Hey all! Today is a special guest post by fellow author, Angela Hartley. Please join me in congratulating her on the release of her debut novel! 

“Love” is a powerful, and confusing word. Novels romanticize it, songs over-dramatize it, the scorned ostracize it, swindlers exorcise it, and very few prioritize it. Different views on being loved, or loving varies just as much as the personalities of the people who are experiencing the emotion. As a writer, I’ve been a constant observer of the human condition. Throughout my years, I’ve noticed two trends are fairly universal when one develops strong feelings.

For some, love comes easily, like a brilliant lightning bolt, fast and furious, but it can be just as fleeting. Others are more like candles dipped in water. The flame is slow to ignite, but it burns steady and true forever.

My opinion is lightning bolts fall in love with the idea of being in love. They’re hopeless romantics who fall in love at first sight. It truly is a beautiful thought. The stuff great poets composed sonnets about, but the bards of the past failed to share how temporary this condition can be. Without a strong basis of compatibility, the fantasy evaporates just as quickly as a thin fog.

Candles are realists. They approach love cautiously, like a cliff crumbling beneath their feet. In their minds, there is no such thing as a perfect relationship, and tend to be afraid of falling.

When these two elements come together, that is when real magic can happen. Living with someone day in and day out takes a lot of work and dedication. If you love someone enough to fall, and continue to fall, this is the true essence of real love. This concept means you never give up on the other person, even when it would be easier to quit.

In my novel, Copper Descent, I set out to forge a relationship between my two main characters, Nate and Nina, which could withstand even the devil himself. One of my favorite passages is when Nina realizes how strong unconditional love can really be:

“Is he really worth staying for, worth dying for?” Sinclair asked, perplexed over Nina’s attachment to someone he considered so insignificant. With the question, her view regarding death shifted. After her parents passed, she had thought of little else, had yearned for the sweet oblivion only leaving this plane of existence would bring. But now she understood. Ending her life was the coward’s way out. Nina wanted to do more than die for Nate, she wanted to live.

Suddenly, the girl plagued with insecurity and held captive by her eccentricity was gone. Standing taller, she accepted her legacy.

“Dying is easy. I would die for almost anyone. This isn’t what you really want to know. You of all angels should be posing the right question, Lucifer,” Nina said, accusation enunciating every word. Sinclair flinched at the mention of his true name. “What you need to ask is: ‘Would I give up my soul for him?’ and the answer is yes. Nate is my first and only love, and above all else, decent, loyal and easy to respect. My very best pieces are reflected through his eyes, and I would offer this man any part of me.”

Imagine how different our world would be if everyone loved so completely.

Angela Hartley spent much of her childhood being shuffled from house to house with only a book for companionship. The magic she found in the written word saved her in many ways, transporting her into worlds far more enjoyable than the one she resided in. Literature became a passion and the idea of writing carried her through years of uncertainty.

After high school, she met and married her own Prince Charming. They rode off into the sunset in his blue Toyota and a whole new world full of hope and happiness opened up. He claimed they could move mountains together, and they did.

While facing the painful realization that sometimes there are no tomorrows following her father’s tragic death in 2005, she decided it was time to follow her dreams. With the love and support of her family, she dove into another world, full of procreating angels and demon rock stars.

Her debut new adult horror novel, Copper Descent will be released on Amazon May 2014. Angela currently resides in Midway, Utah with her three children and husband.

www.angelahartley.blogspot.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Angela-Hartley/267442633281341

Publisher: www.foxhollowpublications.com