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Love Is in the Air! The Sky Is Falling! Halp!
Have you ever noticed how romance novel protagonists aren’t particularly skilled at falling in love? I mean, they’re fairly good at the sex part, but then they start to fall for each other and turn into whatever the emotional equivalent of a jackhammer operated by a four-year-old is — they’re just kind of buzzing and hopping and flailing all over the place, and you really start to hope a fairy godmother will arrive and help them out before someone loses a leg.
I’m afraid the heroes and heroines of my Camelot series are no exception. Just look at the titles! We’ve got How To Misbehave, a title that presumes that if you put two hot twenty-somethings together in a dark basement, they still might not figure it out without instructions. Then there’s Along Came Trouble, wherein the arrival of a handsome, helpful, generous stranger is enough to throw our heroine, Ellen, into a helpless tizzy. And finally there’s Flirting with Disaster — a book in which the hero is incapable of speaking to the heroine, and the heroine isn’t even pursuing the right guy.
I’m sensing a theme here, folks. Love is perilous. Love might destroy us. SOMEBODY HELP.
Of course, no one can help my poor characters. They have to pull themselves out of these flail pits they’ve dug. But I can help you! If you’re as romantically impaired as my characters — or if you just like to win things — read on. I’ve put together a number of toolkits for the romantically impaired.
Prizes
Grand Prize!
One winner, whom I plan to crown “The Most Romantically Hopeless Among You,” will receive a $40 gift certificate to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or iTunes (winner’s choice). She or he should feel free to spend the money on romance novels, which s/he will then read on her/his couch in her/his pajama pants while eating the truly fantastic cookies and/or candy I will make for her according to her preferences.*
*I am especially good at salted caramels, mocha pound cake, peanut butter fudge, brownies, and any sort of cookies.
Three additional winners — for whom I hold out more hope — will each receive one of the following prize packages:
One-Night Stand Readiness Toolkit
In How To Misbehave, a tornado siren strands Amber and Tony together in a basement in the dark . . . and things start to get interesting. But what if, like Amber, you’re not all that prepared for things to get interesting? This prize is for you! The One-Night Stand Toolkit includes…
(1) Ruthie Knox breath mints, for when emergency snogging starts looking like a good idea;
(2) Condoms, because sometimes the kissing leads to other things, and you can’t necessarily count on your hero having one in his wallet;
(3) A miniature flashlight, because if all this action is happening in some dark basement, you might need help getting that condom on;
(4) Energy snacks for the post-nookie recuperation period;
(5) A $10 gift certificate to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or iTunes (winner’s choice), because sometimes fun stuff only happens to us in books.
Mommy and Daddy’s Bomb-Proof Date Night Kit
(1) Ruthie Knox breath mints, because, yes. Even when it’s your spouse.
(2) Small bottle of lube. Let’s just call it a “miniature marriage saver.” But don’t get it confused with the hand sanitizer!
(3) Little Black Book of Kama Sutra, in case the babysitter gets bored. No! Wait! I didn’t mean it like that! Of course I didn’t.
(4) Chocolate, for afters.
(5) $10 gift certificate to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or iTunes (winner’s choice), because sometimes the grown-ups just want to read a fucking book. But actually you’ll probably end up spending this on some sort of kid-related bribe.
One-That-Got-Away Prevention Kit
In Flirting with Disaster, Sean and Katie have a past. Sort of. Sean’s had a thing for Katie ever since he sat behind her in high school math class. And while he always thought of her as completely out of his league, she might have been attainable if he’d tried a little harder to close the deal. If you need help reeling them in and keeping them hooked, this prize can help! It consists of the following:
(1) Ruthie Knox breath mints. Always!
(2) Ruthie Knox mini-notebook and disposable fountain pen, for getting down his digits, yo. The rest is totally up to you.
(3) $10 Starbucks gift card. Because you have your whole life ahead of you — why are you reading books?
