Hope Tarr | The One Who Got Away...
We all have one, which is to say a “The One.” You know what or rather who I mean. The O-N-E. Maybe he was your first love or your first big love. Maybe he was both. Maybe you broke up with him--but I’m betting my next book advance he broke up with you. Maybe you never really had him in the first place...but again, I’m betting you did. At least long enough for a part of him to sink into your psyche and your soul. Like that tattoo you rethink years later, you can obliterate the image but not the experience. That shiny white scar is yours--for keeps.Only by definition The One Who Got Away isn't a keeper, or at least he hasn’t been so far. And yet who among us hasn't been moved by those real-life stories of high school sweethearts who find each other on ClassMates.com or reunion night after years, decades apart and fall in love all over again, even marry, in mid- and sometimes late life?
In EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE…, my latest Harlequin Blaze release, former FBI Special Agent Cole Whittaker and microbiologist Alexandra--Alex--Kendall meet again after five painful years apart. Like so many real life reunions, theirs is completely unexpected, the circumstances far from ideal. Alex is about to marry another man, the man who's hired Cole as a bodyguard to escort her on her upcoming overseas business trip to Belize. Crazy in love with her, Cole still can't envision his life having room in it for more than The Job. And yet they have a chance, a slim one, to get it right this time: four days of 24/7, up close-and-personal togetherness in steamy Belize.
What about you? Do you have a One Who Got Away? I'll be checking in throughout the day, and I'd love to hear your story...especially if He didn't stay away forever.
Hope
Hope Tarr is the award-winning author of a dozen (or so) contemporary and historical romance fiction novels, including Every Breath You Take… To enter her monthly and special contests or to check out her blog, visit her online at www.hopetarr.com.
Win a signed copy of STROKES OF MIDNIGHT by commenting below or if you're shy, go to Hope's Blog Contest. THREE WINNERS
posted by Sara Reyes @ 12:01 AM
29 Comments:
Hope,
I did make a comment on the blog post. I enjoyed your blog today.
Julie R.
I remember very well 'that special someone'. We met whle I was in
California several years ago and we wrote often, talked on the phone and visited each other whenever possible. I thought we were making plans for the future after over a year had passed and looked forward to our time together. Then he told me he didn't think we should see each other any longer and I was heartbroken (at the time). A few years later on a visit to the state where he lived I called him at work just to say "Hi" and we met for lunch and talked quite a bit and found out he remained single. We even started writing each other again when I returned home, but I never felt I could give him my love and trust again and we surprisingly have remained friends via letters and phone calls.
Good Morning Hope. I had to stop by and tell you that Strokes of Midnight is one of the absolute hottest books that I have read. I usually do not read Harliquin books, and yours was the first Blaze book that I have read, and I wanted to tell you that it will not be the last. I loved your story and the characters. Becky is a ball of fire and I have to admit I thought Max was a real butt head at the beginning of the book and I wanted to throw him over a cliff, but as the book went on he turned out to be every females dream. For those of you who havent read it please oh please snag a copy and dive in, it is more then worth it. Thank you so much and please dont enter to me to win since I already have an autographed copy from you.
Oh yes! I have one of those. I acually married him at age 21, divorced by 24. But even to this day, I can't ever get him out of my mind. We met when I was 18 an attending college in the town where he lived. Dated until we married. Divorced because he was unfaithful for the 100th time. I could no longer stay with that. But even today I still miss him. *slaps forhead* LOL I know! Jen :)
G'morning everyone. I'm getting a late start on the day but I'm so excited to be here. We're going to have some fun, including giving away some books later--three copies of my New Year's Eve themed Blaze, STROKES OF MIDNIGHT, I believe.
So, let's get this party started (as Pink would say). ;)
Oh Jen and Shari, yours are heart rending stories and yet I hear ones like that with some frequency. You love him with all your heart, he loves you back, and yet there's a flaw, a Big Flaw, and it's so great you realize you can't be together--but you can't get him out of your head (or heart) either.
As my Irish friend might say, "fekkin' men." ;)
Thank you so much, Sara. That means a lot. I probably rewrote STROKES OF MIDNIGHT a good eight times but once I finished, I felt satisfied that it was the best book it could be.
It also enables me to justify my daily procrastinating in the form of online horoscope reading. Before STROKES, I thought I was just goofing off but as it turns out, I was doing "research." ;)
For those of you who haven't read the book, my heroine, Becky is, along with being a romance novelist and shoe shop-a-holic, a huge horoscope junkie.
BTW--and this would make a great trivia question (answer), my original (and sadly non-Blazey title) was ROMANCING BECKY STONE. I know it's not "snaxy" enough for the line, but I still like it.
I also remember that special someone. I didn't get to marry him, but he was very special and I would have if he had asked. Your book are fabulous, so keep up the good work.
Thanks so much, Virginia. Your avatar is adorable, btw.
Hi Hope
I finish your book The Haunting and it's the best I have read I loved it. I'm looking forward for more of your books.
happy 2009
Ah yes, the one I remember from oh so many years ago. I actually broke up with him. I knew that if we stayed together, I would wind up hating him eventually. We lived in a small town, and that's where we would have stayed. I had a life to live, places to go, people to see. And as much as a teenage girl can care for a boyfriend, it wasn't easy. It all turned out for the best as he married a lovely girl who was happy to stay, and I met my dh of almost 34 years and who truly is the man of my dreams. I think of the "first love" from time to time and wish him nothing but the best. And funnily enough, if I should run into him at that same small town, his wife ignores me, and he always turns to give me this cute salute he used to give me. But not in front of her! lol
Thanks for giving me back a few high school memories. I think he helped to make me into the person I am today, and I can honestly say, the girl in me still loves the boy in him.
