Reese Ryan Romance

Colorful characters. Sinfully sweet romance.

Television Shows

Complicated Characters. Challenging Relationships.

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Summer Lovin' Blog HopI’m fascinated by complicated characters. My favorites include Sherlock Holmes (played by Jonny Lee Miller in Elementary), Raylen Givens (Justified), Mary Shannon (In Plain Sight) and James Bond (played by Daniel Craig). They are prickly, a bit dark and extremely hard to love.

No wonder their characters rarely have serious love interests. When they do, the two seem to be a volatile mixture of chemicals ready to blow at any moment. That’s what makes writing a complicated character in a romance a bit more challenging.

After all, in a romance we are essentially guaranteeing a happily ever after, or at least a happy for now. Something we rarely see complicated characters in television and movies get.

That’s because loving and living with a complicated person can be taxing. But if the character grows as a person over the course of the story, it can be a truly beautiful thing to watch. Yes, they make us frustrated and angry, maybe even bring us to tears. Yet, we are thrilled to see them reach a point where they are open to being loved and are able to do so in return. Despite their imperfections.

Jamie Charles, the heroine in my latest release, Love Me Not, is definitely a complicated character. She had a very difficult childhood. In response, she’s developed a thick outer skin. Like a callous that forms to protect the raw, damaged layer underneath. Jamie can be sarcastic, judgmental and sometimes plain mean. Yet, she’s bright, talented and fiercely loyal to the people she loves.

Fully aware of her flaws, Jamie has made a conscious choice not to get emotionally involved with anyone. She doesn’t see herself as the kind of girl capable of giving her heart to someone. The risk feels too great. However, when Miles Copeland comes along, he isn’t convinced by Jamie’s tough girl act and he believes he’s just the man to prove her wrong.

Miles is also a multi-faceted character. On the surface he’s handsome, affable and charming. However, below the surface he is battling demons of his own.

Loving Jamie is certainly a challenge. One Miles believes is worth it. As long-held secrets are revealed, Jamie comes to terms with her past and slowly begins to recognize that she is indeed capable of loving  Miles and worthy of his love.

Do you like complex characters in books, television and movies? If so, tell me who your favorites are in the comments below. If complicated characters drive you crazy, tell me why you loathe them. Your comment will enter you for a chance to win a digital copy of my Bad Boys Gone Good series, which includes Love Me Not, and signed Keeper Kase postcards for both books in the series (mailed to U.S. and Canadian addresses only)

Then be sure to enter the Rafflecopter contest below for your chance to win the awesome Summer Lovin’ Blog Grand Prize: a $75 Amazon Gift Card; a $25 Starbucks e-card and your choice of a $25 Amazon or B&N Gift Card.

Love Me Not Summary

Tortured artist, Jamie Charles’ life is a careful balance between flashes of brilliance and self-loathing. Her art is as dark and dramatic as her painful past. Her resentment of the biological parents—who were too preoccupied with their addictions to bother with her—fuels her ambition to succeed as an artist, but also takes a heavy, personal toll.

Love Me Not by Reese RyanMiles Copeland climbed to the top of his advertising agency because he isn’t afraid of taking risks and because he has something to prove to the father who betrayed his family. But when he falls for a moody, Gothic beauty with zero interest in anything but a purely physical relationship, he finds himself in dangerous territory.

Jamie prefers living hard and fast without the complications of love, but finds it impossible to resist the stunningly handsome, yet incredibly sweet man who is determined to have every piece of her–including her heart. Miles shows Jamie the beauty of being loved madly and deeply, but is it enough to make her finally learn to love herself, and open her heart to him?

Buy Love Me Not on Amazon
Buy Love Me Not at Barnes & Noble
Buy Love Me Not on iTunes

Summer Lovin’ Blog Hop:

Hop on over to the Summer Lovin’ Blog Hop to visit other participating blogs here: www.hopswithheart.blogspot.com . Enter the Summer Lovin’ Blog Hop giveaway below:

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Diverse Families and the Shades of Romance

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Today the Swirl Awards hosts the 2nd Annual Loving Day Blog Hop. This online event joins various other celebrations across the United States which commemorate the U.S Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Loving v. Virginia, which struck down anti-miscegenation laws in the United States.

That landmark decision removed legal barriers that prohibited marriage between couples of different races. However, many of the societal deterrents remained firmly in place.

It is no longer uncommon to see diverse families in our communities. In fact, the majority of us would hardly give a second thought to seeing a woman walking down the street with a baby of another ethnicity in her arms. Yet, for those of us living outside of that experience, it is easy to forget that not everyone in the world is as an opened-minded and accepting as we are.

Then an innocent Cheerios commercial features a diverse family with a Caucasian mother and an African-American father and suddenly all hell breaks loose.

Such moments remind us of the importance of commemorating decisions like Loving v. Virginia and that for all the delusions talk of a post-racial society, the world really isn’t made of sunshine and rainbows and we’ve got a lot of work to do, as a society, still.