How To Enter
There are nearly as many ways to enter the Prepare For Disaster! contest as there are to screw up your romantic life. Using the Rafflecopter widget below, you can earn entries by doing any or all of the following:
—Comment on this page (2 entries)
—Preorder Along Came Trouble and/or Flirting with Disaster, or order How To Misbehave (2 entries each)
—Join my mailing list (1 entry)
—Like my Facebook page (1 entry)
—Tweet about the contest (1 entry)
—Share a link to the contest page at http://bit.ly/Xad7uq (1 entry)
—Share the contest graphic — PNG or JPG (3 entries)
Haven’t used Rafflecopter before? Don’t worry! It’s fairly painless. Just click on the widget below and it will walk you through the steps.
Contest Rules and Eligibility
CONTEST RULES:
By submitting an entry to the Prepare For Disaster Contest, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to be bound by these Official Rules and that you satisfy all eligibility requirements. This contest is void where prohibited or restricted by law. No purchase necessary.
All entries must be submitted during the period that the contest is being offered, according to all applicable directions as listed on the website, contest entry form, and/or emails or the entry will be void. Those who do not fill in all the required fields will be disqualified. Entries generated by a script, macro or other automated means will be disqualified. Ruthie Knox are not responsible for lost, late, incomplete, illegible, incomprehensible or misdirected entries, bugs, failures in servers, hardware or software transmission failure or loss or delayed or corrupted data transmissions or any injury or damage to an entrant’s or any other person’s computer related to or resulting from downloading any portion of this contest.
ELIGIBILITY:
This contest is open to individuals who are 21 years of age or older. Relatives of Ruthie Knox are not eligible to win. For the purposes of this contest, relatives are defined as spouse, mother, father, in-laws, grandmother, grandfather, brother, sister, children and grandchildren.
PRIZES:
One (1) Grand Prize will be a $40 gift certificate to Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, or the iTunes bookstore, as well as baked goods, both to be selected by the awardee. Three additional prize packages will be awarded as described above. No transfer, cash equivalent, or prize substitution allowed, except at the sole discretion of Ruthie Knox. The winner will be notified via e-mail that he/she is a winner. If a winner cannot be reached after a reasonable effort has been made during three (3) business days from Ruthie Knox’s first attempt, or if an entrant is found to be ineligible, an alternate winner may be selected. Ruthie Knox withholds the right to substitute the prize(s) for any reason.
ODDS OF WINNING:
The odds of winning depend upon the number of eligible entries received.
DISCLAIMERS:
All entrants, as a condition of entry, agree to be bound by these official rules. In the event of a dispute over the identity of an online entrant, entry will be deemed submitted by the “Authorized Account Holder” of the e-mail address submitted at time of entry. Authorized Account Holder means the natural person who is assigned to an e-mail address by an Internet access provider, online service provider, or other organization that is responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address. Winner, by acceptance of any prize, agrees to release Ruthie Knox from any and all liability, claims or actions of any kind whatsoever for injuries, damages or losses to persons and property which may be sustained in connection with the receipt, ownership or use of any prize or while traveling to and from a location to obtain or use any prize. Further, no responsibilities are accepted for any additional expenses, omissions, delays, re-routing, or acts of any government or authority. Ruthie Knox makes no warranty, representation, or guarantee, express or implied, in fact or in law, relative to the use of any Prize including, without limitation, quality, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose. Ruthie Knox is not responsible for technical, hardware, software, or telephone malfunctions of any kind, lost or unavailable network connections, or failed, incorrect, incomplete, inaccurate, garbled or delayed electronic communications caused by Ruthie Knox, the user or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in this contest, its prizes or by any human error which may occur in the processing of the entries in this contest and which may limit a participant’s ability to participate in this contest. Entries that are incomplete, illegible or corrupted are void and will not be accepted. Any person who supplies false information, enters by fraudulent means, or is otherwise determined to be in violation of these official rules in an attempt to obtain any prize will forfeit the prize won and may be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The contest shall be governed by U.S. law. Ruthie Knox withholds the right to modify these official rules in any way or at any time.
This is an adorable contest! Romantic disaster? How about forgetting your wedding anniversary on one of the “big” years. Yeah, I still feel bad about it.
Oh, I am *so* going to do that sooner or later. I am terrible at anniversaries. And also, I have trouble remembering what month I got married in. It was either June or July. One of those.
