Maisey Yates: More Than Friends

August 5th is a big day for me! Not only will I be in Sydney, Australia attending the Romance Writers of Australia conference, but my FIRST print single title book will be on shelves!

Unbroken is being released with Berkley Sensation, and I’m absolutely thrilled to have the chance to introduce this series and these characters to a broader readership.

If you’ve read the first two books (Unexpected and Untouched) in the series, you’ll have already met Cade and his best friend, Amber.

Cade has spent much of the series hanging out in the background making smart remarks, but now it’s his turn to get the spotlight. I knew from book one that Amber was the woman for him (and fortunately a lot of readers did too since I was threatened with bodily harm if I did not put them together!) but the journey to their HEA was still one that was filled with surprises for me.

Friends to lovers books are my favorites to write and not just because that’s my OWN romance. But…partly!

I met my now husband years ago, but didn’t really get to know him until we started working together at our church coffee shop. Eventually he was promoted to manager. We were a very tight staff, and spent a lot of our time away from work together. Which basically meant Haven and I spent every day together, with other friends or just with each other.

He’s about eight years older than I am, so especially at first I thought of him as only a friend. (Though, a very handsome one. At work all the girls all used to watch him move chairs so we could stare at his arms…)

But things changed when out of the blue someone called him to confess her love for him, because she couldn’t accept the marriage proposal she’d just received until she knew whether or not she had a chance with him. (My life is a romance novel, I swear.)

I was VERY disgruntled to say the least. Who was this woman? I spent every day with him! He was MY friend and she couldn’t have him. He felt honor bound to consider it and give her an answer, I felt honor bound to punch her in the teeth. I didn’t want things to change. I wanted him to stay my friend forever, but also not let anyone else have him!

I’ll never forget the moment I asked him if he had an answer for her yet. He said, not yet, but mainly because he was afraid of hurting her. I took a deep breath and said: No matter which answer you give, you’ll hurt someone.

That was apparently all the hint he needed. He gave her a firm no, and then as far as we go…things progressed from there!

When you have a comfortable relationship with someone, you often need that outside force to upset things so that you can see the other person in a new light.

That’s what happens with Amber and Cade. When Jim Davis comes to town stirring up trouble, Cade rushes to the rescue, pretending to be her boyfriend and moving in with her to protect her.

And that little shift causes a whole lot of changes neither of them feel ready for!

I hope you enjoy my friends to lovers romance as much as I enjoyed writing it! (And I hope you enjoy Cade’s abs!)

Friends to lovers is one of my favorite romance themes…what’s yours? Leave a comment for a chance to win the first two books in the Silver Creek series. (US only, Kindle or Nook)

***Maisey's winner is Michelle H!  Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing details!***