Crashing a Ball...with Heather Snow (+Giveaway)
Crashing a Ball
on Christmas Eve with Heather Snow
on Christmas Eve with Heather Snow
About the Author:
Heather Snow is a historical romance author with a degree in Chemistry who discovered she much preferred creating chemistry on the page, rather than in the lab. She lives in the Midwest with her husband, two rambunctious boys and one very put upon cat who is currently taking out all of her feline frustrations on the Snow family Christmas tree...
Happy Holidays and warm greetings to you all! Thank you so much for having me here today. I'm thrilled to have been invited to share a story with you in this fun Christmas tradition Rita and Dani have begun.
When I received my assigned theme of "Crashing a Ball on Christmas Eve", my first thought was, "Great. What am I going to write about? Neither one of my science-savvy heroines would be caught dead near a ballroom." Okay, Liliana (my lady chemist from Sweet Enemy) did crash a house party once, but only to solve the mystery of her father's murder.
As I was considering how I might force one of them to crash a ball, the image of a soldier coming home for Christmas kept stealing into my thoughts instead. The idea didn't spring from nowhere. You see, I just finished the third book in the series, Sweet Madness, which is due out in April. In it, my heroine dabbles in psychology, and her passion is treating soldiers coming home from the Napoleonic wars who suffer from battle fatigue, so I certainly had soldiers on my mind.
Many of us do, especially at Christmas time, knowing that while we are enjoying special moments and memories with our families, some of our countrymen and women are far from home. So if you or your loved ones are serving, thank you for all that you sacrifice. Merry Christmas, and I pray your families are reunited soon... -Heather Snow
Lieutenant Pemberton's Proposal
Birminghamshire, December 24, 1815. Eleven of the clock in the evening...
"I must admit, milord, I thought you'd lost your mind when you said you meant to be in the West Midlands in time for Christmas. I never reckoned we'd make it."
Oliver Pemberton glanced over at his batman, Giles, who was adeptly pinning Oliver’s jacket in an attempt to hide how gaunt he’d become since last time he’d been home. There had been, of course, no time to have new evening clothes made up. They’d arrived at Pemberton Place but a scant hour ago, and they never should have made that.
One corner of Oliver’s mouth kicked up. “Well, as Major Devereaux said time and again, ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way, lads.’” Called out most usually just before they charged into a skirmish where the odds of survival seemed slim.
Giles grunted and stuck in another pin.
Oliver’s mouth settled into a dogged smile. Those words had become his motto of late. Only sheer force of will and a bit of luck had carried them the more than four hundred miles from the hospital in Brussels—where he’s spent just shy of half a year recuperating—across the channel, then overland to his ancestral home near Birmingham in less than a fortnight.
Determination and good fortune were also how he’d survived his wounds at Waterloo, how he’d beaten the raging fever that had nearly finished what a French lance through his back and chest had started, how he’d learned to walk again once his wounds had healed as much as they were ever going to, and, he prayed, would be how he convinced Miss Julia Harrington to become his wife even though she’d never given him reason to hope.
Giles stood, stepping back to assess his handiwork with a critical eye. “Are you certain you don’t wish to rest up a few days, milord? Have proper fitting clothes made up? Perhaps approach the lady privately?”
Oliver quirked a brow. “Do I look such a fright, old friend?”
Giles snorted, but eyed him with a concerned look. “Of course not. It is just that it has been an exhausting journey, and from what you’ve told me, your neighbor’s annual Christmas Eve ball is always a crush…”
Oliver pressed his lips together hard. What his loyal batman left unsaid was that ever since he’d woken from his fever, body broken and unable to move his legs, loud noise and crowded spaces bothered him terribly. Sent his heart racing and sometimes even threw him into a fit of vertigo that left him shaken and gasping for breath. Some strange after effect of either the years of battle or the horrors of recovery from his injuries, he’d been told. Whatever caused it, it left Oliver feeling less than a man during those moments of unreasonable fear.
Yet he would brave even that to ask for Julia’s hand, even though she certainly deserved better than him. He’d scarcely believed it when he’d learned she was still unattached. He had been certain he’d used up his share of good fortune already— he’d not waste another moment tempting fate.
