Playing Favorites – Author Confessions

By Sara Daniel

With the reminder that every child is different, parents are often admonished not to play favorites. The same advice can often be applied to an author’s books. Each one is different and develops in slightly different ways. Sure, because they’re part of the same family (i.e. written by the same author), they share certain characteristics. But no matter how equally the author approaches them, they each turn out a little bit differently.

There’s the book that’s so fun and interesting that you’re sucked into the world and the characters. Before you know it, you’re writing a series.

There’s the book where you think you’re doing everything right, but nothing’s working out until you chuck the original premise (and the hero!) and start over.

Then comes the book where you feel like you finally got it right and you know what you’re doing, but you had to work hard to get there.

Oh, and surprise! You’re having twins…er, I mean, another book!

Then comes the book that starts out solid, then has a major teenage rebellion, then settles down and becomes a good, upstanding adult.

If you haven’t already guessed, I just described the first five books in the One Night with the Bridal Party series: One Night with the Bride, One Night with the Bridesmaid, One Night with the Groom, One Night with the Best Man, and One Night with her Husband, respectively.

The sixth and final book, One Night with his Wife, releases today. No matter how much I’m not supposed to have a favorite, I’m having a hard time being impartial. This is my “miracle baby,” the story that came out exactly right the first time with characters who took on a life of their own and lodged themselves—and their emotional journey—in my heart.

I hope you enjoy Luke and Rosalind’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you’ve been with me from the beginning, I’d love to hear which book is your favorite. If this is your first book in the series, welcome! The books can be read in any order, and you’ll find special appearances by familiar characters along the way.

One Night with his Wife

After a grenade took Marine Luke Cox’s leg and ends his career, he cuts ties with his wife to free her from the burden he’d become. On the day his divorce is to be finalized, he travels to meet a woman for a 1Night Stand date—a woman who doesn’t care about his missing leg or his sudden wealth from a business venture. However, things don’t go as planned, and when he arrives for his date, he’s still legally married.

Rosalind Cox tends to the horses on her cousin’s ranch resort, her love for the animals the only thing keeping her going since her husband turned his back on her. When he appears at her stables, all the longing and rising hope is crushed by the realization he’s only sought her out to gain his freedom.

She’ll give him what he wants, but she can’t resist taking one last kiss for herself. The kiss reopens emotions and attraction that neither can deny. To give in will only complicate the tangle as they try to unwind their lives. But even though Rosalind doesn’t care about Luke’s missing leg or his money, as long as he refuses to accept himself as whole, one night with his wife will be his last.

Sara Daniel writes what she loves to read—irresistible romance, from sweet to erotic and everything in between. She battles a serious NASCAR addiction, was once a landlord of two uninvited squirrels, and loses her car keys several times a day. Subscribe to Sara’s newsletter:

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Top 3 Differences between Reunited Lovers from High School vs. College

By Sara Daniel

Reunited lovers is common theme in many of my books. Usually, my hero and heroine were high school sweethearts or shared a high school past, as in One Night with the Bride and One Night with the Groom. However, in One Night with her Husband, the hero and heroine met and fell in love while in college. I discovered the issues shaping them and the circumstances of their relationship to be vastly different than if they’d been high school lovers. Below are my top differences. If you have any additions, I’d love to hear them. Please leave them in the comments for discussion.

Parents – Make no mistake. Parents are still part of the picture for college students, footing bills and providing a home base for their children. However, you’re not usually tripping over Mom as you lead your boyfriend into your dorm room. In One Night with the Bride, Caroline’s parents forbid her from seeing her high school boyfriend. In One Night with her Husband, Marcia’s parents disapproved of Adrian, but they could only express their disapproval from a distance.

Freedom – No parents = More freedom. Not just with whom you date and how late you stay out but whether you choose to skip class to make out by the lagoon. In One Night with the Groom, Luciana’s parents tried to protect her from making bad choices by keeping her high school boyfriend from her, but at college, Marcia was free to make bad choices, as well as accept the responsibility to fix her mistakes on her own.

