How did ‘Romance Springs Eternal’ Come to be?
iReadIndies began as a collective of authors before becoming a non-profit. One thing our founder KC Luck liked to do was put anthologies of original stories together to give away to readers and to help the authors of the collective build name recognition and their email lists with readers interested in hearing from them.
When we became a non-profit, we looked at ways we could raise funds to continue KC’s legacy indefinitely. One of the things we “thought of” was actually selling an anthology once in a while…for money. Novel concept, eh?
We put out a call for stories that took place in the spring for an anthology to be dubbed, ‘Romance Springs Eternal.’ We suggested the tropes Friends to lovers, and best friend’s sister, but that wasn’t ironclad.
What did we get?
Coming off a Valentine’s list builder anthology and a fundraising auction, we ‘only’ got five stories, including one I wrote. But, oh, what great stories they are (the other four, anyway. I won’t be rating my own work).
We have two stories featuring friends to lovers:
- Butterscotch by Selina Shaw
- A Late Springtime by Carol Anne Douglas
There are two stories featuring the best friend’s sister romance trope, sapphic style, of course:
- Coming Home by Barbara Winkes
- The Bend Where I Fell for You by me, Anne Hagan
And finally there’s a great memory loss story by Edale Lane where women have to get to know each other all over again.
The authors and their Romance Springs Eternal Stories:
Selina Shaw was a new author for me. ‘Butterscotch’ is a great story and a good sign of things to come with this pen name. She writes other genre fiction under other names and I have confused at least one of them in the run-up to producing this anthology. We had to do a cover change to correct her name and reupload minutes after first publication!
Barbara Winkes and I have been friends and c0-conspirators – in a good way! – for a while now. We both love mystery and romantic suspense. We collaborated on an ice queen romance project and we have more of those planned, plus something we’ve both been putting out there as a ‘super secret project’ coming in the spring of 2025. I’m quite familiar with her work, and it came as no surprise whatsoever to me that she was able to weave a romantic suspense short story, ‘Coming Home’ as a spring themed romance befitting the collection. If you love her mystery and romantic suspense novels, you’ll like her story here.
Carol Anne Douglas wrote a sweet story, ‘A Late Springtime,’ about an older couple who are long time friends. One is going blind and the other is very attentive to her needs as they take their favorite spring walk. I loved the story. It developed so naturally and felt so real. Of course, I expected nothing less of this author as her other varied works have the same qualities. I have her novel ‘Choosing Yellowstone’ (endorsed by Katherine V. Forrest!) rising fast on my TBR list.
Me, Anne Hagan. I won’t rate my own story, ‘The Bend Where I Fell for You,’ but I will tell you I departed from my usual late 30s to 40 something main characters to write a potential couple in their mid-twenties for this one. And, as always with my work – romance or mystery – I surround them with friends as supporting cast. I’ve never been white water rafting, but I have canoed some rivers with class 1 and 2 rapids. Not quite the same I know, but certainly better than just winging it on a story. These ladies and their friends were brave to take on a rushing and rolling river in the spring, after the thaw, and with all the rain the season brings with it. I hope the story gives readers a sense of the adventure and the danger.
Edale Lane, another friend and co-conspirator, and a fellow board member at iReadIndies as her other authorial name, Melodie Romeo, is last but not least in the collection. Her story gives us a somewhat older couple, though she doesn’t reveal their ages. Memory care plays an intensely interesting role in this story. If you’ve read Edale’s mystery and romantic suspense work, this will be a nice departure for you, but with the same attention to detail and devotion to her characters.
We hope you enjoy these stories. They were available everywhere for a short time. They’re now exclusive to Amazon and also available via Kindle Unlimited.