Besides, Julia’s favorite time of year was Christmas. He was counting on her good cheer, and perhaps a bit of yuletide magic to tip the scales in his favor.
“No, Giles. It must be tonight.”
****
“Are you hiding?”
Julia started with a gasp at her friend Penelope’s incredulous whisper. She glanced over her shoulder—through large, flat fronds of greenery—to find the blonde girl who’d debuted with her two years ago, staring at her with an expression that was equal parts confusion and amusement.
“I mean, obviously you are. But behind a potted plant, Jules? I thought you more creative than that.”
“It was convenient,” Julia whispered back. “And besides, it’s probably the only spot in this entire blasted ballroom that isn’t under a sprig of mistletoe.” She pursed her lips, glancing around at the festively decorated room. Could her mother have been more obvious? Forget boughs of holly. Instead, the cursed kissing shrub dangled everywhere. It had even been strung together with ribbons and streamed from a small wire circle in the middle of the room to all points north, east, south, and west, spanning the entire space.
“Getting impatient, is she?” Penelope said with a smile that clearly said better you than me.
Julia sighed. “Yes. She can’t understand why I haven’t accepted any of the offers I’ve received already.” And she’d been certain to invite all three of the prospective gentlemen to their annual Christmas Eve ball, of course. Hence the hiding. “Truthfully, Pen, neither can I. Any one of them would make a good match. It’s just that…”
No one had ever made her heart flutter and her breath catch the way Oliver Pemberton had. Always had.
Not that he’d ever paid her any mind. His regular visits to Harrington Hall had been to see her older brother, of course. But over the years, she’d shared many conversations, and even mild flirtations, with her handsome neighbor—at least until Oliver had taken up his commission. Where her brother was now Viscount Lightly, Oliver had been born sixth son of an impoverished, if prolific, marquess and had had to make his own way in the world. And while he’d once been a regular attendee at their annual Christmas Eve ball, it had been more than two years since she’d even seen him.
And yet just the thought of him made her chest tingle with warmth. If Oliver were here, she wouldn’t be dodging clusters of mistletoe as if they were fat pigeons poised to drop an unpleasant Christmas surprise upon the shoulder of her forest green silk.
If Oliver were here…
Julia blinked her eyes. Once. Twice. Then shut them and rubbed at them with the heels of her hands.
“What is it?” Penelope asked, alarm in her voice.
“I thought I saw—” Julia sucked in a breath as her eyes fixed once again on the man who’d just entered the ballroom. “Oliver,” she whispered.
“Oliver?” her friend parroted, but Julia ignored her, pushing past Penelope as if in a daze.
Could it be? Word on injured soldiers from the battlefields had been slow to trickle back to England. Finally, after many inquiries, she’d learned he’d been grievously injured at Waterloo and wouldn’t be able to return to England for months. She’d been worried sick, had even sent him countless letters, but had gotten no response.
The newcomer—arriving unfashionably late for a Christmas Eve ball, given it was nearly no longer Christmas Eve at all at close to midnight—was still several yards off. A sea of people swam between him and her, but Julia’s heart fluttered in her chest as if the organ knew without a doubt that the man it had always pined for was near.
As her feet carried her across the room, her eyes roamed over him. He had the look of Oliver, but he was so very different as well.
His face was more angular than it had once been. He was leaner than he had been two years ago, as well—much leaner—though the change simply made his shoulders appear broader. His brown hair, while it had never been overly long, was now closely shorn. Austere, she’d describe him.
Yet he was still strikingly handsome. Maybe even more handsome than she remembered. Still half a room from him, she noticed people’s delighted smiles of recognition as they greeted him. It was him.
Her fluttering heart now hammered, then stilled completely as his unmistakable gray eyes found hers.
And then, unbelievably, he was pushing through the crowd towards her, just as she was him, his eyes fixed on her with an unerring determination that sent a thrill skittering up her spine. She had to be mistaken…and yet, she knew she was not. His destination was her.
“Julia—” he murmured as he reached her.
“Oliver—” she said, at the exact same, surreal, moment.