Career/Future Ambition – High school students are thinking about college, trade school or an entry level job. Career plans at this stage are usually pie-in-the-sky dreams. That doesn’t mean they won’t become a reality. Javier from One Night with the Bride turned his high school dreams into a very successful reality, but at the time the lovers separated those dream were still only visions. In college, not only is the student earning a degree, they are also interviewing for that first “real world” job and making concrete plans to turn their dreams into a reality, even if it causes them to go in the opposite direction of their true love, as Marcia and Adrian did in One Night with her Husband.

One Night With Her Husband

She walked away from her marriage seven years ago...

Marcia Johnson always assumed her husband would follow her eventually. She’d achieve success while she waited and prove her decision the right one. But when he finally turns up, she’s not ready. Her career hangs in the balance, and her weight has skyrocketed. How can she face the man she loves and show him she made the right choice? Especially when he’s matured from a decent-looking college student into the sexiest man she’s ever seen.

    He’s waited seven years for his wife to finally need him…

    If Adrian Torres can save her business, maybe he’ll have a shot at saving their marriage. But the woman he finds is too competent and independent to ask him for help. She even shrugs off his touch instead of reacting with the desire he hoped to ignite. Have the embers of their marriage finally died? Is it time to end their relationship and move forward?

   He wants a divorce…

    Her world ripped apart, Marcia turns to 1Night Stand to give her one more night before she lets Adrian go. She dares not hope for more. Even Madame Eve couldn’t have the magic to save their neglected disaster of a relationship…could she?

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Sara Daniel writes what she loves to read—irresistible romance, from sweet to erotic and everything in between. She battles a serious NASCAR addiction, was once a landlord of two uninvited squirrels, and loses her car keys several times a day. One Night with her Husband is the latest book in her One Night with the Bridal Party series. Subscribe to Sara’s newsletter: http://eepurl.com/rx_AL Visit her website: http://www.SaraDaniel.com

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Worldbuilding from Childhood Memories

By Sara Daniel

My grandparents spent their entire lives on a farm in Iowa that had been in our family for over a century. Every Christmas and summer, I would stay there for a few days or weeks, raking in idyllic childhood memories from the simple, old-fashioned, hardworking farm life.

My book centers on a dairy farm. My grandparents were never dairy farmers. However, the farmer who lived across the gravel road was. I remember walking into his barn and watching him hook up the milking machines as each cow took a turn, the contrast between the modern equipment and the old rundown barn striking even through my eleven-year-old eyes. I remember my grandparents talking about how tied to the operation a dairy farmer was with the constant twice a day, 365 days a year milking the cows required. I never considered using any of this in a story, but years later the details I needed were there in my memories, perfect for setting the scene and creating character motivations.

One Night with the Best Man is set on an Iowa farm the hero grew up on and can’t wait to leave in the dust. He must confront his memories of the farm, both the good and the bad. And then he must do something else—see the farm, not just for the memories of what it was but what it has become through the heroine’s vision for its future.

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Excerpt:

Susie clasped his palm. “Nice job on conquering your demons. Even better, we have time for a tour of the barn before you have to report to the tent for the rehearsal.”

“I already told you I’m not stepping foot in there. If we have time to kill, this bed is now conveniently bare and available.”

She didn’t take the bait. “You can stand in the barn doorway if you’re too chickenshit to go inside.”

Alex tugged her hand, pulling her flush with his chest. He could seriously get into her body rubbing against his. “You don’t call a Marine chickenshit.”

She smirked. “Prove it, and I’ll take it back.”

Hell if he didn’t swallow her bait whole. “You play dirty. I like that in a woman.”

“I’ve seen the kind of women you like. If you’re attracted to me, I won’t take it as a compliment.”

Alex laughed. If she wasn’t tied to the one piece of property he refused to have anything to do with, she would be damn near perfect. In addition to being witty and intelligent, she had a compassionate side that threatened to drown him in sweetness. Maybe if he concentrated on the sweetness of her ass again, he’d forget about their destination as she dragged him across the back lot.

The sexy professor had turned everything he’d thought he’d known about farm work on its head. What other surprises would she reveal if he took the time to uncover them?

Author Bio: Sara Daniel writes what she loves to read—irresistible romance, from sweet to erotic and everything in between. She battles a serious NASCAR addiction, was once a landlord of two uninvited squirrels, and loses her car keys several times a day. One Night with the Best Man is the latest book in her One Night with the Bridal Party series. 

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Website: http://www.SaraDaniel.com

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Blog: http://saradanielromance.blogspot.com

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