This year, in celebration of Valentine’s Day, we’ve asked our authors what love means to them. You’ve read their wonderful books, but now here’s your chance to read their delightful #RealLifeRomance stories…
A moment of true love for me was on the way to my wedding. I asked my then soon-to-be-husband if he was nervous. He smiled and said, no—he’d been more nervous before participating in some sporting events than he was to walk down the aisle with me. That is one of my most treasured memories.
Love is being at my mum’s 80th birthday party one cold November night last year in a posh restaurant in Soho, with… her two brothers, my two sisters, all three of our husbands and seven of her ten grandkids ranging in age from four to twenty-four! We recited 80 words to describe her together which included: magnificent, golf-aholic, wanderlust and road rager! We laughed, we cried, we ate too much, we missed the people who couldn’t be there, and still had room for champagne (well, apart from the 4-year-old, who had soda) and chocolate cake for dessert. Perfect.
My real-life romance is the story of my own love at first sight. I met my husband in Venice (he was Venetian). He was dropping hints about marriage on our very first evening, although it took him two days to give me a formal proposal. We were married for 45 years until, sadly, he died last year. In many ways, he not only gave me a wonderful life, but he also gave me my career. Many of my books have been set in Italy with Italian heroes, which couldn’t have happened without him. I tell the full story on my website. It also includes a recording of an appearance we made together on an Esther Ranzen show about holiday romances.
Love is finding out your son, who has struggled for so long, is autistic and knowing it isn’t a deterrent. It makes him special and how he sees the world is beautiful and eye opening. Although you must fight to get his needs met, the fight is worth it, because love strengthens your resolve to keep going. No matter what lies ahead.
Love is the little things
which have lasted beyond
the exchange of rings
The warm smile, the gentle touch
the simple gestures
that mean so much
Things that without words say
I love you
each and every day
Love is what remains after the grey hair creeps into those ‘shimmering tresses’ and ‘dewy skin’ turns to crepe. Love is both that steamy acrobatic sex scene and after that steamy, acrobatic sex scene. Love is the romance novel and love is the person who buys you the romance novel. Love is watching a sunset and holidays and sand. But love is also being there for the tough times and for the sad times and for the sick times. Love endures.
Real-life romance is the little moments that make up your day—the cup of coffee brought to you in bed, the shared smile of an inside joke, or the joint sigh you both give as you collapse into bed at the end of a long day. We only get a few big or extraordinary moments in our lives, and for me it’s the many little moments that really count.
Thank you, to our lovely authors, for taking the time to share their #RealLifeRomance stories with us!
