This Independence Day, we caught up with True Love author Susan Meier to chat about how the final book in her Missing Manhattan Heirs trilogy, Hired by the Unexpected Billionaire, made her realise the importance of independence in romance books.

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In America, we celebrate Independence Day on July 4. We love this day. Mostly because we’ll take any excuse to barbecue. My sister has a pool in a sunny backyard with a very high fence. We can be silly to our heart’s delight.

But I’m also looking at promo ideas for Hired by the Unexpected Billionaire which releases soon. When my sunny barbecue dreams collided with book promo, I started to realize that most of our books are about independence.

Really? Finding your one true love and committing to them forever is about independence?

Sure. Here’s why.

Marnie Olsen, the heroine in Hired by the Unexpected Billionaire, was the victim of bullying in high school. The bullying was brought on because her mother called the police when Marnie was abused by one of her classmates.

She spent her university years and her early twenties dodging the ramifications of both the abuse and the bullying…but when she meets Danny Manelli, he wants her to find a way to let it go. He wants her to have her freedom.

He’s one of the three Hinton Heirs, the children of eccentric billionaire Mark Hinton. When he discovers he is one of the heirs, he immediately loses his freedom, his sense of self. But he fights it, never letting go of the few things in his life that maintain his sense of autonomy.

His very fight proves he knows how important freedom and independence are and why he wants them for Marnie.

In fact, he doesn’t believe Marnie can commit to him or anybody until she restores her sense of self.

Marnie hasn’t any a sense of self or any real peace since the abuse so it’s difficult for her to even imagine. But with humor and Danny’s baby to love in the privacy of his penthouse, she begins to see what he means. That the past doesn’t have to overshadow the present and dictate the future.

Still, the road to true love isn’t smooth and though she and Danny find ways to take their troubles good-naturedly, their obstacles at times seem overwhelming.

Quite a mirror of real life!

Which is why we love Mills and Boon stories. They are always uplifting, reinforcing our belief that if you want something badly enough it’s okay to fight for it.

Because, in the end, when the battle is won, when the romance has blossomed and the hero and heroine are secure in each other’s love…There’s no better feeling!

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Get your copy of Hired by the Unexpected Billionaire by Susan Meier now!

By Becky Lushey