Do you have a favorite romance trope? “Beauty and the beast”, “Cinderella”
and “secret baby/pregnancy” are among my favorite romance story tropes. I love
reading them and I’ve also enjoyed writing them into my books for Harlequin
Romance.
“Marriage of convenience” is another favorite. I’ve written an “engagement of
convenience” and a "girlfriend of convenience" but only now have I written a marriage of convenience story, when
a man and a woman marry for reasons other than love. Of course then in a romance novel they fall in love—or admit that they were in love all along. Sigh, I love a happy ending!
 |
| Is this wedding for real - or a fake "marriage of convenience" for reasons other than forever love? |
Not so easy for a contemporary novel. Many of my fellow romance authors
tackle this trope brilliantly with feasible reasons for a marriage of
convenience including inheritance, terms of a will, a job, to give a child a parent. I had to think really hard of how I could make it work for my story set squarely in the twenty-first century.
The title of my May release from Harlequin Romance, Conveniently Wed to the Greek, flags from the get go that a
marriage of convenience is part of the plot.
I think I’ve given good reason for two very contemporary people,
feisty food critic Adele Hudson and her former adversary hospitality
tycoon Alex Mikhalis, to undertake a pretend marriage. I hope I make it
believable. If you get a chance to read the story, let me know if you think it
works!
Do you have a favourite romance trope? Or one you really don’t like? I’d
love to read your comment. If you you’d like to be in the draw for a signed
paperback copy of Conveniently Wed to the Greek please be sure to include your email address.
Conveniently Wed to the Greek, is
a May 2017 release from Harlequin Romance in North America; Mills & BoonCherish in the UK; and Mill & Boon Forever Romance in Australia and New Zealand.
Kandy Shepherd is a multi-published,
award-winning author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She lives on
a small farm in the Blue
Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her family and a menagerie of
four-legged friends.
Visit Kandy at her website
6 comments:
I don't have a favourite, per se. Variety is the spice of life. That being said, I'm always partial to sheikh stories, probably because they occur far away from civilization so anything goes, so to speak. Amnesia stories sometimes irritate me (I guess it's not the storyline itself, but the way it was written?), I like neighbours who look out for each other, carpenters good with their hands are enjoyable, and basically good people who mean well sit better than bullies (especially these days).
seytype at Hotmail dot com
In the stories my favorites are the sheikhs and doctors. As for nationalities, I love the Greeks, Spaniards as well as Arab sheiks, and of course Italians. I do not love the protagonists too arrogant and weak women who allow themselves to be manipulated by men.
Hi Laney, "good people who mean well" - how nicely you sum up the kind of people I also like to read about and write about!
I'm partial to a good sheikh story too - stories by Liz Fielding and Annie West spring to mind. Glamorous escapism at its best!
Hi Franca, lovely to see you here! I agree with you about the protagonists - to me strength not arrogance is appealing in a hero.
I'm glad you like Greek heroes as I'm enjoying writing them at the moment - inspired by recent trips to Greece! I'm currently writing Greek hero number three...
marriage of convenience is my favorite troupe.
alysap at yahoo dot com
I'm glad to see that jcp!
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