Crap, now I need a tissue!
Debra from WRW
I don't have one who got away but I do enjoy the stories of when they get back together!
Well, maybe it's the few who got away. I didn't want a vanilla life, so my brother's friend sped away, leaving black tire tracks, when I broke up. Another I met at the bookstore became a platonic friend for a year. The guy with the boat was dreamy, but the timing was off. I was in-between relationships and had never moved in those circles. I know love is lopsided and depends on location and timing, as does any possession worth keeping and saving, like the keeper I had for 16 years. I imagine the "what ifs" and am glad for what memories remain and the ones I'm in the process of creating.
After reading Sarabelle's praise for STROKES OF MIDNIGHT, I really, really hope I win, although I might run to the book store in search of a copy asap!
I don't have a "one who got away." I must admit, I'm quite happy that I did not end up with any of the men I dated prior to my husband (for some, when I look back I say a little prayer of thanks that they moved on.) That said, my husband and I knew each other for years in college, but never dated. It wasn't until after school, when we moved two blocks away from each in NYC (not pre-planned!) that we started dating. After four years of somewhat distant friendship in college, he showed up at my door late one night after locking himself out of his apartment. I guess love can truly just show up on your door:)
I had one which I consider "the one who got away", but then again I don't think I ever had him to begin with anyway. The one that got away was just a fantasy relationship. Just an "idea", as such only existed in my mind (and not in his heart). I'm glad I have now the one which is real.
Penney,
Thanks so much for the props on THE HAUNTING. That book was in so many ways a love note to my former house and the town of Fredericksburg, VA where I lived for almost seven years. Like my heroine, Maggie, I lived in the "downtown" historic district--just about 750 households. How's that for small?
That's a great story, Debra. I love the part about how he sends you the secret salute ignal when you visit. And his wife still snubs you after more than three decades. Wow.
I agree, Karen, I *adore* a good reunion love story. At the risk of shamelessly plugging my current release, EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE... is just that. The hero and heroine meet again after 5 years apart and as in real life their coming together again is a total "accident"...only I don't believe in those or coincidences, either. ;)
Sarah, that's a great story, too, and not only because it ended with a Happily Ever After. Love really did come knocking at your door. At the time, your future husband was probably cursing a blue streak about locking himself out--and I know as a fact that locking yourself out in NYC is a very, very expensive proposition. I'm sure it seemed like a bummer at the time, a bad thing, but look how great it turned out!
Timing is so critical to just about everything important enough to matter. I recently saw THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (excellent film, IMHO) and while I don't want to give a spoiler, there's a scene in slow motion where something pivotal happens to the heroine, something that alters the course of her life forever, and the narrator (Pitt) goes through an A and B scenario showing where if just one of the seemingly tiny, insignificant incidents had either not happened or happened 60 seconds earlier or later, everything would have been different. I get chills thinking about that scene weeks later because the core truth is so undeniably powerful.
Sunny makes some good points. The One--oops, I mean the Ones (and you go, girl)--who get away (or whom we cut loose) usually get away for a reason. And that's really hard when you've got shall we say Big City dreams and your lover likes things just the way they are.
We were in high school, and he was my first love for sure. He dumped me for another. Then he decided I was the one. I really seriously thought he was the one...well, anyway he was the one the others had to compare to!
We went to different colleges(my choice) and when I returned home for the summer he said I had changed too much. I was like whatever...you must not have known me as well as I thought you did.
I have no idea where he is or what he's doing, and really don't care, but wouldn't be honest if I didn't say that every now and again I wonder.
There couldn't be one like the one I have who loves me more now than when we met almost 30 years ago!
Thank you for bringing back some wonderful--and some not-so wonderful, of course--memories of my one who got away. You can keep that book advance, by the way. :) Anyway, my "The One" changed in in important ways, and I have no idea where he is now, but I hope he's happy.
Add me to the list of those who loved "Strokes of Midnight," and "The Haunting," by the way. Very different books, but both wonderful with memorable characters.
It seems that many if not most times, The One Who Got Away turns out not to be The One at all, more like a catalyst for us to be open to the Real Thing when it (he) comes along.
Now that would be a great spin-off subject: The Real Thing: How do you know Him when you meet him?
hiya
i would like to be entered!
LIke I said on your private message, my story still hurts after 20 years, so I cannot talk about it. It's why I read love stories. I WANT to believe in HEA.
Julie R.
Hope to win your book from stacey
The one that got away came back and he had changed. Changed into something I didn't want so I was happy to be on my way!
Thanks for the post and the giveaway!
Darby
darbyscloset at yahoo dot com
Well, ladies, I believe I'm going to sign off for the night. Thank you so much for coming out to chat and share your stories about the One Who Got Away, sometimes for good, most times for our own good at least. ;)
Congratulations in advance to my three contest winners. As soon as I receive your names and contact information, I'll mail out your signed copy of STROKES OF MIDNIGHT, my New Year's themed Harlequin Blaze. There's no One Who Got Away in this book, but there is a great deal about "fresh starts and dazzling new beginnings," which seems like a good way to roll out a new year.
G'night and thanks for being such a warm, welcoming group.
Hi, Hope! I don't really have one-who-got-away, but I do love reading these stories of ones who got away, and then later got together. I love that idea that the connection endures and ultimately draws the two people together :) I guess I'm a real sap, when it boils down to it! Congrats on your latest! I've enjoyed all of your titles that I've read, so I'll have to look for this one, too!
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