Those piercing eyes scanned her face as if comparing her visage to one stored away in his mind. She flushed beneath his intense regard, or perhaps beneath the curious stares of the onlookers around them, but otherwise did not move. She couldn’t.
But then his glance flickered to their audience and he cleared his throat, breaking the spell. “Miss Harrington,” he said in a low voice, bowing his head.
“Lord Oliver,” she returned in a shaky voice, inclining her own.
When he lifted his eyes back to hers, she glimpsed…panic in them? Oliver’s throat worked, as if he were struggling to swallow. “Is there—” he began, his voice tight “—somewhere we might talk?”
Julia’s brow furrowed. “Of course,” she murmured, flashing a social smile to the curious around them even as she led Oliver from the ballroom. She started for an exit to the hallway, but a strange intuition had her turning for the French doors leading out to the terrace instead. She shivered as a frigid blast of cold chilled her face, but when she turned to face Oliver, she knew she’d made the right decision. He was breathing deeply of the night air, the tightness she’d sensed in him easing visibly.
He must have noticed her teeth chattering, as he frowned. “You’re cold. We should return—”
“No!” she blurted, somehow knowing it was the ballroom that bothered him so. “I mean, I prefer it out here.”
He looked dubious, but immediately shed his evening coat and draped it around her shoulders. She was enveloped not only by his warmth, but by the scent of him—spice and sandalwood. She also suddenly felt as filled with nerves as he looked.
“I hope you don’t mind that I crashed your ball,” he said.
“You have a standing invitation,” she murmured, still hardly believing that Oliver was here, standing on her terrace, with her. “But why did you come? I mean how—”
“I have something to ask you.” He straightened his shoulders, looking quite as she expected a military man would—very different from the carefree young man he’d been when last he’d visited Harrington Hall. “But first, I have something to tell you. I love you, Julia.”
She gasped, unable to countenance what her ears insisted she’d heard. Perhaps that panic she thought she’d glimpsed in his eyes had truly been madness. “What?”
“I’m sure you’ve heard that I nearly died on the battlefield,” he said, rather than repeating his declaration. “It was a very near thing.”
She nodded, unable to speak before the emotion burning in his eyes.
“As I lay there, fighting raging around me, my life’s blood spilling hot down my body, I knew I was going to die. I knew it. And do you want to know the one thought I had as I lay there in agony, convinced I was breathing my last?”
Again, she nodded. It seemed all she was capable of.
He reached a hand out, his warm palm caressing her cheek. “I thought if I ever were to have married, it would have been Julia.”
She stopped breathing entirely.
His thumb moved against her skin. “My one regret was never telling you how I felt. For letting my shame at my impoverished circumstances and my friendship with your brother prevent me from pursuing the one woman I wanted for my own. And then I got angry. Angry with myself, angry with fate, and damn it all, I refused to die until I got the chance to make it right.”
“Oliver,” she whispered, overwhelmed by his revelation, but his other hand came up to frame her face, cutting off anything else she might of said.
“You saved me, Julia. My only thought was getting back her to you, a whole man, to ask you to marry me. By Christmas.” He blinked, his eyes gone glassy, as she was certain hers had. “Well, I’m here, just in time, though I’m not a whole man anymore. Something inside of me is broken, but it is not my heart. So I’m asking. Will you—”
“Yes!” she cried, a cloud of white breath puffing from her lips with her exclamation. This must be a dream, she knew. She’d doubtless nodded off behind that potted palm, waiting for her suitors, or her mother—or both—to give up and let her be. Because Oliver couldn’t love her. He’d never given her a hint of it. Of course, neither had she ever let on about her feelings—self-preservation and all that.
And then he was kissing her, and the fire that licked her body told her she was very much awake, and very much alive, and very much in need of something she didn’t quite understand. But Oliver did. The way he stoked that need within her, with caresses and murmured words left no doubt that he knew exactly what it was she craved. And that he intended to give it to her.
As his lips left hers so that they both could breathe, Julia lifted her eyes to the night sky. As her unfocused gaze began to clear, she realized that for once tonight nothing hung above her head. She’d escaped to the one place her mother hadn’t put any mistletoe—and had subsequently been kissed within an inch of her chastity. She couldn’t stop the joyful laughter bubbling up.
