Sunday, October 9, 2011

Finding Love in All the Wrong Places Guest Blog and Giveaway with Terry Spear

But what if the place is all right, but the time is really out of sync?


Have you ever been somewhere that it’s the right place, wrong time?


I had nightmares about missing classes in college because I’d be in the right place, but wrong time and miss a test. Or show up at the right time, wrong place.


But what if you went to your favorite spot and woke up in another century? Two centuries earlier?


How would you cope with it?


How about: DISBELIEF?


Time travel is NOT possible. So I’m not here in the past. Everything is set up to be this way for a reason.


Or: I’m dreaming. And I can’t wake from the dream.


Next: ACCEPTANCE?


Okay, somehow I’m here and I’ve got to get back to where I belong. Pronto. Or I’ll mess up the timeline continuum and really screw things up. What if I did something that ended up wiping out my existence in the future?


Next: THE WHAT IFS?


What do I do if I CAN’T get back? How can I cope? Live in a world so foreign to me?


Next: THE DECISION?


Go back, stay.


THAT is the question.


Every time I visited Salado, Texas, I was drawn to the question of what would a woman do who was from the present who ended up in the past? How would she react? What would it be like for her back then?


Of course, we’ll never know exactly what it would be like living in the past—the hardships, the constant toil, the missing conveniences we take for granted today. I know, because when my Internet is out and then the electricity is on the blink due to a storm, I’m unable to do anything! And I realize just how much not having these conveniences is…inconvenient. But compound that 100-fold with no running water and no car, and no stores to shop at for all kinds of anything-we-want-readymade items, no cell phones, and well…it’s unimaginable. Really.


Why would ANYONE in their right mind want to give up all of that for all the hardships?


We have to suspend disbelief and believe in romance and fantasy and the fantastical.


Oh, sure, you’re saying no way, Jose! But really. Love transcends all time. We could fall in love with someone in the past just as we could fall in love with someone today.


What if that someone we found in the past is THE ONE? What if we never could find someone who makes us feel as he does? Would we give him up to have all the conveniences in the world?


I just watched The Company Men and how one of the men has lost his job and he believes everything he is, is tied up into his job persona and his paycheck. He’s forgotten the roots of his existence. The love of his wife and children. His connection to the downhome world. Everything is money and stuff. The fancy cars, the golf club membership, you name it…all stuff.


When times get really tough, can you give it all up? You’d have to. What if you had someone to love who loved you back with all his heart? Would you give it all up to find your roots and live a simpler life?


That’s what Lisa must decide in A GHOST OF A CHANCE AT LOVE!


Excerpt from A GHOST OF A CHANCE AT LOVE



When she entered the hotel lobby, she felt like she’d stepped into a nineteenth century movie set. A woman wearing a blue dress reaching her ankles pushed a woven wicker buggy toward Lisa. A bustle attached in the back of the woman’s dress accentuated her figure from behind, and Lisa wondered how she could sit down in that contraption. A chenille hairnet confined her mousy brown hair beneath an ivory hat dripping with dyed ostrich feathers. She returned Lisa’s stare. Her brows lifted slightly.


Lisa smiled, figuring the woman must have been part of the hotel staff, although she hadn’t recalled anyone dressing that way the night before. “I love your dress.”


“Why, thank you, Miss.”


Unable to resist a closer look, Lisa leaned over the buggy, wishing things had worked out with Tom, and she could have had their very own baby to care for in a year or so like they’d so often discussed. A white lacy bonnet covered the baby’s brown fuzzy head, her face cloaked in sleep.


“She’s adorable.”


“He’s my son,” the woman said softly.


Lisa stared at the lace-trimmed gown the baby wore. “Oh, sure.” Her skin warmed with embarrassment, but heck, the baby looked like a girl in a gown. “He’s really sweet.”


Another thought occurred to her. Why would a lady on the hotel staff drag a baby around with her?


Maybe an old time arts and crafts fair was scheduled and the woman served as one of the vendors? The Highlander fair was scheduled for next weekend. Maybe this was a Victorian fair.


Lisa glanced around the lobby. High back chairs with wide-winged arms and curved loveseats covered in rich burgundy and green brocades, fit the nineteenth-century décor that looked similar to the antique furniture her grandmother had willed to her.


The cowboy she’d collided with in the hall outside her room entered the lobby. She thought he tried to appear inconspicuous about looking for her, but was doing an awful job of it because as soon as he saw her, his haunted eyes caught her gaze, and he turned away.


***


Jack’s already been in her bed once…by accident. What would it take to keep him there?


What would YOU do to keep him there?