Now that I think about it, I’ve actually managed to avoid any major romantic disasters… I guess being a bit of a loner has its benefits!
Thanks for the great contest! Happy Valentine’s Day.
What an awesome contest! I’ve moved around a lot recently (in an attempt to build the new career), so have been doing the online dating thing. I think I’m a romantic disaster, but at least I now know there are a lot of guys worse off than me. My “best” first date involved a guy who clearly wanted to get married and have babies yesterday, and went I told him that I wanted something a little less serious and we probably weren’t a good match, he started crying. It took me a while to get back out there after that one
Oh, God. Best/worst comment ever. How awkward.
Really cute contest. I have been married for so long, I can’t remember all the bungles we have made along the way. One is I never get the actual date to our anniversary right. I always think it should be another date.
Me, too. I think I need a tattoo.
Love the contest….started the day with a laugh over prizes! Not a romantic disaster but my sister got married on Valentine’s Day. We live in New England, so of course there was a blizzard that day. It was a small, family only wedding and we all somehow made it to the wedding. I remind her each year how we risked life and limb for her….but that’s what family does!
Nice! I had a cousin get married in Feb. in Iowa, and it was a little perilous getting from wedding to reception. But more memorable, for that.
What a fun contest — I love it. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Oops! Forgot my story! I have been married for so long I can barely remember dating but I can definitely attest to the challenges young children bring to your sex life. My advice? Often take advantage of movie time or nap time by slipping away to the bedroom. But, please, lock the door!
Uh-oh. There is an implied story here. I can read your subnarrative, Suz.
Excellent contest! I especially like the ‘even when it’s your spouse’ part.
LOL you kill me, Ruthie. I LOVED HtM and ACT, and I can’t wait for FwD. I need more of your lovin’.
My lovin’ is coming!
And that sounded terrible.
My Romantic disaster was being stuck in an airport the whole day and most of the night on a special anniversary. Both of us not very happy and romantic but on the positive side at least we were together lol.
I’m sure there’s a romance novel in here somewhere! “Love among the Luggage,” perhaps.
I loved How to Misbehave! I can’t wait for the next books!
Thank you!
I’m a romantic disaster–I did NOT get the flirt gene and pretty much do the muppet flail around a guy I find attractive. And oddly, I’m writing romance?? Anyway… fun contest! I enjoyed How to Misbehave and can’t wait to get the others!
Wait, there’s a gene for flirting? No wonder I sucked at it.
Yeah, so getting married to an avid hunter on opening morning of the Wisconsin bowhunting season was perhaps not my best romance-inducing decision. We have spent a good half of our anniversaries apart, sometimes even separated by international borders (you can’t shoot Canadian bears or catch Canadian fish from Wisconsin!). Oh, well. It’s not the day that matters, right?
That makes perfect sense! And yet I probably wouldn’t have thought of it either. You are a bear-fish widow, poor you. But yes, it’s not the day!
A wonderful contest. I enjoyed reading this feature. Been married for a long time and managed to retain humor and love throughout this time.
Well, I don’t have a Valentine’s Day disaster per se, but I will confess to something pretty funny & disastrous. About 2 months after my husband and I were married, we were discussing birthdays, and we realized that I thought his birthday was Nov. 9. Oh, I didn’t just think it; I was CONVINCED it was Nov. 9. It’s not. OOPS…
OOPS! And of course, that makes it easy to remember his not-birthday and impossible to remember his actual birthday FOREVER, right?
Love these books!! can’t wait to own them!!
Favorite fictional love catastrophe… How about in On The Island as a whole… you can’t have the love story without the catastrophe of the plane crash!
Thanks for the giveaway!
xo
jaime
I haven’t read that one, but I have a giant soft spot for plane crash island love stories.
Love the contest. Had me LOL.
