Love At First Flight: New Review

From Natalie at Wild on Books:

Love at First Flight

Marie Force

Juliana is on her way to see her boyfriend Jeremy. Michael is in the same airport waiting on a flight to take him to an engagement party being hosted by his soon to be in-laws. They strike up a conversation and promise to look for each other after the weekend is over to compare their visits on the flight home.

Juliana’s weekend goes nothing like she ever planned. Jeremy is just as she remembered him except for his admission that he has had thoughts of cheating. Juliana does her best to forgive him but when his cell phone rings while he is showering and a woman’s name pops up on the caller ID, Juliana knows that she and Jeremy need a break.

Michael’s time with his fiancée Paige and her parents is pure torture. Paige’s father is a military man through and though and as such, makes no qualms about trying to find Michael a job in Florida so that Michael and Paige can live close to home. When an announcement is made at the engagement party – one that Michael had not been notified about – he sees red. Enough is enough and Michael has had enough. Breaking off his engagement to Paige is the hardest thing he has ever done but it is something that had to happen. Now Michael can concentrate on the upcoming trial of two murderous mob bosses in peace.

Juliana and Michael see each other in the airport as planned and enjoy the flight home. What starts out as simple conversation with a stranger turns into something so much more and before Juliana and Michael know it, they are spending every waking moment together.

LOVE AT FIRST FLIGHT is a captivating look at how two strangers can build a relationship of love and commitment. Juliana and Michael had no idea when they started talking before their flight that they would end up together. Michael was swamped at work with a trial to worry about – Juliana needed to be concerned about her boyfriend and her mother. Michael’s treatment of his fiancée Paige was infinitely better than I thought she deserved – especially after every single thing she put him through. I despised her from the first scene and never really warmed up to her. I found Paige to be selfish and the typical spoiled rich princess. Michael put up with her more than I would have and I caught myself trying to tell him how to handle her. As for Juliana, she was loyal to a fault but I never doubted her feelings for Michael – even with Jeremy still trying to win points with her and get back in her good graces.

When you add in the intrigue and suspense of Michael’s high profile trial, I found myself on the edge of my seat frantically reading to find out what happened. Realistic to the ‘nth’ degree, I could see the events unfolding in the courtroom and felt like I was right there to witness them.

The love Michael and Juliana felt for each other seemed to happen quickly and simultaneously but I never discredited their feelings. The love they found themselves sharing with each other was that of soul mates and it was exactly what each needed. They loved sensuously and every touch was full of emotion and caring. I found their exploration of each other to be fascinating and it was as if I was witnessing a realistic and committed relationship unfold.

LOVE AT FIRST FLIGHT by Marie Force is most definitely a keeper. It is an astounding book. I loved every single word!

Thank you, Natalie!

July 20: Join Me for a Book Club Chat

We're going to talk about Love at First Flight right here on the blog on Monday, July 20, from 8 p.m. Eastern Time until we're done! So get your copies early and get them read so we can talk about all the juicy details. I'll pose a couple of questions and then we'll burn up the comments talking our faces off about Michael, Juliana, Paige, Jeremy, Rachelle, Mrs. R, the rotten Benedetti brothers, Juliana's dysfunctional family, Michael's sisters—the whole gang.

I want to know what you think of a few things that happen in the book. And, you can ask me any questions you have about the plot, the characters, the settings, the writing process. It's open mic night on the blog!

July 20, 2009
8 p.m. EASTERN
Bring Your Questions, Your Opinions and a Glass of Wine!

**There Will Be SPOILERS, so if you haven't read the book, don't look!

**A prize will be awarded to the most insightful book club participant!

Check out my blog tomorrow, June 6, on the Casablanca Authors Blog where I talk about Love, Sex and Murder as it applies to Love at First Flight!

Twenty-four days to go!!

This Could Only Happen to a Romance Writer...

Before I forget, I want to say HELLO to Dan's cousin Jerry and his wife who told me when I was recently in Indiana that they are big fans of the blog and read it regularly. Thanks guys, but I think you have to prove it to me by commenting one of these days!! :-) Nice to see you both!

Right outside my office window is a bird house that sees a LOT of activity every spring. Each year a new family (I assume they are new or this woman has a LOT of kids by now--the bird world's Octomom) moves into the little house and the parents spend hours each day carting in junk from the yard to make their nest. They loved when Consuela was around because her hair was everywhere and it was very popular bedding material. Yesterday, I'm sitting here minding my own business and trying to work when Mom and Dad decided to "take a little time for themselves." Outside the house. In front of me. OMG, I have NEVER seen birds humping before. I didn't even know they could! Dan says, DUH, where do you think the babies come from? To be honest, I'd never given that much thought! Wings were flapping, there was lots of chirping, and then a THIRD bird came along. Apparently this was too much for Mom and Dad because they chased off the interloper and continued what they were, ahem, doing. I was relieved to discover that Mom and Dad aren't swingers!

