I’ve always wondered about what happens when the story ends. Some stories demand sequels, but some stories are the sequels. They follow the journey after a big part of it has already occurred. Coming Up for Air is about two people who were desperately in love and then…don’t end up together.
At least not at first.
Why is that forbidden? Well, years pass. Secrets are kept. The FMC, Eliska, is married (unhappily) and the man she loves, Tom, has never left her life. If you don’t like books about adultery, you’ll hate Coming Up for Air. If you understand that the world is painted in shades of gray, you might relate to their story.
Why do I write stories about flawed relationships?
I guess it’s because I like messy, flawed characters who make mistakes. Who choose their hearts over their minds. Characters who give in to their impulses. The ones who feel deeply. Yeah, yeah, they are far from perfect. But doesn’t that make them so much more…interesting? You don’t have to agree with their choices to want to know what happens to them.
Can Love Survive Years Apart?
I could be a tease and tell you “read the book and find out.” Instead, I’ll say this — Coming Up for Air has a happy ending. The one the characters deserve. It’s not easy for them to get there. Their love survives through the years even when they both wish it wouldn’t. So many years after their story begins, they leave their secrets behind and discover the truth of their life together.
Writing through Grief Changes the Story
Coming Up For Air was inspired by two very different films, Permanent Record and Red Shoe Diaries.
I began writing it in late July, 2021. I thought of it as my “bonus book,” a project I started because I’d finished one novel and had some time before I needed to start the next one in order to make its deadline. I wrote it purely for fun, most of it sitting at the kitchen table at my house in Bethany Beach surrounded by the scent of sunscreen and colored lights dancing overhead and the promise of a No Shower Happy Hour cocktail within reach.
In August of 2021, that house went on the market.
I wrote the rest of the book that month still sitting at that table, still smelling sunscreen and waiting for frosty drinks, but my heart was breaking.
Life does not always bring us what we want, but I do believe we can always find a way to move forward, no matter how hard our hearts are breaking. Everything I write is always influenced by my own life and feelings and experiences.
All of it is fiction, and all of it is true.
This book marks a return to what I think of as “old school” Megan Hart. Character-driven, emotional fiction with a steamy edge. I’ve never stopped writing, but for a few years, writing was very hard. Coming Up For Air was written for fun, and for love, and to ease the breaking of my heart; it was written for me, but I hope you enjoy it too.
Have you ever loved someone at the wrong time—or carried a secret that changed everything? Coming Up for Air explores what happens when two people get one last chance to face the past and decide whether love is enough to build a future. If you enjoy emotionally layered contemporary romance filled with mature characters, family secrets, longing, and second chances, I hope you’ll add it to your reading list.
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Why read on Theo Reads?
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What will you find there? Spicy, steamy, heartfelt romance in all flavors.
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