At the age of 19, I met my husband in college and instantly fell in love. The disaster: he had a serious girlfriend who attended college in another state. As much as my roommates hated my mooning over him (and him personally!), I loved him anyway. The relationship became one late night booty calls; he was the dreaded “f-buddy.” Thirteen years passed. We had both been in long-term relationships with others, lived in different states, and lead different lives. One late night phone call and one totally platonic weekend changed everything. We reconnected and have now been married 17 years. My husband tells everyone I had planned on marrying him all along. I always sardonically reply, “Yeah, I wrote a book about it: How to Catch Your Man in 13 years or Less. I’ve made millions in sales.”
That is a bit of a disaster, Lisa! But you’re a reunion romance — aww.
I think I just got carpal tunnel from all the clicking I did to get raffle entries! I rarely enter contests, so you are clearly a Big Deal in my world (in a mostly non-stalker kind of way.)
As to romantic disasters, I admit to a higher-than-average number of romantic failures, but no true disasters. On the other hand, for about a year after I first met my husband, I thought he was America’s Biggest Asshat, and even debated suggesting such a show to the major networks as a follow-on to Biggest Loser, just so that he could be the winning contestant and I could clothe myself in smug superiority. And then, one day…I didn’t hate him anymore, and that changed everything else.
MOSTLY non-stalker is the only way to stalk. It’s how all the cool kids are doing it.
And I love your story, because it means you had to change to win true love! OR it means you married America’s Biggest Asshat, but somehow brainwashed yourself into not realizing it. Either way, win.
We both changed, actually – he into some sort of magical, super-caring, best-father-ever kind of man (which absolutely means that I was wrong about him all along, but since I don’t have a psychology degree that will remain merely hearsay forevah) and I became an Asscap (slightly less pronounced than the hat version.)
I just literally PRAYED to God that I would win only because I want the baked goods. The other stuff is very cool, too, but seriously? Sweets.
When my son turns 4, I’m totally sticking a jackhammer in his hands and filming that business.
Yay! I love your books! Thankfully I’m not hopeless at love (married 29 happy years) but I’ll take the prize anyway of I win!
It never hurts to jumpstart some lovin’!
I agree with this sentiment.
romantic disaster – hmm i dont know that it was a disaster but when i met me hubby for the first time he was 2 yr younger than me and at that time it made a big difference to me so i kind of blew him off then a few years later he was dating my sister and was one of my best friends. after a while my sister and him didnt work out ( needless to say i asked my sister first before dating him) and 11 yrs later we are still together
I admire that you somehow managed to marry a man who dated your sister WITHOUT disaster. Go, you!
Happy Valentine’s Day! Luckily, I haven’t experienced a romantic disaster, but they’re always fun to read about. The closest I came to one was when I attended a wedding where the bride fainted at the altar. The couple is still married, so it wasn’t a prophecy.
greetings!
What a great contest, Ruthie.
My romantic disaster is spend saturday night by watching an outdoor channel with my bf
Super fun contest! Thank you and I LOVED How to Misbehave.
No disasters in my history…but happily married for 31 years…to my high school sweetie.. Nifty contest!! Love your preparedness!!
You are too funny, Ruthie. I really hope you get tacos from Hubby tonight!
My favorite fictional love catastrophe is The Philadelphia Story, that wonderful Katharine Hepburn/Cary Grant/Jimmy Stewart movie where the wrong folks are getting married or divorced, or falling in love or swimming pools.
Happy Valentine’s Day to all.
You know, I’ve never seen that one! I’m going to put it on my priority list. I loooooove Jimmy Stewart.
I like the funny things that happen to the characters in the confessions of a shopaholic movie.
Is anyone good at the falling in love part? I suppose there might be some cool person or two out there. But what are the odds that they would find each other?? Zero. And even if they did, so what. How boring would that be?? I love hearing peoples stories. I love my stories. I love reading romance stories. All the embarrassing, silly, crazy moments in the whole falling in love process.
My husband and I met on a blind date. Four days after my 16th birthday, my first real date. As I followed him out to his car, he opened the door for me. I had never seen my dad open the door for my mom. (Bad papa, bad!) I had lived a very sheltered and censored life. And no, I had not yet discovered the wonderful romances I now read. I looked up at the handsome man holding the door for me and very seriously asked, “Arent you going to drive?”
