I dunno. Probably something that happened to me in childhood. At this point, it’s safe to say that I am always going to write books that explore some kind of emotional damage.
I was fed on The NeverEnding Story. “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” The Champ. Little Women, for crying out loud!!!
In adulthood, I willingly watched Titanic a bazillion times and wept myself into a frenzy every time. Is it any wonder that I like writing books that dig deep into the depths of your feelings?
If you’re here, I’m going to guess it’s because you like them, too.
Tell me you like books that break your heart. Tell me you like to cry with the characters. Tell me you will throw a book across the room and then haul yourself out of your cozy blankets to pick it back up, because the hurt is just too.
Darn.
Good.
Yeah, me too. I might sob a little when writing. I might flat-out ugly cry. I might sniffle and wipe a single tear.
But I will always break my own heart so I can break yours.
I know, I know. We all want our romance books to have the FMC and the MMC meet and sparks fly and they fall in love and there’s nothing to keep them apart and they definitely don’t have anyone else at the time…
*gasps for breath*
Psst. Here’s a secret. I don’t want that. I want messy characters who make bad choices and have to get through some stuff before they find their Happy Ever After. I want to Tear You Apart.
Three Megan Hart Books for People Who Want to Hurt Their Own Feelings
What can I tell you? If this book resonates with you, I’m so sorry, because this book is about the worst moments in a woman’s life. And yet, so many readers have told me how much they can relate to it.
It’s not a romance. It’s a love story.
This book broke my heart. It won awards. When I revisited it to republish it after I got my rights back, I wept myself into a burst blood vessel in my eye. (As I did when writing it the first time.)
I hate this book.
I love this book.
I hate that anyone ever has to read this book and feel one single moment of what the main character feels.
I also hope you buy it. Love it. Hate it. Recommend to the people you love or the people you hate.
Vanilla is not a “why choose.”
Vanilla is a “things don’t work out the way we think they will.”
It’s a “I could be happy if only things were different.”
It’s a “let’s both make mistakes and discover that we’re flawed and we love each other anyway.”
If you like fluffy romances with characters without emotional damage, this is not the book for you. Walk away! Save yourself!
But if you like it when you have to scream, “Omg, just stop getting in your own way!” Or “I would NEVER get over that” or “Did Megan Hart sneak into my life and watch me make mistakes because I think she wrote my biography in this book” — then yes. Vanilla is a book for you.
Did I mention it’s a kinky slow-burn?
Read it. Hate it. Love it. Hate that you love it. Love that you hate it. Let it pull your hair and give you chocolate doughnuts. Let the book own you because in that moment, you want to be owned. Or make it your b**ch. Whatever melts your butter!
Do you like your romances with a little bit of spec fic? How about a beach read? Deeper might tickle your toes.
In true Megan Hart style, we have a FMC who hasn’t managed to get over a great love of her life. Yes, she knows it’s foolish. Yes, she wishes her heart would heal. And of course, when her long-lost lover appears out of the ocean looking exactly as he did twenty years ago, she doesn’t think twice about reigniting that flame she was never able to fully extinguish.
Actually, she does think twice, but when you have the chance to return to your one great love…why wouldn’t you take it?
Also in Megan Hart style, there’s more than one love interest. This causes conflict. Angst. Dismay and, dare I say it, even some despair.
Things work out the way they’re meant to.
I wrote this book as a love letter to Bethany Beach, DE, a place I no longer visit because to do so would break my heart. I, unlike my characters, try not to do things in my real life that hurt my own feelings.
I leave that for the books.
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