Spotlight #NewRelease ~ FIVE MINUTES TO LOVE by Jennifer Wilck
Please welcome a sister Rose from The Wild Rose Press, Jennifer Wilck! We're celebrating her new release, Five Minutes to Love. Grab a glass of champagne and let's take a peek into the research for this story from Jennifer...
Writing Five Minutes to Love was a lot of fun, but also tricky. You see, as writers, we’re taught to write what we know. Well, that’s great, but I’m not sure my life is interesting enough for someone to want to read about it. And, since I write romance, well, there are parts that could be tricky/embarrassing/etc. So I always take that advice with a grain of salt.
But what I do know is that people meet and get together in the most interesting ways. My parents, for example, met through a computer dating error. Now, when most people hear this, they think I’m crazy. My parents are in their seventies. How could that possibly happen? Well, when computers were those big mainframes, IBM wanted to show how useful they could be. So this company created a computer dating match up, where you signed up for a specific amount of time (I think it was 6 weeks, but I might be wrong). You filled out a paper questionnaire and sent it along with your money to the company. They entered the information into their computers, the computer analyzed it and printed out a list of your matches each week during your time period. Well, my mom did this with her friends and didn’t find anyone she connected with. When she was finished, my dad did it. But the computer made a mistake and re-input my mom. So she started getting calls from all of these men again, and she thought they were giving her a pick-up line. Eventually she realized what happened, thought my dad sounded nice, and went out with him. The rest is history—and is actually documented in a 1967 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine, Time Magazine and a few others.
I wanted my characters to meet in a fun way as well. So I had them go to a speed dating event. But of course, I added a twist—they both hated the event and escaped together! Now I just needed to do research. So I called some friends and got their horror stories, I researched events online, and I spied on an event I literally fell across while out to dinner one night. It was the most fun I’ve had researching any of my books, and I hope you enjoy it!
Blurb from Five Minutes to Love:
Aviva Shulman has had enough of the dating scene. Her father valued his high-powered career over his wife and family. She wants something more, someone who values her. But her roommates are determined to find her the perfect match.
Jacob Black doesn't have time for relationships. A third-year law student, he's focused on studying and getting a high-paying job with a top-notch law firm. But his overbearing mother wants him to find someone and settle down.
Their paths cross at a speed dating event and sparks fly. But is five minutes long enough to determine a future together?
Excerpt:
Aviva grabbed her ball, patted his arm, and aimed at the pins. Strike. She didn’t move. Jacob couldn’t figure out why she stood still, until her shoulders began to shake.
She was laughing. At him.
She turned around. Tears ran down her face. She inhaled. “I’m sorry. I swear I have no idea how it happened.”
“Sure you don’t.” As his grin widened, he bit the insides of his cheeks, folded his arms and did his best to look sad. “What a way to get a guy when he’s down.”
“You’re not down. You just challenged the bowling gods. They don’t like human challengers.”
“Bowling gods?”
“Of course. How else do you think we recreational bowlers manage it?” She stepped toward him.
Her green eyes were wide with fake innocence.
“Bowling gods.”
“Exactly. You challenged them.” At this point, they were toe-to-toe. Her floral scent wafted around him. He refocused on her words.
“As you like to say, Aviva, technically, I challenged you.”
“Yes, but with bowling skill, so you actually challenged them too.”
She looked supremely satisfied with her circuitous bowling logic. Jacob had an urge to kiss her. Her lips were full and pink and tantalizingly close.
Buy Links: AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | THE WILD ROSE PRESS
More about the author:
Jennifer started telling herself stories as a little girl when she couldn’t fall asleep at night. Pretty soon, her head was filled with these stories and the characters that populated them. Even as an adult, she thinks about the characters and stories at night before she falls asleep or walking the dog. Eventually, she started writing them down. Her favorite stories to write are those with smart, sassy, independent heroines; handsome, strong and slightly vulnerable heroes; and her stories always end with happily ever after.
In the real world, she’s the mother of two amazing daughters and wife of one of the smartest men she knows. When she’s not writing, she loves to laugh with her family and friends, is a pro at finding whatever her kids lost in plain sight, and spends way too much time closing doors that should never have been left open in the first place. She believes humor is the only way to get through the day and does not believe in sharing her chocolate.
She writes contemporary romance, some of which are mainstream and some of which involve Jewish characters. She’s published with The Wild Rose Press and all her books are available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