We have been married 33 years now. And I find our lives together getting better all the time. Ahhh, love….:-)
Ahhh, love, indeed! What a cute story.
God, Ruthie… You ALWAYS ask the personal questions. Good thing I don’t know you and have to see you on a daily basis.
Disaster…. Kid almost walking in during Mommy and Daddy playing around in the bed. Stupid me didn’t check to make sure the door and lock were actually engaged all the way. (Rolls eyes.) How was I supposed to know I should have heard the click? Luckily, she didn’t see anything. I just avoided her for the rest of the day.
You’d totally blush and walk into a doorway if you had to see me on a daily basis, wouldn’t you?
Also, LOCK THE DOOR! LOCK THE DOOR!
I married my high-school sweetheart after an extended courtship of nine (!) years. I know he’s still the best thing that happened to me. He reminds me daily of my attributes and ignores my flaws. Our secret to a sucessful marriage is exploiting our children’s love for all things electronic. They never notice that the door is locked while they’re busy playing Wii.
I am a hopeless romantic, but then so is my husband. However, I’m the one that thinks of romantic things for our anniversary. One year I booked a beautiful hotel in Napa Valley and we drank our way thru the wineries. But I have to say my favorite was when I booked one of the Romance cabins at the Cataloochee Ranch in North Carolina. Facing the mountains, the scenery was amazing! We went horseback riding every day. We have been married for 28 years. Our anniversary is at the beginning of Nov so the weather is usually great wherever we go.
I love this blog post and the prize packages descriptions! The worst thing to ever happen was when my middle son came into the bedroom at a “not so good time” for kids to be around, and I couldn’t do anything but freeze…(I think he was about 6) and he asked me “What are you doing??? I was mortified. I don’t think he remembers it because he never said anything the next day or ever (he is now almost 20). BUT I could have DIED. ( I thought door was locked, but idk…)
I love these stories. I guess that makes me sick, but I love them.
My best (worst?) romantic disaster was the evening my husband proposed to me. I had been waiting for months for him to ask – we had talked about getting married, had picked out a ring together, etc. He was waiting for the perfect moment, and I was increasingly worried that he had changed his mind. (OMG, the angst. I look back and want to smack my 20-something self upside the head.)
So one night he plans it all out. And it was sweet and perfect. Except that I had finally given up expecting it, and having no clue this was coming, did everything possible to delay or mess up his plan. I worked later than I was supposed to, got stuck in traffic, etc., all while my poor guy was with our puppy, freezing in the dark, at the park down the street, with the ring and my favourite drink in hand. I did finally show up. And he did propose. It was beautiful, perfect, and so very “us”.
Gah! That’s awful, and funny, and kind of sweet.
You have come up with one of the most fun contests. I love the disaster theme. It is so true that something always happens to throw a wrench in the works of falling in love. Thanks for the great Giveaways and hope your Valentine’s day is a fun one!!
This may be the greatest contest I have ever seen. Think you could throw in a hunky hero to make it complete? NO….okay. I guess I’ll just have to entice someone using one of the disaster kits if I win. I think my worst romantic moment would be when I accidentally gave my boyfriend a sex toy (it really was an accident). To compound it, he thought it would be hilarious to show it to our friends and just sat it on the table in the middle of a dinner one night. Talk about embarrassing!
Yeah, this is strictly a Supply Your Own Hero situation. Good luck with that!
Also, your story is going in my mental trove of Best Stories Ever.
*pats self on back* Best part of that story? He later did the same thing at dinner with his mom. I think he was determined to never let me live it down.
Steamy!!!! I would love to win these. Thank you!!
Hmm…..disasters. None of these happened on V-Day (we did officially start dating on V-Day and 2 years later he proposed on V-Day).
How about my now-husband forgetting to throw away USED condoms in a drawer and later having his mother (my future MIL, mind you) call him to tell him that the dog found them and dragged them through the house.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!
That’s all I’ve got. Everything about this story makes me go AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!
Well, we’re now coming up on ten years married and I’m closer to my MIL than my own mother, but this is one of those things that has NEVER been brought up, thank goodness.