In the Today Show segment above, one of the observations made is that interracial families are rarely portrayed on television, especially in advertising. As our nation becomes increasingly diverse, such a glaring absence of multicultural families in advertising and other media is decreasingly reflective of who we are as a society.

Art often reflects society. However, it also has the power to shape it. Diversity in art, such as movies, television shows and multicultural books isn’t just entertaining. It can also subtly shift our mindset. There is no shortage of multicultural art available, including multicultural and interracial romances penned by many of the authors taking part in the Loving Day Blog Hop. However, unless we raise the profile of diverse books and movies, few mainstream readers will ever see them. One of the many reasons #WeNeedDiverseBooks.

But that’s a post for another day. 😉

The LOVING DAY BLOG HOP, which celebrates the many shades of romance, kicks off at 9:00 am EST today and features posts by participating authors on a variety of topics surrounding interracial love/marriage, and of course the Lovings. They’ve also graciously donated free books, gift cards and swag to help us celebrate. So be sure to visit the next author along the stop.

BadBoysGoneGoodCoversRedux

Here at the Reese Ryan Diaries, I’m giving away digital copies of the two books in my Bad Boys Gone Good series: Love Me Not and Making the First Move. The stories feature heroines Jamie Charles and Melanie Gordon, both members of the diverse, non-traditional Gordon family.

To participate and enter to win great prizes during the Loving Day Blog Hop:

  • Leave a comment on this post to enter for a chance to win digital copies of both books in my Bad Boys Gone Good series: Love Me Not and Making the First Move.

Recap: Life on the Other Side of 40, the Romantic Comedy Drought and the How I Met Your Mother Finale

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A still from one of my favorite romantic comedies, Pretty Woman.

The past couple of months have been insanely busy. Though I haven’t posted frequently here on the Reese Ryan Diaries, I’ve been pretty active around the ‘net. This week:

  • Today I’m over at All Things Girl, where it all started for me, talking about The View from Here (or life on the other side of 40).

Got a minute to pop over to one of the above stops to say hello? I’d love to see you! In the meantime, happy reading.

By the way, if you haven’t already registered for my VIP mailing list, you can do so by clicking on the hot pink bar on your left, or by popping your email address into the form on the top right sidebar. The next newsletter will go out next week and this month and next there will be exciting announcements and prizes. I want you to be the first to know.

Smooches!

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Saying Good-bye to How I Met Your Mother #HIMYMFarewell

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Today I’m over at Sulia’s Romance Chanel, where I blog five days each week, saying good-bye to the long-running sitcom, How I Met Your Mother. 

I’m a late-comer to the show. I only started watching it a few years ago. Thanks to syndication I was able to catch up pretty quickly and it soon became my favorite sitcom.

There are so many episodes of the show that make me break out into laughter when I think about them:

The Pineapple Incident

How I Met Your Mother -- The Pineapple Incident Episode
After a crazy night of drinking, Ted wakes up the next morning with a sprained ankle, a burned jacket, a phone number written on his arm, a pineapple on his dresser, and a mystery woman in his bed. The gang tries to help Ted piece together exactly what happened the night before.

 

Spoiler Alert

How I Met Your Mother--SpoilerAlert
The gang points out that Ted’s new girlfriend isn’t as perfect as he thinks. He responds by pointing out all of their annoying flaws. They then reveal Ted’s worst flaw.

Swarley

How I Met Your Mother--Swarley
Ted and Barney tell Marshall he has to dump the sweet, shy barista he’s dating because she has “crazy eyes.” Lily proves to be pretty crazy herself when she learns that Marshall is going out on his first date since their breakup.

The Stinsons

How I Met Your Mother -- The Stinsons
The gang finds out just how far Barney will go to make his mother happy. He’s been pretending to have a wife and son. However, the gig is up when Ted decides to put the moves on Barney’s fake wife.

Dowisetrepla

How I Met Your Mother--Dowisetrepla
When Marshall and Lily decide to buy a new apartment, Lily is forced to come clean about her shopping addiction and credit card debt. They get their dream apartment, only that fancy neighborhood “Dowisetrepla” comes with an unwanted bonus.

Intervention

How I Met Your Mother -- Intervention
As everyone is preparing to make huge life changes, Ted discovers that the gang ditched their plans to stage an intervention for his engagement to Stella. He insists that they follow through on their plans, but finds it hard to hear what they have to say.

How I Met Everyone Else

How I Met Your Mother -- How I Met Everyone Else
While everyone meets Ted’s new girlfriend who falls on the wrong side of Barney’s Crazy/Hot scale, they share their stories of how they met each other. But the stories don’t quite match up.

The cast that created the characters we’ve come to consider as friends said a lovely good-bye and thank you to their fans. Check out the good-bye video below.

If you’re a fan of the show, who is your favorite character? Which episodes make the list of your favorites?

#HIMYMFarewell