Linsey Lanier
Sally Kilpatrick
Sia Huff
Romily Bernard
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Marilyn Baron
Tami Brothers
Sandra Elzie
Carol Burnside
Debbie Kaufman
Maxine Davis
Tammy Schubert
Susan Carlisle
Pam Asberry
Lindy Chaffin StartMary Eason on Great Love Stories. Are They About the Romance or the Sex?
Mary Eason is a multi-published author in a wide variety of romance genres from chick lit to romantic suspense. Mary’s first romantic suspense was published through Cerridwen Press.
Mary grew up in a small Texas town famous for, well, not much of anything really. Being the baby of the family and quite a bit younger than her brothers and sister, Mary had plenty of time to entertain herself. Making up stories seems to come natural to her. As a pre-teen, Mary discovered the words of Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney and knew instinctively that was what she wanted to do with her over-active imagination.
She wrote her first novel as a teen (it’s tucked away somewhere never to see the light of day), but never really pursued her writing career seriously until a few years later, when she wrote her first romantic suspense and was hooked. Today Mary still lives in Texas and still writes about romance. In fact she can’t think of anything else she’d rather do. Email: maryjeason@netzero.com
Website: http://www.maryeason.com/
Great love stories. Are they about the romance or the sex?
When I first started reading romance novels, (I’m about to truly date myself), there was very little sexual activity in the story itself. For the most part, it was all “hinted” at. Then came the “bodice rippers” where the writer took a bit more leeway with the description.
Today, there’s something for everyone. Do you love a good “romance”, with a story that tears at your heart and make you fall in love right along with the hero and heroine?
Or do you prefer a sexy romance, filled with lots of “steam”. A romance that doesn’t have to necessary be happily ever after, but just happy for the moment. Sometimes, getting there is the best part of a story.
Today, with the wide variety of romance genres that we have, there’s truly something for everyone.
Now, as a writer, I have to say, I’m drawn to creating stories filled with raw emotion. Whether it be romantic suspense of just contemporary romances, I love to fill my stories with the seemingly insurmountable drama in my characters lives that creates great emotion for the reader and well as for me the writer.
FORBIDDEN PASSION is now available through New Concepts Publishing. 
FORBIDDEN PASSION is a contemporary romance that brings together two people who have lost someone they both loved. The secrets that lie between Sophie and Erik are what make this story combustible.
Blurb: When her husband is killed in the car accident, Sophie McGraw finds herself all alone and desperate. The one person who reaches out to help her by offering her both a job and a place to live is her husband’s best friend Erik Sebastian.
Even as Erik tries to convince himself that his only interest in the widow of his best friend Kevin is one of loyalty, that she is strictly ‘off limits’, he knows that what he feels for Sophie is much stronger than the friendship he believes she wants from him. There is a chemistry that ignites between them that cannot be denied.
But the closer Erik gets to Sophie the more he realizes that her marriage to Kevin was anything but perfect, as she would have him believe. The truth is nothing about Sophie McGraw is remotely as it seems.
SHADOW GAMES is now available through Champagne Books.
SHADOW GAMES is a romantic suspense drama that is filled with cutting-edge suspense, lies and espionage. The spy world truly is a game of shadows. SHADOW GAMES brings one woman back to the past she thought she left behind in order to save the one man she couldn’t forget.
Blurb: He was the love of her life. The father of her child. Now he was missing. Presumed dead behind enemy lines.
CIA agent Booth Tanner was the best of the best and now he’s as good as dead. The only person who can save him now is the woman who’d written him out of her life three years earlier as a lost cause. Then Rachel Weiss receives a text message that is brief, chilling, and enough to send her back into the shadowy world she thought she’d left behind for good.
So, what do you think? Are great love stories about the romance or the sex? I contend that great love stories can be filled with romance and sex but they always, always leave the reader wanting to know what happens next in the hero and heroine’s lives. And if you’re like me, you’ll end up reading those books over and over again.
Hoping your 2010 is filled with great love stories…
All the best…
Mary Eason
Tags: Forbidden Passion, hot tamale, Mary Eason, romance, Shadow Games
About the author
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PF&HT Bloggers | |
May 19th, 2010 at 8:20 am
Morning, Mary! About the romance, always. I think the test is what you have left when you take out either the romance or the sex. JMO, but if you leave out the sex, you still have a great story. Not that I leave out the sex, just saying
May 19th, 2010 at 8:23 am
Good morning everyone. Thanks for letting me stop by today.
All the best…
Mary Eason
May 19th, 2010 at 9:51 am
Good morning, Mary. Thank you for joining us today.
It is definitely about the romance and emotions involved. I like the sexier story, but I have to have the plot with the emotions like any other romance.
The blurb for SHADOW GAMES gave me the chills. I’m definitely going to have to read it.
May 19th, 2010 at 9:55 am
Hi Mary,
I enjoyed your post. I love a good love story. Oh, it’s great that they enjoy sex, but even if it’s behind closed door, you gotta love a good story! Forbidden Passion sounds like a must read.
