Hi! Do you believe in Love at First Sight? Do you like the trope in a story? Or are you generally wary of instalove, as it’s sometimes called a little less poetically? -
When two characters fall in love within days, like Justin and Andi in my mm romance GLACIER GOLD, I'm sure some will feel that here’s a romance author asking them to stretch their imagination beyond what’s reasonable.
But sometimes reality can be surprisingly fluffy. GLACIER GOLD has actually been inspired by two friends of mine: she’s from the US, he’s from Austria. She came to Tyrol for a vacation in his mother’s hotel, they went hiking together, and two weeks later, on her last day, he proposed. They’ve been married for fifty years now. Can you think of anything more romantic? And I didn’t even make that up!
Seriously though, it doesn’t necessarily take a lot of time to get a sense of someone.
Scientists say it’s decided in less than twenty seconds whether two people will hit it off or not. Anybody who’s been on a Tinder date (or, in the days of yore, on a blind date) knows that, because in nine out of ten cases the magic doesn’t happen, and you just know it the moment you set eyes on this guy who sounded so promising; you want to be gone because you know you’re wasting your time, but you can’t just get up and leave because you’re a decent person who wouldn’t want to hurt somebody’s feelings like that. The worst part being, most likely your date feels exactly the same about you…
But it can be the other way around too. There can be this feeling that everything about this person you’ve never seen before is, like, completely right.
Sure, there’s always a margin of error. Sometimes there’s wishful thinking involved. Or alcohol. But on a very lucky day, you just might find that on some deep level, something about this stranger truly speaks to you.
They might not even have the looks you expected from the love of your life.
I always thought I was meant for the black-haired, brooding type (―it probably had to do with reading Pride and Prejudice and watching the BBC series a couple of times too often, and yes, I am team Colin Firth ;)).
But suddenly there was this red-haired guy with the ready smile and the fun vibes, and, yeah.
On our wedding day, an elderly widowed aunt expressed her bewilderment at the madness to marry (we were quite young, and no one was pregnant). Luckily, neither my husband nor I had second thoughts. We were in love and didn’t think that much at all, I guess. A good twenty years later, I think I can safely say it wasn’t a mistake.
Love is stronger than different backgrounds, other people’s doubts, or even your own beliefs. And it can happen in a heartbeat.
If you like that idea, I invite you to read Justin’s and Andi’s story, GLACIER GOLD!
