Marahaba! Last weekend I got to hang out with one of my best friends in the whole wide world! Suzanne and I were inseparable in college. We both majored in international business. She actually double majored in IB and finance while I minored in history (yeah, I was the weird one in the business school). We bonded while interning together at the Jordan Investment Board in Amman. Suzanne is Arab and has family in Jordan so we lived with them and worked to develop a marketing plan that would attract foreign businesses to invest in Jordan. There were some glamorous moments--meetings at the US Embassy and other various ministries and industrial zones (plus the side trips to Petra and the Dead Sea)--but life overseas can be slow. So after a hard day's work we would kick back and relax with hummus, argeeleh, and a good book.
I should preface the rest of this post by telling you that I read a lot of quality books that summer. The Three Musketeers, White Oleander, A Separate Peace, This Side of Paradise, etc... However, not all of our reading ended up being quality. Suzanne's grandma, who doesn't speak English, noticed our love for reading so one day she brought us a box of books. She was excited to give them to us so we looked through them and guess what we found? 1970 Harlequin books! We flipped through a couple of the books on top and that was it--we spent the rest of the day lying on the bed surrounded by Harlequins and laughing hysterically. I've never read a modern book of this nature but it's pretty funny to see how tastes and preferences have changed. Apparently it was quite attractive to have massive amounts of chest hair in the 1970's.
Anyway, Suzanne and I went on to write a 17 page report on foreign direct investment in Jordan. We graduated college the following year. I moved to India and she got her master's degree and now works for World Vision in DC. We both have a strong interest in development work, but now we're thinking about changing our career paths. We went to Target this weekend so I could start registering, but as usual, we spent most of our time in the book aisle. There, unfortunately, we found a whole stack of CHRISTIAN Harlequin books! Yes, I'm afraid so. Out of all the wonderful literary works in the world there's a market segment out there who would rather read about how the mysterious and handsome Beau saves Lily Rose's life and teaches her to love again. Which got us thinking...we could write stories like that. On our way back from Target we came up with the plot for our first book.
Cade McCallister survives the tragic accident that took his brother Coby's life. Bitter and angry he turns his back on God and on love. Coby's beautiful fiancee, Victoria Rosewood, although devastated, finds she cannot abandon her faith. She goes out west to work at a ranch for underpriveleged children and put back the pieces of her shattered heart. After much prompting Victoria convinces Cade to come and spend a week at the ranch where he bonds with, Lenny, an exceptionally difficult child who no one else can reach. Despite his new friendship he remains largely aloof and cynical towards God and faith. Then an unexpected turn of events changes everything. Now Lenny is missing and Cade and Victoria find themselves face to face with with the very same fears they tried to leave behind. Will their hearts be broken a second time? Or will love conquer all?
About the authors: Suzanne Ammari and Julie Reagan met at Oklahoma Baptist University where they were both business students. After some overseas experience they decided to forgo development work to reach the world through a much more effective avenue: Christian romance. Nevermind that all their characters have beautiful faces, perfect bodies, and ridiculous names. It is their desire to encourage you in your faith by creating stories you can relate to and identify with. We know there are thousands of struggling Christian women out there who know exactly what it's like to be a prairie bride or to experience heartbreak in a quaint ski village...
Ok, I fear I'm being a little too sarcastic. But I actually think Suz and I have a pretty good plot for our first book. Maybe one day I'll get around to writing it. Don't wait around though. Feel free to go ahead and read something else for the time being. I recommend A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.
I promise I have more valuable things to write about. This blog was mostly in honor of Suzanne, who really gets my sense of humor and never ceases to ignite my passion for humanitarian causes. Thanks for visiting, Suz! A salaam wa alaykum.
