agreed to see AK for a date at Franky's pizza. I told my not-yet-husband because we were on the cusp of a commitment, but not quite there.

Now you might think that we had our date and realized we couldn't go back and parted friends and I went on to marry my husband.

Almost. But my last date with AK didn't go that smoothly.

A friend of his came to my house to tell me he'd be late.

Because he had a water-skiing accident and shattered his elbow. He'd been barefoot waterskiing, practicing to try out for a job at Cypress Gardens. (Not joking.) It was his dream job.

He picked me up with his arm in a sling and book me to Franky's pizza, but a heart-to-heart conversation was impossible. He'd taken too much pain medication and shouldn't have been driving.

I told him I was seeing my not-yet-husband and we couldn't go back.

The End - Almost.

He came back to see me one more time at UConn my senior year and I was engaged to my husband by then.

He took the news well. So well that he asked me if maybe I'd fix him up with one of my roommates!! NOT.

I never saw him again and only heard from him one more time shortly before I was getting married when he asked if we could be friends.

I said no.

I often wonder whatever happened to him, but I don't know to this day. My memories of him are mixed, with the good finally being outweighed by the bad.

FINALLY - THE END!

And so I get the tragically heartbreaking nature of romance--especially the forbidden kind.

Look for more moments and insights about what makes this romance writer tick in future newsletters...

********************************

NAME THAT CHARACTER CONTEST!

CLICK HERE TO ENTER!

********************************

LIBRARY PSA

********************************

My favorite review of the week!

"Sabien and Cherry had me laughing out loud... If you are looking for a fun, fast paced read that involves all my favorites, hockey, romance, and dogs this book is for you. A great addition to the Portsmouth Whalers series."

Karyn Foley--Amazon reviewer

I truly appreciate everyone who takes the time to leave reviews.💜

For a limited time

READ ON KU

*****************************************

NEW RELEASE!

TWO PUCKS

a fake relationship forced proximity billionaire hockey rom-com

What does a billionaire hockey player and a down and out dog walker have in common?

Nothing besides my dog--unless you count the sizzling attraction between us.

Which makes our arrangement to live together and carry off a fake relationship all the more ridiculous.

But I desperately need to appear like I'm settling down and Cherry needs a place to live, so my agent--under loud protest--goes along with the deal and writes up a contract.

It’s possibly the stupidest deal ever imagined according to my agent, but once it's done, Cherry and I are in bed together--literally--for the duration of the hockey season.

He insists on only one condition--once the season is over, we make a clean break.

Sounds good to me--right up until the moment Cherry drops a world-changing bomb on my head. Surprised? Maybe. Shocked? Getting closer.

More like mind exploding...

Now what?

Available in Kindle Unlimited for a limited time!

READ NOW!

*****************************************

Coming in May 2024

Tricky Puck - a fake fiancee hockey rom-com

Link

I'd never heard of a real life matchmaker before, but grandma insists on introducing me to one and makes sure it's really real when she tells me I'm her matchmaker's new client...

Normally, I'd do anything for grandma, but this is a big ask.

I'm not ready to settle down. Not even close. I'm only twenty-six and a rising star in the NHL - otherwise known as a chick-magnet.

After all the hard work and focus I've put in to get this far, I've barely begun to have fun. No way am I going along with the matchmaking plan.

Sure.

Fast forward to when my attitude changes real fast after grandma informs me her clock is ticking and her time's almost up.

And her dying wish is to see me settled down with a nice young woman.

Shit.

She goes on about babies, but my mind is spinning with the knowledge that I have no choice. I need to go along with this matchmaking deal for grandma.

Unless I can come up with a way to give her the comfort she wants, the illusion that I'm settled down--without actually settling down...

Pre-Order Now!

***************************************************

More books for your reading pleasure

SQ's Featured Authors

For the Captain - Jenny Redford

A hockey player who doesn't need a woman meets a woman who doesn't want a hockey player.

Jordan King is known as the most eligible bachelor in the Motor City, especially now that he's been named the captain of the legendary Detroit Pirates. But Jordan realizes he needs to step it up as a leader if he wants the team to win it all this season, which means leaving behind his reputation as a partying ladies' man.

Charlotte Stone is a best-selling author and Manhattan socialite who is sick of the city. She's determined to live somewhere different that doesn't include being a guest star on her mother's reality show. That's when she hears about a building renovation project in Detroit and decides a move to somewhere completely unexpected is exactly what she needs.

BUY NOW!

*************

Rent Me While You Can - Brittany Bell

GET IT NOW!

*************

*********************************************************

ROMANCE FANS: CLICK HERE to Follow Me anywhere on social media and keep in touch!

Please enter the name that character contest right away because I need to name my heroine before I get too far in writing Tricky Puck. I'd love to see you win!

It was hard to share my forbidden romance heartbreak story, but worth making a connection with you. I'd love to hear your thoughts and your heartbreak stories--because I know you have them.

I'll continue to share my stories--until I run out--so you can see what makes this romance writer tick. 💜

Warmest Regards,