In romance novelist Kimberly Llewellyn's books, love really does conquer all.
By MEGAN SCOTT
Published September 28, 2003
SAFETY HARBOR - Jackie eased into Tanner's hold as he lowered his mouth to claim hers. She melted into him and allowed herself to be blanketed in his endless embrace.
He tasted hot and sweet and all at once she was overpowered by the essence of him. . . . She found herself skyrocketing at a dizzying rate before drowning in the heat of his hold.
A fairy tale perhaps. Or a fantasy. A daydream for women searching for love.
But to Kimberly Llewellyn, the author of this excerpt from her romance novel, Pretty Please, it's all in a day's work.
"These women, their hearts have been broken. They've been jaded," she said about her characters. "The last man that you would think you would spend the rest of your life with, in the book, is usually the one."
Llewellyn, who lives in Safety Harbor with her husband, Mike, and 7-year-old son, Andrew, has been writing romance novels since 1990. She recently sold her third short contemporary romance novel to Avalon, a New York publisher. Tender Harvest is set to be released Oct. 24. The book will be available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.
The story centers on Sally Johnson, who inherits her parents' ailing cranberry bogs and must return home to save Misty Meadows. There, she runs into an old flame, Taign McClory, who opposes her plans for the bogs. Taign is the first man Johnson loved.
"In Tender Harvest, it's a reunion story, which is very popular in romance," she said. "Two lovers, or they were in love at one time, they had their hearts broken, they're back together. Can they overcome their past in order to be together?"
Llewellyn, 38, was never a hopeless romantic. But she always loved to tell stories. She grew up in Massachusetts and majored in nursing at Salem State College. But after spending time with Norman Mailer one summer, she changed her major to English. She then worked in desktop publishing, advertising and as corporate writer/editor.
But she never forgot about her writing. She started writing features for magazines and short stories in her spare time. Then one day she came across How to Write Romance.
It sparked an epiphany.
"I realized all my stories were love stories," she said. "And that's how I stumbled across the romance genre. I thought, this is it. I went to church, talked to God about it and I have never looked back."
Llewellyn writes romance novels. They're more sweet than super-steamy. There may be a couple of love scenes, but they don't happen until after Page 90. The books always have a man and a woman who have to overcome personal obstacles before they can actually love each other. It's no secret, the reader is guaranteed a happy ending.
"If the author does her job right, you make the obstacles in the book so big that the reader should have a hard time wondering how are these two people ever going to get together at the end," she said. "Because there could be so many problems between them. Usually they're very stubborn at the beginning. Sometimes they're in the way of each other."
It took Llewellyn about a year to write Tender Harvest. And it took her even longer to get it published. She doesn't have an agent. She sends her manuscripts to publishers interested in romance novels. Her books have gone through several revisions. She had to edit out some love scenes in Tender Harvest to fit the criterion for Avalon.
Her two other books, Soft Shoulders and Pretty Please, were published in 1999 by Kensington Publishing Corp. in its Precious Gem Romance line. They are short, sexy, sassy love stories. The books are sold exclusively in Wal-Mart stores nationwide.
"Kimberly had a fresh kind of giggly effervescent look at life," said Hilary Sares, an editor of Precious Gems, which has since folded. "But she is also a very romantic person. She just had a really nice, fresh style."
The love scenes were difficult to write in those books, Llewellyn said. She had to learn how to show the thigh, the hemline, not the whole naked body. She also had to master the art of incorporating tension in the scenes.
But the books are not about sex, she said. They're about sexual tension. Even though Tender Harvest doesn't include love scenes, there's an unmistakable element of emotion.
"As a writer, it's a build up of emotion until the end, so there's a release of tension at the end," she said. "There's this element when these two characters interact, the reader goes, "Will you just kiss her already?"'
Tara Spicer, a romance novelist in Palm Harbor, and Llewellyn often swap their writings with each other. Spicer, who writes under the name Tara Randel, has published three books: Lasting Love, Hidden Hearts and Melody of Love.
One of the things she likes about Llewellyn is her sense of humor. Spicer often laughs out loud when she's reading her friend's books.
"I think the point with all romance novels are that love is something that we all try for and that there is that one special person for us and that we can find that person," Spicer said. "Love is just that special bond that people have, that everyone wants and everyone strives for. I think we just like to tell those stories."
Llewellyn herself never pined for love. And she didn't dream about finding the right one.
She has had her heart broken. Her parents divorced when she was 18. But she believes in love.
She met her husband when she was in college in 1986, and they married in 1993. He works as a software engineer. Sometimes he slips into her stories. Meeting and marrying Mike has given her faith that there is someone out there for everyone, maybe more than one, she said.
Llewellyn has watched the romantic novel go through many changes. The women are no longer wimpy maids falling in love with rich, strong men. The women sometimes don't marry the men at the end and the books are not all about sex.
"Today's heroines are very strong and are focused on what they want," Llewellyn said. "They don't take crap from the hero. The heroine stands up for herself. They have the attitude that even if it doesn't work out with this guy, I'm going to be fine without him. And it's just really cool in the end when they get together."
Llewellyn is currently working on a "Chick-Lit" style romantic comedy, Chicka Chicka Boom, about single, professional women in their 20s and 30s. But she has a stack of unpublished manuscripts in her home office closet that she may pick up again.
Llewellyn is not in this for the money. Writing romance novels isn't that lucrative, she says, adding that a romance novelist may only bring in $30,000 a year.
Instead, her joy comes from watching people in the throes of one of her books. She calls it the swept-away syndrome. They don't walk. They float. They get a goofy look in their eye.
"My books help reaffirm the belief that there is somebody out there for them," she said. "It does show you that sometimes it takes work, takes struggle."
Her heart swelled as her dream unfolded before her; she'd finally found a good and decent man who wanted her to have it all.
"Are you ready Jackie Taylor?" He kissed her again, melting her.
"Oh, Tanner . . . yes. I'm ready for anything. As long as I have you."
