Thursday, October 11, 2012

Barbara DeLeo & First Loves

Today I'd like to welcome a new visitor! Barbara DeLeo is here to promote her debut release Contract for Marriage published by Entangled Publishing. Take it away Barbara!

***
Hi Jemi,

Thanks so much for having me on the blog today. It’s lovely to be here.

Hands up who has a bad first love story.....

Oh, I see there are a few of us. {:o)

First loves have a bad rep really, don’t they? We all know that absolutely insane feeling of falling in love for the first time, the racing heart, the weak knees.... and the gut wrenching pain when it’s all over. You think it’s going to last forever and...it doesn’t.

I fell for my first real love in my first year of college (funnily enough it wasn’t curly headed Hamish who gave me a really thick silver bracelet with HAMISH written on it when I was 13....then asked for it back after he decided he liked someone better...).

My college man was everything I’d imagined in a first serious boyfriend. He was tall (well, taller than me), he was dark, and he was very handsome. It wasn’t a quick romance, we were together seven years and it did, indeed, end in tears. We’d grown up together, had our first jobs together, moved to a different town together and had become a part of each others’ families. When we broke up it was like a whole part of me was missing.

I guess in lots of ways we were like Ruby and Christo in Contract for Marriage. We met as teenagers, had some incredibly intense times and then went our separate ways.

Christo and Ruby knew each other for many years by the time they got together in their late teens. Maybe it was the fact that they had known each other so well that led to such an intense relationship, and then such a fiery breakup. When they meet again, ten years later, the intensity of that early relationship hasn’t diminished at all, in spite of the different choices they’ve made in their lives, and it sends them reeling.

 So what do we do with those intense feelings when we meet an old flame again? Ignore them? Put them down to nostalgia? When Ruby and Christo are faced with the desire that still burns, there’s one major problem—despite knowing the capacity they have for destroying each other, they can’t walk away this time. They’re both trapped by circumstance and it could tear both them, and the lives of those around them, apart.

I’d love to hear a first love story about you or someone you know. I have an e-copy of Contract for Marriage to give away to one commenter!

P.S. Oh, and the very handsome college boyfriend I was with for seven years and then apart from for two? We celebrate our fourteenth wedding anniversary next year.....{:o)

 
Contract for Marriage

Buy from Barnes and Noble or Amazon or Kobo

 You can find Barbara at:



Barbara’s Bio

Barbara DeLeo’s first book, co-written with her best friend, was a story about beauty queens in space. She was eleven, and the sole, handwritten copy was lost years ago, much to everyone’s relief. It’s some small miracle that she kept the faith and is now living her dream of writing sparkling contemporary romance with unforgettable characters.

After completing degrees in Psychology and English then travelling the world, Barbara married her winemaker hero and had two sets of twins. She still loves telling stories about finding love in all the wrong places, with not a beauty queen or spaceship in sight.

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Love that story, Barbara!! Can't wait to read the book either - sounds great!

So, who's willing to share their first love stories?

46 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Glad you got back together with your boyfriend!
My wife was my first love. Guess I lucked out there.
Good luck with your book, Barbara!

Jemi Fraser said...

Alex - me too! We're definitely a couple of the lucky ones :)

Talli Roland said...

Oh, yikes. No way am I sharing my first love story! :)

Congrats to Barbara on her release!

Old Kitty said...

Hi Barbara!! Huge congrats on your scrummy steamy looking book with a romantic heart!

Happy anniversary to you and your first love!!

Take care
x

Jack said...

I'm still waiting for my first love story, so I've nothing to share. Unless it is the times I've fallen in love with fictional characters or dead guys...

I like the title for your book. I think it is clever 8-D

Allons-y!

Unknown said...

Yay, Alex! I guess it can't be a very common thing, ending up with your first love so congrats to you and your wife! Thanks so much for the wishes for the book.

Unknown said...

Jemi that's fantastic. I knew we'd have a lot in common. Thanks so much for having me today!

Unknown said...

Hi Talli! I know there are some gruesome first love stories out there. Hope yours wasn't too bad {:o/ Thanks so much for the congrats!

Unknown said...

Old Kitty, thanks so much for stopping by! And yes, I love my cover too. It could just be Christo and Ruby on the front there. Thanks for the anniversary wishes.

Unknown said...

Hi Jack! You know, now I think about it fictional guys were probably my first loves too. And those ones are so lovely and dependable and can be silenced by the turn of a page {;o) I like my title too. {:o)

Jennifer Shirk said...

Great story, Barbara! That's a REAL HEA! LOL

My first love was a bad breakup too and in college. (We didn't get back together though) :)

Unknown said...

So lovely to see you here, Jennifer! I'm sorry you had a bad break up. They suck. But I kind of think going through one made me a stronger person, a person more sure of myself— which is never a bad thing {:o) Hope it was the same for you.

Unknown said...

So lovely to see you here, Jennifer! I'm sorry you had a bad break up. They suck. But I kind of think going through one made me a stronger person, a person more sure of myself— which is never a bad thing {:o) Hope it was the same for you.

