Syrie James | Why I Believe in Love At First Sight

It must be something in the genes, but many of the most romantic and enduring relationships in my family history began as love at first sight. Maybe that's why I often feel compelled to write about passionate, whirlwind love affairs, like the one between Michael and Nicole in my new, hauntingly romantic novel, NOCTURNE.

NOCTURNE is about a woman who's snowbound for days in the Colorado Rockies with a handsome, fascinating stranger—a man with whom she shares an immediate, once-in-a- lifetime kind of love. Nicole and Michael have a great deal in common, but she soon discovers that he's hiding a dark, terrifying secret—a secret that could end her life. Without giving anything away, I can tell you that their relationship is a profoundly meaningful experience that is destined to change their lives forever.

It feels very natural to me to write about whirlwind courtships, because it's a trend that goes back for generations in my own family. As a child, I remember hearing that my great-great-grandfather was invited to dinner to meet a young woman and her parents. He wasn't interested in the girl in question, but was immediately taken by her younger sister—the girl who was serving them and kept disappearing into the kitchen. "Who's that?" he asked. "I'd like to meet her!" They spent the rest of the evening talking in the basement, and were married soon after. And so the pattern was set.

My parents' story is one of my favorites. When my mother, Joann—an independent soul—was 25, she took a trip by herself across the east coast. It was a brave and rather scandalous thing for a single woman to undertake in those days. Her aunt, who had a friend with an eligible, 27-year-old son, told my mother, "If you're visiting New York City, you must look up Morton Astrahan." My mom had no interest in wasting her precious vacation time with some strange bachelor, but dutifully exchanged letters with him, giving him a long list of sights she intended to see with the message, "I hope you can keep up."

Morton showed up at my mom's NYC hotel room at 9 AM sharp, and to her mortification asked to use her bathroom. It had been a long train ride down from Poughkeepsie, he explained. My mom got over her embarrassment, and they both liked what they saw. Despite the fact that my mom walked my dad's feet off, they had a fantastic time together and talked nonstop all day long. At 7 PM when Morton made his promised phone call to his mother and she asked "How'd the date go?" he answered, "It's still going."

After dinner, Morton invited Joann up to see his apartment, on the pretext that he wanted to show her his new Swedish wallpaper. (I'm not making this up, I swear.) My mother, innocent that she was, agreed to go. They took the train up to Poughkeepsie where, I am told, he proudly showed her said wallpaper. Whether or not any other shenanigans ensued has never been revealed. What is known, however, is that when my father took my mom to the train station, he did not offer to pay for her return ticket to New York. Mom might have written him off right there, except that he found out the rest of her travel schedule and met her the next two weekends in a row at each port of call. After she got home, Morton had dinner with Joann at her parents' home in Chicago. He gave mom his pin on a Wednesday and an engagement ring on Thursday. Six weeks after they met, they were married. Six weeks after they met!

My own courtship with my husband was also a whirlwind affair, and so was our son Jeff's with his wife—but those are stories for another day. My personal and family history has taught me that love at first sight is indeed possible—with a caveat. For a relationship to be meaningful, it must be founded on more than physical attraction. It's my belief that people fall in love through conversation. They must take time to really talk to each other. Relationships that last, I think, are between lovers who admire, respect, and support each other, who love being together because they share similar outlooks and interests, yet at the same time have enough differences that they can learn something from each other. That period of intense communication and discovery between new lovers is something I find quite thrilling, and I put great emphasis on it in all my novels.

Thank you for inviting me to join you at Fresh Fiction! Do you believe in love at first sight? Why or why not? What is your favorite romance story of all time? It can be a book, a movie, or a personal or family story. I look forward to your thoughts and comments. I fell in love with Nicole and Michael while writing NOCTURNE, and I hope you will, too!

All best,

Syrie James

P.S. You can read more about me and my books at SyrieJames.com, where I invite you to sign up for my newsletter leave me a message. You can also write to me at [email protected], follow me on Facebook, and on Twitter @Syriejames.