trueromance

SYRIE JAMES
NOCTURNE

Unconscious and stranded in the Colorado Rockies after her car skids off an icy road during a blizzard, Nicole Whitcomb awakes in the magnificent, isolated mountain home of the astonishingly good-looking man who rescued her. Michael Tyler is brilliant, reclusive, enigmatic … and a potentially deadly, centuries-old vampire. Now, snowbound together until the storm ends and the roads can be cleared, they begin a wary, star-crossed journey from attraction to passion as Nicole’s fears and Michael’s bloodlust war with their love for each other.

That’s how Library Journal described my new novel NOCTURNE, which (I’m thrilled to say!) they deemed “Lyrical, lush, and intensely romantic … with its complex characters and compelling emotions sure to linger long after the last page has been turned.” Topromancenovels.com just called NOCTURNE “a wonderful combination of thriller, mystery and romance.” You can read more reviews here. Even if you don’t usually “do vampire fiction,” I hope you’ll fall as madly in love with Michael Tyler as I did while writing this novel. Michael is a good vampire, highly intelligent and accomplished, charismatic, sympathetic, and incredibly passionate … just the kind of man I’d like to be trapped with for four days during a blizzard! This is sexiest book I’ve ever written. The way I figure it, a man who’s lived for centuries should be good at everything. Vampire sex should be the best sex a woman has ever had! Don’t you agree?

But sex aside (admittedly, I think of those scenes as love scenes)… the timeline of the novel meant that Nicole and Michael had to fall in love hard and fast, while discovering in each other their soul mate. It felt very natural and believable to me to write about such an intense, whirlwind courtship, since my husband and I also fell in love overnight, and became engaged three weeks after we met. Soul mates? You bet! We just celebrated our 35th anniversary.

I know from personal experience that deep, profound love can blossom in a short span of time, as long as the couple really talk to each other. That period of initial communication and discovery between new lovers is something I find thrilling, and I put great emphasis on it in all my novels.

Writing NOCTURNE got me thinking about the essence of true love, what it means, and how you know it when you’ve found it. Here’s my Top Ten List:

10 Ways To Know You’ve Found True Love

1. You are each other’s best, most trusted friend, as well as lovers.

2. You are comfortable and content together, and can be your truest self with each other.

3. You balance and complete each other. You love being together because you share similar outlooks and interests, yet at the same time have enough differences that you can learn something from and help each other.

4. You love, admire, respect, and appreciate each other, and fully support each other’s needs and dreams.

5. You understand and accept each other’s flaws and differences in beliefs and priorities, and find each other’s quirks endearing.

6. You are both willing and happy to put the other’s happiness and well being first.

7. Together, you have created a safe and comfortable space where you can share your most personal thoughts, dreams, memories, and fears without judgment.

8. You know that you can count on each other to always be there in time of need.

9. Your affection and passion for each other are so strong, you can’t imagine spending the rest of your life without each other.

10. You are successful as individuals, but happier together than apart, and would rather spend time with each other than anyone else in the world.


What are your thoughts about true love? How do you know if you’ve found it? Have you ever had a romance where you fell in love quickly and intensely? If so, did it turn into an enduring relationship? 
Please share your stories and comments! And please visit me at www.syriejames.com, where I invite you to read an excerpt from Nocturne and sign up for my newsletter.
5, randomly chosen commenters will win a book — good luck!