Today, in a brazen attack, a squirrel ran up the side of the shed where the birdhouse is mounted and plopped himself on the roof of the birdhouse. Mom and Dad FREAKED out and managed to chase away an animal that was easily ten times their size. I guess the parental protection gene is the same in all species. In a few weeks, the incessant chirping of the baby birds will drive me BATTY, but until then I'm enjoying watching Mom and Dad and their many adventures. It's like Wild Kingdom around here.

While we are on risque topics (and there will be a risque point to this if you stick with me), my friend Cheryl initiated a discussion about Twitter today, basically asking the question: WHY? This is what she said, and I couldn't agree more even though I'm under tremendous pressure to join the Tweet bandwagon to help sell books: There's actually a fairly big divide in our company about this, with the youngsters wondering 1) how we (old people) could breathe every day without using (social media tools), 2) how did we even get to live this long and 3) why we don't jump on this bandwagon, for which we are already way behind the curve. The old people like me and my bosses wonder 1) what the hell do you do with all this stuff, 2) what's in it for me, 3) if I want the information I seek it out, 4) if I want to talk to someone I call them or email them, I don't need to track down my old gym teacher from 1st grade, 5) if the youngsters are so smart, why are the old folks their bosses? (I like that last part the best. Reminds me of that line from Fried Green Tomatoes: I'm older, I'm stronger, and I have better insurance. We may be old and stupid, but we are the bosses!) Anyway, so one of her friends replied with this gem: I do not tweet, but I laugh because in an interview, Stephen Colbert said that he had "twatted." Now that is funny!

And since we're going for it on the risque for the day, I give you this, which quite simply cracked me up:




Thanks to my friend Chris who sent that one!

T Minus 29

I meant to write a T Minus 30 posting yesterday, as we are now in the 30-day countdown to the launch of Love at First Flight! However, I was felled by my annual spring sinus event over the weekend, and yesterday was a bit of a lost day. Sooooo much has been going on around here that I've had zero time for anything. I'm sorry to have been out of touch lately. Since we last chatted, my father-in-law passed away in Indiana. He was 86, and it was expected, but it still came as a surprise to us when we got the call two weeks ago today—and yes, that was two weeks to the day after Consuela died. His funeral was held the Friday before Memorial Day, the one weekend of the year when something really big happens in Indiana: The Indy 500. We got some major sticker shock when we looked into flying. So we ended up driving. Before we left, however, we had to make a mad dash to the mall to outfit two kids who grew a foot this winter and had not a funeral-worthy stitch of clothing between them.

Here's a little something I wrote about my father-in-law for the Casablanca blog:

As writers we strive to create unforgettable characters, and sometimes we meet people who are so unique, so singular that we realize we could never make up something better than what’s right in front of us. Richard Force was just that kind of person. His life spanned many adventures—including a stint as a carnival worker and service to his country in World War II as a member of the prestigious Flying Tigers, during which he was shot down over occupied China and spent a month hiding in rice fields until he was rescued. He never ate rice again.

After the war that took the life of his older brother, Richard returned home to Indiana, married his childhood sweetheart, fathered six children (mine is the fifth Force of nature), and went to work building bridges for the railroad in the Midwest. He took great joy in his ten grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. He was one of the funniest, most outrageous people I’ve ever met—a true character in every sense of the word. And when I think of him, I’ll remember living near them in Florida and how he came running any time I needed help with my kids when my husband was deployed with the Navy. Our relationship was all about razzing each other on a wide variety of topics, ranging from who was a better Euchre player (definitely him, but I can only admit that now that he’s gone) to whether the Cubs or the Red Sox were baseball’s most cursed team (I finally prevailed on that one thanks the 2004 Sox). I’ll never forget mentioning that I was the only woman in the Force family who can’t sew like a professional. “You,” he said, “have other talents.” I certainly hope he was referring to my writing, but knowing his wicked sense of humor, I was afraid to ask! I loved him, and I’ll miss him.

The road trip out and back was fairly smooth. The kids are great travelers as they've been road-tripping with us since they were babies. Back in the day, we had to bring car seats and pack-n-plays as well as two rowdy dogs. These days, it's all about electronics: iPods, iTouches, PSPs, cell phones and a huge bag of chargers to keep all the gadgets going. We also took along my dad's Garmen, the first time we've traveled with the aide of GPS technology. We named her Lola, and Dan finally found a woman who bitches at him more than I do. He argued with her all the way to Indiana and back again! I got wife of the year points by allowing him to listen to the Indy 500 on the radio for FOUR HOURS. Zoom, zoom, zoom...