Many years ago, my friend and I decided after years of crying on each other’s shoulders saying “why can’t he/she be more like you?” to finally open our eyes and say “why not you?”. We changed our friendship to a relationship. On that Valentine’s Day, he brought me one dozen red roses and proudly gave them to me. A few days later, I admitted to him that it wasn’t working for me. (Changing from friendship to relationship is not easy) I dumped him. (I waited a few days after Valentine’s Day. I didn’t have the heart to do it on the day). We went back to being friends. A few months later, he admits to a friend (after lots of alcohol) how much he really missed me and he realized that I am THE ONE. He then set out to prove it to me. It worked! We are now married 17 years. We know each other 20 years. We have two children who get a kick out of hearing how we were friends first and fell in love. BUT TO THIS DAY…I do not get one dozen red roses on Valentine’s Day!!! (For the birth of my children, I got TWO dozen pink roses…he didn’t want to jinx anything..LOL)…THAT is my BIG VALENTINE OOPS!
Ha! That’s awesome. NO ROSES FOR YOU.
About 2 years ago my son was 2 Yeats old and getting into everything. Well one day my parents were over and my son toddled away and came back out with a roll of condoms and a, well, well endowed toy to she grandma and grandpa. We have never lived down the snide comments my mom still makes today,
Oh, no. No, no, no, that didn’t happen. *hangs head* *cries*
And she still comments?! How could she!
Happy Valentine’s Day!! Fortunately, I haven’t experienced a romantic disaster as of yet, knock on wood, all my friends and family thought there would be a disaster, however… My best friend at the time, turned to boyfriend, is younger than myself (13 years matter-of-fact).. A Big deal to his parents until they got to know me, we moved in together for 5 years, then everyone wanted to know when there would be wedding bells? Well, we’re coming up to 13 years of marriage in April this year 2013, for a total of 18 years and No disasters!!! Even the age difference isn’t a problem… One way he remembers our Anniversary Ladies, I had the date engraved inside his wedding band…. Lol…. He keeps me young, excited, etc….. Yum
Yay for the disaster that wasn’t! I love stories like this.
LOL…what a fun contest! I’ve got How to Misbehave on tap to read this weekend. Can’t wait!
Can I use one of my husband’s disasters? He always gets me flowers for our anniversary (we agreed a small gift each and a larger joint celebration such as dinner or a night/weekend away would be our way of keeping the focus on “us”). We were married in December which is, over here, usually hot. My organised hubby bought the flowers early in the day and then left them in the hot car for many hours. Thus, I was presented with a bunch of dead flowers one memorable anniversary!
So now, I can say “well, at least it’s better than a bunch of dead flowers” when I want to yank his chain. Which is always fun.
Can I use one of my husband’s disasters? We were married in December (over here, that’s hot). He always gets me flowers. One year he was super organised and it was a scorcher outside. He bought the flowers early… and left them in the car. All day. And that’s how I came to be given a bunch of dead flowers one memorable wedding anniversary!
He actually gave them to you? That’s awesome.
I love this contest
Hmm disasters.. where do I start? :/
Maybe the one that didn’t turn into a disaster but could have been. I met my other half on facebook. We shared no mutual friends except we played poker on one of the FB online games things 3 months worth of banter he finally asked me for a date, however we lived over 100 miles from one another. We met, had food and in that evening he told me one day he would marry me. I actually laughed in his face
Anyway my other halfs middle name was persistance. 3 months later I still was convinced. One weekend I finally drove the 100 miles to visit him, my mind set on ending it, I sat in traffic, saw an accident, it snowed and by the time I got there I was pissed off and tired. He made me soup, put me to bed and listened to my 15 minute tirade about the trouble he caused me.
I am pleased to say that weekend was the best weekend ever, he took me to Stratford upon Avon, we visited Shakespeares House and he bought me ice cream. I didn’t really want to leave. 7 months later he gave up his job, moved the 100 miles to be with me, 7 days later he asked me to marry him and I sobbed for 10 minutes before saying yes.
Disaster averted.
Oh, the cuteness! Disaster averted is the best kind. I want to squeeze you both now.
