Usually, the books I love make me laugh. But…the books I
love most make me cry. Anyone else out there love a good cry?
I still tear up just thinking about the on-page death of Snape
and how Harry names a child after him in the Harry Potter series. Or when they have to
put the dog down in Marley and Me
(especially since my dog was exactly that crazy). Actually,
now that I think on it, it’s true of movies as well. I can’t stand cheating stories, but the scene in
The English Patient where he carries her body out of the cave still makes me sob. Or
(SPOILER ALERT) Hodor holding the door in Game of Thrones.
I can tell you right now that writing a scene with that kind of
emotional gut punch is difficult. I have one in my new release, The Rookie that took a lot out of
me to do. My editor said, “I don’t want to see tears on page. Make the reader cry all the
tears.”
What I did with that advice was reach into moments I usually
prefer not to visit. I’ve been to my fair share of funerals over the years. More by my 20s than
most people see until much older, thanks to a pretty rough accident. I’ve also witnessed
things, sometimes in person, sometimes not, that hurt my heart. I took small snippets of those
things and I put them in this scene. For example…
- Petting my dog and
watching the life ebb from his eyes when we had to put him down.
- Hearing my grandmother
say that she didn’t know how she could go on without my grandfather at his funeral.
- Listening to a recording
of a friend saying he would see us again in heaven. He’d said those words at his brother’s
funeral. The recording was played at his own funeral a year later.
- Hearing my parents’ 20-
year-old cat crying and searching for her sister who they’d had to put down.
- Watching a man walk
around a plane crash, looking for his brother because he didn’t believe us that his brother was
in the burned wreckage.
- Watching my other
grandmother sit quietly beside my grandfather in the hospital, holding his hand following the
heart attack that eventually took his life.
- Staying with a friend
who’d just lost her husband so the house wouldn’t be so damn quiet.
- Watching Bush 41’s dog
lying at his casket.
What I realized when I started thinking through these
moments, is that what ripped me apart was never the emotions I was dealing with at the time.
What breaks my heart is witnessing someone else in that much pain and knowing there’s
nothing I can do to stop it or make it better.
Think about your own moments like that. What sticks out? Is
it you? Or is it someone else? I’ll bet, beyond the raw emotions, your memories focus on
others.
Those are
the moments in life—real and true and full of heart—are what I attempt to capture and put on
the page in every book I write…
One by one, the dragons surround them lay down, wings rustling as they folded them
back, glowing gazes fixed on their dying friend. All except Finn, who seemed to stand guard
over all of them.
It struck her then, that each man must be talking to him silently, delivering their own
messages through that telepathic link. Private messages.
He’s still so alone.
Fire's Edge Book 3
To escape exile, Aidan Paytah has had to prove himself worthy. Every
second of every damn day. He fought with everything he had to earn
his precarious place on the Huracán team of dragon shifter enforcers.
He can’t fail or afford distractions, no matter how temptingly sweet.
Total loyalty to the clans and dedication to his team is the only way.
Sera Morrison lost her parents and her husband in short order, leaving
her a single mother running her family winery alone. Nothing could ever
have prepared her for the discovery that she’s a destined dragon mate.
But once she finds out, there’s only one man she wants—the one who
walks away.
However, the Alliance Council has its own agenda. They want to use her
as a political pawn and force a mating that could ultimately kill her to
save the High King. Aidan has no choice but to kidnap her, even if it
means their close proximity reinforces their own mating bond. And
mating with him could end up being a far worse fate for Sera....
Each book in the Fire's Edge series is STANDALONE:
* The Mate (prequel)
* The Boss
* The Rookie
Romance Paranormal [Entangled: Amara, On
Sale: April 22, 2019, e-Book, ISBN: 9781094880815 / ]
Paranormal romance author, Abigail Owen, grew up consuming books and exploring the world
through her writing. She attempted to find a practical career related to her favorite pastime by
earning a degree in English Rhetoric (Technical Writing). However, she swiftly discovered that
writing without imagination is not nearly as fun as writing with it. No matter the genre, she
loves to write feisty heroines, sexy heroes who deserve them, and a cast of lovable characters
to surround them (and maybe get their own stories).
Abigail currently resides in Austin, Texas, with her own personal hero (and she married that
guy!) and their two children, who are growing up way too fast.
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