Beth said...

A great story with a perfect ending!

Jemi Fraser said...

Talli - too funny! :)

Old Kitty - it does look fabulous, doesn't it? :)

Jack - I think those characters do count!

Barb - you're very welcome! It's such a fun post!

Jennifer - those HEAs are great when they happen - but most folks go through some heart ache first!

Beth - agreed! It's awesome!

A said...

My first love... ah, the pain!

Jemi Fraser said...

Agnes - there's nothing quite like that first love! :)

DMS said...

What a story! I loved hearing about the author's personal experiences. Congrats to her on her marriage to her first love. This is a topic we can all relate to and I would love to read this book.

Two of my best friends met in middle school. They started dating at the end of high school, after dating other people. They got married before any of our friends- in their early 20s. They have been married over 15 years and have two kids. They are even more in love today and it is beautiful to see. :)
~Jess

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

my first love turned into a train wreck, lol. But I wouldn't change it. Not one bit.

Unknown said...

Hi Beth, it certainly helped me to believe in a Happily Ever After!

Unknown said...

Thanks so much for dropping by, A! Oh, yes, the pain is what I've heard from many people, me included. It certainly was like that for Ruby and Christo in the book!

Unknown said...

Thanks so much for dropping by, A! Oh, yes, the pain is what I've heard from many people, me included. It certainly was like that for Ruby and Christo in the book!

Unknown said...

So lovely to see you here, Jess! Your friends' story is just beautiful. How amazing to have met someone so young, grow up and grow together and to be more in love as the years go by. Beautiful!

Unknown said...

Sorry about your first love, Lynda. Hope I haven't traumatized anyone with my blog topic! So glad to hear that you wouldn't change it, though. Seems a lot of people feel that way.

Rosalind Adam said...

My first boyfriend and I went out for about five years. It broke the hearts of two families when we split up but we were so young. Our relationship doesn't have the wonderful happy ending yours has though. Love the sound of that book. I'm drawn in by the characters already :-)

Jemi Fraser said...

Jess - that's a great story too! My hubby & I have been together for several decades too! :)

Lynda - I think those train wrecks help shape us - enough though they're so tough to go through!

Rosalind - I don't think most first loves go the distance - most people are too young :) The book sounds awesome, doesn't it? :)

Michelle Wallace said...

Oh the pangs of first love... when you view life through rose-tinted glasses and truly believe that love will conquer all...
Good luck to Barbara. It sounds like an awesome story.

Unknown said...

Hi Michelle! Thanks so much for your lovely wishes. Rose-tinted glasses...oh yes. I still like to think love will conquer all but with a healthy dose of reality too. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hayson Manning said...

Hi Barb,
Great post. Ahhhh, first love. That all consuming feeling of dying if apart. Oh to be a teenager again! Love Christo and Ruby's story. Such emotion. A stunning read.

Jemi Fraser said...

Michelle - that first love is really so eye opening!!

Hayson - it really is SO powerful! No wonderful so many stories are written about that first love :)

Golden Eagle said...

I have no love story history, so I'm afraid I can't answer the question. But "beauty queens in space" sounds like a great story. :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Golden Eagle - I bet it was too! :)

Unknown said...

Hayson! Thanks so much for popping in. Yep, that teenage feeling of having to be together 24/7 was lovely. I'll take that part of the teenage years but leave all the rest!

Unknown said...

Heee Heee,Golden Eagle! Should I resurrect it, you think??? I remember there was angst dripping off each page and lots of swooning.....

Patricia Stoltey said...

My first love (and first kiss) was way back in 8th grade, and I still have the rhinestone bracelet, with my name engraved on the little nameplate, that he gave me for Christmas. We ended up in different high schools in different towns the next year, so that was the end of that short romance.

Unknown said...

Thanks so much for your comment, Rosalind. I know just what you mean about breaking the hearts of two families when you split up. Contract for Marriage is a little like that in that the mother's of Ruby and Christo were so close too. So many more people tahn just a couple are affected by a break up.

Unknown said...

He sounds lovely, Patricia! My girls will be in 8th grade next year. Not sure if I'm ready for them to have a first love yet! I wonder if you've Googled him? (I think I would...)!

Jemi Fraser said...

Pat - that's awesome!! :) Barb's idea is great :)

Anonymous said...

This looks like a fantastic story. I bookmarked the Amazon page. :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Medeia - I agree - looks like a great story!! :)

Christina Farley said...

Sounds like a great love story.

Jemi Fraser said...

Christina - it really does! :)

Unknown said...

Hi Medeia! I'm so excited that you bookmarked Contract for Marriage! Hope you enjoy it.

Unknown said...

Thanks so much for dropping by, Christina! I'm a total sucker for a love story and loved writing Ruby' and Christo's.

Theresa Milstein said...

I hadn't heard of this one. Thanks for the info!

Jemi Fraser said...

Theresa - I've got it on my Kindle and can't wait to get to it! :)