How will it end? That’s a silly question, in the world of erotic romance. Boy meets girl (or girl meets two boys, or girl meets girl, or...you get the gist), they fall in love, they have lots of sex along the way, and they decide to stay together. End of story.

We read (and write) romance primarily because we love the journey, and we like to think we know where it’s headed. What has surprised even us as we’ve watched our characters thread their way through their story is how deep they have to reach to find happiness. In a world filled with sex, love can be extremely elusive, and the self discovery that unfolds is often wrenching. Not all endings lead to just two-person commitments as characters search for and claim what they truly want.

If I say much more about how Kate in The Diary finds her happiness, I’ll give away the story, so I’ll just say her ending has a special twist, and turn instead to our prairie characters. Our woman homesteader has fled an urban existence and an ancient occupation she was certain could only lead to subservience, illness and death. She knows she is one of the lucky ones, and she’ll be as tenacious as Kate in hanging onto her vision of a free and independent future. But prairie life itself forces interdependence and requires relationships. Little by little, she’ll have to sort out what is the right balance for her and decide who she can trust, and with what.

Endings, of course, are only arbitrary punctuation marks in the long stream of life experience. We all know the story is merely beginning when characters commit to a new relationship. Like the bleached prairie grasses now bending under stiff autumn winds, characters will have to struggle with each other and the elements, follow the seasons of their life’s unfolding, renew their energies in the spring, and flourish for as many summers as they are given. A satisfying ending is one that convinces us this is both possible and desirable, even though we’re only permitted a brief glimpse at that future.

Ive enjoyed my week here and if I get a chance I might come back and post more thoughts over the weekend, but in case I don't, I want to thank Novelspot for creating this wonderful opportunity to connect with readers and inviting me to participate.

Adriana