Tina Beckett’s new book, Their Reunion to Remember is a second chance romance with a BIG twist. Her heroine, Lia has a very unique medical condition where she cannot distinguish one face from another.
Here Tina tells us about the inspirations behind this story.
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There are people you come across in life who fascinate you. Who inspire you. Who make you wonder what if…
When I was asked to write a duet with the amazing Annie O’Neil, we were given free rein to pick a big city. We chose Nashville, a place that has a special place in my heart. And I told my editor about a story idea I’d been tinkering with. I was a little bit nervous about her reaction, because this was supposed to be a love story. One where the characters fall in love with each other based on who they are inside. Based on the entire package. Easy enough, right? Except…. This was where the nerves came into play, because I wanted my heroine to have a condition called prosopagnosia—or face blindness. It’s a rare condition in which you can’t decipher one face from another.
How was my heroine supposed to fall in love with the hero if she couldn’t tell him from anyone else? Especially if she’d already met him before. Had already loved him before. And when she meets him again years later and doesn’t immediately recognise him? Well, that makes it a reunion story. Kind of.
My editor’s response was “go for it.” Well, not those exact words, but she gave a green light to the story concept. And Iliana (Lia) Costa was born. I was excited…and terrified. I wanted to do my character justice. Especially since I actually knew someone in real life with the condition.
Lia did not disappoint me. She was so hard to write. And so heartbreakingly vulnerable and honest. I cried at what I put her through over the course of the story.
But in the end, it was worth it. I loved watching her slowly put her heart out there. To learn what love really means and to realise nothing is guaranteed. Sometimes you just have to take a chance.
And the title? I am so thrilled with what the marketing team chose for the book: Their Reunion to Remember. To REMBER! For a character who has a tough time remembering what someone’s face looks like, it seemed the perfect way to encapsulate the story. The perfect way to show Lia’s conflict. The perfect way to…well, everything. I hope you enjoy reading the Nashville ER duet!
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Read Their Reunion to Remember by Tina Beckett here.
Now: a second chance?
Surgeon Lia Costa has spent a lifetime trying to blend into the background. So, when Dr Micah Corday picks her out of a busy concert crowd on Valentine’s Day, she can’t believe it! Micah was her first love… and the man she thought she would never see again. Is Lia ready to remember the powerful love that she had tried so hard to forget?