Thanks so much for Roxanne for having me on her blog!


One lucky commenter will win a free ebook copy of A GHOST OF A CHANCE AT LOVE!

~Terry Spear

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male.”

www.terryspear.com

21 comments:

The Phantom Paragrapher said...

This looks like a good read and I love the cover :)
OLd Follower
www.thephantomparagrapher.blogpsot.com

paulazone(at)live(dot)com

Jen B. said...

I have thought about this question a bit. I really wouldn't want to time travel. Although, visiting and witnessing some of the big historical events would be cool. But, if you accidentally time travelled and found "the one"? That would be tough. How could someone give up true love even for conveniences like Starbucks?!
jepebATverizonDOTnet

Rebe said...

I've thought about time travel too, and it would be really hard, especially the different standards for personal hygiene - yuck! I think I'd prefer to stay in my own time, thanks!

Terry Spear said...

Thanks, ladies! Storms have kept me away all day--connection spotty at best. I wonder if we could go back and time and right wrongs, or do something that would really make a trip to the past worth all the "inconveniences," then would it be worth it? Especially if we found the man of our dreams there ...too. :)

Barbara E. said...

I think if I met the one, I'd learn to live however I needed to so that I could be with him. I love my conveniences, but that's all they are conveniences. Living in a simpler time has it's perks, more hard work, so better physical shape and there were still books several hundred years ago, so I'd be okay.

Barbed1951 at aol dot com

Rashda Khan said...

Love the cover Terry!

And yes, I would time travel, but to the future :)

Good luck with the book!

rkhanATwccDOTnet

Terry Spear said...

Yeah, I totally agree with your sentiments, Barbara. I was watching a movie where one of the men saw himself for what he possessed, and when he lost his job and the position and home and car, etc, he couldn't see getting back to basics and what he really had that was important--his family. She made him remember what it was like before they had everything. It reminds me of "It's a Wonderful Life," and getting back to an earlier time.

Thanks, Rashda! I like writing about the future too, but more in a fantasy way, but I love historical also so my preference is still in the past.

LoriStrongin said...

I'm actually okay with a bit of time travel without explanation in my books if the author does a good job of it. Likewise though, for historicals, the research needs to be there and the "wild west" was NOT an easy time for single females, let alone ones displaced 200 years in the past.

Thanks for the giveaway op!


Smiles!
Lori
serena423[@]yahoo.com

Sherry said...

I love Terry's books and this one sounds like another winner to me. I look forward to reading it.
GFC follower - Sherry S.

sstrode at scrtc dot com

Terry Spear said...

I so agree, Lori!!

Thanks so much, Sherry!! I hope you love it!

Becky said...

I like the cover of this book. This book sounds very interesting. I love Terry's stories. I would time travel, I just don't think I would like to stay there for a long period of time.

beckyqward@gmail.com

Terry Spear said...

I agree, Becky! I think it would be fun to see an earlier time, but talk about a fish out of water. We so would not really fit in.

Unknown said...

I love the cover also. The book sounds really great. Please enter me in contest. Tore923@aol.com

Anonymous said...

I've thought about time travel. I don't think I'd want to do it though.

greenduckie13 at gmail dot com

In Julie's Opinion said...

I LOVE the idea of time travel!! I would absolutely do it if I had the chance! Thanks for the chance to win what looks like a terrific book :)

jwitt33 at live dot com

Rosie said...

This is a great cover and I really want to read this one. Thanks so much!!

Follower
rosie0512 @ hotmail . com

lindalou said...

I actually enjoy living now... but, I'm sure I could get used to living in another time... past or future. I, too, love the cover...
Thanks for the giveaway!
lindalou(at)cfl(dot)rr(dot)com

lindalou said...

Me, again. I meant to ask a question before I hit enter. Who did your cover? It's truly awesome...

wanda f said...

Fantastic cover I love your books Terry cant wait to read this one .

flanagan@mebtel.net

joannie said...

i have not read this book but the cover and review is real inviting. time travel yea would be great im game lol. i have always loved the egtptian times. thanks joannie jscddmj[at]aol[dot]com

Terry Spear said...

Thanks, ladies!

Julie and Lindalou, you both could definitely be heroines in a time travel romance--adventurous spirits, ready to try it out!

Lindalou, Vinspire Romance's art department did the cover. I sent them the Jimmy Thomas picture of the heroine and him leaning against the rock, but the rest was Vinspire's artful work. :)

Wanda, thanks so much! I hope you enjoy this one!

Joannie, you sound like another candidate for a trip to the past! I've always been intrigued with Egyptian times also! :)

 
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