Manchester on my Mind ... and Portland ... and Baghdad and ...

Although this video, “Manchester on my Mind,” was completed over a week ago, I hemmed and hawed about posting it. My webpage, and blogs, are not meant as commentaries on this day and age but rather, a collection of historical insights and queries of times long gone. Other than bits and pieces of my travels, there is nothing too current.

Then more violence, right on top of the Manchester suicide bomb, filled the news. All manner of ill will, self-will, running riot; a man stabbing people on a train in Portland, Oregon; a bomb blowing up an ice cream shop full of children in Baghdad; and so many senseless domestic killings through-out this past holiday weekend. Each attack promising a reality more akin to a dystopian novel than our highest ideals.

This is the reason I love romance novels. A genre that looks through the world with a positive lens. The stories honor world chaos, personal pain, tragedy and conflict without getting stuck there. Lovers work through their trials, families bond despite differences, friendship runs too deep to tear apart and communities care. Threads are woven through the stories, creating a weft of heart, love, and companionship through life’s challenges. It’s the hope/dream/belief that we are capable of a kinder, more caring world.

Determined to find solutions, romance characters are not shy of rushing toward eminent danger. Not just the trained powerful warriors, but the women as well. In The Reah (a finalist in the 2017 OKRWA

National Readers’ Choice Award), Angus, Chieftain of the Reahs, is not the only one who tries to outrun dangerous raiders in search of lost lasses. Much to Angus’ displeasure, so does Lady Alyssa, the woman he loves. In fact, there is a delightful, rather surprising, army that steps into the fight … but I don’t want to spoil the fun of your meeting them by divulging more, other than to say that the army is comprised of some of the most vulnerable members of our society.

As happens in life, one character, a victim of cruelty, has to decide between finding safety, by joining the attackers, or trusting in a compassion she’d never been able to trust before. Introduced in The Reah, Cassandra’s story will be told in Book 4 of The Handfasting Series.

The entire Handfasting Series is now available in audio ~ enjoy!