Why I Wrote Romance Short Stories

I love romance novels. Don’t hate me (well, you can if you want). I have a romantic soul. I love happy endings. I love cute meets, surprise meets, dangerous meets, first kisses, last kisses—and most of all, I LOVE happy endings.

When I realized I wanted to be a writer, I decided that I would write what is called a traditional romance novel. That is one that is just about the romance. 

So I started my story, The Spy Who Kissed Me. Everything was going most romantically, then the hero decided to “meet” my heroine while diving through the sunroof of her car. In a hail of bullets.

Before I knew it, I’d written a romantic suspense novel, not the traditional romance novel I’d envisioned. It was fun. And it was cathartic, shooting things up, so I stayed with romantic suspense.

Then LIFE HAPPENED. A lot. And while it was happening, I found myself penning some mini romances. Not novels. Short stories. I had a little fun playing with some of the familiar romance tropes, such as my version of the arrogant sheik story, Romeo and Juliet with a happy ending, etc. But I never mess with the happy ending trope. No way.

I posted some of the stories on my website, others I submitted to some anthologies. More time passed. My former publisher collected them into Romance Stories. Yeah, not the best title ever. Blame me. At the time I was brain dead.

When my publisher closed its doors, and I began re-releasing my books, my romance stories got pushed to the bottom of the list as more LIFE HAPPENED. (Funny how it keeps doing that.)

But things quieted down eventually (sort of) and I collected them into my own anthologies. The biggest challenge was coming with a better title than Romance Stories. I must give a shout-out here to Joan Reeves, who quizzed me about the themes in the stories and suggested Take a Chance on Me and Let’s Fall in Love. 

I also changed the titles of some of the stories themselves to match the theme of each title. 

Why am I talking about them now? Other than that it is February, the month of love? Well, I recovered the collections! They look so pretty! 

Here are the covers and the details!

Love, laughter, and happy endings are guaranteed in a collection that is “…unusual but delightful to read…”

Second Chance for the Sheik  – Ellie fell in love with the son of a sheik and he broke her heart. Now he’s back, but it’s not just her heart at risk this time…. (Formerly “Son of a Sheik,” Romance Collection, L&L Dreamspell)

Give Love a Chance – A Trapini and a Maloney have as much chance of getting together as a Hatfield or McCoy. But the heart wants what the heart wants… (Formerly “Getting a Clue,” Romance Collection, L&L Dreamspell)

Chance Encounter – What if you meet the right man at the wrong time? Lily was engaged and Theo was a stranger. Only he didn’t feel like a stranger… (Formerly “Sunbeam,” Romance Collection, L&L Dreamspell)

Last Chance for Love –  For Ric Hamilton, business came first, until he saw his beautiful PA dance the samba. And suddenly his first order of business was capturing her heart…. (Formerly “Dance with Me,” Romance Collection, L&L Dreamspell)

Love, laughter, and happy endings are guaranteed in a collection that is “…unusual but delightful to read…”

Let’s Fall in Love  –  Nic and Lexie fell in love, but can they stay in love with their families pulling them apart?

Falling for her Alien – Marrying a man she’d met once was a bad idea. When the guy was ET, it was insane—even if they were anatomically compatible…

Almost Over You –  Liz was sure her marriage was over. Was it too late for Steven to make her fall in love with him again? 

Wanting Willa – The one thing Max never did was fall in love. Until he met Willa… 

Grab this collection and fall in love!

If you want to add some romance to the rest of your month, be sure to check out Let’s Fall in Love and Take a Chance on Me. 

Perilously yours,

Pauline