Today's Special - - Laura Moore

Laura Moore is what one might call a modern Renaissance woman.  With a M.A. in art history, she has filled her resume with positions as a museum lecturer, instructor of art, art history, English and French as well as novelist.  Add to that a love of horses and the ocean. She's competed in horse shows, worked in stables, is an accomplished scuba diver and open water swimmer. I'm beginning to wonder if there's anything she can't do! You can read more about Laura and her books at her website and connect with her online at Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.  

Welcome, Laura!

First Loves, Second Chances

First, good morning to everyone at The Romance Dish! Thank you so much for having me here!

So today I thought I’d talk about one of my favorite themes in romance: the fragile adolescent heart. I love writing about that first, perfect crush or that hopeless infatuation and how devastating it is when its shattered. One’s first heartbreak can be as difficult to forget as the first time one falls in love.

Did any of you fall in love during high school and have your heart trampled?

Well, that’s the dark cloud hanging over my hero and heroine in my new book, Once Tasted. Reid Knowles and Mia Bodell have known each practically all their lives. They don’t just live in the same town, they’re also next-door neighbors, and their families like each other. They even attended the same school. This makes it all the more striking that Mia and Reid do their utmost to pretend the other doesn’t exist.  The reason for the silent cold war they wage? A high school incident that mortified them both but shattered lonely Mia’s dream-filled heart.

I won’t go into too many details (I truly hate spoilers) of how things unfold between Mia and Reid on their road to a happy-ever-after but just know that an event several years later forces Mia and Reid to work as partners. Neither is happy at the prospect, but shirking their families’ expectations is out of the question. The forced proximity stirs up old feelings between Mia and Reid and sparks new ones. The challenge for both will be to put past hurts and insecurities aside and trust that the love growing between them is real.

Happy Reading!

~Laura

Thanks, Laura!  Second-chance love is one of my favorite romance tropes.  

Okay, readers, it's your turn. Do you also enjoy second-chance love stories?  Do you have a second-chance story of your own to share? Does your first love still hold a fond place in your heart or was he/she consigned to the "not going there" memory trash heap years ago?  Let's dish!

Laura has graciously offered a copy of Once Tasted to one randomly chosen person who leaves a comment on today's post.  

Here’s an excerpt from Once Tasted:

Oh, damn, he must be back.

Mia Bodell didn’t need to be a modern-day Sherlock Holmes to guess who’d put the dreamy expression on Tracy Crofta’s face at Spillin’ the Beans. The barista fairly floated over the wide-planked, unvarnished floors as she took Mia’s order, humming to the hissing of the steamer as she prepared her triple-shot latte.

There were other signs, too.

Tracy wasn’t the only blissed-out female in the coffee shop. Betty Shales, who was sixty if she was a day, wore a beatific smile. Stationed behind the cash register, she stopped patting her gray dreadlocks only long enough to take Mia’s money.

But in case Mia had suffered temporary blindness and missed the women’s joyous glow, she’d have had to be wearing earplugs to miss the trills of laughter and excited chatter when, latte in hand, she walked in to the post office—which also housed the local bank, general store, and luncheonette.

Not many towns could boast of having a post office where you could not only pick up your mail but also cash your checks, order a stack of buttermilk pancakes or a burger, pick up a loaf of bread and a bottle of Tide, and get your daily dose of the latest happenings in Acacia, too. The post office–general store–luncheonette wasn’t just Acacia’s hub. It was Gossip Central.

Mia wasn’t big on gossip. She’d been the butt of it too often. But as she inserted her key into the metal mail- box and retrieved the mail, dropping half of it into the recycling bin and tucking the rest of it—bills, bills, and more bills—under her arm, the air around her buzzed.

Reid Knowles’s name reverberated from all corners of the interior.

There was no escaping it.

About Once Tasted:

Everything has come easily to Reid Knowles, the middle son of a California ranching family. But his charmed life is suddenly complicated when his good friend and neighbor asks him to help run the winery next door. His neighbor’s niece, Mia Bodell, is in charge—and she has made it clear that she’d rather be roped to a steer than to Reid Knowles. Never one to back down from a challenge, Reid vows to win her trust.

            In a life marked by loss, Mia knows that nothing comes easily—love included. In high school, her heart was crushed by Reid, and even though years have passed, the hurt lingers. Mia is achingly aware that the teen heartthrob has matured into a devastatingly handsome playboy, and the budding winemaker refuses to let down her guard. But one taste of unbridled passion changes things. From Reid’s first intoxicating kiss to his unexpectedly tender seduction, Mia is swept into a passionate affair that could tear her heart to pieces . . . or give her everything she has ever wanted.

Buy links:

Amazon  

Barnes & Noble:

Indiebound: