I’m so blessed to have many friends who are talented writers and are willing to share their work. This week and next, I’ve asked several to join me in the For the Love of Love event. They will be sharing both thoughts on love and a sample of their work. I’m so thrilled to have this opportunity to showcase them and hope you will enjoy getting to know them all a little better!
Diane Rinella, author of Love’s Forbidden Flower, is visiting today to share her love of one of my favorite things: music.
Ah! The joy of romance though my imagination! There is nothing like allowing myself to be swept off of my feet by a gorgeous, adoring man who is completely wrong for me. Why is it that the more I would not give this type of man the time of day in the real world, the more he makes me swoon in my dreams?
I’ve dated the bad boy-far, far too many times. Each time I’ve hoped he will turn out to be the beautifully tortured soul whom I save from a life of despair.
Instead he’s just a jerk.
Ah, but stick him in my mind and suddenly he’s served on a golden platter pillowed by rose petals-hot, bothered, tormented and ready for me to save him from himself.
There are so many catalysts to discovering my dream man-books, television, movies.However, it is in music that I find the greatest romantics of all: The soulful voice of Steve Marriott purrs in my ear that he wants to bask in the Afterglow of my love. Keith Richards needs my love to keep him Happy. Heaven has never been too far away with Jani Lane. They are my beautiful, long-haired bad boys, much like the ones who have caused me so much trouble in the real world. However, these bad boys romance meflawlessly from the safety of my headset.
There is no man like the wrong man and no better place to find him than on my iPod.
Enjoying San Francisco as a backdrop, the ghosts in Diane’s 150-year old Victorian home augment the chorus in her head. With insomnia as their catalyst, these voices have become multifarious characters that haunt her well into the sun’s crowning hours, refusing to let go until they have manipulated her into succumbing to their whims. Her experiences as an actress, business owner, artisan cake designer, software project manager, Internet radio disc jockey, vintage rock n’ roll journalist/fan girl, and lover of dark and quirky personalities influence her idiosyncratic writing.
She is currently completing the sequel to Love’s Forbidden Flower.
My lips pinch together to mute my true emotions. I’m hurt. I’m angry. Worst of all, I’m swooning, but I can’t let him see that. My agitation requires acceleration so his will remain low. ‘What, like that bimbo is worthy?’
‘Really, Lily. It’s not what you think, and it’s not what I want, but it has to be this way.’
He couldn’t possibly have meant the words that are now stamped into my mind. He’s my shelter, my sanctuary. How could the power of our emotions possibly evade him? I exaggerate the size of the lump in my throat so I can ride his sea-saw. ‘No. No, it doesn’t. You know it doesn’t.’
‘Yes, Lily. It does.’ Placing his forehead to mine his tears sting as they trail down my face, merging with my own. The fragments of two hearts that have been shattered into millions of pieces lay on the floor before us.
The heart cares not what society forbids.
Lily nurtures a secret love for a flawless man-the one who is her soul mate. Donovan is gorgeous, charismatic, and delights in all of Lily’s talents and quirks. Their innate knowledge of each other is almost telepathic. Together they interlock like fine threads creating luxurious silk.
But society dictates this picture-perfect adoration is the ghastliest of all possibilities.
As Lily embarks on a quest for the romance the heavens intended, her suitor turns reluctant. Desperate to uncover why Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hiding decayed from a tender-hearted gentleman into a ferociously self-serving, cocky bastard, Lily is prepared for battle when it comes to the salvation of her soul mate. However, Donovan traps Lily in a mental game of chess, leaving her to question his sanity. When Lily’s revelations about Donovan’s destructive alter ego lead to an unconceivable truth, can she help Donovan survive fate’s cruel joke?
Impassioned, witty, and deeply moving, Love’s Forbidden Flower is filled with stunning controversies that will forever haunt your heart.
@tglong Thanks and have an awesome day!