Tell Me Your Love Story: A Guest Post and a Giveaway from Julie Murphy
When I married my Irish husband an article in the local paper in Boise, Idaho read as follows:
‘A writer of Harlequin love stories could develop a novel from the romance of Julie Galdos and Con Murphy. The plot outline could be something like this: Julie, a Basque girl from Boise, is teaching English at a Japanese girl’s college in Nagasaki, Japan.
Con, an Irishman from Cork, Ireland and marine engineer with British Petroleum is working in a shipyard re-engineering a ship in Nagasaki, Japan.’ They meet over tempura. For him it’s love at first sight, for her, she thinks he’s a little quirky. Still, a masterful man in a boiler suit in the bowels of the engine of a super tanker with soft blonde hair and an Irish brogue…. Unsure, not enough time, they go their separate ways she, end of contract, back to Boise, he to sea.
Parting makes the heart grow fonder. In six months he flys from Ireland to Boise, as a surprise visit. Still unsure, she saves for another six months to fly to Ireland. Together they buy a ring with an amount of money he’s always planned to spend, saved to spend. They get engaged on a bus in London….
‘Sometimes the truth is as good as fiction,’ the headline to the article read. I say, ALWAYS the truth is as good as fiction. Everyone’s story is a love story. No matter who, where or how, a love story is in the details. Falling in love is always something to be written about. There’s generally never a straight line to love. Even in less romantic settings than Ireland, love is a shining, glorious moment, and new love is the story that romance novels elevate. Old love is the story romance novels adorn.
I admire people’s love stories, their moments of joy of being loved, how they got there, the hurdles they jumped. Everyone has one or more stories. Think of your’s now. It’s ups. It’s downs. It’s strengths, weaknesses, delight, humor. And never forget that the old adage, never go to bed angry, is the basis of a good romance novel, the anger, misdirection, the make-up. Yea! I’d love to hear your stories.
Julie G Murphy
Julie is giving away a copy of her book to two lucky readers! Make a comment below to be entered in this drawing!
A book that the Dowager Countess of Grantham would love.
Lady Eleanor Albright has left her, ‘brothel-loving, girl-seducing, entitlement-inflated husband with whom she can’t believe she ever had sex,’ and is—again— living with her Irish mother, Lady Adele Albright. With her daughter’s marital woes unacceptable, Lady Adele schemes to end Eleanor’s “problems” one of which is her daughter’s attachment to a man seven years her junior, a barrister, Lord Henry Faraday. To add insult to injury, Henry has included Eleanor, as an expert chemist (and purveyor of women’s creams), in the death of the sanctimonious Baron of Tweedmouth. To help her friend, the cherubic Baron’s son, Eleanor must defy family, society, even the man she loves. Louis may well have cracked under the pressure of his harsh, bullying father.
SatinRomance has Flipping Rich Bastards e-book at a discounted price .99 on Amazon until the end of the month.
FYI: This book is on sale right now for 0.99 at Amazon!.
Also I would love it if you could leave a review on Amazon. Reviews eventually pay my publishers’ bills.
At the age of 24, I was a grad student, living in a ramshackle house out in the country with two of my best friends. One of them was the bass player for one of the most rockin’ bands around, Southern Culture on the Skids. She, in her day job, worked at a record store where, she’d begun to recount, a tall, rather geeky, kinda cute surgery resident had been coming in to buy records. She invited him to come hear her band play. One Saturday night, he did.
He arrived late on a Saturday night and realized, damn, he had no cash. He wandered into a late night grocery store and showed them his hospital ID–he’d forgotten his wallet at home–and asked if they’d cash a check for him; he had one in his car. They said yes, gave him the 25 bucks, and he headed to the club..
There, he paid the Billy the bouncer, bought a beer, and looked around. The place was packed. He saw two women dancing together: one, a gorgeous woman with spiky black hair and the other with brown spiky hair. He wondered if they were a couple. They smiled at each other as they danced, although the black haired one also kept smiling at the frenetic drummer—who was actually her husband. The song ended, the two women returned to the crowd and he decided to ask the one with spiky brown hair to dance. He reasoned that were she a lesbian, it wouldn’t sting as much if she said no.
He asked the woman, me, to dance. He looked so not my type–I’d been falling for musicians at that stage in my life and he looked, well, like a nerd. But he had a winning smile and I love to dance, so I said yes. The next song turned out to be the last of the night and, as we left, we kept talking. We went to the local biscuit shop, bought coffee, sat on a bench and talked for hours. When he walked me to my car, he asked for my number.
I came home that night, woke up my poor friend at four in the morning, and told her I would to marry the geeky doctor. Three years later, in September of 1988, I did. We still dance, mostly at home, and always to the horror of our four kids.
. What a great story. Lots of material in it.
My story is much simpler. It was Valentine’s Day and my then-boyfriend and his roommates threw a party. I met one of his graduate school classmates but didn’t think anything of it (see prior reference to having a boyfriend). When, not too long thereafter my boyfriend became my ex-boyfriend, his classmate expressed an interest. The classmate and I were together for over 40 years, had 3 children, and made each other laugh every day. He’s gone now but I take comfort in a J.M. Barrie quote I learned from one of my sons:: “God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December”; because of my husband I have roses every day.
Lovely! I love to hear about the couples that made it. So encouraging
Up until 6 years ago, I would have shared what I thought was a very special love story- a 30 year marriage, solid relationship, good friends, wonderful loverlife. Then (SHOCK) found out he loved a girl from high school and had been texting and calling her for over a year. Jeez, is this a cliché or what? Thanks for sharing your lovely story. I look forward to reading your book whether I win a copy or not :-)
Oh Lee, that is awful. And so similar to so many stories I’ve heard. My husband says he hears from many of his patients about partners falling for exes at high school/elementary school reunions.
I send you hugs.
I’m sorry. I hope you get to share someday you’re new love story. I knew a woman, my mother’s age, who went through the other-woman-end-of-marriage horrors. She eventually found a new guy, or he found her. She said to me that she finally really knew what love was. She was so happy. Finally died of cancer. I’m glad she experienced real love for many many years before her death.
What an interesting love story! My own love story involves a book (of course). In 1986, I was returning to work from lunch when a coworker (with whom, up to that point, I’d exchanged little more than social pleasantries) came to my cubicle to discuss a project. The book I’d been reading at lunch—Kate Chopin’s THE AWAKENING—was still on my desk. “Why are you reading this?” he asked. “Because I want to,” I replied, quite sassy. It turned out he had read it for a college class, so we started discussing it. I can’t say it was love at first sight, but it did start us looking at each other in a different light. Long story short: we’ve now been married for over 30 years and have three adult children. A few years ago, we stayed for several days in Grand Isle, Louisiana, where part of THE AWAKENING takes place.
I haven’t thought of that book in years!
If you ask me, the best way to connect with someone, over a book. Yea! And congrats on you longevity!
Thankyou for your uplifting post, so lovely to read of real life hea.
We so need those, surprised by joy moments, in the times we are living in.