“What is it?” Oliver asked, his voice husky against her ear.
“Nothing,” she said. “Just kiss me again. And again. Forever.”
~*~*~*~
*Don't forget to stop by Ramblings From This Chick for Manda Collin's Scene*
**I hope you enjoyed this short story. While Oliver and Julia were written solely for the Historical Christmas Eve event, my upcoming novel does feature another soldier suffering from (among other things) battle fatigue, or what we now know as post-traumatic stress disorder. Its hero, Major Gabriel Devereaux, Marquess of Bromwich, and heroine, Lady Penelope Bridgeman, were mentioned very briefly above. Thanks again, and Happy Holidays! -Heather
AN UNTAMED MIND
Pre-Order Your Copy Today:
Ever since her husband’s sudden and tragic death, Lady Penelope Bridgeman has committed herself to studying the maladies of the mind, particularly treating traumatized soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars. It is this expertise that brings the Marquess of Bromwich’s family to her door.
Gabriel Devereaux’s unexpected and unpredictable episodes are unlike any Penelope has studied. The once proud soldier has been left shaken and withdrawn, but she manages to build a fragile trust between them. Strangely, Gabriel seems completely lucid when not in the grips of his mania, and in the calm between bouts, she is surprised by how much she is drawn to him.
Despite his own growing feelings, Gabriel knows that he is fit for no one, and is determined to keep Penelope away from his descent into madness. But even though she knows firsthand the folly of loving a broken man, Penelope cannot stop herself from trying to save him, no matter the cost.
Pre-Order Your Copy Today:
Rainy Day Books (Heather's local indie) Amazon (Kindle Edition) Amazon (Mass Market Paperback) Barnes and Noble Books-A-Million IndieBound
Heather is giving away a copy of her book, Sweet Madness, to one lucky commenter (Open Internationally)! Make sure to leave a meaningful comment below AND fill out the rafflecopter!
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And don't forget to enter the Grand Prize Giveaway
Sealed With a Kiss: Heather Snow + Giveaway
Heather Snow
Heather Snow is a historical romance writer with a degree in Chemistry who found she much preferred creating chemistry on the page, rather than in the lab! She is forever trying to wrangle her left and right brain to work together (some days with more success than others!), but if her two sides had to duke it out, left would win every time--which can be a creative challenge. Luckily, she loves challenges...she just goes about solving them analytically.
She lives with her husband and two sons in the Midwest and truly hopes you find her stories have just the right chemistry...
Written by Liliana Wentworth, née Claremont, Countess of Stratford, to her husband—upon the birth of their daughter, some seven and one half months after the Epilogue…
The Love Letter:
Dearest Geoffrey,
I find myself overcome with emotion as I sit here in the stillness of the night… I’ve just finished nursing our precious daughter and she is now tucked back snug in her cradle. Aunt will likely have plenty to say over the unusual nature of me choosing to suckle our baby myself, but when have I ever been conventional? How fortunate I am to have you in my life, who encourages me to be only who I am.
As I watch you sleep, the firelight glinting off of your ebony hair like flashes of lightning in a pitch black sky, my chest aches with love for you. As a scientist, I understand that there is some physiological reaction in a woman’s body after she gives birth that makes her feel overwhelming love, as well as a deep sense of contentment. I suspect it is so that she bonds with her newborn. Perhaps, one day, we may even discover what causes such phenomena. But I also know that whatever this rare wonder is, it is not the reason I am moved nearly to tears as I look upon you.
While there are many, many reasons I love you, my darling, tonight I am most grateful for one—that our daughter will have a father who will respect her. One who will encourage and support her in anything she chooses to do with her life. One who will not expect her to conform to society’s idea of what a female should be. One who will appreciate whatever gifts she possesses, and who will guide her to use those gifts for the greater good. One who will be her launching pad, as my father was for me when he was alive…and as you are for me now.
I miss my father, tonight. I regret that our daughter will never know him. But I know that he would be proud that I’ve chosen so well in a husband—a man who treasures his daughter as he did. A man who deserves my love.
And you have it, always…
Liliana
###
Check out Geoffrey and Liliana's love story in:
SWEET ENEMY
A Veiled Seduction Novel ~Book One
"Historical intrigue and heart-pounding passion make Sweet Enemy a great read. Romance fans will love it." -#1 NYT Bestselling Author JULIE GARWOOD
Liliana Claremont, a brilliant chemist, doesn’t want to be any man’s wife, much less a Countess. If she had tuppence for every time she’d been told her place was filling the nursery, not experimenting in the laboratory, she could buy the Tower Bridge. However, when she receives a coveted invitation to the Earl’s house party, she trades in her beakers for ball gowns and gladly takes on the guise of husband hunter—for the chance to uncover what the Earl had to do with the murder of her father.
Heather is giving away a copy of SWEET ENEMY, to 1 lucky commenter (Open Internationally) So make sure you leave a comment on this post AND fill out the rafflecopter for your chance to win!
And don't forget to head over to Ramblings From This Chick blog, check out Geoffrey's letter to Liliana, and comment/enter that giveaway as well!
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Swing by the special Sealed with a Kiss event page to get extra entries for the GRAND PRIZE!!!
Can't Help Falling in Love...with Heather Snow! (Guest Post + Giveaway)
Please welcome to the blog newly published authoress, Heather Snow!
I am so excited to have her on the blog today to celebrate the release of her new novel, SWEET ENEMY, which will be available from Penguin Publishing in all formats on Feb. 7th!
Until then, you'll have to make due with the delicious sneak peeks laced throughout this thoroughly entertaining guest post she has put together.
Without further adieu:
I am so excited to have her on the blog today to celebrate the release of her new novel, SWEET ENEMY, which will be available from Penguin Publishing in all formats on Feb. 7th!
Until then, you'll have to make due with the delicious sneak peeks laced throughout this thoroughly entertaining guest post she has put together.
Without further adieu:
About Heather:
Heather Snow is a historical romance author with a degree in Chemistry who discovered she much preferred creating chemistry on the page, rather than in the lab. She is forever trying to wrangle her left and right brain to work together (some days with more success than others!), but if her two sides had to duke it out, left would win every time—which can be a creative challenge. Luckily, she loves challenges…she just goes about solving them analytically.
Heather lives in the Midwest with her husband, two rambunctious boys and one very put upon cat. She sincerely hopes you find her stories have just the right chemistry…
About the Book:
|
| Buy links at the bottom of post! |
Sweet Enemy
A Veiled Seduction Novel
Book One
"Historical intrigue and heart-pounding passion make Sweet Enemy a great read. Romance fans will love it."
-#1NYT Bestselling Author JULIE GARWOOD
Liliana believes the best way to get the answers she needs is to keep her enemy close, though romance is not part of her formula. But it only takes one kiss to start a reaction she can't control...
The Guest Post:
Geoffrey shook his head. It had never been like this for him before. Ever. “No,” he whispered. “This is something special.”
She gave a slow nod of comprehension, never looking away from him.
She was something special. What she made him feel was something special. Something he’d never before even wanted to feel but now was beginning to suspect he didn’t want to live without.
Geoffrey held her in his lap a moment longer, loath to lose the weight and warmth of her. Then he helped her to rise, to right herself. As they restored their appearances and gathered the horses, Geoffrey’s mind was awhirl, and though it circled quickly, he didn’t doubt what he was thinking. His instincts had proven to be solid over his life, and they were telling him one thing emphatically.
He wanted Liliana as his wife.
Honest, forthright, curious, unconventional, passionate, brilliant Liliana.
But she didn’t want him. Not as a husband, anyway. She just wanted to experiment.
But he could change her mind. She’d given him the perfect opening, just the right ammunition—her nature. If experimentation was the way to a scientist’s heart, he’d oblige her. And every step they took would bind her more and more to him.
Deep in his chest, Geoffrey felt a smile form and expand until it couldn’t be contained. It built, rose in him until it burst forth on his face. He was more and more certain Liliana would be a good wife for him.