May 19th, 2010 at 9:59 am
Mary,
Thanks for being with us today. Your books sound wonderful. I like the sex in a story but the characters are who I have to really like. They are the story. I have a question about Shadow Games. Where did you get all the espionage information for the book?
May 19th, 2010 at 10:01 am
I agree with the comments so far that a great love story is mostly about the romance. I loved your blurbs and I love the name Erik Sebastian.
I guess I’m dating myself too, but I don’t remember the books that hinted at anything. I think the first romances I read were bodice rippers.
But love the selection of stories available today, the genres, the voices, the plots. It’s a great time to read and write romance.
Thank you so much for blogging with us.
Marilyn
May 19th, 2010 at 10:21 am
Good morning!
Oh, give me a good romance. (imagine a heavy sigh here) If I don’t fall in love with the heroine and the hero, I’d sure as heck not want to read about their romp between the sheets. (g)
Thanks for joining us today and what else do you have coming down the road and when can we expect to see it?
Sandy
May 19th, 2010 at 10:22 am
Wow! Both stories sound great. That’s why I love reading these Guest Chef and author interview spots on blogs. Readers are introduced to new (and new-to-them) authors and stories. You guys are seriously messing with my budget…grin…
Thanks for sharing your stories with us today, Mary. To answer your questions, I think that great love stories can be about either. It just really depends on the story and how the author tells it. I’m a huge Chick Flick fan and tend to read more of the fun, flirty stories. But I’ve read a couple of eroticas’ recently that have found places on my keeper shelf because the love scenes were that memorable. So I’m sticking with BOTH. Final answer…
Tami
May 19th, 2010 at 11:04 am
Susan, I’m a huge spy fan. I love reading about anything spy and espionage related, so the answer is I read a lot of books and watch as many discovery channel stories about the subject as well as research the subject online. I think if I could have another career other than writing it would be a spy.
Sandra, I have another contemporary romance entitled The Prodigal’s Redemption coming out this summer through Champagne Books and in the fall two more romances through Whiskey Crek Press entitled Pieces Of A Family and The Book Of Love. And next year, another suspense novel through The Wild Rose Press entitled, Longboat Key.
Tami, I’m with you. I think great love stories need both.
All the best…
Mary Eason
http://www.maryeason.com
May 19th, 2010 at 11:42 am
Mary, I think you’ve proposed an intriguing question. Sex scenes don’t do anything for me if they don’t come organically from the plot. As of late, I have read too many books–both literary and genre–that have sex scenes that I don’t think should have been there.
I’m far from a prude, but I find myself moving away from “hot” or “sexy” reads. I’m more interested in the organic relationship of how someone finds that other person that helps them to be the best person he/she can be.
Your books do sound intriguing–I especially like the chemistry between Erik and Sophie and the secrets between them.
May 19th, 2010 at 11:45 am
Thanks, Sally. Erik and Sophie’s story was a hoot to write.
Mary
May 19th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
Thanks, everyone, for joining me today.
All the best…
Mary Eason
http://www.maryeason.com
May 19th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
My favorite reads are those which are both high-voltage emotionally and sexually. Throw in a good mystery or suspense and I’m thrilled. The premise of your books intrigue me. I feel an e-shopping excursion coming on.
May 19th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
Thanks for sharing your stories with us and bringing up a topic that reminds us that there are different readers for all sorts of stories.
I read purely for the romance.
May 19th, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Late chiming in here, but welcome, Mary! Thanks for joining us.
To my way of thinking, a “love story” isn’t a love story without the romance. If you take away that crucial element, it’s just a sex story. Sadly, I’ve read more than a few that bordered on distasteful simply because it felt to me that the author was putting the scenes in only because it was expected.
That said, I’ve read many, many wonderfully written romances where the bedroom door is politely closed. It doesn’t bother me if that’s the case as long as there is explosive sexual tension between the two main characters.
I love a story that wrings emotion from me.
May 20th, 2010 at 7:55 am
Mary,
Sorry to be getting back to you so late. Don’t know if you’ll even see this, but I really enjoyed your post. Your book blurbs sound great!
I happen to like romance novels that have both hot sex and smoldering emotion. To me the best novels are the ones that not only make me squirm in my seat, but make me cry and laugh too.
I’ll have to pick one of your novels up. It sounds like you write my kind of books.
Thank you so much for visiting us.
Have a fabulous day,
Tamara
May 20th, 2010 at 7:31 pm
I’m even later, LOL!
Definitely the romance, for me. With or without heat, I love a good love story. Your new releases sound like good ones. Thanks for blogging with us, Mary!
May 21st, 2010 at 1:39 am
My favorite reads are those which are both high-voltage emotionally and sexually. Throw in a good mystery or suspense and I’m thrilled. The premise of your books intrigue me. I feel an e-shopping excursion coming on.