Our anniversary is in July. In 1993, for several reasons, our anniversary was special and we made special plans for a lovely dinner out to be followed by more loveliness in. Except that floods took out our water treatment plant for about three weeks, so city-wide there was no running water. As the day of our anniversary arrived, neither one of us had had a real shower in about ten days, only spit baths. He worked construction, so you can imagine. July in Iowa. Many restaurants, including the one where we had reservations, were closed because of sanitation difficulties. We both had to work a couple of hours of unexpected overtime that night.
We ended up eating takeout from the local Hy-Vee deli (lemme tell you, nobody can mess up ethic food like Hy-Vee. Kung Pao Gristle, Last Week’s Rice, and Cabbage with Gristle in Greasy Won Ton Wrappers). We drove to a local park to pick at our food and one another.
Then about two dozen Canada Geese decided to have a pre-bedtime flyover. They gathered, two of them clearly in charge, and got into formation at the base of a small hill right next to us. They made four geese by four geese blocks, walked up the hill one row at a time, and took off as smoothly as any synchronized water ballet team you’ve ever seen. They circled the lake three times and then flew down, again in formation.
Magic.
Romantic disasters? It was nearly 30 years ago, and I still remember it like it was yesterday.
My husband is far more of a romantic than I am, and when as a twenty-year-old he got down on one knee in a fancy restaurant and asked me to marry him, my first words were, “WHAT will your mother say?!” (She was known as “the little general” and had made it clear we were too young to be so serious.).
Lucky for me, he simply grinned and said, “Could you please forget about my mother? I’m asking you to marry me!” I didn’t make the same mistake twice, but leaned down, kissed him and said, “Yes!”
That time my husband forgot to lock the door and we got walked in on by our (then) 5 year old. Orrrrr…the time he *didn’t* forget and our 4 year old walked straight into the closed door, whimpered, went back to bed and proceeded to cry because he thought we didn’t want to see him…
You are too funny!! Love the creativity and thought that went into your prize packages!! Thanks for all of the opportunities to win!!
Had surprised the fiancé with a weekend away. Was in the middle of a bit of naught breakfast in bed (champagne, strawberries, chocolate and me in a frilly apron) and the maid walked in! Not sure who was more shocked! I always remember the inside door lock now!
When I packed for my honeymoon 38 years ago, I forgot my nighty…oops, sorry, not a disaster at all…
I nearly missed my wedding because I had a horrible viral infection and spent the entire week before in bed. I literally crawled out of bed for my rehearsal dinner just to hear my soon to be mother in law say “I just hope it works” on our wedding video. The good news is it’s still working nearly 16 years later and my mother in law and I get along great now!
I guess the disaster that stands out the most in my mind was when a friend from work invited me to go out one night with her. We were going out drinking so her husband was going to be our designated driver. Well, little did I know that she would actually try to set me up with her husband! I could not believe she was trying to set me up to date her husband and, needless to say, I never went out with her (or him) again!
My hubs recently spent the better part of a Saturday afternoon setting up our new! king-sized! bed!
Upon completion, he proudly invited me into the bedroom. My reaction was to jump into the center of the mattress like a deranged snow angel and exclaim, “Awesome, now we’ll never have to touch each other again.”
What? I’m a hot sleeper. And also an afternoon delight buzz killer.
Need to win this contest, pop some breath mints and make it up to him.
I remember when I got married, my wedding dress had last minute touches,(my grandmother made it) was sewn at the wrists so the sleeves would look better but I didn’t have scissors to cut the stitches after. Then my zipper got stuck, wouldn’t go down and when it did it got stuck in the middle and my veil had so many pins that it took almost an hour without yanking my hair off. My husband thought my family was sabotaging our wedding night! I couldn’t get out of the dress! Then, I forgot the suitcase and had to call to have it dropped off at our hotel door.
Great contest ~ thanks for the chance!