How ironic that he was now no different from everyone else here at Somerton Park.
He was planning to trap someone into marriage.
Did you know that men fall in love faster than women? No, really. According to Dr. Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist from Rutgers University, it’s true. “Men fall in love faster than women do. Women take longer because they have to create a “memory trail” of their mate’s behaviors. She has to remember what he promised, what he’s done for the partnership, and what he failed to do.” Dr. Fisher’s work on the brain chemistry of love is fascinating, fascinating stuff, equating romantic love to chemical addiction and explaining just what goes on beneath the surface that attracts us to one person but not another, sometimes against our own will.
As a sciency-type myself, I love studies like these. I use them to inform my writing, and hopefully create love stories that feel authentic when you read them. I also have a laugh at my poor clueless heroes and heroines, who can’t possibly even know that they don’t stand a chance against the powerful biological forces of attraction, lust and love.
Take poor Liliana, for example. She emphatically does not want to fall in love with Geoffrey. The man is her enemy. She’s pretty certain someone in his family killed her father, and fully expects that even if Geoffrey doesn’t know anything about it, once he finds out, he’ll do what he must to protect his own. And yet, she can’t seem to stay away from him. Subconsciously, she is drawn to him and once she gives in, even just a little, she’s trapped. Geoffrey has her nailed (literally) when he decides to use her natural curiosity and experimental nature to bind her to him, first with kisses and then with more.
You see, though she couldn’t possibly have known this in Regency times, if Liliana truly didn’t want to fall for Geoffrey, she never should have let him touch her. Human touch, particularly in women, releases a hormone called oxytocin into our bodies. When combined with estrogen, oxytocin creates a desire to be penetrated…and we all know what that leads to ;). Unfortunately for Liliana (or fortunately, in my opinion!), orgasm causes oxytocin levels to spike three to five times higher than normal, bonding her further to Geoffrey in the bliss called afterglow. So, every time they kiss, every time they touch, every time they make love, her hormone levels rise, making her want him more and more, despite her better judgment, in a lovely, delicious cycle.
Sure, this makes for great internal conflict for our heroine, but how does this great sex lead to everlasting love? Well, oxytocin is also known as “the cuddle hormone.” It’s the same that is flooded through a new mother’s body to bond her to her newborn. It creates feelings of strong attachment and satisfaction that, combined with the other hormones that flow through our brains during the early stages of lust, can push us over the threshold to love. Dr. Fisher says, “Having sex can trigger love—probably because after orgasm, there’s a peak in dopamine activity. So watch out if you casually bed down with someone—you might unintentionally fall for them.”
You didn’t know we romance novelists were so scientifically accurate when we wrote love stories, did you?
And yes, Liliana does eventually fall for the handsome earl, not just because of her hormones and the fabulous sex. Though that doesn’t hurt, it’s only a small part of Geoffrey and Liliana’s love story. I hope you enjoy my tale of two enemies who discover, against all odds, that their happily-ever-afters lie together.
Can’t Help Falling in Love...
a Guest Post by Heather Snow
###
“Is it always like this?” she asked, her voice a breathy sound that stroked him as surely as if she’d touched him. “This . . .” She pressed her lips together and her brows dipped, and Geoffrey knew her innocence struggled to find the words for how she was feeling. “This overwhelming, gnawing ache inside?” She smoothed her palm down her center, settling it low on her stomach. Geoffrey shook his head. It had never been like this for him before. Ever. “No,” he whispered. “This is something special.”
She gave a slow nod of comprehension, never looking away from him.
She was something special. What she made him feel was something special. Something he’d never before even wanted to feel but now was beginning to suspect he didn’t want to live without.
Geoffrey held her in his lap a moment longer, loath to lose the weight and warmth of her. Then he helped her to rise, to right herself. As they restored their appearances and gathered the horses, Geoffrey’s mind was awhirl, and though it circled quickly, he didn’t doubt what he was thinking. His instincts had proven to be solid over his life, and they were telling him one thing emphatically.
He wanted Liliana as his wife.
Honest, forthright, curious, unconventional, passionate, brilliant Liliana.
