Hello Everyone. I’m so pleased to be sharing my sexy contemporary romance Next Move. Both the hero and heroine are broken but their vulnerability is hidden deep down under a veil of success.  Divorced single mother Jocelyn has a town to save as the President and CEO and of the local Chamber of Commerce, an aging father to care for and a troubled teen. She has no time or interest for romance.

To open her up, I used a standard trope to have her meet our hero under conditions where she might be able to let her hair down, so that he sees her playful side, before he smacks into her take-no-prisoners professional mask. A trope is a standard convention writers use that they can assume readers are familiar with. Romance tropes include friends-to-lovers, ugly duckling (woman has makeover), older brother’s best friend-little sister pairing.  For Next Move, I stole a comedy trope””mixed up luggage.

Jocelyn meets Jared because they have same initials and their luggage get mixed up in a small regional airport where they’ve been grounded by the storm.  They have to exchange the bags in person, and happen to do it at the hotel bar. Far away from friends and family, Jocelyn can loosen up, so Jared meets her in a softer moment, uncluttered from life’s demands.

Here’s a snippet:

A hole-in-the-wall bar hid in the far corner of the hotel. The place buzzed with stranded travelers drowning their frustrations in pint-sized beers and posy-pink cocktails while their kids picked at the wallpaper and ducked under rickety tables in games of hide and seek. Jocelyn scanned the room, her attention drawn to a broad-shouldered man sitting at the bar. His long fingers traced the rim of a scotch glass, half full with amber liquid. No mini umbrellas or skewered maraschino cherries in sight. Her luggage leaned against the bar at the man’s feet. She headed toward it.

“Hello, I’m Jocelyn Wade. I believe you have my suitcase.”

He stood to greet her. “Jared Wyatt.”

Oh Lord, he’s luscious. Jocelyn clasped his outstretched hand, holding it longer than necessary. Her eyes swallowed him whole from his too-long black hair to well-worn roper boots. The in-between stuff wasn’t bad either. Faded black jeans molded to long, lean, well-muscled thighs, a black t-shirt strained against corded biceps and ice-blue eyes twinkled in amusement at her blatant inspection of his assets.

Jocelyn’s a pretty bold, sassy heroine which I like to read and write.   Do you have a favorite romance trope or a favorite heroine and why?

Sabrina Garie is on a journey to create the most kick-ass heroine in romance fiction. Meet Jocelyn, a single mom who gets a second chance at love in her newest book Next Move available from Ellora’s Cave and Amazon.