Coffee and Conversation with the #RomanceGems

It's time for Coffee and Conversation with the Romance Gems! So, grab a cup of your favorite beverage and join us for some fun. This month's topic is: What’s the STRANGEST thing you’ve done to a character (or characters) in one of your books?

We all send our characters on journeys. We’re writers, after all, so conflict is essential. Some romance subgenres are likely nicer/kinder than others, but either way your imaginary people need to go through some stuff to reach their happily-ever-after. Have you sent them on a grueling voyage or put them in danger? Maybe your “strangest thing” is something funny, like you’ve put them in an embarrassing situation? Let’s talk!

“In TODAY, TOMORROW, ALWAYS, I made widowed lawyer Cathleen O’Dowd attend a speed dating night. Organized by her friend, the local matchmaker, she coerced Cathleen into trying it so she could dip her toes into the dating pool again. She’d married the only boy she’d ever kissed and had been a widow for 3 years, so it was time to “get out there again.” Needless to say it was a disaster – a comic one – but a disaster all the same.” ~ Peggy Jaeger

“Not strange, but the stupidest thing I ever did was to kill off a beloved character. I will never do that again! When my Kensington (Zebra Historical) editor came back and asked me to add a book to my existing Brides of Bath trilogy (a long time ago--the series now has seven books), I felt I didn't have a way to expand it unless I took a secondary romance from Book 1, made the wife die, and made him the grieving hero of Book 4 (released back in 2004). Readers were distraught. Because the dead woman was so beloved, it did make his grieving palpable--and deserving of his new happily ever after!” ~ Cheryl Bolen

“In The Cowboy's Charms, I send my heroine, Angelique, on a cattle drive. It was pretty tough for her. Not only was she a society girl who was having to play cowgirl, but she ended up being accused of sabotage by the man she loved. It was pretty difficult for her. But she toughs it out. It was awesome to write and read!”

~ Kara O'Neal

“In my vintage, 1960s Halloween-themed book, Bewitched, my hero is a bachelor who doesn't "do" kids. My heroine runs a very busy daycare center directly across the street. “When she's called away on an emergency, the hero reluctantly agrees to help out with the children in her absence. He’s just settling in and getting comfy, when a crayon-eating toddler throws up on him in vivid technicolor and ruins an expensive jacket and Italian leather shoes! Needless to say, he escapes as quickly as possible! But ... we’ll he eventually come back?” ~ Nancy Fraser

“In A Soft Place to Fall, the heroine, Early, moved back to where she'd grown up so that she could take care of her former father-in-law as he recuperated from open-heart surgery. While there, her mother broke her ankle and ended up moving in, too. Since Early was in no way a saint, I was surprised I piled this on her. She performed admirably.” ~ Liz Flaherty

“Keith Cho is a very quiet hero and I had a difficult time figuring him out. One of the secrets he finally shared with Samantha, the heroine, is that as a kid he participated in talent shows doing musical theater. At one point in the story, they are tied up and unable to get free, and Sam is injured. Keith serenades Sam with showtunes to keep her spirits up and her awake. Keith and Sam star in Death Race, book 5 in the Love on the Line romantic suspense series (releasing May 2021)” ~ Kari Lemor

“I love to challenge my characters. In HOPE, I have the hero, Percy, hire a hot air balloon ride as a birthday surprise for Hope, something on the list of adventures she longs to experience now that she’s on her own. Despite his fear of heights Percy joins her on the ride, where he learns confronting his fear in an attempt to banish it doesn’t necessarily work the way he hoped. For her part, Hope is charmed to learn Percy is not perfect.” ~ Kathleen Lawless

“One of the ten most dangerous jobs is commercial fishermen. In my story, Midnight Escape, the hero is a commercial crab fisherman who goes out to the Bering Sea. He is protecting the heroine from the mob, and the only way he could think to protect her was to take her out with him on his crab boat. The event was an adventure the heroine never thought she’d ever experience in her life, and of course, it help her to fall in love with the fisherman!” ~ Constance Bretes

“I think the strangest thing I’ve done to a character is have him let a dog play matchmaker. That’s what happens to recent widower and grouch Kirk Fontaine in Not-So-Blue Christmas. He’s been ignoring Bella for weeks, but she always finds a way to get to him. The first time he relents and pets her, he finds himself caught by feisty, vivacious widow Miranda Bailey who needs a bit of Christmas magic herself. These are seasoned characters. Kirk is 51 and Miranda’s 47…far too young to give up on love and, with Bella’s help, they don’t have to.” ~ Bonnie Edwards

“In my book STUART, Georgina Potter’s family treated her as a screw-up so she signed up as a mail-order bride. She arrived to learn her “businessman” groom was a saloon owner who had married a saloon girl rather than wait for Georgina. The two women got into a brawl, started by the saloon girl. When the sheriff intervened, Georgina accidentally socked him in the eye. The irate sheriff marched Georgina down the town’s main street to jail. Stuart McGee arrived two days later to ask the sheriff’s recommendation for a woman to help with the orphan he’d found.” 

~ Caroline Clemmons

"What’s that saying? There’s none so strange as folk. Years ago I wrote a book titled, Hook, Line and Single. Roxanne Ingram is divorced and about to turn 40. She’s on a quest to find Mr. Right and willing to explore all options. Back then, Internet Dating, Lock & Key, and Speed Dating events weren’t that common. Roxanne meets every creep and weirdo there is, until Mr. Perfect comes along. Except Mr. Perfect isn’t so perfect. He’s been accused of attempting to murder his wife." ~ Marcia King-Gamble

“In my book, Haunting Highland House, I move a self-proclaimed ‘city girl,’ Samantha Merrill, from Manhattan to an isolated estate on Cape Cod. It only takes one night for the mysterious owner of the mansion to appear and protest her living in his house. There’s only one problem. Robert Pennington has been dead for over a century.” ~ Kathryn Hills

Okay, now it's your turn to join the conversation! Do you have a favorite book in which the characters really go through something to reach their happily-ever-after?

Add your comments below or send via email through the "contact us” link on the bottom of the left sidebar. You can also make suggestions on what you'd like to discuss here in the future.

Thanks for joining us!

~ The Romance Gems ~