It was great to spend time with our Indiana family as well as the large group of cousins and friends that six siblings accumulate along the way. I also enjoyed watching my son Jake, the youngest grandchild on both sides of the family, chase his older cousin's babies. He loved that he finally got the chance to play the role of the BIG cousin. On the way back, we drove the full 16-hour, 950-mile trek in one very long day. What seemed like a great idea in eastern Pennsylvania became a bit precarious by eastern Connecticut. But we made it safe and sound and were glad to be home.

For those of you keeping track, yes this has really been a hell of a year for my family. But while we were away, my father got a clean bill of health from his neurologist, closing the final loop on his January head injury. And July 1 marks the start of the second half of the year, the same day Love at First Flight hits stores. Let's hope it's the start of a positive, productive, PEACEFUL second half of 2009! Nowhere to go but up!

Word of the Week: Crazy!

Sorry it's been so long since I've been by to say hello! Holy MOLY, I always forget how INSANE this time of year is around here. At the top of our list of commitments last week was Emily's play. She was Frenchy in Grease and made for an adorable Pink Lady in her final performance in middle school. I still think about the moment two years ago when she stepped on stage as Ms. Darbus in High School Musical and I realized, very clearly, that this is her THING. She is truly talented and stands out from the crowd. We are proud. Can you tell? While I am in Mommy Gush Mode, Jake had a FABO baseball game on Saturday. He had a hit that made it into the outfield (a big deal for a 10-year-old) and he made a diving catch that saved two runs from scoring. The best part was the way he kept looking into his glove to make sure the ball hadn't fallen out. He was given the game ball by the coaches and floated on air for the rest of the weekend. We are proud of him, too!

Somehow I've also gotten roped into once again helping to plan my high school reunion. I was, by no means, in with the in crowd in high school (which was JUST FINE with me), so why am I doing this? Well, I helped plan the last one and was pleasantly surprised to make some new friends among the group of old acquaintances. In fact, it was more fun to PLAN the reunion than it was to ATTEND the reunion. (DOH--did I say that out loud or just think it? :-) Once again, I'm enjoying the "reunion meetings," which have become a joke with our husbands because most of the time we don't talk about the reunion. We had three meetings before we actually did anything--LOL!

May and June are the busiest months of the year at work, and we're really into the scrum of things now. My company, AGA, puts on an annual meeting for 2000 government finance professionals, and my job is to oversee all the printed stuff, including the 100+ page program, among several other publications, hundreds of signs, etc. So the requests are coming fast and furious! I also got the blogging schedule for Love at First Flight last week, which freaked me out since it kicks into gear the second I get back from AGA's meeting in New Orleans. Ack! Somehow it will all get done. Somehow. Anyone else in favor of cloning?? Show of hands?

All of this craziness is seriously cutting into my TV watching time. It's season finale time! I was really disappointed by the Brothers & Sisters finale, where nothing at all happened, but I love that show and I'll be back for more in September. Private Practice and Grey's Anatomy ended with real cliffhangers that will have me tuning in this fall. If Grey's is killing off Izzy and George, I'll miss her but not him. He's blah, does nothing for me, and I can't seem to brain scrub the oh-so-wrong image of him and Meredith attempting to fool around a few seasons ago. Ugh... Nasty! I'm going to be pissed if Derek and Meredith's wedding is ONLY the post-it note. That will NOT DO IT for me after all these years of waiting for them to get it right. Do you HEAR ME SHONDRA???? I wish I was a writer on that show! Call me if you think I can help.

I can't wait to see what happens on American Idol this week. How about you? If Adam Lambert doesn't win, it'll be a total robbery. Did you see him all but anointed on the cover of Entertainment Weekly two weeks ago? They said he's the most original Idol contestant in the show's history. I like Kris Allen a lot too, but Adam should win. Even Simon thinks so! And tonight.... drumroll please.... let the games begin again with a new season of The Bachelorette. I'm strangely, oddly, and gleefully obsessed with this show. I'm not sure what I like best--the potential for romance or the idiotic behavior of the contenders. The idiocy is definitely better when it's a houseful of catty women fighting over one guy. The guys aren't quite as unhinged but we can still expect some OH-MY-GOD-HE-DID-NOT moments! I'll be sure to mention them here!

Anyone else feel that Jon and Kate and their plus 8 used up their 15 minutes of fame about a month ago? Enough already. Who cares?

What are you watching? What did you think of the finales?

Finally, a lot of you have asked how we're doing since Consuela died. I can't believe she's already been gone two weeks. I miss her so much, and it's a lonelier around here without her, but I'm glad she's not suffering anymore. Watching her decline was almost as painful as losing her. Thanks for all the kind words and messages. It helps.

