Bonnie Vanak | The Healing Power of Romance

My December Nocturne, The Empath, is dedicated to my dog, Tia. Someone I know thought that was strange. I didn’t. Tia wasn’t just a pet, but a loyal friend.

One year ago, Tia died from liver cancer. When my husband and I got the diagnosis, our hearts broke. Our wonderful, lively pet who barked with joy when we came home, used to howl when my husband howled with her, jumped in my lap when I wrote and rested her head on the laptop (ever try to write with a 24-pound Shih Tzu hogging the keyboard?) was dying. Typical of Tia, as I sat there crying, she pushed her nose into my face and tried to cheer me up.

I grieved, and began to write.

The story became The Empath. It started with a woman who tries to find a cure for the mysterious disease killing her beloved dog. Gradually the story shifted. The woman developed into Maggie, a veterinarian. She was a Draicon, a werewolf, and the pack’s long lost empath, unaware of her ability to heal. The hero strolled into the story, a powerful warrior werewolf tormented by a dark secret, who longed for peace but forsake it to kill the enemy destroying his pack. The enemy became the Morphs. They were former Draicon who embraced evil to gain power and shapeshifted into any animal form. They turned into army ants, a fire-breathing dragon and bees to attack Maggie and Nicolas.

Maggie finally discovers her ability to heal through touch, and realizes the person in greatest need of emotional healing is Nicolas, her mate. Then I created the mating lock, in which they come together sexually in a pure moment of communion, and exchange thoughts, emotions and powers, the two halves made whole.

I wrote non-stop, sometimes sitting on the back patio, Tia resting her head between her paws while lying at my feet. The story became my balm those months while I visited the vet for new medication to keep Tia comfortable, experimented with food and coaxed her to eat when her appetite waned, and waited, watched and prayed. Not for a miracle, but for strength when the time would finally come for us to make the hardest decision of all.

That decision came December 7. She was in extreme pain. It was the hardest thing in the world, harder even when my mom was dying of cancer. My husband drove the car, as I cradled my whimpering friend in my arms. When our vet went to give her the shot, Tia reached up and licked my husband’s face.

And then she was gone. It was so quiet, except for the sounds of all of us crying.

In The Empath, Maggie’s tremendous powers cure her beloved dog, and heal Nicolas’s spirit, giving him the peace he’s sought for ages. It’s pure romance fiction, a world where the impossible becomes possible, and dreams and hopes come true with the help of love and magic.

For me, that’s the healing power of romance. When all around you is falling apart, and your heart is breaking, you can create a world in which everything turns out all right. And where a friend who was loyal to the end lives on forever in the pages of your book.


In memory of our beloved Tia. (Nov. 1995-Dec. 7, 2006)

http://www.bonnievanak.com/

Patrice Michelle - Turning Readers On!

I’ve been an avid reader since I was ten years old. Blame it on the elementary school’s reading program (re: read twenty books in a month and win a prize!). I wanted that prize, so I read the twenty books. Along the way, I discovered…I LOVED reading. Since then, I’ve always had my nose stuck in a book, much to my childhood best friend’s annoyance.

When I was in tenth grade and my older sister was in twelfth, she brought home an assigned reading book. The fiction book sat in the exact same spot she’d dumped it—on the chair next to the stairs—for days. After a week of passing by this book, I picked it up and read the blurb on the back. A mystery to solve and a love story…hmmm, it didn’t sound too bad. I sat down that night and read the entire book and I loved it! I was so excited about the story that I told my sister all about it, hoping I could get her excited enough to read it herself. While I blabbed on and on, my sister nodded and uh huh’d and smiled. The next day she wrote the book report and turned it in. Got a B, too. *rolling eyes* :-) So much for trying to get my sister interested in reading.

But that author had hooked me and I went on to read her entire backlist. I told other friends about her books, turning them onto this author’s work. To this day, I believe the best advertising an author can do is write the best story she can. Give her readers a great plot with interesting twists, main characters to empathize and fall in love with, and deeply emotional, heart-wrenching moments that will pull the reader into the story, making them feel like a participant as the tale unfolds.

When I sit down to write my own books, I keep in mind all the things about the books that I adored. From suspenseful plots to stories that make your heart twist, I try my best to create heroes and heroines who readers consider their friends. My goal is always to create a compelling story with engaging characters. If the readers close the book with a smile and wonder what’ll happen next in the main characters’ lives, then that’s the highest compliment in my mind, because that’s the standard I use as a reader that “hooks” me on books.

Do you remember what books/authors have hooked you such that you had to go out and tell everyone, from family to friends to YES, even strangers you meet in line at the bookstore, “You HAVE to read these books? They’re fantastic!” What was it about those books that really drew you in?

Patrice Michelle currently has three series available in print:

1) Scions (vampire, werewolf, paranormal)– Coming January 2008

2) Kendrian (vampire) – Available now

3) Bad in Boots (contemporary western)

– Available now For excerpts, blurbs and reviews of all Patrice's books, visit her website at http://www.patricemichelle.net/.