I had three Blind Dates that ended in disaster, one was set up by an ex-soon to be sister in law, now you know why my brother never married her. This guy was a dull as dishwater and when I got in the car, he had a Penthouse or Playboy mag on the seat. It was so long ago I cant remember, but it grossed me out. Then there was the guy that a friend set me up with, the brother of a friend, he had these eyes that reminded me of a serial killer… Even one of my brothers and a couple of male friends would not leave us alone together, gave me the creeps. Then there was the guy another friend had me go out with, I was so nervous I could not eat my dinner and then he got insulting when I would not go out with him again..Did not get a good vibe… Never went out on Blind Dates again…
I remember when we got married 27 years ago my husband had two different shoes on..My zipper broke on my dress. After we got married we all went to a tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree’s and I fell in a hole..Was not a good day..
Great Giveaway..Thanks!!
Love this contest! Looking forward to the books!
This was hilarious! I want home baked goods!
You had me laughing all the way through this blog, so cute! The books sound right up my alley, Ty for the opportunity
This contest is so much fun!
Fun contest! Really looking forward to your upcoming series! Having a great time reading your blog posts, too.
I’m searching my brain and all I can come up with is, “this one time in 8th grade…” or, “the one time my cat…”
Oh my, I don’t think anything I say can beat some of the stories in the comments. But I will contribute that I want to read a fictional love catastrophe where somebody else walks in on a busy couple where one partner is fully dressed and the other partner is completely not. There’s potential for humor there!
Definitely humor in a book. Not so much humor in real life. Well at least not for the girl.
Ok, this isn’t that romantic, but to the hubs it’s “Dual Survivor-Romance Style.” When we were first married, we had a “romantic weekend” (his version-not mine) in International Falls, Minnesota. Yes, that’s right, the coldest spot typically in the continental U.S. on any given day. Anyway, we were fishing (don’t even get me started!), and he caught a big-a** Northern Pike. It was at least 10 pounds. Of course, he’s screaming, “Net, Net.” I dutifully get the net and HORRORS, hit the taunt net. Yes, that’s right, the line breaks, and he loses a so-called “trophy” fish. Well, I felt so bad, I made it up to him in the boat afterwards. . . as only you can imagine. Lesson learned-you can always turn a bad situation into something good . . .
I can’t wait for your next books! I love the covers!!!
Oh god.. *snicker* This was a few years ago, but I went on a first (and ONLY!) date with a guy I’d met from school – he seemed pretty nice & funny.. so I was optimistic. Well, he wanted to go eat at a fast food restaurant and he got offended when I offered to pay so we could eat somewhere slightly more healthy (and nicer, I will admit this).. I gave a mental shrug and decided on a burger & fries only to have him declare that we should split a meal. I told him I didn’t think that was a good idea and I’d like to have more than half a burger. He gave me a horrified look and told me that it’d be a good idea if I ate a little less. I don’t really remember anything after that.. only that I gave myself kudos for not walking out or dumping a drink over his head.
What a great contest! Oh and I hope my slightly emotionally unbalanced tweets didn’t scare the crap out of you this morning! I promise im good now…lol ok well maybe still a little bubbly! ; 0) p.s. Hell yes Im pre-ordering all 3 of the above! Woman you can pen a story!!! :0)
I think it’s a great thing that I can’t think of a romantic disaster. Probably our lives now…. if hubby and I have time for a date we usually end up talking about the kids anyway.
I am not very romantic, so it was pure luck (along with some matchmaking friends
)) that allowed me to find my one and only early in my life 
It’s been twenty years and no major disaters yet, knock on wood 
I’ve mostly been very blessed, mainly because I finally wised up and grabbed the right man
Thanks to God and all that is holy that DH is such a patient, capable guy 
My husband and I are both so bad at anniversaries that we almost never remember them. I had to pull off my wedding ring the other day to see the engraving inside so I’d know what day. It’ll be 15 years married on May…. uh….. 23rd!
We never do Valentine’s Day, either. Well, every now and then he manages to get me flowers or I give him a card. We try….
Our wedding day was a huge disastor. It was slapped togethor , and the “highlight ” of it all was that I never even had time to brush my hair ! I had short hair, luckily, but in the polaroids ( yes, those ) I look horrible. And of course, allw e have are a handful of slightly blurry snapshots of me having yet another bad hair day.