It's All in a Name...

Did you all see the news yesterday that Emily was knocked out of the top position as the most popular girl's name in America? Did you happen to notice that Jacob continued to reign as the top boy's name? Yes, those are my kids' names. LOL! There are six Emily's in her 8th grade class and at least four Jacobs in his 4th grade class. Back when I named my kids, I didn't know anyone who had kids with either name. Despite the "common-ness" I don't regret either name. Emily was ALWAYS my name for a girl and Jake was the only boy's name Dan and I could agree on--and Jake is eternally grateful because his father was interested in the name Cleetus for a boy--and NO, I am NOT kidding. He thought Cleet Force would be a cool name. Jake thanks God every day for his wiser, saner mother. I think we might someday have a dog named Cleetus as I had to make several concessions in rejecting my husband's very serious attempt to name my child that. I believe my exact words were, "The day you can push a 9-pound baby out your hoo-ha, you can name it Cleetus." (Luckily for me and my hoo-ha, the nine pound baby with the very large head came out via C-section, just like his sister.)

I love names and naming characters, and I love that old-fashioned names are back in vogue. Our nieces are Elizabeth, Anne, Patricia, Amy, Sara, Claire, Mary Grace and Isabel. Now those are some old names--and some of those nieces are in their 30s, so again, they were given those names before they were "back"! I have used a lot of older names in my books, as well. In fact, one of my favorite parts of writing is naming characters.

What are some of your favorite names?

I want to also say thank you for all the cards, emails, phone calls, and tremendous words of support about our recent loss. We sure miss Consuela and all her sweet, funny ways. I swear I still hear her paws clicking on the hardwood floors. We hope that she and Roscoe are having a grand reunion in dog heaven and are spending their days chasing blue racketballs and eating biscuits.

Farewell to My Best Friend

Broken windows and empty hallways
A pale lit moon in a sky streaked with gray
Human kindness is overflowing
And I think it's gonna rain today...

Remember this song from the movie Beaches? They played it after Hilary died, and it's running through my head on this gloomy, rainy day as I prepare to say farewell to my beloved Consuela the Wonder Dog later today (Tuesday). Her time has come. The inevitable can no longer be postponed.

We've had her for almost 17 years. To give you some perspective on that, we've been together since before Bill Clinton was sworn in as President, before anyone had heard of Monica Lewinsky. We found each other when my niece, who will soon finish her junior year in high school, was an infant. The three of us became a family in our second month of marriage, and she has been the "other woman" ever since. I was a new Navy wife living in a foreign country, away from everything and everyone familiar. I'd been horribly homesick until she came along and made everything better just by being there. I have loved her for four years shy of half my life. The picture above was taken a week ago when we took her to the beach for the last time. To look at her there, you'd never know anything was wrong.

Here's my favorite photo of Consuela and our other beloved friend, Roscoe, who died in 2006. The dynamic duo, in their prime.



When I think of Consuela, I'll remember our routines. After we put my son on the bus (otherwise known as the biscuit wagon to Consuela, who got morning and afternoon treats from the monitor for the last seven years), I'd say "Let's go to work, girl." At mid-day, I'd say, "Let's go to lunch." At 3:30 each day, I'd stand up to go meet the afternoon bus, and she'd dart up the stairs ahead of me, anxious to get her treat. She'd lay in the yard watching for the first flash of yellow to reach the top of the street. Then she would stand up and engage in an elaborate stretching ritual that never varied from one day to the next. We knew something was really wrong with her when she lost interest in the bus biscuits.

I'll miss running downstairs to do a quick errand and returning to find her waiting patiently for me at the top of the stairs, chin resting on paws, ears on full alert, that scrumptious little face waiting there just for me. I'll miss tripping over her outside the bathroom door, and I'll miss that little tuft of white hair on the top of her head, the sweetest kissing spot. I'll miss the velvety feel of her ears and the way she hated for us to touch her front paws. Last week, Dan wrote movingly of losing his favorite running buddy.

Our family and friends have been so supportive during this difficult time as they know what Consuela has meant to us since the beginning of our life as a married couple. Everything we are as a family started with the three of us, and it's hard to believe that we'll have to go the rest of the way without her. My dear friend Liz, our next-door neighbor in Spain, put it best: "It's the end of an era."

Of course at times like this, talk inevitably turns to someday getting another dog. We will. Maybe in the fall after we've had time to process the loss of Consuela. Our kids deserve the opportunity to rescue a needy dog from the pound and give it a loving home, the way we did for Consuela and Roscoe long before our kids were even born. I'm sure that Dan and I will come to love a new dog and to appreciate its unique personality. But there will never, ever be another Consuela. Rest in peace, old friend. You were greatly and truly loved.