But she didn’t want him. Not as a husband, anyway. She just wanted to experiment.
But he could change her mind. She’d given him the perfect opening, just the right ammunition—her nature. If experimentation was the way to a scientist’s heart, he’d oblige her. And every step they took would bind her more and more to him.
Deep in his chest, Geoffrey felt a smile form and expand until it couldn’t be contained. It built, rose in him until it burst forth on his face. He was more and more certain Liliana would be a good wife for him.
How ironic that he was now no different from everyone else here at Somerton Park.
He was planning to trap someone into marriage.
###
Did you know that men fall in love faster than women? No, really. According to Dr. Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist from Rutgers University, it’s true. “Men fall in love faster than women do. Women take longer because they have to create a “memory trail” of their mate’s behaviors. She has to remember what he promised, what he’s done for the partnership, and what he failed to do.” Dr. Fisher’s work on the brain chemistry of love is fascinating, fascinating stuff, equating romantic love to chemical addiction and explaining just what goes on beneath the surface that attracts us to one person but not another, sometimes against our own will.
As a sciency-type myself, I love studies like these. I use them to inform my writing, and hopefully create love stories that feel authentic when you read them. I also have a laugh at my poor clueless heroes and heroines, who can’t possibly even know that they don’t stand a chance against the powerful biological forces of attraction, lust and love.
Take poor Liliana, for example. She emphatically does not want to fall in love with Geoffrey. The man is her enemy. She’s pretty certain someone in his family killed her father, and fully expects that even if Geoffrey doesn’t know anything about it, once he finds out, he’ll do what he must to protect his own. And yet, she can’t seem to stay away from him. Subconsciously, she is drawn to him and once she gives in, even just a little, she’s trapped. Geoffrey has her nailed (literally) when he decides to use her natural curiosity and experimental nature to bind her to him, first with kisses and then with more.
You see, though she couldn’t possibly have known this in Regency times, if Liliana truly didn’t want to fall for Geoffrey, she never should have let him touch her. Human touch, particularly in women, releases a hormone called oxytocin into our bodies. When combined with estrogen, oxytocin creates a desire to be penetrated…and we all know what that leads to ;). Unfortunately for Liliana (or fortunately, in my opinion!), orgasm causes oxytocin levels to spike three to five times higher than normal, bonding her further to Geoffrey in the bliss called afterglow. So, every time they kiss, every time they touch, every time they make love, her hormone levels rise, making her want him more and more, despite her better judgment, in a lovely, delicious cycle.
Sure, this makes for great internal conflict for our heroine, but how does this great sex lead to everlasting love? Well, oxytocin is also known as “the cuddle hormone.” It’s the same that is flooded through a new mother’s body to bond her to her newborn. It creates feelings of strong attachment and satisfaction that, combined with the other hormones that flow through our brains during the early stages of lust, can push us over the threshold to love. Dr. Fisher says, “Having sex can trigger love—probably because after orgasm, there’s a peak in dopamine activity. So watch out if you casually bed down with someone—you might unintentionally fall for them.”
You didn’t know we romance novelists were so scientifically accurate when we wrote love stories, did you?
And yes, Liliana does eventually fall for the handsome earl, not just because of her hormones and the fabulous sex. Though that doesn’t hurt
Sweet Enemy hits the shelves on February 7th, wherever books are sold. However, I’d be happy to give away an advanced copy of Sweet Enemy to a random commenter today. Have you ever found yourself
ridiculously attracted to someone and you couldn’t explain why? I’ll go first… When my eldest son was a
toddler, I carried a torch for Murray, the Red Wiggle. (Don’t ask me. I don’t understand it myself…)
---
Sweet Enemy is available for Pre-Order right now wherever books are sold and will available widely on February 7, 2012.
Pre-order Sweet Enemy today!
Rainy Day Books (Heather’s local Indie)
~*~GIVEAWAY~*~
Heather has generously offered to give away an advanced copy of her novel, SWEET ENEMY, to one (1) lucky commenter! All you have to do is comment below answering her question and fill out the rafflecopter form below. Giveaway ends 2/3 !
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